100 Years Ago: 9 August 1924

by John Ward

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Day 1

The Oval: Surrey v Middlesex (Bert Strudwick’s Benefit Match)

Two Centuries for Middlesex

MIDDLESEX 345/4 (H W Lee 126, J W Hearne 108, E H Hendren 75*, G T S Stevens 25, G O B Allen 0*). SURREY to bat.

This match is Bert Strudwick’s second benefit match, his first having been in 1911, and it was appropriate that to many his brilliant wicket-keeping was perhaps the highlight of the day.  On a perfect batting pitch that gave the bowlers neither bounce nor pace, Strudwick, the oldest player on the field at 44, was the liveliest right to the end; he conceded only one bye and took two catches, the second a brilliant one to remove Harry Lee.  The Surrey bowling, not particularly strong at any team, at least kept the runs down with their accuracy, helped by very good ground fielding, and until the final session the Middlesex batsmen were more interested in not getting out than in scoring runs.  The ball from Alan Peach that bowled Horace Dales before a run had been scored was perhaps a freak, the best ball of the day which shot fast off the pitch, moved away off the seam and beat him for pace.

That perhaps made Lee and Jack Hearne wary, as they batted as if they were playing a timeless Test in Australia, without taking the slight risk or even looking for quick singles to disrupt the field.  There was also Percy Fender’s astute field placing to take into account, as the pair ground out 232 runs in partnership in four hours in ideal batting conditions.  Presumably at tea Frank Mann had a word with them, as afterwards they went on the attack without being able to change their mindset too easily, and did not last too long.  Hearne batted four hours, Lee over 4½.

Patsy Hendren went in to attack the bowling and scored 75 runs in 80 minutes in the final session, and at last there was the interest of seeing him take on accurate bowling and tight, well-placed fielding designed to stop him from scoring.  There was no outright winner by the close, with many of Hendren’s strokes being well stopped, but many more beating the field for runs.  But on such a pitch Middlesex will have to bowl very well to improve their championship challenge with another victory.  There was beautiful weather until late in the afternoon, and an attendance of almost 20,000 will be a real blessing for the very popular beneficiary — although they did show their annoyance with Lee and Hearne during the afternoon session.

Portsmouth: Combined Services v South Africans

Jameson’s Abrupt Intrusion

SOUTH AFRICANS 182 (G A L Hearne 68, H W Taylor 62, R H Catterall 36; M B Burrows 2/55, A C Gore 3/47, T O Jameson 4/33). COMBINED SERVICES 145/2 (W A C Wilkinson 31, R A D Brooks 26, C H B Blount 35*, G J Bryan 51*).

It appears that the South Africans were mentally unprepared for the high-quality team that the Combined Services are able to put into the field.  They batted first, lost Tommy Ward who played the first ball of the match on to his wicket, and never recovered.  The first three wickets went down for 31, before George Hearne and Herby Taylor put on 75 for the fourth wicket, followed by another 64 between Taylor and Bob Catterall.  When they reached 170 with only four wickets down it seemed that the tourists had recovered, but in a startling turnabout Tom Jameson took four wickets before another run was added, and the last six wickets fell for 12 runs.  Taylor was the last man out, one of only three men to reach double figures in the innings.  The other eight batsmen scored 16 runs among them, five of them failing to score.

United Services in reply batted steadily and with determination, with an opening partnership of 52 between Alexander Wilkinson and Dallas Brooks, and then Charles Blount and the aggressive Godfrey Bryan, who reached 50 in an hour, took them through to the close.  With a powerful batting line-up, the Services could give the South Africans a difficult time tomorrow.

Cheltenham Festival: Gloucestershire v Worcestershire

Level Scores on Bowlers’ Day

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 114 (A E Dipper 19, F J Seabrook 30, M G Salter 39; C F Root 5/50, G C Wilson 3/25) and 16/2 (H Smith 4*, D C Robinson 12*). WORCESTERSHIRE 114 (F A Pearson 61, C V Tarbox 21, H P Gordon 13; C W L Parker 5/40, E G Dennett 4/36).

Maurice Foster won the toss but, with sunshine and a heavy dew likely to help the bowlers, and Charlie Parker licking his lips, decided to put Gloucestershire in to bat.  Things did not go well for him at first, for Alf Dipper and Fred Seabrook put on 38 for the first wicket, and then Harry Smith and Malcolm Salter added 43 for the fifth wicket; the score was 108 for four at one stage.  But Root then produced a devastating spell that shattered the innings to the extent of 114 all out; he actually took the last five wickets in nine balls without conceding a run, after failing to take a wicket earlier.

