100 Years Ago: 1 October 1924

Hampshire’s season of struggles

1924 County Review

HAMPSHIRE — 12th place

After appearing to be a challenge to the Big Six last year, finishing seventh in the County Championship, Hampshire had a very disappointing season this year.  They rely on three top players mainly for success: Mead with the bat, and Kennedy and Newman with the ball.  Mead began the season in poor form: it took him five matches to score his first fifty and 19 for his first century.  He then had a brief purple patch before slumping again, failing to reach 30 in his last six matches.  The other batsmen scored moderately, with Ronnie Aird making encouraging progress, but Mead at present is quite irreplaceable for Hampshire.

Kennedy had another fine season with the ball, but had little support, as Newman did not bowl as well as has been expected of him for years.  Boyes again did some useful work as a left-arm spinner, but Kennedy had to bear the burden of the attack virtually alone, and in addition had to open the batting for most of season.  His extra bowling burden probably affected his batting, and in the end he dropped down the order.  He was not always helped by his fielders, as Livsey as wicket-keeper was inconsistent, taking some brilliant catches but missing too many others, while the slip fielding was often very unreliable.

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