Yardley played cricket for
Kent from 1868 to 1878, but his most famous deeds were for
Cambridge University, for whom he played from 1869 to 1872. Two of his three hundreds were made in
the University Match. His 100 in 1870 was the first in the history of the fixture and his 130 in 1872 was his career highest score. The 1870 fixture was
"Cobden's Match", when
F. C. Cobden's taking of the last three Oxford wickets in consecutive balls gave Cambridge victory by 2 runs, but Cobden's heroics would not have been possible but for Yardley's contribution. Yardley appeared nine times for the Gentlemen in their
fixture against the Players, and had the fine average of 36.25, with three fifties and a highest score of 83. When he and W. G. Grace were on the same team they used to have a small bet on who would record the higher score. Yardley was proud that in the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's in 1871, he beat Grace's score in both innings. He was the "ghost writer" of one of Grace's four "autobiographies":
The History of a Hundred Centuries, published by Gill in 1895. In 83 matches Yardley scored 3,609 runs at the fine average for the period of 25.77, with three centuries. In addition to his batting, he occasionally
kept wicket. His
Wisden obituary says of him: "... his style was free and commanding and his hitting brilliant in the extreme. He thought himself that the finest innings he ever played was 73 for South against North at Prince's on a very difficult wicket in May, 1872." ==Later life==