100 Years Ago: 8 September 1924

Gentlemen on top as Relf and Stephens dominate for the Rest

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Day 2

Scarborough: Gentlemen v Players

Allen and Gilligan Give Gentlemen the Lead

PLAYERS 144 and 39/1 (P Holmes 12, H Sutcliffe 21*, E Oldroyd 4*). GENTLEMEN 198 (D R Jardine 19, A P F Chapman 51, G O B Allen 33, F W Gilligan 31*; G G Macaulay 3/63, A S Kennedy 6/82). Overnight score was: Gentlemen (1) 66/3 (Jardine 15*, Chapman 13*).

There was much rain yesterday, and although the pitch had been well covered, the outfield was slow and heavy, which kept the scoring down.  The overnight pair showed contrasting styles this morning, Percy Chapman playing his usual aggressive game while Douglas Jardine was doggedly defensive and scored only four more runs in 50 minutes before he was out.  When Chapman was out, both batsmen victims of good catches by Dodger Whysall keeping wicket off Alec Kennedy, six wickets were down for 115.  Chapman’s 51 lasted 85 minutes, and Jardine’s 19 ten minutes longer.  Then the aggressive Gubby Allen (above) shared a 48-run partnership with the stubborn Frank Gilligan that gave the Gentlemen the lead.  They made rather heavy weather of their batting on the whole, though, and eventually finished with a lead of 54 runs.  The Players had batted less than an hour for the wicket of Percy Holmes before a heavy shower ended play at 5.30.

Hastings (R.A.F. Club Week): Lord Cowdray’s XI v The Rest

Two Centuries for The Rest

LORD COWDRAY’S XI 314/8 dec and 54/4 (H T W Hardinge 14*, F S G Calthorpe 21*; A E R Gilligan 3 wkts). THE REST 367 (R R Relf 114, E H Bowley 27, H A Peach 28, D J Knight 40, G W Stephens 121; F S G Calthorpe 2/35, G Geary 4/76, F E Woolley 2/131). Overnight score was: Lord Cowdray’s XI 314/8 dec.

Today was a bright sunny day at Hastings after heavy rain in the night, but the pitch had been completely covered and so turned out fast and true.  After Percy Fender had declared at the overnight score, The Rest proceeded to bat in brilliant festival fashion, scoring their runs overall at the rate of 100 an hour.  It was started by Robert Relf, who came in after Andy Sandham was bowled by Freddie Calthorpe for 2, and soon launched a fierce assault on the bowling, racing to his fifty in half an hour, before slowing down enough to take an hour and a quarter over 114 out of 147.  He hit 7 sixes and 10 fours, and one of his big hits injured an elderly woman spectator on the body and she had to be taken to hospital in a stretcher; she was later reported to be in a satisfactory condition.  After reaching his century he hit Frank Woolley for two successive sixes and was out lbw to the next delivery.

Relf’s hitting was almost matched later on by George Stephens, who plundered the bowling for 121 in less than an hour and a half, hitting 3 sixes and 16 fours, his last 81 runs taking just 40 minutes.  Relf had played much the sounder innings of the two, though.  The team innings of 367 lasted only three hours and 40 minutes, and Woolley in particular suffered with the ball, thanks to Relf and Stephens; he bowled 15 overs, took two wickets and conceded 131 runs.

Lord Cowdray’s team had to go in again for an hour and a quarter with a deficit of 53 runs, and by the close had taken the lead by a single run, but lost four wickets in the process to the superb bowling of Arthur Gilligan and Maurice Tate.  Gilligan removed Jack Hobbs for 8 and Woolley for 5, and the fourth wicket fell at 20.  Wally Hardinge again hung on grimly, having 1 not out as opener at that stage, while Freddie Calthorpe made some attacking strokes before the finish.

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.