SIXTY-TWO years after he died helping liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny, tributes have been paid to war hero and cricketing legend Hedley Verity.

To mark the centenary of his birth, a wreath was laid on his grave in Italy by an officer from his regiment, The Green Howards.

Officials from Yorkshire County Cricket Club have announced they are dedicating their county championship match against Essex on May 25 to his memory.

Captain Verity was born on May 18, 1905, and died on July 31, 1943, after he was shot in the chest leading his men in a charge against Germans near Cantania, in eastern Sicily.

After he was hit, he continued to urge his men on. He was captured by the Germans and handed to the Italians, who took him to a military hospital in Caserta, where he died.

Just before his capture, he is said to have told his batman: "I think I have played my last innings for Yorkshire."

He is still in the record books as the only man to have taken ten wickets for ten runs in first-class cricket. In his last game before the war, he took seven wickets for nine runs.

He played for England in 40 Test matches, and holds the record for taking 14 Test wickets in a day, during the Ashes victory in 1934.

Capt Verity was buried in the Commonwealth war cemetery at Caserta, alongside 768 other soldiers.

A wreath was laid on his grave by Lieutenant Colonel David O'Kelly, the vice-chairman of the Army Cricket Association, as he led a battlefield tour of Monte Cassino and Anzio.

When the tribute match opens at Headingley, an exhibition about Capt Verity will open in the club's Long Room, in the presence of Capt Verity's son, Douglas, and daughter-in-law, Ann.

The Green Howards Corps of Drums will play during the lunch interval.

As a young officer during the war, he first worked in the former Green Howards depot in Richmond, where other Yorkshire cricketing heroes worked, including Capt Herbert Sutcliffe, Sergeant Leonard Hutton and Lieutenant Norman Yardley.