100 Years Ago: 21 July 1924
by John Ward
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Day 2
Lord’s: Middlesex v South Africans
No Play — Rain
MIDDLESEX 328. SOUTH AFRICANS to bat.
Rain all morning, much of it heavy, meant that when it finally stopped at lunch time and the pitch was inspected at 2.30, it was so saturated that play for the day was immediately abandoned.
Chesterfield: Derbyshire v Northamptonshire
No Play — Rain
DERBYSHIRE 290. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 20/3 (W H Denton 11*; W Bestwick 2 wkts).
There was heavy rain on Saturday night, leaving the pitch saturated, and when it was still raining at two o’clock the match was abandoned for the day.
Leyton: Essex v Hampshire
No Play — Rain
ESSEX 309. HAMPSHIRE 23/0 (A S Kennedy 12*, W R Shirley 9*).
There was so much morning rain that the ground was saturated. The sun came out in the afternoon, but the pitch dried so slowly that it was never possible to start play.
Cheltenham: Gloucestershire v Glamorgan
No Play — Rain
GLOUCESTERSHIRE 224 and 52/0 (A E Dipper 32*, M D Lyon 20*). GLAMORGAN 54.
There were 24 hours of rain since yesterday (Sunday) morning, but at last it stopped, and the pitch slowly began to dry. Just when hopes were rising of having some play today, Jupiter Pluvius made a lightning attack with a thunderstorm. The Gloucestershire captain Douglas Robinson must be rather worried that his decision not to enforced the follow-on on Saturday may backfire on him.
Blackheath: Kent v Surrey (Jack Hubble’s Benefit)
Fenley’s Day
SURREY 262. KENT 149 (J Seymour 68, R T Bryan 13; H A Peach 3/26, S Fenner’s 5/35). Overnight score was: Kent (1) 112/3 (Seymour 61*, R T Bryan 12*).
After much morning rain play was not possible until after five o’clock. It was expected that with the pitch damp, it would be lifeless and favour the batsmen, the sun came out and but in fact the ball lifted very awkwardly and the batsmen all struggled. The bowler to profit the most was the slow-medium Stanley Fenley, who bowled with such accuracy and unexpected lift that he dismissed both the overnight batsmen and none of the others could do much with him at all. Some tried to knock him off his length, and they quickly perished; none of the later batsmen even reached double figures. The day ended after only 55 minutes with Kent conceding a lead of 113 runs on the first innings and Fenley’s figures for his spell today were five for 20 off 10 overs.
Manchester: Lancashire v Worcestershire
Watson Century Takes Lancashire Ahead
WORCESTERSHIRE 165. LANCASHIRE 276/8 (F B Watson 112, J L Hopwood 22, R K Tyldesley 43, G Duckworth 17*, C H Parkin 6* overnight). Overnight score was: Lancashire (1) 153/5 (Watson 62*, Hopwood 22*).
There was a torrential downpour during the night which delayed the start. Only 90 minutes’ play was possible due to the rain, all between the lunch and tea intervals. Lancashire soon overtook the Worcestershire first-innings total after losing the wicket of Len Hopwood very early on. Dick Tyldesley was in fine form, though, and with Watson added 86 for the seventh wicket at a good pace. Watson scored 112 in two hours and 40 minutes without a chance, one of his very best innings, with a wide range of attractive strokes and great maturity. It was his fourth century of the season.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire
No Play — Rain
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 216. YORKSHIRE 86/3 (P Holmes 56*, W Rhodes 3*; T L Richmond 2 wkts).
There was a night of rain, which stopped in the morning until about eleven o’clock, when it began again and continued for several hours. Play was officially abandoned for the day at 2.15 p.m.
It has been stated, although not officially, that Middlesex will refuse to play matches against Yorkshire next season after the controversial match between the two sides at Sheffield. If so, this would seem to be rather premature as the M.C.C.’s decision regarding the incident concerning Abe Waddington has still to be made. No doubt there will be diplomatic efforts to smooth over the affair with both counties.
Dundee: Scotland v Ireland
No Play — Rain
IRELAND 125/8 (G N B Kelly 12*, D E D Kennedy 0*). SCOTLAND to bat.
Rain all day prevented any play.
Weston-super-Mare: Somerset v Sussex
Sussex Struggle Again
SUSSEX 58 and 13/2 (J J Bridges 2 wkts). SOMERSET 321/7 dec. Overnight score was: Somerset (1) 321/7 dec.
Rain fell until 3.30 this afternoon at Weston-super-Mare, but it was finally possible to start play at 5.45. As a result John Daniell declared at Somerset’s overnight total and sent Sussex in a second time. Jim Bridges, who took no wickets in the first innings, this time made his mark quickly by dismissing the opening batsmen Harold Gilligan for 0 and Ted Bowley for 4. The next two batsmen, Tich Cornford and Herbert Wilson, decided to batten down the hatches, and did it so effectively that in 45 minutes, during which 14 overs were bowled, only 13 runs were scored, and seven of these were extras.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Leicestershire
No Play — Rain
LEICESTERSHIRE 187. WARWICKSHIRE 96/6 (G W Stephens 8*).
Rain from the early hours of the morning lasted until noon, and then started again after the lunch interval, making play impossible today — yet another blank day for Edgbaston this season.
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.