100 Years Ago: 30 September 1924

Leicestershire: Bowling brilliance and batting woes

Leicestershire continued to be one of the best bowling sides and one of the poorest batting sides.  They had four fine bowlers in Skelding, one of the fastest in the country, Shipman, Geary and Astill, with Bale as a useful backup; all took over 50 wickets and averaged better than 22 with the ball.  This is even better than it sounds, for the Aylestone Road ground at Leicester is one of the best batting pitches in the country.

Astill and Geary were also the two most successful batsmen in the side, which didn’t take too much doing.  King at the age of 53 was the only regular specialist batsman to average more than 20.  Aubrey Sharp when available was a class above them all, though.  In August the University players Dawson and Taylor strengthened the side, but their success was limited.  Berry is a young player who shows much promise as a batsman, though, and soon after his début was moved up to open the innings.  Fowke again did a fine job as captain, willing to open the batting when necessary and playing the game in fine sporting spirit.

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