100 Years Ago: 10 July 1924
By John Ward
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Day 2
Southend-on-Sea: Essex v Yorkshire
Sutcliffe’s Highest Score
ESSEX 132 and 114/3 (J R Freeman 27, H M Morris 56*, P A Perrin 5*). YORKSHIRE 471/5 dec (H Sutcliffe 255*, E Oldroyd 138, E Robinson 28*; L C Eastman 2/84). Overnight score was: Yorkshire (1) 123/1 (Sutcliffe 69*, Oldroyd 42*).
Yorkshire took full advantage today of a seriously weakened Essex team. Johnny Douglas was scarcely able to bowl today owing to a recurrence of his leg injury, while Laurie Eastman could only bowl at a slower pace, although he came into the match in that condition when Essex had only ten available men. George Louden was able to bowl, though he has a sore toe, and got through 41 overs in the innings, but could take only one wicket. Herbert Sutcliffe filled his boots in a sound, determined innings that made up his highest first-class score to date; it is also the highest score of the current season, beating the 247 by Alf Dipper against Oxford University. He batted for just under six hours, the length of the Yorkshire innings until the declaration, and gave only one chance, to long-off after passing 200. His partnership with Edgar Oldroyd in the end realized 314 runs, the latter batting for almost four hours before he was caught off Jack Russell. There followed a middle order ‘collapse’ as four wickets fell for 72 runs, but Emmott Robinson proved equal to the ‘crisis’ and stayed in for 45 minutes for 68 runs with Sutcliffe until the declaration came.
Essex needed 339 even to avoid an innings defeat, which looks inevitable for them tomorrow barring rain or some unusually good batting — and the pitch is showing signs of breaking up. Russell and Jack O’Connor were both out for 31 runs on the board; John Freeman fought for a while, but Whiz Morris did best, evidently deciding that stolid defence would be in vain and he might as well enjoy himself; he ran up a good fifty in just over an hour.
Tunbridge Wells: Kent v Leicestershire
Woolley Bowls out Leicestershire
KENT 124 and 177 (G J Bryan 18, F E Woolley 12, G C Collins 54, A C Wright 55; A Skelding 5/53, G Geary 3/57). LEICESTERSHIRE 49 and 83 (G L Berry 16, G Geary 19; W S Cornwallis 2/17, F E Woolley 6/29). Kent won by 169 runs. Overnight score was: Kent (2) 17/0 (Bryan 14*, Ashdown 1*).
The bowlers continued to rule in this match, except for just one partnership. Again the sun shone hotly on the wet pitch and made it treacherous for batting. Alec Skelding, backed by George Geary, again cut through the Kent top order when they continued their second innings, so that seven wickets were down for 60. It seemed they were letting Leicestershire back into the game, but then came the only partnership worth more than 35 in the match, as Charlie Wright joined George Collins and they put on 105 for the eighth wicket in an hour and a half; Wright was dropped on 21. Both reached their fifties, batting Leicestershire out of the game as Kent were able to set their visitors 253 to win.
Les Berry and Geary put up a fight as Leicestershire went in again, but when Woolley came on, surprisingly kept back until third change, he bowled out Berry and ran steadily through the rest of the batting. The pitch had by now eased a lot, but Leicestershire’s spirit had gone. Woolley took ten wickets in the match for 44 runs, while Skelding had ten for 98.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Lancashire
McDonald Murders Northamptonshire
LANCASHIRE 376/8 dec (J W H Makepeace 106, R K Tyldesley 18; A E Thomas 3/70, C N Woolley 3/62). NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 87 (V W C Jupp 34, C N Woolley 10, J S Nicholson 10; C H Parkin 4/61, E A McDonald 3/26) and (following on) 176/4 (C N Woolley 23, W W Timms 60*, F I Walden 54, R L Wright 7*). Overnight score was: Lancashire (1) 341/5 (Makepeace 100*, Iddon 4*).
Lancashire batted on for a further three-quarters of an hour this morning and then declared, with Harry Makepeace having been dismissed for 106 while Dick Tyldesley hit up a quick 18. They then unleashed Cecil Parkin and Ted McDonald on the unfortunate Northamptonshire batsmen. McDonald produced his fastest and best bowling for Lancashire yet, working up a dangerous pace and four times knocking a stump far out of the ground as he bowled a man out. It was remarkable that Northamptonshire reached 53 before they lost their second wicket, and thus was mainly due to the aggression of Vallance Jupp, who while defying McDonald did his best to knock Parkin out of the attack; Parkin’s first six overs cost 44 runs, mainly to Jupp, before McDonald had him very well caught in the slips by Dick Tyldesley. After this McDonald cut right through the rest of the batting and Northamptonshire were dismissed for 87.
They followed on, with Jupp scoring a single off Parkin and then suffering a serious blow on the elbow from a ball from McDonald; he had to retire hurt in great pain and is unlikely to take any further part in the match. Parkin and McDonald, after 14 overs unchanged in the first innings, were unable to bowl for too long in the second, which enabled the home side to stage something of a recovery. The stern straight bat of Wilfrid Timms saw his through to his fifty and the close of play, while the more aggression Fanny Walden also managed a fifty, batting for an hour and a quarter, after being dropped early in his innings. But at the close they were still 113 runs behind, and Parkin and McDonald will be fresh again tomorrow morning. Had they held all their catches, though, they would have had a free day tomorrow.
Bath: Somerset v Derbyshire
Somerset on Top
SOMERSET 230 and 299/8 (J C W MacBryan 66 retired hurt, M D Lyon 24, S G U Considine 70, P R Johnson 38, J C White 46*, J Daniell 19; W Bestwick 2/63, A Morton 2/52). DERBYSHIRE 117 (S W A Cadman 36, F R Heath 14, A Morton 21; J J Bridges 3/44, H S R Critchley-Salmonson 2/22, J C White 5/25). Overnight score was: Derbyshire (1) 48/5 (Cadman 23*, Heath 2*).
