100 Years Ago: 28 August 1924

by John Ward

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Day 2

Portsmouth: Hampshire v Yorkshire

Kilner Rolls Hampshire Again for Yorkshire Victory

HAMPSHIRE 74 and 97 (J A Newman 15, C P Mead 13, L H Tennyson 31; G G Macaulay 3/53, R Kilner 6/15). YORKSHIRE 136 (E Robinson 23*, G G Macaulay 10; A S Kennedy 7/41) and 38/0 (P Holmes 28*, H Sutcliffe 9*). Yorkshire won by ten wickets. Overnight score was: Yorkshire (1) 113/7 (Robinson 13*, Macaulay 3*).

The pitch was just as treacherous for batting today as yesterday, with the ball spinning and lifting very awkwardly, so it is not surprising that the match finished today.  Yorkshire completed their first innings this morning after 25 minutes to take a lead of 62 runs.  Emmott Robinson was not out with 23, the second-highest individual score of the match at this point.  Alec Kennedy took the final two wickets to complete an excellent bowling performance with seven wickets.

Hampshire sent in Jack Newman to open their second innings after his fighting knock in the first, and he again played a valuable and stubborn rôle to be the last man out, although he had to retire hurt for a while after being hit on the fingers and then the knee; he later resumed with a runner.  Apart from this, the only significant innings came from Tennyson, who in the circumstances decided to gamble everything on big hitting.  He hit George Macaulay for 20 and Wilfred Rhodes for 10 in successive overs before Roy Kilner bowled him when in a moment of amnesia he tried to play a defensive stroke; he scored 31 in nine minutes.  Kilner again bowled brilliantly, conceding only 15 runs with six wickets off 20 overs and finishing with match figures of eleven for 48, bowling unchanged throughout both innings with wonderful accuracy, sharp turn and bounce from the pitch.

Yorkshire needed 36 to win and, despite last-minute efforts by Jupiter Pluvius to deny them, Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe saw them through without losing a wicket just before 5.30.  Yorkshire now have one hand on the county championship title, and just need to take one point from their match with Sussex (or a no result) to make certain of it, even if Middlesex do beat Surrey.

A London newspaper, the Evening Standard, has claimed that Surrey is about to lodge a complaint with M.C.C. about the behaviour of certain Yorkshire players during the two matches played between the sides this year.  The Surrey secretary, however, denies that this is the case.

Swansea: Glamorgan v H D G Leveson Gower’s XI

No Play — Rain

GLAMORGAN 178. H D G LEVESON GOWER’S XI 60/1 (Russell 35*, Hearne 1*).

There was such keen interest in the Swansea area to see top players like Jack Hearne, Patsy Hendren and Percy Chapman that arrangements had been made to host a record crowd at the St Helen’s ground.  Unfortunately, Jupiter Pluvius had other plans.  Rain fell heavily between seven o’clock in the morning and noon, and it returned before three o’clock.  Cricket never had a chance against such heavy artillery.  This is particularly ironic since the match had been arranged to try to help Glamorgan out of the great financial loss they had sustained due to the appalling weather of the 1924 season.

Dover Week: Kent v Warwickshire

Parsons Leads Warwickshire Fightback

KENT 350. WARWICKSHIRE 110 (G W Stephens 16, A J W Croom 36*, E P Hewetson 19; G C Collins 2/18, A C Wright 3/24, A P Freeman 4/53) and (following on) 228/4 (E J Smith 23, J H Parsons 121, F R Santall 55, G W Stephens 7*, A J W Croom 0*; A C Wright 2/50). Overnight score was: Kent 350 all out.

It was a good batting pitch at Dover today, but nobody told that to Warwickshire until after lunch.  They made a disastrous start to their first innings against some excellent pace bowling from Charlie Wright, who bowled with great pace and movement, and George Collins.  Their first five wickets actually crashed for 15 runs, with both Willie Quaife and Len Bates out first ball.  The acting captain George Stephens fought back, helped by the young Arthur Croom, the former Berkshire player with a two-eyed stance but a straight bat.  Croom had enough help from the tail to take the score past 100 with nine wickets down and remain undefeated with 36.

