Farewell to Billy Bruce
100 Years Ago: 29 July to 4 August 1925
The former Australian Test cricketer William Bruce has died in Melbourne at the age of 61. He was found drowned and it is believed that he took his own life. He was an attractive and aggressive batsman who played in 14 Test matches for Australia between 1884/85 and 1894/95, touring England in 1886 and 1893.
Day 1
Derby: Derbyshire v Essex
Essex, sixth on the County Championship table, showed little improvement at Derby, ambling to 207 for six despite fair conditions and the absence of Johnny Douglas. Derbyshire bowled and fielded well, but the pitch offered no excuse for Essex’s soporific pace. John Freeman batted 45 minutes for a single; at lunch they were 22 for one. The second wicket fell at 51 after two and a half hours, and Jimmy Cutmore’s fifty took nearly three and a half.
Jack Russell was the sole top-order batsman to show enterprise, making 75 in 2¼ hours. His momentum was blunted by acting captain Percy Perrin, who nudged 32 not out in two hours, roaming the popping crease with little effect. After Russell’s exit, Claude Ashton and Laurie Eastman attempted aggression but quickly perished.
Gloucester Week: Gloucestershire v Surrey
After his Oval experience against Kent, Percy Fender chose to bat first today. A large crowd awaited Jack Hobbs, hoping he’d equal W. G. Grace’s century record. Rain delayed play before lunch, and Gloucestershire’s bowlers struggled with a wet ball. Hobbs and Andy Sandham added 101 for the first wicket, but Hobbs—tempted into risky strokes—was bowled by Robert Melsome for 52, the only wicket not claimed by Charlie Parker, who made history by taking 26 wickets across three consecutive first-class innings.
Sandham made 85, while Ducat and Shepherd compiled a subdued 71. The pitch dried and came alive after tea, allowing Parker to dismantle Surrey’s middle order; only Douglas Jardine offered resistance. Parker claimed nine for 118, a masterclass. Gloucestershire’s openers then struggled on a still-tricky surface, both falling before stumps for a total of 21, with Alf Dipper out for 8.
Bournemouth Week: Hampshire v Sussex
Rain prevented any play in this the second match of the Bournemouth Cricket Week today.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Lancashire
Conditions at Northampton suited bowlers, with just one batsman reaching 25. Maurice Fitzroy sent Lancashire in, and despite a steady start from Makepeace and Hallows (32 for the first wicket), they slumped to 49 for four—three to Vallance Jupp. Watson and young Jack Iddon added 41, and Iddon’s valuable 48 helped Lancashire edge past 200, aided by brisk lower-order runs, notably Tyldesley’s 21 in 15 minutes. Though the pitch was playable, Lancashire’s batting was largely timid.
Northamptonshire batted for under an hour and collapsed to 21 for four, Parkin removing Woolley and Wright. Jupp remained scoreless after 25 minutes. Lancashire, without Ted McDonald ahead of the weekend’s Roses match, fielded a modest side but still seized control. Rain interruptions shortened play.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Kent
Arthur Carr’s decision to bat first on a soft-topped, firm-underneath pitch proved costly, as Nottinghamshire crashed to 13 for three, including Carr for a duck. Walker and Payton added 73 before lunch, but both fell around the interval. Tich Freeman bowled superbly to reduce the side to 108 for eight, with Larwood’s defiant innings lifting the total to 154.
Kent also faltered early, Barratt removing Woolley and troubling Hardinge, who was eventually bowled by Staples for 24. At 60 for five, they were in trouble, but the pitch improved and Knott and Collins steadied the ship. Collins, in sprightly form, reached 48 not out by stumps, giving Kent a narrow lead with five wickets intact.
Bath: Somerset v Glamorgan
After rain delayed the start until after 3pm, Somerset batted on a sodden pitch, losing MacBryan early. Archie Young made 34, but the middle order collapsed under Johnnie Clay’s incisive off-breaks—six wickets for just 13—leaving Jack White once more to anchor the innings. Eight down for 96, White found late support, especially from keeper Wally Luckes, whose last-wicket stand of 46 lifted the total. White was last out for a dogged 43. Clay, now bowling spin with a delicate run-up after injury curtailed his pace, couldn’t break the final partnerships.
Dar Lyon returned for his first county match in a year, scoring 4. Having resolved his dispute with the M.C.C. after last year’s retirement, he is back in Somerset colours. What were the terms of that reconciliation, one wonders?
