A highly talented all-round sportsman, he went to St John's College, Cambridge, and won Blues at cricket, squash, Rugby fives and field hockey.

Under Yardley, Yorkshire were joint champions in 1949 but subsequently on a number of occasions, too often for the liking of supporters, finished second to Surrey in the County Championship.

[2] His maiden first-class century came in a narrow Cambridge victory over the Army,[13] and he scored a second against Surrey, remaining not out for 116 in a total of 359.

[19] Yardley's form saw him selected for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's, although he scored only 7 and 4, and when he joined Yorkshire after the Cambridge season, he made his first century for the county against Surrey, as well as three other fifties.

[10][11] He was picked for the winter MCC tour of India, under the captaincy of Lord Tennyson, where he scored 519 runs at an average 25.95 but only took one wicket.

He was chosen to captain Cambridge in his final season in the team; although his side did not win a match,[2] Yardley enjoyed some personal success.

[3] His highest innings of the season was 97 for Yorkshire against Gloucestershire,[6] and in all first-class matches, Yardley accumulated 1,217 runs at an average of 31.20 and took 22 wickets at 35.45.

[22] When Len Hutton was injured in a tour match and missed the first Test,[23] Yardey made his debut but scored just seven runs in a total of 422 and did not bat in the second innings.

[10][11] War brought first-class cricket to an end in 1939, and Yardley joined the 1st Battalion of the Green Howards, along with his Yorkshire team-mate Hedley Verity.

After training in Omagh, Northern Ireland, where he played several cricket matches with Verity,[26] he served in India, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Sicily, Italy and Iraq.

[6] Critics regarded his season as unsuccessful, but he was chosen as vice-captain to Hammond on the tour to Australia that winter, continuing his pre-war role.

Yardley scored 99, being caught in the slips just before reaching his century, but his batting had helped to save the game and earned praise from Wisden for "batting soundly".He eventually became the first test captain to be dismissed for 99 in a test innings[36][37] Yardley and Denis Compton added 237, which was a record partnership for the fifth wicket in England and remains, in August 2010, England's best fifth wicket stand against South Africa.

He then set defensive fields to keep down Australia's scoring rate, taking a wicket himself with his fourth ball as part of figures of two for 32.

The England captain then arrested a batting collapse by adding 87 with Denis Compton, scoring 44 himself, but Australia led by 135 on first innings.

[6] He kept the team batting for five minutes on the last day, allowing him to use the heavy roller to quicken the break-up of the pitch.

Compton was not a specialist bowler and although he caused problems for the batsmen, Bill Bowes believed the selectors were mistaken in expecting him to be as effective as a front line spinner.

[54][56] Australia won by seven wickets; the spectators were unhappy with the inadequate English bowling and the absence of a suitable bowler to exploit the pitch on the last day.

[54] Around this time, and particularly after the fourth Test defeat, critics suggested that Walter Robins, one of the selectors, should captain England to bring a more attacking approach to the job.

However, Robins' age counted against him; the selectors were satisfied with Yardley's captaincy in what were difficult circumstances, and retained him for the final Test.

Bowes also cast doubt on Yardley's future, stating that other commitments may have prevented his continuing to play cricket much longer.

Mann did well enough to retain the position for two Tests in the 1949 season; Freddie Brown captained the other two and Yardley did not play for England that year.

[10][11] He did not score a century in the County Championship, but passed three figures for Yorkshire against the New Zealand touring team and for the North against the South in a festival match.

[65][66] It took seven matches for Yardley to reach fifty runs in an innings, but he hit centuries against Surrey, Somerset and Scotland in the second half of the season.

Contemporaries believed him to be the best captain in the country tactically, taking reasonable chances without too many risks and judging players strengths and weakness.

Trevor Bailey, who played against him for Essex and under him for England, wrote that he thought him "an outstanding tactician and an expert on wicket behaviour.

"[72] Alan Gibson believed that unlike some county captains, Yardley was worth his place in the side on cricketing ability.

[71] Jim Kilburn noted that he used orthodox tactics, even when a different approach was called for, while other critics believed that he was shocked by the attitude of some difficult players in the side.

But Bob Appleyard, another of his former players, gives Yardley credit for recognising his potential and encouraging him to become a spinner, and believes that he and Hutton made a formidable pair of tacticians.

[76] He bowled intelligently, leading to greater rewards than his gentle style led opponents to expect, but remained a reluctant bowler who was surprised by his own success.

Articulate, expert, and possessing considerable charge [sic], I thought his interpretation of events on the field and his post-session summaries were sound, balanced and never less than fair.