100 Years Ago: 14 August 1924

by John Ward

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Day 2

Leyton: Essex v Derbyshire

Derbyshire Struggle Against Ashton

ESSEX 260/9 dec (P A Perrin 59*, J W H T Douglas 16, H M Morris 66; J Horsley 4/40, A Morton 3/55). DERBYSHIRE 148/7 (W W H Hill-Wood 50, J M Hutchinson 23, A Morton 20*, J Horsley 0*). Overnight score was: Essex (1) 146/5 (Perrin 26*, Douglas 16*).

Essex began the day badly, losing Johnny Douglas immediately and two wickets in the first 20 minutes for 4 runs, while Percy Perrin was so dour that he managed only two runs in the first hour.  Whiz Morris turned things around with a fine dashing innings, though, and later Perrin came out of his shell to play more positively.  They put on 85 for the eighth wicket, and Johnny Douglas declared at lunch.  Perrin eventually batted for 3¼ hours for his unbeaten 59.

Essex bowled well when Derbyshire batted, with only Wilfred Hill-Wood of the top six passing 15, and grinding out a two-hour 50.  Six wickets were down for 107, three of them to the medium-paced Claude Ashton.  Jim Hutchinson and Arthur Morton then put on 34, but Hutchinson was out just before the close, when bad light stopped play at 5.40.  Joe Hipkin reached 100 wickets in a season for the first time.  With only the tail to partner Morton tomorrow, Essex look set to record a first-innings lead.

Swansea: Glamorgan v Lancashire

No play — rain. GLAMORGAN 153. LANCASHIRE 151.

The morning began dry, but soon after eleven o’clock a heavy drizzle began and never let up.  Play was finally abandoned for the day at three o’clock.  Glamorgan were robbed of what was expected to be a record gate today.

Cheltenham: Gloucestershire v Leicestershire

Astill Fights Back

LEICESTERSHIRE 144 and 69/2 (E W Dawson 15, G H S Fowke 38*, J H King 11*; C W L Parker 2 wkts). GLOUCESTERSHIRE 179 (F J Seabrook 73, F G Rogers 40; G Geary 2/67, W E Astill 7/71). Overnight score was: Gloucestershire (1) 100/2 (Seabrook 38*).

Leicestershire made a very good fightback this morning, thanks mainly to the excellent bowling of Ewart Astill.  In the first half-hour Gloucestershire slipped from 100 for two to 132 for six, when Fred Seabrook was out for 73, although George Geary was the man claimed his wicket.  Francis Rogers played a determined innings of 40 to ensure his team took the lead, but he had minimal support from the tail and the Gloucestershire lead was only 35.  Astill took seven of the nine wickets to fall with his canny accurate bowling on a helpful pitch, Colonel Douglas Robinson being unable to bat through injury.

The afternoon’s play was frequently interrupted by rain and Charlie Parker and his bowling colleagues were badly handicapped by a wet ball.  Major Gus Fowke and Eddie Dawson — both dropped at the start of their innings — continued the fight for the visitors with an opening partnership of 43 before Dawson was out, and Astill failed to score.  On the whole, though, the batsmen played too defensively when they should have taken advantage of the wet ball.  But in this low-scoring match Leicestershire finished the day 34 runs ahead with two wickets down, and the balance of the match could be said to be almost even.

Bournemouth: Hampshire v Nottinghamshire

Good Struggle

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 194 (S J Staples 51, F Barratt 26, T L Richmond 18*; A S Kennedy 4/67, W R D Shirley 3/33, G Brown 2/46). HAMPSHIRE 128/4 (H L V Day 32, C P Mead 56*, Brown 16*; F Barratt 2 wkts, T L Richmond 2 wkts). Overnight score was: Nottinghamshire (1) 141/8 (Staples 26*, Barratt 16*).

Again rain interfered with play at lunch time, so only an opening session of two and a half hours was possible today.  It contained much good cricket, though, the pitch now being quite easy-paced.  The overnight ninth-wicket pair of Nottinghamshire, Sam Staples and Fred Barratt, continued their partnership until they had put on 58, and then the last man Len Richmond came in to play one of his occasional useful innings to see Staples to his fifty as they added another 31; the team thus added 53 runs in only half an hour.

Hampshire did not begin well, with William Shirley lbw to Barratt from the first ball of the innings, and then Ronnie Aird went for 13.  But a good partnership developed between Harold Day and Phil Mead, taking the score to 89, and at lunch Hampshire were only 66 runs behind with six wickets still in hand — including that of Mead, who took only an hour to reach his fifty.  But an outright result seems unlikely tomorrow after so much rain unless the pitch plays a part.

Harlequins v South Africans

Carter and Commaille in South African Win

HARLEQUINS 73 and 213 (D R Jardine 40, A H Evans 42, R H Twining 32, C H Knott 28m ED Smith 20; J M Blanckenberg 2/67, C P Carter 6/40). SOUTH AFRICANS 162 and 125/4 (J M M Commaille 68, R H Catterall 16*; V R Price 2/44). South Africans won by six wickets. Overnight score was: Harlequins (2) 13/1 (Jardine 6*, Price 5*).

