100 Years Ago: 15 July 1924
By John Ward
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Day 3
Leeds: England v South Africa (Third Test Match)
England Easily Secure the Rubber
ENGLAND 396 and 60/1 (H Sutcliffe 29*, J W Hearne 23*). SOUTH AFRICA 132 and (following on) 323 (H W Taylor 56, R H Catterall 56, H G Deane 47*, E P Nupen 11, S J Pegler 14; M W Tate 3/64, R K Tyldesley 3/63). Overnight score was: South Africa (2) 232/4 (Taylor 54*, Catterall 54*).
With Herby Taylor and Bob Catterall still there with fifties overnight, South Africa had some hope of saving this match, but they were soon dashed. Both added two runs only. Taylor, late in starting when Catterall called him for a quick single, was narrowly run out at the bowler’s end by a direct hit from George Macaulay from the slips. This may have bothered Catterall, who in the next over was bowled by a brilliant delivery from Maurice Tate. At least South Africa were able to avoid an innings defeat, thanks to a fine attacking innings from Nummy Deane. Sid Pegler stuck with him in a ninth-wicket partnership of 42, only for that to be ended by yet another run-out. Four South Africans and two Englishmen were run out in this match. The South African innings ended just before lunch, Deane left stranded on the verge of a maiden Test fifty, and England needed 60 runs to win. At least for the first time in this series, South Africa had forced England to bat again.
They lost the wicket of Jack Hobbs for 7, as he tried to pull a long hop from Jimmy Blanckenberg, but ended up dragging it on to his stumps. Herbert Sutcliffe and Jack Hearne played steady cricket to take England home to victory and an unbeatable three-nil lead in the rubber by nine wickets. Sutcliffe, with 298 runs in four Test innings, once not out, now sports a Test career average of 99.33. Apart from Tate, the England bowlers had not been very impressive in this match, although Dick Tyldesley took three wickets in the second innings. He tended to bowl a little too short, however, as did Macaulay, who found the pitch unhelpful to him, although he did bowl some fine deliveries. Arthur Gilligan bowled some good fast balls but, probably still recovering from his injury in Gentlemen v Players, see unable to maintain his top pace for long.
The England fielding was very good throughout, and George Wood had a very good match as wicket-keeper. However, he cannot go to Australia this winter, and one report says that he will voluntarily stand down from the remaining Test matches in this series so the selectors can search for the best wicketkeeper for the Australian tour.
Maidstone: Kent v Yorkshire
Negative Yorkshire in Dull Draw
KENT 230 and 173 (H T W Hardinge 140, W H Ashdown 20, C H Knott 21; E Robinson 5/84, R Kilner 3/93, L Ryder 2/75). YORKSHIRE 205 and 196/3 (P Holmes 105*, M Leyland 57). Match drawn. Overnight score was: Kent (2) 143/2 (Hardinge 84*, W H Ashdown 10*).
After their bad position overnight, Yorkshire’s bowlers fought back today and steadily worked their way through the Kent batting order — except for Hardinge, who with little prolonged support from any one of his team-mates took his score to 140 before he was finally out lbw to Roy Kilner. This was his first century against Yorkshire, and he has now scored a complete set of centuries against each of the other 16 counties. Emmott Robinson polished off most of the other batsmen, well backed by Kilner, and Kent, who probably expected to make themselves safe from defeat, could set Yorkshire only 298 to win in just over four hours on a good batting pitch, a task any side wishing to win the county championship should aim to achieve.
Yorkshire, however, refused to consider it. A glorious victory would have kept them up with Middlesex in the championship table; making sure they kept their single point for a draw put them firmly behind their rivals. Yet that was what they did, despite the opening partnership of 122 between Percy Holmes and Maurice Leyland, and despite the fact that Freeman was having difficulty in bowling due to a strain. Holmes was well satisfied to score a quiet century in 3½ hours, a very good but not a match-winning one, and the match faded away in a draw. Perhaps Yorkshire regretted their approach when news came through of the remarkable match at Trent Bridge.
Leicester: Leicestershire v Warwickshire (George Geary’s Benefit Match)
Geary Helps in Warwickshire Innings Defeat
LEICESTERSHIRE 401/9 dec. WARWICKSHIRE 188 and (following on) 157 (E J Smith 62, W G Quaife 54; A W Shipman 6/48, G Geary 4/16). Leicestershire won by an innings and 56 runs. Overnight score was: Warwickshire (2) 53/2 (Smith 24*, Quaife 8*).