Derbyshire needed to score 81 runs to avoid the possibility of following on, and this was still a danger when their sixth wicket went down at 65. But Cadman gallantly stood firm to see them past that mark, though he found it very difficult to score and finally spent 2½ hours making 36. The final deficit was 113. The batsmen could do very little with the bowling of Jack White, who took five for 25 in 25.2 overs.
Jack MacBryan again played a fine innings when Somerset batted again, although when he had 66 he was struck a nasty blow in the face by a delivery from Horsley and had to retired hurt with a badly cut cheek; he tried to cut a short ball, but it flew off his bat into his face. He had better support this time from the top order, especially Ulick Considine with 70, and Jack White came along with a valuable innings before the close, when Somerset finished 412 runs ahead.
The Oval: Surrey v Gloucestershire
Hobbs and Fender have Gloucestershire Down
SURREY 184 and 374/7 dec (J B Hobbs 105, A Sandham 73, H A Peach 47, T F Shepherd 29, D R Jardine 34, W J Abel 24, P G H Fender 20; C W L Parker 3/141, E G Dennett 2/118). GLOUCESTERSHIRE 78 and 138/7 (B H Lyon 29, A E Dipper 22, B S Bloodworth 31*, J G W T Bessant 44; P G H Fender 3 wkts including hat-trick). Overnight score was: Surrey (2) 11/0 (Hobbs 9*, Sandham 0*).
As expected, the pitch was back to its usual excellent batting surface, and Surrey took full advantage. Jack Hobbs and Andy Sandham took their partnership to 168 before lunch, when Sandham was run out. Hobbs went on afterwards to reach his century, but for a while he was overshadowed by some fierce hitting from Alan Peach, who slammed 47 in 25 minutes. Hobbs batted just over 2½ hours altogether, and after he left the Surrey batting, with such a huge lead, became rather light-hearted. Percy Fender declared at tea, leaving Gloucestershire 481 to win in theory. Gloucestershire bowled and fielded well, but with little effect, and they were handicapped by the loss of Percy Mills’s bowling through injury.
Alf Dipper and Bev Lyon began the innings confidently, putting on 46 together, but then Percy Fender and Stanley Fenley took over the bowling. Fenley dismissed Lyon lbw, and then Fender took a hat-trick of top-order batsmen — Dipper, Malcolm Salter and Francis Rogers. It is rarely that two hat-tricks occur in the same match. Bernie Bloodworth stopped the gap, though, and then John Bessant came in to play one of his occasional great slogging innings, hitting 9 fours and scoring 44 in 20 minutes. Stumps were pulled up on his dismissal, and tomorrow Surrey need only two or three wickets to win, depending on whether Mills can bat.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v South Africans
Santall’s First Century as Warwickshire Shock Tourists
SOUTH AFRICANS 317 and 25/0 (J M M Commaille 14*, T A Ward 5*). WARWICKSHIRE 440 (J H Parsons 43, F R Santall 102, F S G Calthorpe 76, N Kilner 48, L T A Bates 76, A J W Croom 21, H Howell 26*; S J Pegler 3/75, J M Blanckenberg 3/104). Overnight score was: Warwickshire (1) 43/1 (Parsons 25*, Santall 6*).
The South Africans must have been shocked to find the county making much better use of a perfect batting pitch than they had done. There were several good partnerships by the Warwickshire batsmen, starting with the overnight stand of 75 between Jack Parsons and Reg Santall, son of the for Warwickshire all-rounder and present coach Sydney Santall. Reg went on to record his maiden first-class century, after being dropped on 76. After he left Freddie Calthorpe and Norman Kilner scored well, and then Len Bates, down at No 7, finally found his form with a good 76, being last out. The bowling was handicapped by the loss of Sid Pegler, who had to go off with an injured hand after trying to stop a hard return hit from Santall. Overall Warwickshire built a lead of 123 on the first innings, scoring more runs than they had been able to do against any county opponents, and leaving the South Africans with only a draw to play for tomorrow.
Worcester: Worcestershire v Hampshire
Kennedy and Mead Take Hampshire Home
WORCESTERSHIRE 175 and 80 (H L Higgins 18, Lord Somers 23; J A Newman 3/41, A S Kennedy 5/11, G S Boyes 2/15). HAMPSHIRE 147 and 110/2 (R Aird 33*, C P Mead 49*). Hampshire won by eight wickets. Overnight score was: Worcestershire (2) 23/3 (Higgins 3*, Somers 0*).
Worcestershire were struggling at 23 for three in their second innings when play began, and they did have a brief respite. Jack Newman, after such fine bowling yesterday, quite lost it this morning and bowled poorly, Lord Somers hitting him for four fours in an over. However, Alec Kennedy seemed to make a marvellous recovery from his leg injury and bowled superbly, spinning the ball sharply and accurately, to take five wickets for only 11 runs and skittle out the middle order. Worcestershire’s collapse for 80 left Hampshire 109 for victory, although after such a bad season they could not have been too confident of getting them.
George Brown went for 5, but a vital chance went down when Ronnie Aird was dropped on 5. Charles Brutton went for 15, but at 29 for two a very determined Philip Mead came in to bat and took charge, helped by Aird. Mead, determined to reach a fifty and earn the talent money, farmed the bowling in masterly style and seemed to have achieved his object when he reached 49 and faced the bowling with three runs still needed for victory. However, he was quite frustrated as he missed a ball that went for four byes and the match was over. But Hampshire’s miserable season just got a little better.
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.