Background
Brookes was born in Kippax, Leeds.
Brookes was born in Kippax, Leeds.
He attended Kippax Council School, where he was captain of cricket and football.
He also played in one Test match for England against West Indies in 1948. Brookes was President of Northamptonshire from 1982 to 1984. A cultured and prolific opening batsman, Brookes was the first professional skipper at Northamptonshire, and became both county president and a Justice of the peace.
After being spotted playing club cricket as a teenager, he joined Northamptonshire in 1934, making his debut against Yorkshire in 1934, aged 18.
The team at that time was very weak. Brookes quickly became a regular in the county team, but his career was interrupted by the Second World War, in which he served as a sergeant-instructor in the Royal Air Force. His batting really developed, though, after the war and for the next 10 years he was at, or near the top of, the national batting averages.
He was unlucky to play in no more than one Test match, the first Test on the 1947-1948 tour of the West Indies. His tour ended prematurely after he chipped a finger bone immediately after the first Test.
Northampton"s fortunes revived in 1949, when Freddie Brown became captain of Northamptonshire, and the team finished the season fifth in the County Championship.
As senior professional, Brookes frequently stood in for Brown as captain in the early 1950s. Brown retired in 1953, and Brookes took over, the first professional captain of the county. He retired from first-class cricket after the 1959 season, but captained the Players against the Gentlemen that year (his only appearance for the Players).
Brookes passed 1,000 runs in a season 17 times, and 2,000 runs six times.
His highest score was 267, scored against Gloucestershire in 1949. He made 71 first-class centuries, including one against each of the other 16 counties, and six double centuries.
He held many Northamptonshire records, including the most appearances (492), most career runs (28,980), most centuries (67) and most runs in a season (2,198 in 1952). He was later captain of the Northamptonshire second XI, a coach for Northamptonshire, and a local magistrate.
He was president of Northamptonshire from 1982 to 1985.
Meyer reached into his back pocket and said, "Sorry Arthur, here"s a quid."
Brookes died in March 2006, in Northampton, at the age of 90.