100 Years Ago: 30 August 1924

by John Ward

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Day 1

Dover Week: Kent v Lancashire

Seymour and Parkin Shine

KENT 199/9 (H T W Hardinge 17, J Seymour 81, F E Woolley 15, C H Knott 34, A C Wright 18, A P Freeman 6*; C H Parkin 5 wkts, F B Watson 2 wkts, R K Tyldesley 2 wkts). LANCASHIRE to bat.

After heavy rain early in the morning the pitch was still saturated this morning, and play could not start until 2.40.  Batting was not very easy, and Kent owed a great deal of James Seymour, who is making the best use of his return to batting form.  He came in at No 3 as usual when Jack Bryan was caught at short leg off Cecil Parkin for 4, and played a confident, aggressive innings against some very good bowling, especially by Parkin, to whom he showed little respect.  He looked set for a century when Parkin returned for a second spell and quickly had him caught at the wicket.  Parkin, with help from Dick Tyldesley, then worked his way through the lower order as the sun began to make the pitch more difficult.  John Knott was the only other batsman to pass 20, but his was mainly a rather unattractive defensive innings.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire

No Play — Rain

The rain finally stopped at about nine o’clock in the morning, but the pitch was so saturated that no play was possible during the day at all.

Leicester: Leicestershire v Essex

No Play — Rain

The pitch was too saturated to allow any play here today.

Lord’s: Middlesex v Surrey

Middlesex Hopes Slump

MIDDLESEX 51/0 (H W Lee 22*, H L Dales 26). SURREY to bat.

Middlesex’s slender hopes of winning the county championship, which includes the necessity of beating Surrey in this match, took a nosedive today when heavy overnight rain left the ground so sodden that no play was possible until 5.10.  Play was possible for just an hour and a quarter.  Middlesex won the toss, a good advantage given the conditions, and Harry Lee and Horace Dales were able to put 51 runs on the board without loss.  The bowlers were unable to get any help from the slow, lifeless pitch, but the outfield was also slow, which handicapped the batsmen.  Bill Hitch has again been made twelfth man for Surrey, as the pitch is not considered suitable for his bowling, a rather sad situation for a fine player now past his peak but not wanting to retire.

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Warwickshire

No Play — Rain

The pitch went to bed last night wet, and much rain on and off during the night and this morning made play impossible.

Hove: Sussex v Yorkshire

Kilner Kills Sussex

SUSSEX 60 (E H Bowley 17, M W Tate 25; G G Macaulay 2/31, R Kilner 5/18, W Rhodes 3/10). YORKSHIRE 50/1 (P Holmes 21*, H Sutcliffe 28, E Oldroyd 1*).

Play was only possible after 3.15 today after heavy morning rain, and then it was ended by bad light at 6.20, so the players were actually on the field for only 2¾ hours.  Arthur Gilligan had the misfortune, in this case, to win the toss: on the one hand, the sun was shining so the pitch was sure to be difficult, but the weather was so uncertain that he decided to bat first anyway — a decision he was to regret, but whatever he had decided would have been a real gamble.

George Macaulay and Roy Kilner opened the bowling, and Sussex lost two wickets for 15.  Ted Bowley was still there, playing soundly and skilfully, and Maurice Tate met the situation in his usual way, by going into assault mode.  He hit up 25 in half an hour, mostly off Macaulay, but when Wilfred Rhodes took over he quickly snared Tate, well caught by Maurice Leyland at mid-off.  When Bowley was out, caught at mid-on off Kilner, at 53 the innings collapsed completely to the two left-arm spinners, and Sussex were all out in 95 minutes.  The last six wickets went down for 7 runs.  Arthur Gilligan was brilliantly caught low down by Geoffrey Wilson at long-off off Kilner without scoring.  Kilner had figures of five for 18 off 16.4 overs, and Rhodes completed his 100 wickets for the season; if he can score another 60 runs he will achieve a record 15th season double.

Yorkshire had just over an hour to bat, and Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe showed their skill on such a pitch by scoring 50 together.  Sussex have no spinners to compare with Yorkshire’s, but they do have Tate, although the pitch was too slow to suit him; the batsmen played him with skill and care, looking to score off the other bowlers.  Sutcliffe was out just before the close, but Yorkshire are in such a strong position now that, also taking the situation at Lord’s into account, their players and supporters can go to bed tonight in the knowledge that, whatever happens now, Yorkshire are almost assured of retaining the County Championship.

Worcester: Worcestershire v South Africans

Good Day for Tourists

WORCESTERSHIRE 87 (H K Foster 12, H P Gordon 11, C F Root 24, J F MacLean 10; J M Blanckenberg 6/40, S J Pegler 4/41). SOUTH AFRICANS 234/7 (J M M Commaille 27, A W Nourse 90, H W Taylor 38, R H Catterall 29; G A L Hearne 0*, D J Meintjes 0*).

Harry Foster, the oldest of the seven famous brothers, returned to play for his old county for the first time since the war, at the age of 51, under the captaincy of the six, Maurice, who is more than 16 years his junior.  He was the top scorer of the first eight Worcestershire batsmen in the order, and the second-highest of the innings — though he only made 12.  The pitch was drying under a hot sun and the South Africans were quite happy to put Worcestershire in to bat on it.  Jimmy Blanckenberg and Sid Pegler bowled superbly and were unchanged throughout the innings.  Six wickets were down for 31, and then eight for 48.  The top scorer was Fred Root, who took the best option of hitting out powerfully in making 24.

The tourists did not start their innings well, either, losing their first two batsmen for 17 runs, but by now the pitch was easing and the catches were going down.  Dave Nourse played the main part in turning their innings around, but he was dropped twice, and Herby Taylor was dropped in the deep before he had scored.  These two great batsmen then shared a partnership of 107 for the fourth wicket that took the South Africans well ahead.

SOLLY JOEL’S TEAM

The following players have accepted invitations to tour South Africa with Solly Joel’s team this winter:

Batsmen: Lionel Tennyson, Harold Day, Ernest Tyldesley, Percy Holmes, Jack Russell, Ted Bowley.

All-rounders: Tom Jameson, Alec Kennedy.

Pace bowlers: George Geary.

Spin bowlers: Father Marriott, Charlie Parker.

Wicket-keeper: Harold Gilligan.

More players are to be added to the party if they accept their invitations.

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.