100 Years Ago: 1 September 1924

Yorkshire triumphs again

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Yorkshire have retained the County Championship title, their third in succession.

Day 2

Dover Week: Kent v Lancashire

Parkin 200 Wickets

KENT 199 and 115 (J Seymour 17, G C Collins 23*, J C Hubble 21, A C Wright 24; C H Parkin 6/21, F B Watson 2/44). LANCASHIRE 138 (J W H Makepeace 41, C Hallows 29, F B Watson 24; A P Freeman 5/54, C S Marriott 5/31). Overnight score was: Kent (1) 199/9 (Freeman 6*).

Kent continued their first innings for two balls and no runs, as Tich Freeman was bowled by Cecil Parkin.  Lancashire made a good start in reply, with Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows putting on 67 for the first wicket, but after that the leg-spinners Freeman and Father Marriott held sway, both bowling superbly, and only Frank Watson passed 20.  The last three wickets went down at 136, giving Kent a lead of 63.  Marriott mixed his leg-breaks with off-breaks, and the latter style actually looked more dangerous on the slow pitch.

After lunch the sun came out and played a big rôle in the Kent second innings.  As it dried the damp pitch it became very difficult and the top Kent batsmen struggled for runs, with Parkin the ideal bowler to take full advantage of the conditions.  He took the first six wickets to fall in 13 overs for only seven runs hit off his bowling, and thus leapfrogged Maurice Tate (no wickets against Yorkshire) and Charlie Parker (no match for Gloucestershire) to become the first bowler to reach 200 wickets this season.

The score at tea was 37 for six.  Then the sun also went off for tea and did not return, with the result that the pitch played much more easily afterwards.  George Collins dropped anchor, while Jack Hubble and Charlie Wright were more aggressive, and by the close the last wicket had fallen at 115, with Collins still in occupation, 23 not out in 1¾ hours.  Parkin in the match took 12 wickets for 71 runs.  Tomorrow Lancashire will need to score 179 to win, and there could be a good finish.  The weather and the pitch, which is wearing, between them could very easily decide the result.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire

Smashing Spencer

GLAMORGAN 271 (M J L Turnbull 42, F B Pinch 27, D Davies 24, J C Clay 35, H Spencer 56; S J Staples 4/44, T L Richmond 2/58, A Staples 2/28). NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 14/1 (G Gunn 5*, J R Gunn 0*). Overnight: no play on Saturday.

Although conditions were very poor after more overnight rain, play started on time at Cardiff Arms Park, thanks to the determination of both batsmen to play, and Glamorgan were able to bat on a lifeless pitch with the Nottinghamshire bowlers struggling to get a foothold on the slippery outfield.  All their top seven batsmen reached double figures, the highest innings being one of 42 by the promising Maurice Turnbull in nearly an hour and a half.  Seven wickets were down for 199, but then Helm Spencer came in and hit powerfully at anything, smashing his way to a fifty in only 20 minutes, most of his runs coming at the expense of John Gunn; he hit 2 sixes and 7 fours.  The final total of 271 was one of Glamorgan’s best.  Before the close Nottinghamshire lost Dodger Whysall for 7 before bad light stopped play after half an hour.

Leicester: Leicestershire v Essex

Astill Gives Leicestershire Advantage

LEICESTERSHIRE 125 (S S Coulson 14, W E Astill 56; L C Eastman 3/30, J D Barnfather 6/32) and 32/1 (S S Coulson 20*, W E Astill 5*). ESSEX 68 (F W H Nicholas 20, A B Hipkin 10; A W Shipman 3/21, W E Astill 5/24, G Geary 2/10). Overnight: no play on Saturday.

The original pitch had been so badly damaged by the rain on Saturday that a new one had to be cut, and that greatly favoured the bowlers, with the sun shining brightly on it.  Ewart Astill was the only batsman to pass 20 during the day, and his fine 56 gave Leicestershire a significant advantage by the close.  His biggest partnership was one of 46 for the fifth wicket with Arthur German, who scored 9.  The star bowler for Essex was their occasional amateur pace bowler and footballer James Barnfather, who took his first haul of five or more wickets in first-class cricket.  Essex did even worse, with no batsman able to play the Astill rôle; in fact, Astill was the leading performer with the ball after Alan Shipman had removed the top three batsmen.  The first four wickets to fall were all out to catches by Tommy Sidwell behind the wicket.  The last four Essex wickets all fell at 68, with Astill taking three of them in one over, an outstanding day for him.

