100 Years Ago: 4 August 1924

by John Ward

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Day 2

Canterbury Week: Kent v Hampshire

Woolley and Spinners Sweep Kent Ahead

KENT 330/9 dec (F E Woolley 101, G J Bryan 50; A S Kennedy 2/97, G S Boyes 3/99, G Brown 4/18). HAMPSHIRE 172 (C P Mead 66, A S Kennedy 16; A P Freeman 4/59, C S Marriott 5/66) and (following on) 56/2 (G Brown 18, R Aird 17*, J A Newman 7*). Overnight score was: Kent (1) 215/4 (Woolley 51*, G J Bryan 9*).

Frank Woolley and Godfrey Bryan continued their overnight partnership and added 114 altogether before Woolley reached his century in less than two hours and was immediately bowled by a straightforward ball from Brown.  His innings had been one of his very best, with the square cut being his most profitable stroke today; he hit 2 sixes and 10 fours.  Brown, brought on late, went on to take another three quick wickets.  He was denied a possible five-wicket haul by the sun, which came out to shine on the damp pitch and inspired Captain Stanley Cornwallis to declare his innings closed just before lunch in the hope of giving his bowlers a sticky pitch to bowl on.

He opened his bowling with the two spinners, Tich Freeman and Father Marriott, the latter now qualified to play for Kent as he is a master at Dulwich College, and bowling with an action that reminded onlookers of Colin Blythe.  He took the wicket of William Shirley before lunch, but when play resumed afterwards the sun abandoned them and the pitch dried normally and played easily.  But, thanks mainly to fine spin bowling, Kent just succeeded in enforcing the follow-on.  Only Philip Mead did much, playing good positive cricket with excellent footwork for 66 in 1¾ hours, helped by Alec Kennedy with a dogged 16.  Cornwallis had an unfortunate accident in the field, accidentally treading on the ball as he was fielding it and tearing a thigh muscle, which could put him out for the rest of the season; he had to be carried off the field.  Hampshire fell just short of saving the follow-on.  Marriott bowled every bit as well as Freeman and excited Kent followers, although he will only be available in August each year due to his teaching post.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v South Africans

No Play — Rain

GLAMORGAN 178. SOUTH AFRICANS 15/1 (J M M Commaille 6*, P A M Hands 7*).

There was continuous rain yesterday that seriously damaged the pitch, and today there were still intermittent light showers.  A large crowd gathered outside the ground, but in the afternoon the pitch was still so saturated that play was impossible, a great disappointment to thousands of people and a bitter blow to the home club’s struggling finances.

Bristol: Gloucestershire v Somerset

Bridges Cleans Up

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 273 (A E Dipper 79, F G Rogers 68; J J Bridges 5/71, J C White 3/98). SOMERSET 29/0 (A Young 11*, J C W MacBryan 18*). Overnight score was: Gloucestershire (1) 186/5 (Dipper 54*, Rogers 26*).

The start of play today was delayed until after three o’clock owing to more rain yesterday, and only two hours’ play was possible.  Alf Dipper and Francis Rogers continued their overnight partnership, eventually putting on 108 together for the sixth wicket before Dipper’s marathon innings finally ended in a return catch to Jim Bridges; he had batted for four hours and 40 minutes to score 79.  Rogers soon followed him after a much more enterprising 68 in one hour and 50 minutes; he was brilliantly caught by John Daniell at cover off Jack White.  Then Bridges quickly finished off the innings, the last five wickets falling for only 26 runs.  Drizzle delayed the start of the Somerset innings for an hour.  The visitors then batted for half an hour before bad light ended play; no wicket fell, but Archie Young was dropped on 8.

Manchester: Lancashire v Yorkshire

Leyland Maiden Century

YORKSHIRE 359 (M Leyland 133*, R Kilner 37, A Dolphin 33; E A McDonald 2/88, R K Tyldesley 3/97, F B Watson 3/33). LANCASHIRE 78/2 (J W H Makepeace 35*, C Hallows 33). Overnight score was: Yorkshire (1) 147/3 (Leyland 34*, Rhodes 1*).

Maurice Leyland very wisely chose the occasion of a Roses match to score his maiden first-class century today.  Batting carefully throughout his innings of accumulation and good strokes, he was especially adept at placing the ball for runs on the leg side.  He survived a chance in the slips off Ted McDonald when 91, and went on to reach three figures without great support from most of his partners today.  Otherwise, though, he was quite untroubled by the pace of McDonald.  Roy Kilner quite dominated the fifth-wicket partnership of 46 with Leyland early on, while George Macaulay gave useful support for a while, but Arthur Dolphin at No 10 was at the crease when he reached his century.  The pair put on a valuable 75 together for the ninth wicket, Dolphin batted with remarkable confidence, and in the end Leyland was left not out after batting for 4¾ hours and hitting 14 fours.  The wickets were shared around, but Cecil Parkin had only one for 125 runs in 48 overs and looked very bland, quite probably through overwork.

