100 Years Ago: 17 July 1924

By John Ward

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Day 2

Liverpool: Lancashire v South Africans

Maiden Century for Hopwood

LANCASHIRE 445/6 dec (F B Watson 63, J L Hopwood 103*, J Sharp 26, W Farrimond 13*; J M Blanckenberg 4/94). SOUTH AFRICANS 47/1 (J M M Commaille 29*, M J Susskind 5*). Overnight score was: Lancashire (1) 299/3 (Watson 49*, Hopwood 33*).

Lancashire continued to bat very well during the morning session, especially Len Hopwood, who reached his first century in first-class cricket, batting altogether for just over three and a half hours.  He survived one chance.  The score soared over 400, the highest made by any county team against the South Africans.  Jack Sharp declared at lunch, but during the interval the rain came on and wiped out most of the cricket during the afternoon.  At 5.45 it was decided to resume play, but the pitch was in rather poor shape and the conditions were hardly fit for it.  The South Africans lost Tommy Ward for 11 in the 45 minutes they batted.  Ted McDonald and Alfred Hall opened the Lancashire bowling, but could find no help from the wet conditions.

Lord’s: Gentlemen v Players

Howell and Freeman Shatter Amateurs

PLAYERS 514 (G E Tyldesley 46, R Kilner 113, M W Tate 50; J W H T Douglas 4/107, R C Robertson-Glasgow 3/157, J C White 3/71). GENTLEMEN 130 (J C W MacBryan 18, G T S Stevens 21, J W H T Douglas 17*, A E R Gilligan 33; H Howell 3/48, A P Freeman 6/52). Overnight score was: Players (1) 357/5 (Tyldesley 37*, Kilner 58*).

Ernest Tyldesley was soon out this morning; he never quite dared to play his natural attacking game.  Then came a fine aggressive partnership of 92 between Roy Kilner, who raced on to complete his century, and Maurice Tate, who drove the fast bowlers powerfully.  He was out to a ball from Raymond Robertson-Glasgow that rose unexpectedly, and it was becoming clear that the pitch was showing signs of breaking up.  The total passed 500 with only seven wickets down.  Johnny Douglas, Raymond Robertson-Glasgow and Jack White had bowled superbly throughout the innings and their bowling figures do them no justice at all.

Harry Howell opened the bowling when the Gentlemen went in after lunch, and he gave the openers, Jack MacBryan and Jack Bryan, a torrid time with his great pace and movement both in the air and off the pitch, even outshining Maurice Tate on this occasion, who was bowling superbly from the nursery end, though with a little less pace.  Howell had both openers out for 34 before he was rested, and then Tich Freeman came on in his place to bowl his deceptive leg-breaks and googlies at the top of his form.  He took the next four wickets in a row, so the Gentlemen had six out for 66.  Freeman and Len Richmond are the only two genuine googly bowlers in England at the moment (Dick Tyldesley relying on the top-spinner rather than the googly), with Richmond spinning the ball more, but Freeman the more accurate and intelligent.  Too few of the Gentlemen batsman took the time to play themselves in against him, watching the ball like hawks, and were vulnerable to impatience.

This was a situation for Douglas, who dug in deep in typical fashion; it was also a situation for Arthur Gilligan, who batted with typical boldness, paying special attention to Freeman whom he hit for a six and several fours.  But he was taking great risks and the leg-spinner won the battle, as Gilligan mistook a leg-break for a googly and was caught at extra cover for 33, the highest individual score of the innings, made in 20 minutes.  Howell returned to take the last wicket after Freeman had taken six in succession.  Howell deserved far more than three, and the Gentlemen were bowled out for a deficit of 384.  Douglas was left not out with 17 after more than an hour and a half at the crease.  They were made to follow on, but just as the Players took the field poor light turned into rain and play was over for the day.