George Geary had the pleasure of taking four wickets, seven in the match, and enjoyed a rare innings victory over Warwickshire in beautiful weather in his benefit match today. The visitors were following on, and made a good start as the overnight pair of Tiger Smith and Willie Quaife put on 98 together for the third wicket. Quaife was much more positive that he usually is, and played a fluent, graceful innings of 54 in 1¾ hours. It is good, but all too rare, to see Quaife showing what a fine batsman he really is by playing his strokes instead of stonewalling, as he so often does. But after these two were out, both to Alan Shipman, the rest of the batting collapsed dismally before lunch to Shipman and Geary, none of the last seven mean reached double figures, although Bob Wyatt at No 9 — too low for him — did his best with 9 not out.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Middlesex
Guise and Allen Turn Tables for Amazing Victory
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 462 and 122 (G Gunn 38, W W Whysall 32, W A Flint 23, T L Richmond 14*; N E Haig 3/49, G O B Allen 6/31). MIDDLESEX 253 and (following on) 358 (H W Lee 51, C N Bruce 58, J L Guise 100, N E Haig 29, H R Murrell 44, F J Durston 28; F C L Matthews 4/98, W A Flint 2/80, T L Richmond 2/48). Middlesex won by 27 runs. Overnight score was: Middlesex (2) 53/2 (Lee 23*, Bruce 2*).
Middlesex, forced to follow on yesterday, today turned the tables on Nottinghamshire in amazing fashion and won a totally unexpected victory by 27 runs today. They did not begin the day well and had five wickets down for 108, including Frank Mann, who bagged a pair to Fred Barratt, and also the retirement of Clarence Bruce with a hand injury. The situation began to change when Nigel Haig joined John Guise, both playing positive cricket and pushing the score along freely. They put on 78 in just over an hour before Haig was out and Joe Murrell came in to play in similar fashion; this stand added 76. Guise went on to reach a fine century in 1¾ hours before being out immediately afterwards. Bruce then returned, and with Jack Durston rising to the occasion, the last two wickets added another 75 runs to take the total to 358 and leave Nottinghamshire 150 to win in 2½ hours.
This looked to be no problem as George Gunn and Dodger Whysall batted easily on the still good pitch, making 72 together in three-quarters of an hour before Whysall was out. Then the collapse began in amazing fashion. Gubby Allen bowled fast and with great pace off the pitch, and Haig also bowled superbly throughout the innings at the other end, but that could not explain the appalling collapse of Nottinghamshire, who lost nine wickets for only 23 runs at this point. Bill Flint survived the carnage, but in no time he was joined by the last man, Len Richmond. They needed 55 to win now, which looked impossible, but they did scramble 27 of them before Durston relieved Allen and trapped Flint lbw to bring Middlesex a sensational victory with almost half an hour to spare.
At the start of the season it was hard to see how any team could displace Yorkshire as champions, but Middlesex, whom many thought of as a declining team after their championship wins of 1920 and 1921, and their slide down the table last season, have this season come good again and started to play like real champions. They now hold a very useful lead over Yorkshire at the top of the table.
Bath: Somerset v Hampshire (Bath Festival)
Somerset’s Record Score
HAMPSHIRE 453 and 160/3 (A S Kennedy 45, C P Mead 70*, E Aird 23*). SOMERSET 675/9 dec. (A E S Rippon 53, J C White 62, G E Hunt 24, H S R Critchley-Salmonson 66, J Daniell 56*, J J Bridges 24*; W R Shirley 2/110, G Brown 3/53). Match drawn. Overnight score was: Somerset (1) 424/4 (Rippon 51*).
Although Stanley Rippon was out quickly this morning, Somerset took the first-innings lead with five wickets in hand, and since there was no point in declaring, carried on making the Hampshire bowlers suffer. Jack White joined the fifty-makers, and so did two of the last three batsmen. The eighth wicket fell at 539, the ninth at 602, and when John Daniell decided he was bored with batting practice in the middle he declared with a lead of 222. Their total of 675 for nine was the highest first-class total of the season, as well as a record for Somerset, beating their 630 against Yorkshire in that amazing match of 1901. Alec Kennedy finished with one wicket for 125 runs and Jack Newman none for 124. George Brown was the bowler to strike it lucky with three for 53.
When Hampshire lost two batsmen for 17 in their second innings, some starry-eyed fantasists thought they smelt a possible Somerset victory on that still perfect pitch. Instead they watched Philip Mead get some useful batting practice. Lionel Tennyson missed this day’s play, visiting a specialist in London, as he had been stung by a wasp on the lower lip on the journey to Bath and it had turned to blood poisoning.
