With former Shaw Lane player Jake Weatherald in the Australian Ashes squad, we look at the other cricketers with Barnsley connections to have played in the Ashes.
GEOFFREY BOYCOTT
Boycott’s remarkable career, which began as a batter at Shaw Lane, saw him play in nine Ashes series from 1964 to 1981.
He scored tons at the Oval 17 years apart against Australia at the start and end of his career as well as unbeaten centuries at Sydney and Adelaide in the 1971 tour – in which he averaged 94 – plus hundreds at Trent Bridge and Headingley in 1977.
KATHERINE SCIVER-BRUNT
The Dodworth woman, who learned the game at Shaw Lane, was a familiar foe for Australia over an 18-year career with England. Women’s Ashes are played over a three-format points system, with Katherine winning four – and being top wicket-taker in two.
NORMAN YARDLEY
Born in Royston in 1915, Yardley captained Yorkshire for seven years and also skippered England for whom he made 20 Test appearances either side of the Second World War in which he was wounded in Italy.
He famously removed all-time great Don Bradman on three consecutive occasions in the first Ashes after the war during which he became the first England player to make two 50s and take five wickets in one Test. He captained England in the following home Ashes, which the visitors won 4-0.
WILLIE WATSON
Barnsley has a slight claim to Watson who played for England in both cricket and football in the 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in Bolton-upon-Dearne then moved to Huddersfield as a young child. As a Sunderland footballer, he played four times for the England football team, and went to the 1950 World Cup but did not feature. He then played 23 Tests for the cricket team, including in the 1953 Ashes alongside Johnny Wardle.
Watson scored 109 at Lord’s to save a game that they looked likely to lose.
He was dropped the following game as England clinched the series but was named one of Wisden’s Cricketers Of the Year.
DARREN GOUGH
The Monk Bretton man, who played at Shaw Lane then Headingley, appeared in four Ashes series.
He was one of the bright spots of the ill-fated 1994/95 tour, being named Man of the Match for taking five wickets in an innings and making 50 in Sydney.
He is well-remembered for the next tour four years later in which, although England also lost, he played a key role in bowling the hosts out for 163 chasing 175 in the fourth test then took a hat-trick in the fifth. He also played in two home defeats in Ashes during two decades of Australian domination.
JOHNNY WARDLE
The Ardsley man said he wanted the figures of four for seven he took to reduce Australia to 35 for eight at Old Trafford in 1953 etched on his gravestone.
The Yorkshire spinner played 28 Tests for England and still has lowest the average of any bowler who has played 20 Tests since the First World War.
Wardle – who had worked as a coal miner and played for Wolverhampton Wanderers during the Second World War – also played in the 1954/55 and 1956 Ashes series.
MARTYN MOXON
The Barnsley man, who played for Monk Bretton and Barnsley before a 17-year career with Yorkshire, played ten Tests including two against Australia.
The opening batter appeared in the final match of the 1987/88 Ashes then his last test was during the home series two years later.
GARY BALLANCE
Zimbabwe-born Ballance played for Barnsley in the early 2010s while breaking through at Yorkshire. He made his England debut in the final match of the 5-0 loss in the 2013/14 series then also played twice in the home series the following year.
ROY KILNER
The Wombwell man, born in 1890, made his name for local side Mitchell Main then Yorkshire before fighting in the First World War where he was injured first in Egypt then the Battle of the Somme. After briefly playing football for Preston North End, he became an exceptional all-rounder for Yorkshire in the 1920s and played nine Tests for England including seven in the Ashes. He played in the series in Australia in 1924/25 then the home series in 1926.
He died in Kendray hospital aged 37 in 1928 of typhoid after falling ill on the way home from a coaching stint in India.
ARNIE SIDEBOTTOM
Born in Barnsley in 1954, he spent much of his 20s as a professional footballer for Manchester United, Huddersfield Town and Halifax Town. The Shaw Lane cricketer had been on Yorkshire’s books since 1973 and focused on cricket from late in that decade as a bowler. He played one Test Match for England in the 1985 Ashes, admitting later he was past his prime aged 31. He took one for 65 then came off injured. His son Ryan also played for Yorkshire and England.