Yorkshire’s total of 359 in six hours was a good one in the conditions, and Lancashire had to bat for the last two hours of the day.  Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows put on 57 for the first wicket before Macaulay dismissed Hallows, and Ernest Tyldesley made only 2, out to a brilliant catch by Emmott Robinson at silly mid-off.  Frank Watson had to come in and see out the day with Makepeace, though he had to struggle to survive against Kilner’s bowling.  The weather was uncertain all day and there were two brief stoppages of play, but in spite of that a massive crowd of about 36,000 attended, making Lancashire the envy of those counties who had their Bank Holiday Monday ruined by Jupiter Pluvius.

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Leicestershire

Northamptonshire Collapse

LEICESTERSHIRE 265 (W E Astill 57, J H King 48, A T Sharp 22, G Geary 61, T E Sidwell 28; W Wells 4/51, C N Woolley 2/59, F I Walden 2/45). NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 96 (A P R Hawtin 36, W W Timms 24; A Skelding 4/43, G Geary 3/10, W E Astill 3/25) and (following on) 3/0 (A H Bull 1*, J S Nicholson 2*). Overnight score was: Leicestershire (1) 45/1 (Taylor 12*, Astill 21*).

The stonewalling Claude Taylor was brilliantly caught by Bob Hayward, the former Northamptonshire stalwart, off the first ball he received this morning, which was no doubt to the relief of a large Bank Holiday crowd.  Then came some fine batting by Ewart Astill and John King, with the latter content to play a quiet rôle until his partner was out, upon which he opened out and played his strokes.  There was also a good eighth-wicket partnership of 54 in about 32 minutes between George Geary, who played the best innings of all, and Tommy Sidwell, and Leicestershire finished with quite a good total — which their opponents soon turned into an excellent total.  The Northamptonshire attack was depleted, with Albert Thomas, Vallance Jupp and Philip Wright all missing.

When Northamptonshire batted, Claud Woolley was out without scoring, but there followed a steady partnership between Rawlings Hawtin, another former fine batsman playing again for his team, and Wilfrid Timms, who put on 49 for the second wicket.  After that the batting quite fell apart and the team collapsed, failing even to save the follow-on, three bowlers sharing the wickets.  There was just time for Northamptonshire to start their second innings before the close, and two night-watchmen survived the day.

The Oval: Surrey v Nottinghamshire

Hobbs Leads Surrey Fightback

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 365/8 dec (W Walker 97, W A Flint 103; H A Peach 2/71, P G H Fender 4/109). SURREY 157/1 (J B Hobbs 105, A Sandham 73*, D J Knight 2*). Overnight score was: Nottinghamshire (1) 291/6 (Walker 70*, Flint 66*).

Play began late due to the wet ground and there was very little sunshine, but there was a large Bank Holiday crowd.  Willis Walker and Bill Flint continued their overnight partnership, almost on even terms, but Flint got most of the bowling and the bad balls and raced on to his century.  It was his first in first-class cricket, and he batted for 2½ hours before he was bowled by a ball from Percy Fender which shot through low.  The pair had added 178.  Arthur Carr withheld his declaration to give Walker the chance to reach his own century, but on 97, scored in 3½ hours, he was surprised by Fender’s faster ball and edged a catch to Bert Strudwick behind the stumps.  Carr now declared.

Jack Hobbs and Andy Sandham began the Surrey reply to great applause from the crowd, and found the pitch difficult, as Fred Barratt in particular found the pitch giving uneven bounce.  The two batsmen had to start very carefully and rely mainly on stolen singles to keep the score moving and Barratt had no success.  Len Richmond replaced him at the pavilion end and bowled superbly, having Sandham in a lot of trouble and being dropped at slip.  Hobbs was batting so skilfully that no bowler could trouble him, and after he reached 70 he started to hit brilliantly, perhaps eager to reach his century tonight.  That he did, but then Richmond made a leg-break lift unexpectedly and Hobbs edged it to George Gunn at slip.  Coincidentally their opening partnership was also worth 178.  Sandham was still there at the close with 73, but he survived two dropped chances.  He played some excellent strokes at times, but it wasn’t one of his best innings.

