Yorkshire spinner Wilson dies at 74

Don Wilson, the former Yorkshire and England left-arm spinner, has died in a York hospital at the age of 74.

Wilson was a central figure in Yorkshire's domination of county cricket in the 1960s, playing alongside such greats as Fred Trueman, Brian Close, Ray Illingworth and Geoffrey Boycott.

The team began to break up after winning a third successive championship in 1968 but Wilson, whose sense of fun made him a popular figure with Yorkshire crowds, did not retire until 1974.

Off the field, he had a keen sense of the theatrical and needed little encouragement before embarking on a song and dance routine with another Yorkshire and England team mate, Phil Sharpe.

Wilson followed in Yorkshire's great tradition of left-arm spinners, following such celebrated names as Wilfred Rhodes and Johnny Wardle. A tall and wiry bowler, he took 1,189 first-class wickets at 21.00 in 422 first-class matches and won seven Championships.

He played six Tests for England, five against India on the 1963-4 tour and one against New Zealand on the 1970-1 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He also played twice for England against Rest of the World in 1970, matches that were subsequently stripped of their status as Tests by the ICC.

After his retirement, he served as the MCC's chief coach from 1974 to 1991 and then as coach at Ampleforth College. He was president of the Yorkshire Players' Association in 2008.