Tributes pour in for Yorkshire legend Ted

Ted, who was one of Yorkshire’s best batsmen in the years immediately after the Second World War and went on to serve as the club’s scorer for 31 years, died in his home town of Scarborough.

Between 1945 and 1956, Ted, who was a hard-hitting right-hand batsman, played 228 first-class games for Yorkshire, scoring 10,616 runs at an average of 34.02, with 24 centuries.

His highest score for the Tykes was 186 against Warwickshire at North Marine Road in 1949.

He had a superb season in 1947, as he finished third in the national batting averages to the Middlesex pair of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich, averaging 73 from 11 innings.

Ted’s highest aggregate came in 1949, when he made 1,801 runs at 37.52.

Ted’s son Kevin Lester described his dad as a “true Yorkshire gentleman”.

He said: “We were always very proud of dad’s achievements, and the tribute paid to him on the Yorkshire CCC website are very kind.

“He served Yorkshire for 50 years as a player and then a scorer, which is a great achievement.

“He still went down to watch Yorkshire at North Marine Road after he had finished scoring for the club, mainly as a social thing as he knew so many people down there.

“He also enjoyed coaching and helping the younger players during his time at Yorkshire.

“In the 1950s he was the second-team skipper for Yorkshire for four years, and he spent a lot of time helping the next generation of cricketers, and eight of them went on to play for England.

“This included the likes of Geoffrey Boycott, Raymond Illingworth and Phil Sharpe.”

Ted also played for Scarborough FC as a goalkeeper and competed in the Scarborough Table Tennis League.

In a tribute to the batsman, Yorkshire vice-president and Cricket Writers’ Club president, David Warner, said: “I have very happy memories of Ted Lester going back to 1975 when I first started covering Yorkshire cricket.

“Ted, my cricket writing colleague John Callaghan and myself travelled the country to Yorkshire matches together and we had some marvellous times.

“I learned a great deal about first-class cricket from Ted, who knew the game inside out.

“He was always happy to pass on his great knowledge but he was extremely modest about his own career and would only speak about it if pressed to do so.

“He was respected by players past and present and his death is a tremendous loss to Yorkshire cricket.”

l What are your favourite memories of Ted Lester? Send your thoughts to [email protected]