100 Years Ago: 20 August 1924

by John Ward

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Day 1

Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Northamptonshire

Walden and Wells Defy Notts

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 242 (V W C Jupp 23, W H Denton 38, F I Walden 64, W Wells 67; F Barratt 4/81, W A Flint 5/42). NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 10/0 (G Gunn 5*, W W Whysall 5*).

Play at Trent Bridge today was several times interrupted by bad light or rain.  Vallance Jupp gave Northamptonshire a brisk start with 23 out of 27 in 25 minutes before being out lbw to Harold Larwood, a new young bowler for Nottinghamshire from their ground staff with plenty of pace, although aged only 19.  Billy Denton batted solidly, but the first five batsmen were out for 112.  Recovery came after a break for heavy rain, which softened the pitch so much that it became quite lifeless, and Fanny Walden and Bumper Wells took advantage with a partnership of 103 for the sixth wicket.  Wells started his innings with two sixes to square leg off Len Richmond and scored 67 in 70 minutes.  After they were separated the innings collapsed quickly.  Bill Flint was the best of the Nottinghamshire bowlers.

Chesterfield: Derbyshire v Essex

40 Minutes’ Play

ESSEX 29/1 (J R Freeman 9*, J O’Connor 16*). DERBYSHIRE to bat.

This is Derbyshire’s last match of the season, and they are still looking for their first victory.  Play began in very gloomy conditions and lasted only 40 minutes before the clouds finally burst and wiped out cricket for the rest of the day.  Bill Bestwick bowled out Claude Ashton, opening the batting for Essex, with a fine delivery for 1, but John Freeman and Jack O’Connor played well until the rain came down heavily.  Essex are without Johnny Douglas for this match, as he has decided to rest in preparation for the Australian tour, and Percy Perrin is standing in as captain.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Somerset

No Play — Rain

There was heavy rain overnight and further showers this morning, and by twelve noon the entire pitch was under water and the match abandoned for the day.

Manchester: Lancashire v Gloucestershire

No Play — Rain

The pitch, already saturated, sank under the turf yesterday under more heavy rain, and any play was out of the question today.

Lord’s: Middlesex v Kent

Wright Rocks Middlesex

MIDDLESEX 133 (G T S Stevens 33, H L Dales 20, F T Mann 27, J L Guise 23; A C Wright 6/38, F E Woolley 3/28). KENT 53/4 (J L Bryan 16, F E Woolley 12*).

Middlesex perhaps hesitantly chose to bat on a slow pitch taking spin after overnight rain, but they knew that more rain was more likely than sun to turn it sticky.  They suffered a shock start against the fine bowling of Charlie Wright, who removed Harry Lee for 1, Jack Hearne for 4 and Patsy Hendren for 0; three top wickets down for 8 runs.  Greville Stevens and Horace Dales batted positively to bring a brief recovery, but it was only temporarily, and no batsman managed to dominate the bowling for long.  Wright bowled particularly well, with an accurate testing length and with lift at times, but Middlesex should have done better.

Jack Bryan and Wally Hardinge opened for Kent with deceptive confidence, but then wickets started to fall, in between showers.  Hearne bowled very well, taking two of the wickets, and Stevens took a brilliant catch at slip off his bowling to remove Bryan.  He also just missed bowling Frank Woolley, who was batting in excellent form and was still there at the close.  The match appears to be well balanced and much depends on the state of the pitch tomorrow.

Middlesex and Yorkshire have made up their dispute, after Yorkshire sent a message to Middlesex to express regret at the incidents which marred the match at Bramall Lane this season.  Middlesex have accepted this, and it is agreed that the two counties will continue to play each other next season.

Lakenham: Minor Counties v South Africans

Meyer Harries South Africans

MINOR COUNTIES 196 (A G Doggart 28, G A Stevens 20, R J O Meyer 26, J M Coldham 40, G R Pedder 22*; D J Meintjes 4/104, S J Pegler 5/46). SOUTH AFRICANS 103/9 (M J Susskind 25, A W Nourse 15, H W Taylor 19, D J Meintjes 3*, C P Carter 4*; M Falcon 3 wkts, R J O Meyer 6/44).

