James Graham Binks (born 5 October 1935) is a former English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Although he was regarded by many as the best wicket-keeper of his generation, his limited batting ability restricted him to just two

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

appearances for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, both on the 1963-64 tour to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Ironically, because of injuries to other players, he opened the batting in three of his four Test innings.

Life and career

Binks'

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

career is unique. Coming into the Yorkshire team in June 1955, he then played in every single Championship game played by Yorkshire until he retired at the end of the 1969 season. Yorkshire won the Championship seven times in this period and the Gillette Cup twice. Binks stands 19th on the all-time list of wicketkeepers with 1,071 first-class dismissals. He holds the record for the most catches in an English season with 96 in 1960. With 11 stumpings in that season, he is one of only seven wicket-keepers to achieve more than 100 dismissals in an English season. With regard to Binks' short international career, the cricket commentator, Colin Bateman, stated, "Binks... oddly failed to reproduce the elegant assurance he brought to his work with Yorkshire. It may have had something to do with the fact that he was also asked to act as emergency opener". Binks' Yorkshire colleague

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

said that the "greatest injustice of all" (by the England selectors) was their limitation of Binks to only two Tests. In Trueman's opinion, Binks was "far and away the best wicket-keeper in the country after

Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans (18 August 1920 – 3 May 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by ''Wisden'' as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match ...

" and several of those selected ahead of him were "nowhere near as good". Binks had his benefit year in 1967 with a range of matches around Yorkshire and the fund realised £5,351. His chosen county match was 24–27 June at Headingley against Surrey. Yorkshire, with Trueman as acting captain, won by an innings and 92 runs (Binks scored 32 runs but took only one catch). Sir William Worsley, the club president stated: "No player in the history of Yorkshire cricket has served his County better than Jimmy Binks". Binks was a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1969 and retired at the end of that season.

References

1935 births Living people English cricketers England Test cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Yorkshire cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Cricketers from Kingston upon Hull Lincolnshire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 Wicket-keepers {{England-cricket-bio-1930s-stub