The Worcestershire innings took a strangely similar course.  Dick Pearson played a very fine innings, the largest of the day, and shared an opening stand of 49 with Charles Tarbox.  Parker and George Dennett took over the bowling, and the latter finally dismissed Pearson with the score on 99.  Then, as with Gloucestershire, there was a disastrous collapse of the tail, though both bowlers did the damage, and Worcestershire could only equal the Gloucestershire score.  For both teams, the last three wickets all fell on 114, and Parker took five wickets for 16 runs to finish off the innings.

Gloucestershire went in again for 15 minutes before the close, and lost two wickets in that time.  Wally Hammond opened the innings with Dipper this time, but both failed to score, Dipper being brilliantly caught.  Hammond had the dismal experience of bagging a pair all in one day, bowled by Pearson in the first innings and first ball by Root in the second.  Most of the batsmen during the day made the bowling and the pitch look more lethal than they actually were, although it did take a lot of spin.

Southampton: Hampshire v Leicestershire

Mead at it Again

HAMPSHIRE 318 (G Brown 50, C P Mead 101, L H Tennyson 19, H A W Bowell 68; G Geary 4/78, W E Astill 2/76, F Bale 2/43). LEICESTERSHIRE 6/0 (G H S Fowke 4*, A W Shipman 1*).

Having finally regained his form, Phil Mead continued to make up for lost time by scoring another century today, his third in five innings and the 80th of his first-class career.  Hampshire had started fairly soundly with George Brown looking in better form in scoring a good attacking fifty, his first for a month; he hit the first two deliveries of the match, from George Geary, for fours.  The team fifty came up on the board in only 25 minutes, mainly due to his successful effort to hit his way back to form.  Lionel Tennyson also launched a briefer assault on the bowling, his 19 including two sixes and 17 runs off an over from Ewart Astill.  Five wickets were down for 144, though, but as in times of old Mead was still there, and Alec Bowell helped him almost to double the score as they put on 135 together for the sixth wicket.  George Geary then broke through and the tail did not add many runs.  The Leicestershire bowling toiled well on a plumb pitch and they fielded very well throughout.  Leicestershire had only five minutes to bat before the close, and in typical unselfish fashion their captain Gus Fowke went in as night-watchman with Alan Shipman, both surviving the day.

Blackpool: Lancashire v Essex

Makepeace Holds Lancashire Together

LANCASHIRE 209 (J W H Makepeace 100, A W Pewtress 35, J Sharp 28; J W H T Douglas 4/59, C T Ashton 4/26). ESSEX 57/3 (J O’Connor 19, C T Ashton 14*, A B Hipkin 5*).

The hours of play were delayed and an early lunch taken as the Essex team were delayed three hours by holiday traffic on the railways and play could not start until 1.45.  Lancashire went in first on a pitch that was not particularly well prepared, although it improved a bit during the afternoon — the ground itself at Whitegate Park has been considerably improved for this year — and did not bat well.  Three wickets went down to Johnny Douglas for 33 runs — Charlie Hallows 1, Ernest Tyldesley 6 and Frank Watson 13.  Harry Makepeace held on, enduring a heroic battle against Douglas’s superb bowling, and found his best partner in Alfred Pewtress, who showed what a good player he would be for Lancashire if only he were available more often.  They put on 71 together, and then Jack Sharp put on 53 for the fifth wicket with Makepeace.  The later batting was shaky, so Makepeace speeded up and reached his century in 3½ hours before he was out to the second new ball, and the tail crumbled.  Makepeace scored almost half his team’s total in a brilliant innings, considering that he played so positively in difficult conditions.  Claude Ashton played a major part in wrapping up the tail quickly, but Douglas was certainly the best bowler.

Essex had done well to bowl Lancashire out for 209, and now they need their middle order to take advantage of this situation, but they lost their openers for 19 — John Freeman 2 and Jack Russell 12.  Cecil Parkin took only Freeman’s wicket, but he seems to have regained his bowling form.  The match appeared to be quite evenly balanced at the close, but as Lancashire have the stronger resources Essex need some players who will stand up and make their presence felt tomorrow.

Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire

Richmond Restricts Derbyshire

DERBYSHIRE 216 (J Bowden 26, L F Townsend 21, G R Jackson 29, C J Corbett 31, J M Hutchinson 21, J Horsley 31; F C L Matthews 3/38, T L Richmond 6/76). NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 105/3 (G Gunn 23, B Lilley 39, J R Gunn 20*, W R D Payton 2*).

