The unseen letters of an English cricket great have been published after they were discovered by a veteran regional journalist.

David Warner, the Bradford Telegraph & Argus’s Yorkshire cricket correspondent for more than 40 years, has revealed a new side to Yorkshire, Somerset and England cricketer Brian Close in a new book.

David, pictured, came across a treasure trove of letters and memorabilia left by Mr Close, who died aged 84 in 2015, after visiting his widow Vivien to see if there was anything she wanted to go to the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.

The journalistic instincts of David, 78, kicked in when he began discovered the letters to Mr Close’s lifelong friend John Anderson in a dusty suitcase.

He told HTFP: “I couldn’t believe my eyes. When I saw what he’d left I saw it as a journalist – that there was a great story there just waiting to be told.

“Most sports followers would be forgiven for thinking he was one of those uncompromising sportsmen who couldn’t do anything else in life.

“But I knew his early schooldays showed he was very clever and he was even being encouraged to set his sights on Oxbridge and become a doctor until sport took over and so that side of his character never developed.

“And here, right before my eyes, was a collection of thoughtful letters that confirmed there was a lot more to Brian Close than met the public eye.

The letters were penned in the 1950s as Close was trying living for himself as a cricketer and as a footballer with Leeds, Arsenal and Bradford City in addition to doing National Service in the Army.

They describe his first season with Yorkshire in 1949 when he achieved the double of 1,000 first class runs and 100 wickets in addition to becoming England’s youngest Test debutant at 18 years and 149 days.

And they go on to recall his Test tour of Australia in 1950-51 and MCC’s controversial unofficial tour of Pakistan in 1955-56 which was almost called off after an umpire was doused with water by some of the England players at the team hotel.

David added: “Brian Close was one of the toughest people to play cricket but he was just as handy with pen and paper as he was with bat and ball.

“It was an altogether softer side to him that hardly anyone knew about but thankfully his treasure trove of letters came into my possession by accident and inspired my book.”

Together with Ron Deaton, who has painstakingly edited book, Warner spent countless hours copying letters and photographs.

They are now a part of the Brian Close Collection of Memorabilia under the ownership of the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.

The book ‘Just a Few Lines…Unseen letters and memorabilia of Brian Close’ has been published by Bradford-based Great Northern Books.

David, who started his career in 1958 with the Shipley Guardian, said: “First and foremost I’m essentially I’m a newspaper reporter and that’s why I found it such an interesting subject,” Warner continued.

“If you see something that’s a good tale you want to tell it and that also applied when I was covering Yorkshire from the press box for the T&A.

“It was never about me being there to cheer to team on – I was to write about the Yorkshire on and off the field. I certainly wasn’t a PR man for Yorkshire – I was a cricket writer for the T&A who paid my wages.

“I always wrote with cricket followers in mind but this book transcends the game because it’s more of a social history.

“And I have to admit I’m happy to have written this book and added to people’s knowledge of Brian Close and his writing skills and adventures in the early days of his career. What’s given me pleasure is that it’s a good read.”

The book costs £20 and can be ordered by going to www.gnbooks.co.uk or calling 01274 735056.