Close's attitude, in his own words, was that "I've always believed that the team is more important than the individual", and that credo stood Yorkshire in good stead. Ray Illingworth noted that when he left Yorkshire to play for Leicestershire, the players there were surprised that, while Yorkshire were perennial Championship winners, the batting averages of their leading batsmen tended to languish in the 20s. The answer was that Close had honed them to play the innings required at the right time: when quick runs were required, players did not play for their averages, they played for quick runs.