Lord’s: Middlesex v Surrey

Surrey’s Hour

MIDDLESEX 84/4 (H W Lee 22, H L Dales 30, J W Hearne 18*, G O B Allen 0*; W C H Sadler 2 wkts, T F Shepherd 2 wkts). SURREY to bat. Overnight score was: Middlesex (1) 51/0 (Lee 22*, Dales 26*).

After more rain the ground was in a very poor state and really unfit for cricket, but the umpires, considering the desire of the crowd, allowed play for the last hour of the day in very muddy conditions.  It did not help matters when news came through that Yorkshire have beaten Sussex, and therefore the result of this match is quite immaterial.  The brief period yesterday belonged to Middlesex, and today it belonged to Surrey.  Middlesex rather threw away their wickets, as Harry Lee, Horace Dales and Dick Twining were all brilliantly caught by Douglas Jardine at short leg as they tried to pull long hops for four — two off Tom Shepherd and one off Bill Sadler.  The other wicket to fall was that of Patsy Hendren, who was yorked by Sadler for 5.  At the other end Jack Hearne amused himself and treated the crowd to numerous exhibitions of his immaculate defensive strokes.

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Warwickshire

Calthorpe Boosts Warwickshire

WARWICKSHIRE 265 (E J Smith 15, J H Parsons 48, F R Santall 73, F S G Calthorpe 66; W Wells 2/51, A E Thomas 4/42, V W C Jupp 3/67). NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 50/3 (W H Denton 21*, R A Haywood 15, B W Bellamy 5*; R E S Wyatt 2 wkts). Overnight: no play in Saturday.

Warwickshire were fortunate to bat first on a fair batting pitch.  Jack Parsons showed the best form early on, continuing the more aggressive style of batting he has shown recently in scoring 48 of the first 79.  Then Reg Santall and Freddie Calthorpe, returning to the team, put on 114 for the fourth wicket together in good style to take the score to 211 before the fourth wicket fell.  Santall batted soundly and Calthorpe aggressively, scoring his 66 in an hour.  However, the later batsmen failed to build on this and the final total of 265 was rather disappointing.  Albert Thomas was the best of the bowlers, as accurate as ever and taking four for 42 off 31.1 overs.  Northamptonshire did not begin too well before the close, although the dogged opener Billy Denton held firm while losing three partners.

Hove: Sussex v Yorkshire

Yorkshire Triumphant

SUSSEX 60 and 83 (R A Young 27, G S Grimston 13, T E R Cook 17*; R Kilner 7/37, W Rhodes 3/20). YORKSHIRE 253/9 dec (P Holmes, E Oldroyd 42, W Rhodes 35; A E R Gilligan 2/45, E H Bowley 4/78, H L Wilson 3/37). Yorkshire won by an innings and 110 runs. Overnight score was: Yorkshire (1) 50/1 (Holmes 21*, Oldroyd 1*).

Yorkshire may not have been quite the same all-conquering side that they were last year, but they could scarcely have taken this championship in a more convincing manner in this their last match.  For Sussex it was a sudden end to their new dawn with the return of Arthur Gilligan, whose difficult choice on winning the toss proved to be disastrous.  Sussex had much the worse of the conditions, but when they handed themselves a lemon they failed to make lemonade and put up a feeble fight in both innings.

The pitch was slow but easy in the morning, and Yorkshire piled on the runs steadily through Percy Holmes and Edgar Oldroyd, but afterwards it became more difficult, and apart from Wilfred Rhodes the later Yorkshire batsmen contributed little, with the ball popping and turning.  Holmes scored only 2 fours in his 88, a sign of how slow the outfield was.  Yorkshire declared with a lead of 193 runs, the man who didn’t bat being Maurice Leyland, who could have done if needed but had a slight strain.  Maurice Tate failed to take a wicket, but the Yorkshire batsmen played him very carefully, scoring just 30 runs off his 22 overs.

