HAROLD RHODES (CRICKETER)

'Harold James Rhodes', sometimes called "Dusty Rhodes", born at Hadfield, Derbyshire, England, on 22 July 1936, was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and England.
Harold Rhodes was the son of the Derbyshire all-rounder Albert "Dusty" Rhodes, later a Test cricket umpire: both played for the county in 1953, but never in the same first-class match.
Initially an off spin bowler, Harold Rhodes converted to become a fast seam bowler, regularly opening the county bowling from 1959 with Les Jackson after the retirement of Cliff Gladwin. In that season, he played two Test matches against India, taking nine wickets.
Although facing strong competition from bowlers such as Brian Statham and Fred Trueman, Rhodes might have expected to play many more Tests. But doubts about the legality of his bowling action emerged, and in 1960, playing for Derbyshire against the South Africans, he was "called" for throwing – bowling the ball with a bent arm that straightens in the delivery – by the umpire and former Test batsman Paul Gibb. Later in the 1960 season, he was no-balled again by Gibb and by Syd Buller, then regarded as the leading umpire in world cricket.
Rhodes was then subjected to a long and detailed examination of his action by MCC committees; he was eventually cleared in 1968 when it was declared that he had a "hyper-extended arm". But by then, his Test career was long gone, though he had continued to bowl successfully for Derbyshire across the 1960s, with a best season in 1965 when he took 119 wickets at the very low average of 11.04 runs per wicket and was top of the English national bowling averages for the season.
Rhodes retired to League cricket in 1969, though he later played some one-day matches for Nottinghamshire.