101 Years Ago: 13 July 1923

By John Ward

July 13, 1924, was a rest day, void of cricket. Today, therefore, we go back a year further.

Note to readers: The latest ACS auction of cricket books, with a focus on Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Shropshire, is now open for registration by members and non-members alike—an excellent way of supporting our work. Check it out here.

Day 3

Manchester: Lancashire v Essex

Makepeace and Watson See off Essex

ESSEX 325 and 208/6 dec (C A G Russell 102, P A Perrin 23, C J H Treglown 34; A Rhodes 2/40, L W Cook 2/59). LANCASHIRE 199 and 217/2 J W H Makepeace 105, F B Watson 96). Match drawn. Overnight score was: Essex (1) 284/6 (Perrin 86*, Eastman 23*).

Three big innings on the final day on a pitch that had eased ensured that this match ended in a tame draw. Jack Russell finally broke through to form and scored a good century for Essex in under three hours, again from No 4 in the order rather than his usual opening position, which enabled Essex to set Lancashire an unchallenging target of 335 to win in about three hours. Russell batted slowly considering that Essex were looking for a declaration, but the century will have done his own confidence and form much good.

Harry Makepeace went in with Frank Watson as his opening partner rather than Charlie Hallows, who is in poor form, and the two survived some more superb bowling from Johnny Douglas before they could settle down to milking the innocuous remainder of the Essex attack. Makepeace scored his century and the opening partnership realized 174, but Watson played a gift full toss from Jack O’Connor on to his stumps just short of what would have been his maiden hundred, and at this point the match was abandoned. Lancashire have now failed to gain a point in their last three matches, and their county championship title hopes are virtually extinguished.

Hove: Hampshire v Sussex

Mead Dominates Second Innings

SUSSEX 160 and 188. HAMPSHIRE 285 and 64/5 (C P Mead 41*; A E R Gilligan 4/34). Overnight score was: Sussex (2) 188 all out.

Some unexpectedly competitive cricket was seen this morning when Hampshire went in to score only 64 runs for victory. Again the Sussex opening attack of Maurice Tate and Arthur Gilligan launched itself in fury against the Hampshire batsman, with Gilligan this time gaining the most success, removing two batsmen to catches at the wicket in his first over. After that the other batsmen wisely sat back, tried to keep their wickets intact and said in effect, “Let’s leave it to Phil.” The left-hander obliged and scored most of the necessary runs himself without dismissal. Alec Kennedy’s 8 was the next-best score.

Birmingham: Warwickshire v Somerset

Daniell Lone Battle as Somerset Sink

WARWICKSHIRE 331 and 254/8 dec (F R Santall 23, G W Stephens 63, B W Quaife 31, J A Smart 59*, N E Partridge 30; G F Earle 4/50, J C White 2/33). SOMERSET 330 and 115 (J Daniell 61, G E Hunt 12; H Howell 4/42, F S G Calthorpe 3/32, W G Quaife 2/5). Warwickshire won by 140 runs. Overnight score was: Warwickshire (2) 29/2 (Santall 15*, W G Quaife 2*).

This was a day of fluctuations and mishaps, with three players — Tiger Smith, Dar Lyon and Randall Johnson — all suffering injuries that put them out of the game. At first the day went in Somerset’s favour as they had five Warwickshire wickets down for 74. Warwickshire fought back, as George Stephens and Bernard Quaife took the score to 151 together, and the other later batsmen gave good support, especially Jack Smart with his unbeaten fifty. Freddie Calthorpe was able to declare with eight wickets down, setting Somerset to score 256 in two hours and ten minutes to win.

A draw looked the most likely result, but Somerset found Warwickshire had other plans, as they collapsed in the most disastrous fashion to superb bowling from Harry Howell and Calthorpe, losing their first four wickets for only 9 runs — Calthorpe actually took three wickets in his first over. John Daniell made a magnificent effort to rescue his team with a fine fighting innings of 61, which proved to be more than half the team total, but he could not do it alone and Somerset went down to heavy defeat. Warwickshire had 20 minutes to spare.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE: Yorkshire 87.05, Nottinghamshire 85.33, Surrey 65.32, Sussex 62.66, Lancashire 60.00, Hampshire 56.92, Kent 56.25, Middlesex 43.33, Gloucestershire 40.00.

MATCHES STARTING TOMORROW

County Championship matches:

Chesterfield: Derbyshire v Somerset

Bristol (Greenbank): Gloucestershire v Sussex

Southampton: Hampshire v Nottinghamshire

Maidstone: Kent v Leicestershire

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Worcestershire

The Oval: Surrey v Lancashire

Dewsbury: Yorkshire v Essex

Tourist match:

Birmingham: Warwickshire v West Indians

No matches:

Glamorgan and Middlesex.

Lancashire’s pointless draw against lowly Essex seems to confirm that the county championship is now a two-horse race, and only some really remarkable happenings could bring any of the other counties back into the picture. Yorkshire should be able to beat Essex at home (though we thought the same of Lancashire), but Nottinghamshire could have a more difficult match away against Hampshire, who have just enjoyed three successive victories. Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire right now both just keep on winning — who will blink first?

There is an interesting Big-Six clash at the Oval between Surrey and Lancashire, who may both at least be interested in finishing third in the championship. Lancashire are on a down at the moment, having played their last three matches without earning a point. At the tail end, Northamptonshire take on Worcestershire at home, with both counties desperate for a rare victory.

WEATHER FORECAST: The hot weather will tail off and start to become cooler and cloudier. There will be some rain but few major interruptions.

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.