Again it was the left-arm spinners Roy Kilner and Rhodes who bowled Sussex out in 1¾ hours with very little resistance from most of their team, Arthur Gilligan collecting a pair.  Dick Young played the best innings with 27 in 70 minutes, being the eighth man out, stumped off Rhodes.  Kilner took seven wickets for 37 runs in the innings and 12 for 55 in the match.  This is the second match in succession that he has bowled unchanged throughout both innings, and in his last three matches he has taken 33 wickets for 256 runs.  Yorkshire left the field when the match ended at six o’clock to generous cheers from the Hove crowd of about 3000.

Worcester: Worcestershire v South Africans

Innings Victory for South Africans

WORCESTERSHIRE 87 and 161 (H L Higgins 21, F A Pearson 26, Lord Cobham 21*, J F MacLean 27; D J Meintjes 3/38, C P Carter 3/44, S J Pegler 3/21). SOUTH AFRICANS 276 (G A L Hearne 13, S J Pegler 29; C F Root 5/83, F A Pearson 3/90, G C Wilson 2/49). South Africans won by an innings and 28 runs. Overnight score was: South Africans (1) 234/7 (Hearne 0*, Meintjes 4*).

The remainder of the South African innings, on a considerably better (although soft) pitch today, was boosted by an aggressive ninth-wicket partnership of 41 between George Hearne and Sid Pegler, with the latter doing most of the hitting.  The innings finally closed for 276, a lead of 189, with Fred Root as usual the most successful bowler.

Worcestershire began their second innings quite well, with Harry Higgins and Dick Pearson making 37 together for the first wicket, and three were down for 70 at lunch, all to Claude Carter.  Afterwards the bowlers broke through and the Worcestershire batting collapsed pitifully, with Harry Foster out without scoring and Maurice Foster for 5.  Nine wickets were down for 110, but then the last pair of Lord Cobham and John MacLean, with all the pressure off, simply hit out freely and were able to put on 51 in half an hour for the last wicket — the highest Worcestershire partnership of the match.  This is South Africa’s first innings victory over a county, although they also beat Scotland by an innings.

Day 1

Blackpool Festival: Gentlemen v Players

McDonald Hustles Out Gents

GENTLEMEN 152 (B H Lyon 33, H L V Day 55, R S Fowler 21; E A McDonald 6/59, C W L Parker 4/70). PLAYERS 28/1 (W R Hammond 10, J A Newman 8*, J W Whewell 7*).

The start of this match was delayed until 2.30 due to the sodden pitch, and play finally began on a soft pitch under dull skies before a small crowd.  Bev Lyon opened the batting for the Gentlemen and made a dashing start, taking advantage of the slow pitch to hit McDonald about and surviving two chances before he fell to Parker for 33 in less than half an hour.  Harold Day with 55 in an hour and a half was overall the best batsman, and the score reached 121 before the fifth wicket fell.  After tea, however, McDonald came back and adapted well to the pitch, taking four wickets cheaply and quickly to bundle the Gentlemen out for 152.  The Players batted slowly for the last three-quarters of an hour and lost the wicket of Wally Hammond for 10.

Newcastle: MINOR COUNTIES FINAL

BERKSHIRE 141 (R Relf 100) and 78. NORTHUMBERLAND 99 (R Relf 6/24) and 68. Berkshire won by 53 runs.

Berkshire owed their Minor Counties title almost entirely to Robert Relf, who lost his Sussex qualification to play for them last year.  He scored exactly 100 out of 141 in their first innings, and although he failed to score in the second, he took six wickets in the first innings of Northumberland and three in the second.  Percy Chapman had been expected to play for Berkshire as well, but he had to withdraw.  Scores were very low due to a wet, difficult pitch.

John Ward is an ACS member and a long-serving Zimbabwean cricket statistician. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please either respond to the email in which you received it, or leave a comment below.