Bruce Yardley

Bruce Yardley (5 September 1947 – 27 March 2019) was an Australian cricketer who played in 33 Tests and seven ODIs from 1978 to 1983, taking 126 Test wickets. Known to his teammates as 'Roo', Yardley was an off-spin bowler who, like many spinners, began as a fast-medium pace seamer. In his late 20s Yardley switched to off-spin and had success at club and then state level. His technique was slightly unusual in that he bowled at near medium pace, spinning the ball off his middle finger rather than the index finger like conventional off-spinners. A handy number-eight batsman who scored four Test half-centuries his batting was often characterised by a "Yardley yahoo" over the top of slips which opposition teams sometimes attempted to counter by using a fly slip. Yardley was an exceptional fielder in the gully region taking 31 catches in his 33 Tests including a number of spectacular efforts. He was also the recipient of some fine fielding being the bowler when John Dyson took his catch of the century to dismiss West Indian Sylvester Clarke. In the early 1980s Yardley was Australia's first-choice spinner; during this period he took most of his 126 Test wickets, including a Test-best of 7/98 against the West Indies at Sydney in 1981/82. It was for this and other eye-catching performances that he was named the 1981/1982 Benson and Hedges International Cricketer of the Year, winning a new sports car. However he had to purchase this car from his fellow players from that year. The car was put into the team's prize pool with other prizes which included cash which at the end of the year was divided depending on how much you played. Despite his fine all-round cricket game he was rarely considered for One Day Internationals and in 1981 he was controversially left out of the Ashes squad which toured England (Stuart MacGill, Yardley and fellow West Australian Bruce Reid are the only three bowlers to take 100 wickets for Australia without playing a Test there). Yardley participated