Warwickshire were 240 runs behind and had to follow on.  This time their batting was totally different.  Tiger Smith and Jack Parsons shared an opening partnership of 50, although Smith played a few risky shots, and then Reg Santall settled into a major stand with Parsons.  They tired out the fast bowlers and ran superbly between the wickets, playing excellent strokes to take the score to 189, when Santall was out for 55.  Parsons went on to a fine graceful century, in a style almost like that of Frank Woolley, making the most of his height and build.  He was out to a strangely weak stroke just before the close, when Warwickshire were still behind by 12 runs with six wickets left.  They are still not out of the woods yet by any means.

Taunton: Somerset v South Africans

Carter and Nourse Bring South Africans Victory

SOMERSET 208 and 138 (J C W MacBryan 35, A Young 28, F E Spurway 18, R C Robertson-Glasgow 17*; A W Nourse 3/41, C P Carter 6/50). SOUTH AFRICANS 268 (H W Taylor 45, R H Catterall 90, H G Deane 38, S J Pegler 25; R C Robertson-Glasgow 3/70, J J Bridges 6/61) and 79/1 (M J Susskind 43*, J M M Commaille 23*). South Africans won by nine wickets. Overnight score was: South Africans (1) 140/4 (Taylor 37*, Catterall 78*).

The South Africans pulled their game up somewhat today, and Somerset didn’t, which brought the tourists a rare victory on their rain-sodden tour.  The overnight South African pair of Herby Taylor and Bob Catterall took their partnership to 123 before Catterall was out, and some more useful runs came down the order, with Nummy Deane and Sid Pegler putting on 56 for the ninth wicket.  Taylor played a very sound innings for 45, but Catterall was fortunate in surviving three chances to make 90 in 1¾ hours.  Jim Bridges bowled very well throughout the innings and thoroughly deserved his six wickets.

Somerset went in again 60 runs behind, and lost only the wicket of Jack MacBryan before they wiped off the arrears.  But then came a disastrous collapse of the middle order to the two left-handed bowlers, Claude Carter and Dave Nourse, the score going from 73 for one at one stage to 105 for nine.  The South African fielding was much better today.  The last pair of Francis Spurway and Raymond Robertson-Glasgow then showed what could have been done by adding 33 for the last wicket, but they could set the tourists only 79 to win.  With Fred Susskind batting with unusual freedom for 43 not out, they cantered home without trouble in an hour.  Jack White had the very rare experience for him of failing to take a wicket in the match.

The Oval: Surrey v Leicestershire

Two Great Centuries

LEICESTERSHIRE 133 and 130 (E W Dawson 14, G H S Fowke 53, L S Hutchinson 14; W C H Sadler 3/32, A C T Geary 2/34, S Fenley 5/40). SURREY 418/8 dec (A Sandham 115, T F Shepherd 192, P G H Fender 30, H Strudwick 13*, S Fenley 13*; G Geary 7/130). Surrey won by an innings and 155 runs. Overnight score was: Surrey (1) 150/2 (Sandham 69*, Shepherd 51*).

Leicestershire may be a weak batting side, but in bowling they have one of the best attacks in the country, and the overnight Surrey pair of Andy Sandham and Tom Shepherd had to apply great concentration in building their centuries even on this easy pitch.  Most of the bowling was done by Ewart Astill and George Geary, who bowled magnificently; Geary could be said to have had his reward with seven wickets, even for 130 runs, off his 36 overs in the innings, but there was no justice for Astill, whose skill and accuracy pinned the batsmen down throughout the innings, 41 overs for 105 runs and only one wicket to show for it.  Sandham again played a very sound, wary innings for his century, scoring like clockwork, while Shepherd was more aggressive, attacking the fast bowlers well, but more judicious against Astill and Geary.  He was dropped on 86 and 105, but played a fine innings and just missed his double-century when he chopped a ball from Geary on to his stumps.  Sandham batted for four hours, while Shepherd was in for a quarter of an hour less for 77 more runs.  The later Surrey batsmen tried to push the score along quickly, but soon got out, and eventually the declaration came 285 runs ahead.

Leicestershire’s weak batting was no match for the skilful bowling of Stanley Fenley, who again bowled very well and took 12 wickets for 97 runs in the match, using his leg-break and top-spinner with skill.  Major Gus Fowke was the only Leicestershire batsman to reach 15, and he scored a fighting fifty to save his side from complete disgrace before they went down to an inevitable innings defeat.