Hove: Sussex v Middlesex

Hearne Rattles Sussex

MIDDLESEX 248 (F T Mann 57, H R Murrell 23; M W Tate 6/66, A F Wensley 3/69) and 83/6 (H L Dales 28, G O B Allen 17, J W Hearne 16, F T Mann 9*, A R Tanner 0*; M W Tate 3 wkts, E H Bowley 2 wkts). SUSSEX 153 (E H Bowley 38, R A Young 33, T E R Cook 47; J W Hearne 5/66, G T S Stevens 4/51). Overnight score was: Middlesex (1) 225/8 (Mann 53*, Murrell 4*).

It was a day for bowlers at Hove on a pitch that was not easy for batting after suffering rain damage.  The Middlesex innings was soon over this morning for the addition of only 23 runs, most of them scored by Joe Murrell.  Sussex lost Herbert Wilson immediately, but looked capable of challenging the Middlesex total when Ted Bowley and Dick Young settled into a second-wicket partnership that added 68 runs.  But then Jack Hearne, accurate and spinning the ball well, broke through to dismiss them both and, helped by Greville Stevens, to run through the middle order as Tommy Cook tried in vain to hold everything together and was last out.  The last six batsmen in the team scored just 8 runs between them and Cook was the last man out, with Sussex still 95 runs behind.  Hearne and Stevens bowled unchanged after lunch.

Gubby Allen opened the Middlesex second innings with Horace Dales, and they did well to put on 42 together in three-quarters of an hour.  But then wickets began to fall steadily, and by the close the Middlesex lead was 178 runs with four wickets in hand.  This includes the wicket of Hearne, who retired hurt after being hit on the mouth by a ball from Maurice Tate, but he should be fit to bat tomorrow.  Hearne will not have good memories of Hove, as last year in this fixture he sustained the hand injury that ended his season.  Tate did most of the damage, and his best support came from the leg-breaks of Bowley.

Birmingham: Warwickshire v Derbyshire

Quaife and Calthorpe Boost Warwickshire

WARWICKSHIRE 255 (E J Smith 22, J H Parsons 39, W G Quaife 73, F S G Calthorpe 61, E P Hewetson 21; A Morton 2/93, W Bestwick 3/37, J Horsley 3/52). DERBYSHIRE 19/1 (S W A Cadman 7, J Bowden 5*, F G Peach 4*). Overnight score: no play on Saturday.

Play was delayed for half an hour at the start after all the Saturday rain, but the cricket continued without interruption after that.  Tiger Smith and Jack Parsons made a useful but slow opening stand, partly due to the heavy outfield, but Freddie Calthorpe came in at 73 for three after lunch and went for the runs.  He scored 61 in 70 minutes out of a stand of 77 with Willie Quaife, who played his usual dogged game.  When Calthorpe was out, Quaife’s score was 12.  After reaching 30 by tea, though, Quaife suddenly and unaccountably — unless his tea was spiked — decided to cast his defence aside and get after the bowling, no doubt giving the 6000-odd spectators a tall story to tell their grandchildren in the distant future.  He scored his last 43 runs in less than an hour, and to cap it all was caught off a skyer.  The only one of the later batsmen to give him much support was Edward Hewetson, who smashed 21 off 20 balls and broke his bat in the process.  Derbyshire went in for 45 minutes before the close and lost the valuable wicket of Sam Cadman, caught off Calthorpe for 7.

Worcester: Worcestershire v Essex

Worcestershire Take the Lead

ESSEX 110 and 137/5 (C T Ashton 31, J R Freeman 49, P A Perrin 21*, J W H T Douglas 1*; F A Pearson 2 wkts, G C Wilson 2 wkts). WORCESTERSHIRE 164 (F A Pearson 47, J B Coventry 42; J W H T Douglas 5/56, C A G Russell 2/26, A B Hipkin 3/41). Overnight score was: Worcestershire (1) 85/6 (Pearson 22*, Coventry 16*).

Dick Pearson and John Coventry came together yesterday evening with their team in trouble at 56 for six, and after another late start today they continued their rescue partnership far enough for Worcestershire to take the lead, adding 69 before Coventry was eventually out after a few rather lucky mishits in his innings.  Pearson also fell just short of his fifty and Worcestershire took an eventual lead of 54 on the first innings.

This was soon neutralized, though, as Claude Ashton opened the Essex second innings with John Freeman and the pair wiped off the deficit, making 74 in excellent style and seeing off the bowling of Fred Root and Pearson before they were separated.  The innings continued rather inconsistently, and by the early close caused by bad light Essex were 83 ahead with five wickets in hand.  There could be a good finish tomorrow, but Worcestershire with their inconsistent batting cannot be sure they hold an advantage.

CECIL PARKIN

The Board of Control has received a letter of apology from Cecil Parkin for the criticism he made of his captain, Arthur Gilligan, in the press regarding the first Test match against South Africa at Birmingham.

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.