Wisden obituary
Harding Issac 'Sailor' Young, who died in hospital on December 12, 1964, aged 88, played as a professional all-rounder for Essex from 1898 to 1912. His death escaped general notice at the time. Born at Leyton, he achieved prominence in minor cricket while serving in the Royal Navy and the excellence of his bowling in the nets at Leyton attracted the attention of Mr. C. E. Green. So much so, indeed, that Mr. Green bought Young out of the Service to play for Essex. From this originated the nick-name Sailor by which he was know in the cricket world.

Easily Young's best season was that of 1899 when, besides making 607 runs, he took 139 wickets at a cost of 21 runs each with left-arm bowling of medium pace from a good height and with what was described as a deceptive curl. That summer, W. G. Grace's last in Test cricket, Young played in two matches for England against Australia, heading his county's Test bowling averages with twelve wickets for 21.83 runs apiece. In addition, he bore an outstanding part in the overthrow of the Australians by 126 runs at the hands of Essex at Leyton. In the first innings he obtained four wickets for 42 runs and in the second disposed of seven batsmen for 32, resulting in the dismissal of the touring team for 81. This was one of only three reverses suffered by J. Darling's side during the tour. Of Sailor's feat at Leyton, Wisden recorded: He was practically unplayable, pitching outside the off-stump and turning in six or eight inches with his arm.

He twice represented Players against Gentlemen, in 1899 at The Oval where, in scoring 81--his highest innings--he helped T. W. Hayward to add 135 for the last wicket and took seven wickets for 141 runs, and in 1900 at Scarborough. He also toured the West Indies with the M.C.C. team of 1910-11. He earned a match analysis of fifteen wickets for 154 runs against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 1899, eight of them for 54 in the second innings, and on three other occasions dismissed ten or more men in a match. During the Indian summer of his career, he performed his only hat-trick, against Leicestershire at Leyton in 1907, his full analysis being four wickets for 6 runs.

For a long time on the ground staff at Lord's and often turning out of M.C.C., he served as a first-class umpire from 1921 to 1931 and until a very late age engaged in school coaching--L.F.N.
Wisden Cricketers'Almanack

M Suresh Kumar, Portrait © Cricinfo Ltd

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