There was nothing wrong with the good, fast pitch, but no batsman was able to score more than 40 runs on it today.  The South Africans put in a good bowling performance, with Douggie Meintjes working up a fine pace and removing the first four batsmen in the order, including Charles Titchmarsh (Hertfordshire) and Percy Chapman (Berkshire) for 15 and 10 respectively.  Graham Doggart (Durham and former Cambridge University) held the early batting together, and then the Cambridge University player Jack Meyer, who also plays for Hertfordshire, smashed 26 in quick time, most of them off Meintjes.  Still, seven wickets were down for 130 before two local Norfolk players, John Coldham and Guy Pedder, put on 51 for the eighth wicket.  The later wickets were taken by Sid Pegler, who bowled very well.  Michael Falcon, another Norfolk player, is captaining the home team.

Then the South African batting let them down, against enthusiastic bowling and excellent fielding.   The opening pair of Mick Commaille (1) and George Hearne (4) were out to Meyer with 6 runs on the board, and only Fred Susskind stayed in for very long.  The rampant Meyer with his confusing medium-paced variations, breaking both ways, removed six of the top seven batsmen on the list.  Perhaps the South Africans are a weary team after a long tour so badly disrupted by the weather, but by the close their last-wicket pair had only just enabled their score to crawl to over 100.

Hove: Sussex v Surrey

Sussex Struggle Again

SUSSEX 148 (E H Bowley 15, R A Young 22, M W Tate 44, J E Frazer 34; S Fenley 4/71, P G H Fender 4/20). SURREY 171/4 (J B Hobbs 17, A Sandham 42*, H A Peach 75, T F Shepherd 28*; M W Tate 3 wkts).

A wet pitch delayed the start for 40 minutes, and Arthur Gilligan fatally decided to bat on winning the toss.  The sun came out after lunch and the pitch turned sticky, giving the slower bowlers Stanley Fenley and Percy Fender much help.  Maurice Tate hit out in his usual style with more success than any of his team-mates enjoyed, scoring 44 in half an hour, but it was a lucky innings, as he was dropped twice in one over, by Jack Hobbs and Douglas Jardine of all people.  The last four wickets fell for only 7 runs.  Fenley bowled particularly well, but Fender had the benefit of dismissing the tail.

Surrey also struggled when they batted, with Maurice Tate bowling superbly as usual, and he bowled out Hobbs for 17.  The Surrey policy was then for Andy Sandham to block up one end while his partners went after the other Sussex bowlers, and it worked well.  Alan Peach hit out powerfully to score 75 in just over an hour, but there was a temporary setback, as Tate removed Alfred Jeacocke for 5 and Donald Knight for 3.  Tom Shepherd then came in and with Sandham took Surrey into the lead with six wickets in hand and saw out the day.  Arthur Gilligan is still not able to bowl in his best form and Tate had little support.

Harrogate: Yorkshire v Hampshire

Yorkshire Score Well

YORKSHIRE 164/2 (P Holmes 52, E Oldroyd 60*, M Leyland 44*). HAMPSHIRE to bat.

The weather was quite miserable at Harrogate today, and no play was possible until 2.50 due to a steady drizzle.  The Hampshire players had had to make a night journey up from their match at Bournemouth, and were no doubt glad of some extra rest before play started.  Yorkshire quickly lost the wicket of Herbert Sutcliffe for 1, caught at cover off the bowling of George Brown.  Good but careful batting from Percy Holmes and Edgar Oldroyd neutralized the threat of Alec Kennedy and overcame the problem of two further rain stoppages.  They put on 86 together, and then Maurice Leyland joined Oldroyd and put Yorkshire in a potentially good position by the close.  Leyland was the most attractive batsman on show today.  Altogether only 2¾ hours’ play was possible.

AUSTRALIAN TOUR

M.C.C. have officially announced that Jack Hobbs and Harry Howell have been invited to join the touring team to Australia.  It appears therefore that they have reached an agreement with Hobbs about allowing his wife to accompany him.  Howell is presumably a replacement for Clem Gibson, who was forced to withdraw from the team for reasons of business.

Dodger Whysall of Nottinghamshire has also accepted an invitation from M.C.C. to tour Australia as reserve wicket-keeper.  Whysall has occasionally done quite a good job standing in for Tom Oates for Nottinghamshire on occasions when the latter has been injured, but he has not kept wicket regularly for years, and his selection in this position has attracted widespread criticism, that he should stand in line to keep wicket in a Test match should Bert Strudwick be ill or injured.  There is no argument that Whysall is a fine opening batsmen, but the team is already loaded with four of these already (Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Sandham and Bryan).

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.