Hove: Sussex v Lancashire (Robert Relf’s Benefit)

Ernest Tyldesley Leads Recovery

LANCASHIRE 76 and 181/6 (A W Pewtress 35, G E Tyldesley 72, P T Eckersley 25*, R K Tyldesley 0*; A E R Gilligan 3 wkts, N J Holloway 2 wkts). SUSSEX 123. Overnight score was: Lancashire (2) 0/1 (Pewtress 0*).

Lancashire and Sussex continued their hard struggle at Hove today after Lancashire began the day 47 runs behind Sussex in their second innings with Harry Makepeace out already.  The main figure was Ernest Tyldesley, who played a fine fighting innings, thanks to surviving missed chances at 1 and 34.  Otherwise his innings was a fine one lasting 2¾ hours, with some assistance from Alfred Pewtress and Peter Eckersley, who was still there at the close.  Tyldesley and Pewtress fought a hard battle in the morning against the fury of Arthur Gilligan and Maurice Tate, but survived by grim methods to take the score to 76 before Pewtress went.  Tate bowled superbly but without taking a wicket today.  Lancashire finished the day 134 runs ahead with four wickets in hand, when rain stopped play at the tea interval, so the stage is set for a good finish tomorrow.  If the weather permits.

Worcester: Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire

Notts Last-Wicket Boost

WORCESTERSHIRE 189 and 69/2 (F A Pearson 39*, R H Holyoake 2*). NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 324 (J R Gunn 57, W R D Payton 48, S J Staples 38, F Barratt 30*, T L Richmond 42; C F Root 7/120, G C Wilson 2/84). Overnight score was: Nottinghamshire (1) 119/3 (J R Gunn 36*, Payton 4*).

John Gunn and Wilf Payton both batted with great care when they continued their innings this morning when the miserable weather returned, but Nottinghamshire overtook the Worcestershire total with five wickets in hand.  There came rather a collapse to Fred Root with the second new ball, the score becoming 228 for eight wickets, but Sam Staples played a useful innings, and after lunch came an unexpected last-wicket partnership of 74 between Fred Barratt and Len Richmond.  Barratt can be quite a hitter at times, but on this occasion he was overshadowed by Richmond, who with good fortune on his side smacked 42 in 45 minutes before the innings closed for 324, a first-innings lead of 135.  Fred Root toiled hard for 48 overs to take seven wickets.

Rain came on and interrupted play before Worcestershire were eventually able to bat again in wet conditions at 5.15.  Dick Pearson was in good form and did most of the scoring while losing Lord Cobham for 7 and Harry Higgins for 15, but Nottinghamshire finished the day looking like the winner tomorrow, given dry weather, especially with the pitch becoming more difficult.

Bristol (Greenbank): Gloucestershire v Scotland (two-day match, not first-class)

Scotland Draw with Nine Down

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 222/9 dec and 111/8 dec (R A Sinfield 20, W R Hammond 28; C S Scobie 3/30, D S Weir 3/28). SCOTLAND 167 (W A Anderson 18; T W J Goddard 2/10. R A Sinfield 3/50, E G Dennett 4/37) and 147/9 (J Kerr 31, C Groves 48; D C Stevenson 19; P T Mills 4/32, E G Dennett 4/20). Match drawn. Overnight score was: Scotland (1) 143/7 (Anderson 15*).

There were fluctuating fortunes today, where Scotland kept within reasonable distance of the county throughout, although the Gloucestershire captain Douglas Robinson did use this match to give opportunities to his younger players, which meant for example Charlie Parker doing much less bowling than usual.  They fell 55 runs behind on the first innings, but made Gloucestershire work for their runs in their second innings, before Robinson declared, leaving them 167 to win in just under 2½ hours.  When John Kerr and Charles Groves with fine batting put on 67 for the first wicket, victory looked possible, but Kerr ran himself out for 31.  Groves played a fine innings and gave Parker quite a bit of stick, but then Percy Mills and George Dennett came on and wickets began to fall.  In the end Scotland’s last pair of Thomas Watt and Alexander Simpson played out the last ten minutes to force a draw.

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.