100 Years Ago: 24 September 1924

A Kentish season in retrospect

1924 County Review

KENT — 5th place

Kent on the whole played their traditional positive, enterprising cricket, epitomized by the superb batting of Frank Woolley, who in August perhaps batted better than he has ever done before.  He played many brilliant innings, especially off the top bowlers, although he is perhaps not quite as brilliant in the slips as in the past and does at times appear rather reluctant to bowl.  He took only 59 wickets this season, although he was scarcely needed in August when Marriott came in to bowl brilliantly opposite Freeman, who again had an excellent season.  Seymour, despite a couple of bad patches, also had a fine batting season and remained brilliant in the slips.  The main batting weakness was the failure to find a good opening partner for Hardinge until Jack Bryan was available in August; Ashdown, Collins and Hubble were all tried for brief periods without success.

Captain Cornwallis led the side well, although he was not always fully fit and the pitches did not suit his fast bowling, which was disappointing; he missed most of August with a bad leg strain.  Collins was again a useful all-rounder with patches of brilliance, but Ashdown, a player of great talent, was disappointing, especially with the bat.  Wright came on well as a fast bowler and tail-end hitter, and Hubble, benefiting from so much quality spin, finished the leading wicket-keeper in the country.

AUSTRALIAN TOUR

The M.C.C. team, on board the Ormonde, has arrived safely at Port Said in Egypt on their way to Australia.  All are reported to be well.

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.