He steadily improved over the following seasons to reach the fringes of the England team and made his Test debut in 1928 against the West Indies.

That winter, he toured Australia – a controversial decision as he replaced the famous batsman Frank Woolley – and scored a century in his only Test of the series.

After military service in the Second World War, Leyland returned to the Yorkshire team for one season before announcing his retirement from regular first-class cricket.

He performed most effectively against the best teams and bowlers, and in difficult situations; his Test batting record is better than his first-class figures, and against Australia his average is even higher.

[1][2] Leyland senior also acted as Moorside's groundsman,[2] and in later years continued that role at Harrogate, Headingley Cricket Ground and Edgbaston.

Although Leyland's batting figures were unimpressive, the summary of Yorkshire's season in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said he "gave signs of promise as a forcing batsman and fielded very finely".

[9] In his history of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Anthony Woodhouse states that Leyland gained valuable experience as part of a successful batting side.

"[13] By the end of the 1926 season, in which he scored 1,561 runs at 39.02 and hit five centuries,[7] Leyland had established himself as one of the most reliable batsmen in the Yorkshire team.

[18] With a weakened bowling attack, and affected by injuries and loss of form, Yorkshire pressed Leyland into service as an occasional bowler in the 1928 season.

[21] He had done little bowling for Yorkshire at this point; the team possessed two slow left-arm spinners in Kilner and Rhodes, leaving Leyland with little opportunity.

[22] At this stage, the Yorkshire authorities thought that he might fully take on Kilner's bowling workload,[21] or succeed Rhodes in the senior spinner's position.

[notes 2] Leyland was included in the team; according to The Times, it would have been difficult to leave him out and his presence lifted the fielding ability of the side.

[28] Pelham Warner, a selector at the time, claimed that Leyland's superior fielding influenced the decision, but the cricket writer Alan Gibson suggests that the real choice was between Woolley and Phil Mead, two batsmen of similar age.

[33] The MCC team which toured Australia was extremely strong in batting, and Leyland served as back-up to the main batsmen.

[34] The English batting line-up was settled for most of the series, leaving little opportunity for the reserves; although Mead played in the first Test, he was subsequently left out to strengthen the bowling.

[5] The report in Wisden said that he "distinguished himself by two really delightful displays ... His exhibition of powerful, well-timed driving past cover-point will long be remembered by those who saw it.

[5] Against Lancashire, in a match which Rhodes missed with injury, Leyland took the role of the main spinner and returned figures of seven wickets for 52 runs.

[40][41] Following success in a trial game,[6] Leyland kept his place in the Test team, playing all five matches against South Africa that summer to score 294 runs at an average of 42.00.

[6][45] At the time, Yorkshire v Lancashire matches were mainly dour, slow-scoring affairs, but Leyland played freely to score 211 not out in around 270 minutes.

[52] Eventually, Sutcliffe began to hook the short ball and in six successive overs, he and Leyland added 102 runs, an unusually fast rate of scoring.

[51] Farnes was reduced to tears by the assault on his bowling,[53] and these events possibly persuaded the MCC selectors to leave him out of the team for the 1932–33 tour.

[6] However, assessing the tour in Wisden, Sydney Southerton wrote that Leyland "fared on the whole extremely well ... he had batted finely in the Test matches at Adelaide and Brisbane".

[5][22] The West Indies team toured England that season, but Leyland played only in the first Test; he scored one run in his single innings.

[6] However, the rest of the England batting was unreliable;[6] reviewing the season, the Wisden editor Sydney Southerton wrote: "In nearly every match either Hendren, Leyland or Ames, instead of being able to go in and play a free, confident game, had to save or remedy a position seriously damaged by the quick fall of two or three wickets.

"[57] The cricket writer E. W. Swanton observed that Leyland's bat was often not straight when he played his shots, contrary to orthodox technique, but the speed of his footwork and his ability to watch the ball closely made up for any lapses.

[57][86] Cardus described him as "a sturdy cricketer, not tall, but his sloping bottle-neck shoulders seemed to add inches to him and he had long arms of impressive thickness, veined with strength at the wrist; also he was broad in the beam, with a rubicund smile on his cheerful open countenance.

[87] Cardus thought that his style of batting was representative of his character: "He put his nature into every stroke, and as soon as he had 'got bowling where he wanted it,' he didn't merely hit or drive it – he walloped it.

[90] According to Leyland's obituary in The Times, "He was essentially a man for the big occasion, a batsman at his best in a crisis, and his favourite game was a Roses match or an Australian Test.

"[93] Robertson-Glasgow noted that Leyland was almost anonymous in good batting conditions under little pressure; he came to life in more difficult circumstances: "His element was foul weather.

He would disappear into the haze of Bramall Lane, where a sterner sort of game was being played under the name of cricket, and entrench himself among the sawdust and smoke and off-breaks and appeals, and do his raw, tough work in silence.