Jim Kilburn

Now paid £6 per week plus expenses, and initially writing under the by-line "Our Cricket Correspondent", Kilburn quickly established his reputation. Soon after he took the position, he was given the byline "J. M. Kilburn"; his reports were often among the few not anonymised. He continued in the position until 1976, when he retired.

Kilburn twice accompanied the England team on overseas tours to Australia: in 1946–47 and 1954–55. During the former tour, he became a founder member of the Cricket Writers' Club. He served as its secretary, chairman and later became an Honorary Life Member. He also became the only journalist elected as a life member at Yorkshire, and opened the newly built press box at Headingley Cricket Ground in 1988. In his final years, he became blind—his sight began to fail shortly after his retirement— but according to Wisden, "Jim Kilburn remained an upright, dignified man until he died". Outside of his work, Kilburn played golf to a reasonable standard, and was married with three children. Derek Hodgson writes: "All his work will be valued as an accurate insight into social attitudes in the first half of this century. Jim Kilburn intended always to write about cricket but in fact he told us all so much more." He wrote ten books on cricket, and contributed regularly to The Cricketer magazine and to Wisden.

During his time in Finland, Kilburn sent travel articles to the Barnsley Chronicle and the Yorkshire Post. The editor of the latter, Arthur Mann, was impressed by Kilburn's work, and arranged to meet him in 1934. Learning of his interest in cricket, and recognising his name from his success in the Bradford League, Mann gave Kilburn a trial as the newspaper's cricket correspondent; the position had been vacant since Alfred Pullin had retired in 1931. An initial three-month period, with a salary of £3 per week, resulted in a written commendation from Neville Cardus, and he was appointed permanently with responsibility for cricket and rugby.

The press-boxes of Kilburn's time, particularly in Yorkshire, were unfriendly and serious places. According to Wisden, "[Kilburn] was a tall, austere man who had little truck with press-box banter." According to writer Derek Hodgson, Kilburn was shy. However, his views and methods were regarded as old-fashioned in the later stages of his career. Kilburn was often compared to his contemporary from Lancashire, Neville Cardus, but his style was dissimilar. Cardus wrote in a romantic style whereas Kilburn preferred factual accuracy; according to Wisden, Kilburn was "harder, less flashy, more punctilious". Journalist Frank Keating writes: "Neville Cardus was acclaimed the Wordsworth of cricket writing, while across the Pennines they hailed Kilburn as the Coleridge. With good reason." Kilburn's writings on the Yorkshire players of the 1930s and 1940s made them well known to the public as personalities, and he wrote several pieces for the Yorkshire Post which became famous. Kilburn had a deep love of cricket, and worried it was losing its way in embracing one-day matches and sponsorship, although he did not believe that progress was necessarily bad. He believed that cricketers should be chivalrous, and greatly admired stylish play. He severely criticised anything on the field which he believed fell short of acceptable standards, including the occasion in 1967 when Yorkshire won the County Championship after engaging in time-wasting tactics to avoid losing a game. He retired in 1976, but continued to follow the sport very closely.

James Maurice Kilburn (8 July 1909 – 28 August 1993) was a British sports journalist who wrote for the Yorkshire Post between 1934 and 1976. Well-regarded for the style of his writing and his refusal to write about off-field events, Kilburn wrote primarily about Yorkshire County Cricket Club. After a brief career in teaching, and having spent time in Finland, Kilburn was appointed cricket correspondent at the Yorkshire Post after impressing the editor with his writing. A serious man, he had an unusual way of writing his reports, but his editors refused to change his copy, so highly did they value his impact.

Kilburn was born in Sheffield in 1909, and attended Holgate Grammar School in Barnsley, before completing a degree in economics at the university there. From an early age, he showed interest in cricket; as a boy he received coaching from former Yorkshire cricketer George Hirst at Scarborough, and played for Barnsley in Yorkshire Council matches and for Bradford in the Bradford League. Bowling fast-paced off spin, Kilburn was successful enough with bat and ball to win medals for Bradford and have his achievements reported in the press. He worked briefly as a teacher in a Harrogate preparatory school. While in Bradford, he met the vice-consul for Finland; as a result, he went to live in Finland for a year.