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Former England Test cricket captain Ray Illingworth died on Saturday at the age of 89 in his native Yorkshire. The regional tweet "We are saddened to hear that Ray Illingworth is no more," was under surveillance and undergoing radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.
Between 1958 and 1973, Illingworth played 61 Tests for England and was the captain of the team 31 times and statistics show that by winning 12 games and the Ashes series in Australia in 1970-71 . He was an all-rounder who scored 1,836 runs in Test with an average of 23.24 and scored 122 wickets in his offspin at 31.20 avg. Between 1993 and 1996, he was chairman of the England player selection committee and coach of the team from 1995-96.
We are saddened to hear that Ray Illingworth has died.
Illingworth's wife, Shirley, died earlier this year after a long battle with cancer and Illingworth was supporting legal reforms with the help of death.
We are deeply saddened to learn that Ray Illingworth has passed away.
— Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) December 25, 2021
Our thoughts are with Ray’s family and the wider Yorkshire family who held Ray so dear to their hearts #OneRose pic.twitter.com/nvQa2f7RMz
Illingworth's wife, Shirley, was in great pain and was repeatedly treated by a doctor for one year. Seeing his condition he does not want to repeat the same. He does not want to be where his wife was 12 months before her death, completely in pain. "
In 1955 Illingworth first appeared in his hometown and played for them before completing his career until 1968 in Leicestershire. He was the captain of both teams he played for.
"Illingworth 'greatest gift as captain was to lie about having 14 or 15 players on the pitch: so he cleverly blocked the striker's goals," said Cricinfo' s website.
