100 Years Ago: 31 July 1924

by John Ward

Day 2

Taunton: Somerset v Warwickshire

Howell’s Message to Selectors

SOMERSET 99 and 97 (A Young 45, J Daniell 10, W F Q Shuldham 20; H Howell 9/35). WARWICKSHIRE 137 (F S G Calthorpe 45, R E S Wyatt 22*; J C White 6/29, G E Hunt 2/22) and 60/6 (E J Smith 19, F R Santall 14, W G Quaife 12; J C White 5/33). Warwickshire won by four wickets. Overnight score was: Warwickshire (1) 110/7 (Calthorpe 38*, Wyatt 10*).

Harry Howell sent a strong message today to the M.C.C. selectors who left him out of their touring team to Australia this coming winter, taking 14 Somerset wickets for only 71 runs in the match as Warwickshire won a tight match by wickets.  First Warwickshire completed their overnight innings, with Freddie Calthorpe soon out for 45, leaving Bob Wyatt to make a valuable 22 not out and give them a lead of 38 runs on the first innings.  Jack White took the last two wickets to finish with six for only 29 in the innings, off 32.4 overs.

Somerset lost five wickets, all to Howell in the space of 14 balls, before they cleared off the arrears.  This included Tom Lowry for a pair, bowled in the first innings and lbw first ball this time, and he completed a disastrous match for him by dropping a chance in both innings.  Archie Young survived the carnage, and his skilful, confident batting appeared to be on quite a different planet from that of his successive partners, although John Daniell put up a fight.  Young scored 45 and was out at 60 for seven, finally lbw to Howell, and the eighth wicket fell at 65.  But Howell was now tiring, and the ninth-wicket pair took the score to before Howell finally bowled out Humphrey Critchley-Salmonson.  There was speculation that Howell might take all ten, as he did against Yorkshire last season, but the match situation was such that the team could not afford the possibility of giving away runs at the other end until he took his tenth, and the innings was ended when Wyatt had Jim Bridges caught at slip for 7.

Warwickshire were left to make 60 to win, but White opened the bowling and made Warwickshire fight all the way.  Even when they looked almost home when they had crawled to 55 for three, having survived two dropped chances, White broke through with three wickets for one run, until the young Arthur Croom hit White to the boundary to end the match.  White’s match figures were eleven for 62, but they were overshadowed by the match-winning pace bowling of Howell.

Leyton: Essex v Lancashire

Lancashire Shoot Into Lead

ESSEX 135 (C A G Russell 28, J R Freeman 27, H M Morris 31, H W F Franklin 28*; C H Parkin 4/51, R K Tyldesley 5/76). LANCASHIRE 215/4 (J W H Makepeace 32, C Hallows 21, G E Tyldesley 83, F B Watson 45, J L Hopwood 15*). Overnight score: no play yesterday.

Lancashire did their best to make up for the lost day’s play yesterday as Cecil Parkin and Dick Tyldesley bowled unchanged to remove Essex cheaply and then Ernest Tyldesley led the batting as they built a considerable lead by the close.  Johnny Douglas, often called an unlucky captain, broke Jack Sharp’s run of success with the toss and batted first, but that proved to be no disadvantage for Lancashire.  Essex made a fair start as Jack Russell and John Freeman put on 59 for the first wicket, but then the top order collapsed and five were out for 69.  Whiz Morris, whom George Duckworth twice missed stumping, and Henry Franklin made a temporary recovery, but the total was only 135.

Essex batted only two hours, but the Lancashire innings was considerably slower and had more substance.  Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows emulated the Essex openers, and two wickets were down for 62, but their middle order did much better than Essex had managed.  Ernest Tyldesley led the way, helped by Frank Watson in a third-wicket partnership of 105, and then just before the close he launched into his full range of attacking strokes, reminiscent of his brother Johnny.  However he was out in the final over, with Lancashire already 80 runs ahead and with six wickets still in hand.

Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire

Leicestershire Fight Not Enough

LEICESTERSHIRE 121 and 194 (S S Coulson 24, G Geary 34, T E Sidwell 41; S J Staples 3/24, T L Richmond 5/80). NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 264 (G Gunn 95, A W Carr 85; A W Shipman 7/62, G Geary 2/50) and 54/1 (W W Whysall 17, S J Staples 36*). Nottinghamshire won by nine wickets. Overnight score was: Nottinghamshire (1) 201/2 (G Gunn 87*, Carr 74*).

Overnight storms left the ground damp, delaying the start of play, and the pitch gave more help to the bowlers.  Alan Shipman, with the second new ball, took advantage of this and enjoyed a harvest, as he quickly dismissed the overnight Nottinghamshire batsmen, George Gunn and Arthur Carr, and then cut through the middle order to take seven of the last eight wickets to fall with only 63 runs added to the overnight score.  He bowled very accurately and swung the ball considerably.

Leicestershire began their second innings 143 runs behind, and in the circumstances did well to save the innings defeat, although they had only two wickets in hand when they did so.  Tommy Sidwell had a bash and hit up 41 in half an hour from No 10, so as to set Nottinghamshire 52 to win.  There had been consistent contributions from most of the Leicestershire batsmen, with seven reaching double figures, but none of the top men could make the big score that his team needed.  Nottinghamshire were not challenged by their victory target and achieved it in half an hour, with Sam Staples taking advantage of promotion to stopgap opener — just in time to earn the teams a free day tomorrow — and make sure they didn’t have to worry about rain tomorrow.