Derbyshire turned in a remarkably consistent batting performance, with nine batsmen reaching double figures, six passing 20, but none of them followed through to score more than 31.  The best partnership of the innings was actually that for the last wicket, when Jim Horsley hit an aggressive 31, joint top scorer, and Harry Elliott 10 not out.  Len Richmond showed good form as a bowler, with subtle variations of spin, working away at the batsmen; he dismissed five of the first six batsmen in the order and also that of the debutant pace bowler Stan Worthington from Bolsover, who came in at No 10 but failed to score, bowled attempting a big drive.  He is playing to give Bill Bestwick a rest.

Worthington was compensated by taking the first Nottinghamshire wicket, though, no less a man than George Gunn, who tried to pull a ball and was bowled.  With Dodger Whysall nursing a strain, the reserve wicket-keeper Ben Lilley was brought into the team to open the batsmen and scored a very useful and handsome 39.  Arthur Carr was out for a strangely subdued 10 in half an hour just before the close.

Hastings: Sussex v Kent

Bryan Prepares for Australia

SUSSEX 165 (R A Young 23, A H H Gilligan 60, A E R Gilligan 40, T E R Cook 13; G C Collins 3/13, A P Freeman 4/80, W H Ashdown 2/15). KENT 262/3 (J L Bryan 128, J Seymour 76, F E Woolley 14*, W H Ashdown 1*).

Arthur Gilligan is back for Sussex, but has so far been unable to inspire his team out of the gloomy pit into which they have fallen since his injury last month.  Sussex, batting first in good conditions, ran into George Collins in one of his inspired spells, bowling with real pace and knocking over the first three batsmen for only 9 runs on the board.  Then Harold Gilligan found a unique way of ridding his team of the menace; he drove a ball straight back at Collins, hitting him just below the knee so hard that he had to limp off the field, unable to return until much later.  But much damage had been done already.  To their credit, Sussex continued to play a positive, attacking game right down their order.  Dick Young put on 61 for the fourth wicket with Harold Gilligan, before Arthur came in and the score was 104 before the fifth wicket fell, a good recovery.  But Arthur Gilligan, last out, had little support from the tail and the team could only manage 165.  After Collins left, Tich Freeman was the best of the bowlers and Kent fielded superbly.

Jack Bryan, who was also captaining Kent in the absence of the injured Stanley Cornwallis, then went on to play a fine innings that showed why he has been chosen for Australia.  He looked a little shaky to start with, as he often does, but then settled down for a fine 128 in just under three hours, though he did give three difficult chances.  He put on 74 for the first wicket in an hour with Wally Hardinge (15) and 151 in a dynamic stand with James Seymour which gave Kent the lead with only one man out.  Both were out just before the close, but Kent still led by 97 runs with seven wickets in hand.

Sheffield: Yorkshire v Warwickshire

Macaulay and Rhodes Rock Warwickshire

WARWICKSHIRE 170 (E J Smith 20, J H Parsons 77, F S G Calthorpe 27*, R E S Wyatt 17; A Waddington 2/34, G G Macaulay 4/57, W Rhodes 3/41). YORKSHIRE 114/2 (H Sutcliffe 62*, M Leyland 22*; E P Hewetson 2 wkts).

The conditions appeared to be good for batting, and Warwickshire did begin their first innings well, with Tiger Smith and Jack Parsons putting on 69 for the first wicket; unusually, Parsons outscored Smith on this occasion.  Both in turn, however, were dropped by Abe Waddington in the slips.  Then George Macaulay turned in a fine spell of bowling, taking the first four wickets to fall by 120.  From that point Freddie Calthorpe found himself fighting alone as a string of partners came and went cheaply, mainly to the bowling of Wilfred Rhodes.  Only Bob Wyatt stayed with him for long, and he was left stranded on 27 out of a total of 170, having retired hurt briefly after taking a blow from Macaulay on the elbow.  The total would have been considerably less had not several chances been dropped in the field, though Waddington later took two brilliant one-handed slip catches.

Yorkshire made a poor start, with Edward Hewetson removing Percy Holmes for 3 and Edgar Oldroyd for 11 (38 for two), both caught at the wicket by Smith.  Hewetson was rather fortunate, though, as his bowling was erratic and Harry Howell bowled just as fast and more accurately without luck.  Maurice Leyland showed more stability when he joined Herbert Sutcliffe, and by the close Yorkshire were well placed to take the lead on the first innings.

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.