[1] He was a solid left-handed batsman whose statistically modest Test record underplayed his contribution to the team as a sturdy foil to such players as Bill Edrich, Len Hutton and Denis Compton.

[1] He played minor county cricket for Staffordshire from the age of sixteen, and appeared for Lancashire in four games in 1939, taking George Headley's wicket as the first of 339 in first-class matches.

[2] After losing perhaps his best years to World War II, during which he fought at Tobruk, he resumed his career for Lancashire in 1946 and became a mainstay of the team, recording 1,000 runs in a season eleven times.

He toured Australia in the 1946–47 Ashes series, compiling an obdurate 60 at Sydney and featuring in a brave stand of 118 with Norman Yardley in Melbourne.

He was involved in a pivotal incident in the first Test at Brisbane when he claimed to have caught Don Bradman at second slip for 28 from the bowling of Bill Voce, only for the umpire to rule the batsman not out.