The pitch was much improved today, but though the Harlequins fought hard, they were never really able to pull themselves out of trouble.  Douglas Jardine fought hard, but the best innings was played by John Evans, who played a classic innings of outstanding technique and fine attacking strokes before being brilliantly caught by Sid Pegler at mid-on.  This was off the bowling of Claude Carter, who was not brought on until the score was 115, and then proceeded to bowl very well and take six wickets.  But no major partnership could be produced against good South African bowling and fielding, and the target for the tourists was only 125.  Early on Jimmy Blanckenberg by bowling Miles Howell became the first South African to take 100 wickets on the tour.

Reg Bettington was unable to reproduce his bowling magic of the first innings for the Harlequins, but Vincent Price bowled very well, quick and accurate, and took the first three wickets to fall.  Mick Commaille was in outstanding batting form, though; he was finally out, like Evans brilliantly caught at mid-on, by Ernest Smith, as he tried to hit the winning boundary.

Taunton: Somerset v Kent

Kent on Top

KENT 283 and 209 (F E Woolley 82, G C Collins 23, J C Hubble 24, A P Freeman 29*; R C Robertson-Glasgow 2/31, J J Bridges 2/49, G E Hunt 4/53, J C White 2/63). SOMERSET 184 (J C White 25*; G C Collins 3/53, A C Wright 5/33) and 15/3 (J C W MacBryan 0*, P R Johnson 5*; A C Wright 3 wkts). Overnight score was: Somerset (1) 156/8 (White 7*, Bridges 3*).

A useful innings from Jack White helped to prolong the Somerset first innings for 35 minutes this morning, and their eventual deficit was 99, the paceman Charlie Wright being the most successful bowler.  Kent began their second innings badly, their first three wickets going down for 36 runs.  But Frank Woolley was again in brilliant form, although he was not quite as devastating as in the first innings; this time his 82 took all of 80 minutes.  Nobody else reached 30, but Kent did enough to be able to set Somerset 309 to win.  Any hopes they had of making that target virtually disappeared by the close, as Wright broke through the top order, taking out the top three batsmen with only 10 runs on the board in less than a quarter of an hour.  Defeat is virtually certain tomorrow as long as the weather holds.

Birmingham: Warwickshire v Middlesex

Twin Centuries for Middlesex

WARWICKSHIRE 131. MIDDLESEX 280/2 (H W Lee 30, H L Dales 19, J W Hearne 101*, E H Hendren 106*). Overnight score was: Middlesex (1) 41/0 (Lee 15*, Dales 18*).

Rain again swallowed up a large portion of the day.  The Middlesex openers, after a late start, did not last too long and the second wicket fell at 66.  Jack Hearne was dropped by Jack Parsons at slip off the first ball he received, from Harry Howell, and Warwickshire were to pay dearly for that lapse.  The rain returned during lunch and there was no more play until after tea.  Conditions were wet, the pitch was lifeless; Howell in particular lost his accuracy trying to bowl with a wet ball, and the batsmen climbed in.  By the close both had reached their centuries; so far Hearne has batted for nearly three hours and Hendren for nearly 2½.

Dewsbury: Yorkshire v Northamptonshire

Steady Yorkshire Ahead

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 163 and 129/8 (W H Denton 25, V W C Jupp 39, E I Walden 15, W Wells 14*, J S Nicholson 0*; G G Macaulay 4 wkts, W Rhodes 4 wkts). YORKSHIRE 328 (M Leyland 47, W Rhodes 48, R Kilner 41, E Robinson 38, G Wilson 18; J V Murdin 3/46, J S Nicholson 3/55). Overnight score was: Yorkshire (1) 114/3 (Leyland 10*, Rhodes 2*).

Yorkshire played steady cricket today, with the overnight pair of Maurice Leyland and Wilfred Rhodes putting on 94 runs together very steadily for the fourth wicket before both went out in quick succession, just short of their fifties.  There followed a partnership of 66 for the sixth wicket between Roy Kilner and Emmott Robinson, who again came within sight of their fifties without completing the job.  Of the four, Kilner was the most enterprising.  When the innings closed Yorkshire had just scored more than double the Northamptonshire innings, with Sutcliffe’s 54 the only innings to pass the half-century in a total of 328.  The bowling was rarely more than steady, but the fielding was very good.

Northamptonshire, going in again, quickly lost Claud Woolley for 1, but Vallance Jupp was in sparkling form, scoring 59 in only three-quarters of an hour out of a partnership of 72 with Billy Denton.  They were 86 for one just before Jupp was bowled by George Macaulay, but the middle order faded away against superb bowling from Macaulay and Rhodes, although Billy Denton, who opened the innings, scored a dogged 25 out of 114 in about 1¾ hours.  When Rhodes came on at 113 for four, he took three wickets before conceding a run.  By the close Northamptonshire were still 36 runs behind with only two wickets left, and in danger of an innings defeat.  Bumper Wells is still there with two tail-enders, so if weather permits the match should end early tomorrow.

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.