The Oval: Surrey v Hampshire

Mead Spoils Fender’s Declaration

SURREY 237/9 dec (A Sandham 56, D R Jardine 35*, H A Peach 21; A S Kennedy 5/95, J A Newman 2/43, G S Boyes 2/70). HAMPSHIRE 175/7 (W R D Shirley 25, R Aird 38, C P Mead 99*, L H Tennyson 39, J A Newman 25*; S Fenley 2 wkts, P G H Fender 2 wkts, T F Shepherd 2 wkts). Overnight score was: Surrey (1) 119/1 (Sandham 48*, Knight 7*).

The pitch at the start of the day was giving very awkward bounce, and the overnight pair of Andy Sandham and Donald Knight struggled for runs, especially against the fine bowling of Alec Kennedy.  Knight was soon out, and Sandham went in the fifties.  Douglas Jardine dug in with determination, but none of his partners lasted very long, and the ninth wicket fell on the stroke of lunch.  It was at this point that Percy Fender outraged convention by declaring his innings closed, an act that brought much criticism.  The less virulent critics called it a gamble, but it was scarcely even that; although Jardine was still there, it was unlikely that the last man Stanley Fenley would have made a major stand with him.  Fender was keen not to waste time and to put Hampshire in while the pitch was still playing awkwardly.  The result showed that it had probably made no difference to the match situation.

Hampshire began slowly and lost both openers at 32, but despite Fender’s efforts the pitch was becoming easier now.  Ronnie Aird, more aggressive than usual, played well for a time, but the Phil Mead of old seemed to be back as the left-hander grafted for his runs while his partners came and went.  He did have several narrow escapes before he settled in.  Lionel Tennyson scored 39 of a 58-run partnership with him for the fifth wicket, while George Brown batted stubbornly and then Jack Newman stayed until the close, this pair passing the declared Surrey total.  By this time Mead was on 99, which normally would hardly cause him much anxiety, except for the fact that he has had such a bad season and this, if he reaches it, will be his first century of the season.  The Surrey fielding this afternoon was not very good.

Hove: Sussex v South Africans

Bowley Leads Sussex Revival

SOUTH AFRICANS 337 and 42/1 (J M M Commaille 21, T A Ward 17*, P A M Hands 1*). SUSSEX 334 (H L Wilson 27, E H Bowley 106, R R Relf 32, T A Young 53, M W Tate 39; J M Blanckenberg 5/107, S J Pegler 3/112). Overnight score was: South Africans (1) 337 all out.

Sussex surprised everybody, and no doubt themselves as well, by only just failing to match the South Africans’ first-innings score of 337 today.  After a whole string of defeats, they have something better to hope for at last.  The man mainly responsible was their opening batsman, Ted Bowley, who scored his first century of the season in about three hours.  He shared an opening partnership of 52 with Herbert Wilson, and the ‘new’ players Robert Relf and Dick Young both played very useful innings so that the score went past 200 with only two wickets down.  Jimmy Blanckenberg worked his way through the middle order, though all the first eight batsmen reached double figures, and in the end Sussex just fell short.  The tourists batted for an hour before the close for the loss of Mick Commaille’s wicket.

Huddersfield: Yorkshire v Derbyshire

Rhodes Shoots Out Derbyshire

YORKSHIRE 300/7 dec (M Leyland 23, R Kilner 25, E Robinson 20*, G Wilson 18*; A Morton 4/80, L F Townsend 2/35). DERBYSHIRE 111 (S W A Cadman 34, L F Townsend 17, G R Jackson 15; G G Macaulay 3/38, W Rhodes 6/25) and (following on) 48/6 (J Bowden 16*, G R Jackson 10, H Elliott 0* overnight). Overnight score was: Yorkshire (1) 201/3 (Leyland 8*, Rhodes 4*).

Yorkshire continued their innings until they had reached 300, and then declared, with all nine who batted reaching double figures.  Arthur Morton bowled particularly well this morning, the only bowler who took advantage of what was now a bowlers’ pitch.  Now Derbyshire had to go in to bat on it, helped by some sun before the start of play, and contend with the Yorkshire spin bowlers.

They did well to reach 84 before the third wicket fell, but then Wilfred Rhodes got to work, while the accurate Roy Kilner blocked up the other end.  Rhodes was in his most brilliant bowling form and the hapless batsmen were quite at sea against him, the score going at one stage from 94 for two to 90 for eight, before James Horsley (12) and Harry Elliott (15 not out) made what amounted to a major stand at this stage to add 21 for the ninth wicket.  Rhodes took six wickets for only 25 runs in 10/5 overs.

Derbyshire had to follow on, and their situation got worse.  Their opening batsman Joseph Bowden fought doggedly to hold up one end, but Emmott Robinson took two early wickets and George Macaulay then joined in while Rhodes took a break.  By the close they were in a virtually hopeless position, with rain their only realistic hope of salvation.

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.