At the relatively young age of 18, cricketer Phil Carrick began his first-class career for Yorkshire playing for the county for 23 years.
Phil was born in Armley in 1952 and in his teens attended Park Lane College of Further Education where his cricketing prowess was nurtured.
Yorkshire Cricket Club has a renowned tradition of producing great batsman; Len Hutton, Ray Illingworth, Brian Close and Geoff Boycott and latterly Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow all come readily to mind. But it has also been blessed with great spin bowlers over the years; Hedley Verity, Johnny Wardle, Geoff Cope and the subject of our latest Armley paving stone, Phil Carrick.
He captained Yorkshire for three years and led them to victory in 1987 in the Benson and Hedges Cup. After his career with Yorkshire ended in 1993 he captained Pudsey Congs to the Bradford League title.
Sadly, Phil died of leukaemia in 2000 aged 47. He had a relatively short life but left a long legacy of spin bowling in Yorkshire.
Read more of Susan’s ‘Stepping Into’ column here. The column looks at the history which is etched beneath our feet into heritage paving stones on Armley Town Street.
