100 Years Ago: 3 October 1924

Worcestershire elevated by resilient trio

1924 County Review

WORCESTERSHIRE — 14th place

The fact that Worcestershire finished as high at fourteenth in the County Championship table was a tribute to the only three regular players of genuine first-class quality in the side — Foster, Root and Pearson.  Root and the veteran Pearson again carried the bowling, but Cliff Wilson, son of the old county stalwart George, came into the team for the first time and showed much promise.  Root as usual was criticized for his leg-theory bowling, but it is not yet against the laws of the game, and it was very effective; without this, Worcestershire would have been in a sorry state.

As Root carried the bowling, so Foster carried the batting, although the veteran Pearson did valuable service in backing up both of them.  Foster often had to carry the extra burden of keeping wicket in many matches, since they were caught out taking short cuts with the qualification regulations to play MacLean, their wicket-keeper of last season (and also the batsman Fox), and there was no adequate regular replacement.  Foster carried his batting burden lightly with some superb attacking innings.  Higgins and Hopkins were most valuable batsmen when available, which was none too often.  Root showed good batting ability at times, though inclined to be reckless; but it should not be allowed to interfere with his bowling.

The fielding was generally good and improved over the course of the season.  Worcestershire suffered badly from the rain, and the ground flooded at the beginning of June, leaving the pitch covered in mud that killed off most of the grass and made subsequent matches very difficult for the players.

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