Southampton: Hampshire v Northamptonshire

Rain Interrupts

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 142 and 61/1 (W H Denton 22*, C N Woolley 21, V W C Jupp 8*). HAMPSHIRE 193 (J A Newman 13*; W Wells 6/37, F I Walden 2/5). Overnight score was: Hampshire (1) 191/9 (Newman 12*, Boyes 3*).

It took only one over for Bumper Wells to take the last Hampshire wicket this morning, restricting them to a first-innings lead of 51.  Billy Denton and Claud Woolley opened the Northamptonshire second innings with a partnership of 44 before Woolley was out, but after that at one o’clock steady rain came on and lasted long enough for play to be abandoned for the day.  Northamptonshire are 10 runs ahead with nine wickets in hand, and the match is very evenly balanced, especially when it is unlikely that Alex Bowell, with a hand injury, will be able to bat in Hampshire’s second innings.

Maidstone: Kent v Gloucestershire

Seymour Holds Kent Together

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 213. KENT 295 (J Seymour 145, R T Bryan 19, J C Hubble 17, A C Wright 32; T W J Goddard 3/64, C W L Parker 2/70, P T Mills 2/42, G E Dennett 2/28). Overnight score was: Kent (1) 61/2 (Seymour 15*, Bryan 8*).

Gloucestershire had two batsmen who played well on this rather awkward pitch; Kent found only one, but James Seymour scored more than the Gloucestershire pair had made between them yesterday, and had enough support from the others to give Kent a good lead.  He had useful partnerships with Ronnie Bryan and Jack Hubble, while George Collins saw him to his century; he went in to lunch on 99 and the first ball afterwards just grazed his stumps, but the bails stood firm.  Charlie Wright hit out aggressively to become the highest of the other scorers, putting on 53 with Seymour, who himself was ninth out.  His 145 took 4¼ hours and he showed complete masterly over the bowling, playing all the strokes freely.  The innings was then soon over at 3.35, but rain came on and Gloucestershire were unable to start their second innings, 82 runs behind.  Charlie Parker had been the best of their bowlers.

Weston-super-Mare: Somerset v Yorkshire

No Play — Rain

YORKSHIRE 342. SOMERSET to bat.

Despite the beautiful weather yesterday, rain began to fall at Weston-super-Mare at about eleven o’clock this morning, and there was showers on and off throughout the day, making it impossible for play even to start.  This was the weekly half-holiday and so the loss of play today was a serious blow to the Somerset County Cricket Club’s finances.

If play takes place tomorrow, Yorkshire will be without Abe Waddington, who has been summoned to Lord’s tomorrow to answer the charges made against him by the umpires concerning his behaviour in the match against Middlesex at Sheffield.

Eastbourne: Sussex v Essex

Sussex Struggling to Avoid Follow-on

ESSEX 354 (H W F Franklin 21; H E Roberts 5/89, A F Wensley 2/84, G R Cox 3/77). SUSSEX 146/8 (A H H Gilligan 34, K A Higgs 44*, A F Wensley 31, G R Cox 2*; G M Louden 3 wkts, H J Palmer 3 wkts, C A G Russell 2 wkts). Overnight score was: Essex (1) 347/9 (Franklin 9*, Louden 2*).

Essex only added 7 runs to their overnight total, and then Sussex went in against a large total of 354.  George Louden quickly struck, bowling out Ted Bowley for 0 and Tich Cornford for 3 in his first and third overs, but then Harold Gilligan, playing his usual risky game, took on the bowling while Herbert Wilson fought with determination at the other end.  They put on 44 for the fourth wicket, but then Harold Palmer bowled his medium-pacers well and took three wickets in quick succession.  The first six wickets were down for 92, but Louden had to rest and Palmer lost his length, so the determined Kenneth Higgs and the aggressive Bert Wensley took advantage by adding 50 for the seventh wicket.  Soon after lunch rain came on and ended play for the day.  Sussex need 59 to avoid the likelihood of having to follow-on but, facing a fresh Louden tomorrow, their chances look unlikely.

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.