The Oval: Surrey v Lancashire
Watson Stars in Drawn Match
LANCASHIRE 327 and 304/6 dec (J W H Makepeace 36, C Hallows 48, F B Watson 105, J Sharp 65*; P G H Fender 3/63). SURREY 386/8 dec and 80/0 (A Jeacocke 49*, H G Baldwin 29*). Overnight score was: Lancashire (2) 20/0 (Makepeace 2*, Hallows 7*).
This match was almost doomed to be a draw, as the pitch was just too good for the bowlers. Lancashire had no realistic option but to play for a draw and keep their unbeaten record, and this they succeeded in doing without much difficulty. Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows began with a century partnership for Lancashire, batting steadily and correctly to make exactly 100 before both were out somewhat carelessly at that score. In the latter part of his innings Hallows played some fine strokes, though. After that Frank Watson was the main figure and he hit a fine century, showing off with real class his new-found strokes on the off side. His innings lasted 2¼ hours. The Oval crowd grew restive when Lancashire did not declare at the tea interval, when they were 219 ahead, but that could hardly be expected, as they did not have the bowling resources to dismiss Surrey on that flat batting pitch and Cecil Parkin today was too unwell to bowl at all.
Eastbourne: Sussex v Gloucestershire
Hat-Trick Sends Sussex Reeling
GLOUCESTERSHIRE 410/6 dec and 17/1 (A E Dipper 9*). SUSSEX 201 and (following on) 225 (J Langridge 26, A F Wensley 22; T W J Goddard 2/80, C W L Parker 4/71, P T Mills 3/24). Gloucestershire won by nine wickets. Overnight score was: Sussex (2) 191/7 (Langridge 9*, Wensley 7*).
Sussex began the day needing 17 runs to avoid an innings defeat with three wickets left, and the overnight pair of James Langridge and Bert Wensley successfully achieved this, both making useful twenties before Charlie Parker dismissed them both and George Cox as well to end the innings with a hat-trick. The 18-year-old debutant Langridge batted with considerable maturity and skill, being last man out. Harry Smith had a good innings as wicket-keeper with four dismissals, while Tich Cornford also kept impressively for Sussex. Gloucestershire had only 17 runs needed for victory, and they did it for the loss of Bev Lyon for 9 to the occasional bowling of Tommy Cook. It took an hour and a quarter in the morning to finish the match.
County championship positions: Middlesex 75.38, Yorkshire 69.23, Surrey 68.33, Lancashire 67.05, Somerset 65.00, Sussex 56.00, Kent 54.66, Nottinghamshire 53.84.
TOMORROW’S MATCHES (first-class)
Tourist Match:
Liverpool: Lancashire v South Africans
Representative Match:
Lord’s: Gentlemen v Players
County Championship:
Southampton: Hampshire v Northamptonshire
Maidstone: Kent v Gloucestershire
Weston-super-Mare: Somerset v Yorkshire
Eastbourne: Sussex v Essex
The counties have yet another representative match to remove their top players from their ranks, as the biggest domestic match of the season, Gentlemen v Players at Lord’s, takes place, when all counties are expected (as they have agreed) to release as many of their top players as are required. Only eight of them therefore have arranged fixtures that will clash with the Lord’s match.
Yorkshire lose three professionals, but Somerset lose four amateurs to this match, so they will be hard pressed to maintain their surprise fifth place in the championship table. Sussex again will be without Arthur Gilligan and Maurice Tate, which may make an even match against Essex. Hampshire will be desperate to improve their poor record against Northamptonshire, while Gloucestershire will see if their success against Sussex will sustain them against Kent.
The representative teams are as follows:
GENTLEMEN. — Jack MacBryan (Somerset), Jack Bryan (Kent), Greville Stevens (Middlesex), Arthur Carr (Nottinghamshire), Maurice Foster (Worcestershire), Johnny Douglas (Essex), +Dar Lyon (Somerset), Percy Fender (Surrey), *Arthur Gilligan (Sussex), Jack White (Somerset) and Raymond Robertson-Glasgow (Somerset).
PLAYERS (from). — *Jack Hobbs (Surrey), Herbert Sutcliffe (Yorkshire), Jack Hearne (Middlesex), Frank Woolley (Kent), Patsy Hendren (Middlesex), Ernest Tyldesley (Lancashire), Roy Kilner (Yorkshire), Maurice Tate (Sussex), George Macaulay (Yorkshire), Tich Freeman (Kent), +George Duckworth (Lancashire) and Harry Howell (Warwickshire).
WEATHER FORECAST: Generally cooler and some rain here and there.
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.