Day 2
Derby: Derbyshire v Essex
Essex’s innings expired after nearly eight hours for 302. Perrin (68 in 3¾ hours) and Whiz Morris added 97 for the seventh wicket, Morris showing some intent before falling. Perrin’s surprise boundary attempt ended the innings abruptly as Garnet Lee claimed the final three wickets in one over for two runs.
Derbyshire replied cautiously. Lee anchored as usual, sharing stands of 52 with Bowden and 73 with Jackson, the latter out near stumps. Both he and Lee passed 1000 runs for the season—Derbyshire’s first to do so since 1913. Barring a batting collapse, the match seems headed for a draw, though first-innings points remain in play.
Gloucester Week: Gloucestershire v Surrey
Gloucestershire’s first innings was a battle to avoid the follow-on, slumping to 49 for four before Harry Smith's resolute knock steadied matters. He and Sinfield eked out 22 in ninety minutes for the sixth wicket. Hammond and Bloodworth offered flair but no substance—Hammond falling for 33 in a brisk 20 minutes. At 146 for nine, still 174 behind, Dennett and Parker swung freely, adding a defiant 52 in 40 minutes to force Surrey to bat again.
Rain and fading light hampered Surrey’s second innings, with Hobbs uneasy en route to a sketchy 38. Four wickets fell, but they closed 254 ahead and well on top.
Bournemouth Week: Hampshire v Sussex
On a rain-affected pitch, Arthur Gilligan boldly chose to bat first, with Maurice Tate making a brisk 36. Sussex’s top five all contributed—an unusual feat—but from 170 for three, they collapsed, losing seven wickets for just 16 runs, Kennedy and Boyes doing the damage.
Hampshire replied poorly, losing four wickets for 52 in the first hour. Mead added 25, but the innings faltered as Sussex took control. Their bowlers impressed, and keeper Tich Cornford had a standout day with three catches and a stumping.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Lancashire
Amid widespread batting frailty at Northampton, Vallance Jupp anchored the home side’s resistance with a patient 60. From 31 for six, he found a steady partner in Albert Thomas, and later marshalled a gutsy last-wicket stand of 51 with Nobby Clark to limit Lancashire’s lead to 69. Sibbles took three in three overs, Parkin bowled well, but Tyldesley was off-colour.
Lancashire’s second innings was disrupted by rain, but Charlie Hallows weathered both conditions and spin to compile a superb 98, just falling short of a century in the final over. His stand of 95 with Barnes lifted Lancashire from 64 for three to a commanding position, one Northamptonshire will likely struggle to challenge.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Kent
Kent’s overnight pair of John Knott and George Collins continued their partnership for another 25 runs on a pitch that played more easily today, but at 184 Collins was out, and Jim Hubble and Knott followed for two more runs. In fact Kent’s last five wickets fell within an hour for just 21 runs, four of them to Sam Staples, restricting their lead to 51 on the first innings.
Nottinghamshire lost three wickets for 61 runs when they batted again, having just cleared off the arrears, but then Arthur Carr, joined by Ben Lilley, launched a fierce attack on the bowling in a brilliant partnership of 152 for the fourth wicket. Of these Carr hammered 103 in about an hour and a half, an innings as usual distinguished mainly for his ferocious driving. He hit 6 sixes and 9 fours. He was eventually out caught in the deep, after being dropped there on 90. Lilley played an excellent supporting rôle, and both were out in quick succession. Wilf Payton, despite a hurt leg, played a sound innings after that and reached his fifty before the close, leaving Nottinghamshire in quite a good position. Kent fielded very well, apart from being let down by their slip catchers. There could be a good finish to this match tomorrow.
Bath: Somerset v Glamorgan
The drying pitch after night rain and morning showers helped the bowlers and made life difficult for the batsmen almost throughout today. Glamorgan did very well to score 72 for only two wickets before lunch, with Cyril Walters and Frank Pinch batting well. But after lunch the two main Somerset bowlers changed ends and Jim Bridges soon dismissed both of them, and in partnership with Jack White tore out the middle-order batting, the score going from 78 for two to 81 for seven. Johnnie Clay made a few good hits to score 10, but Glamorgan failed to reach 100. Their last eight wickets fell in 55 minutes.
Somerset too struggled badly in their second innings, the only exception being Jack MacBryan, who hit a fine 32 while only White of the others even reached double figures. The spinners Frank Ryan and Johnnie Clay took nine wickets between them and the Somerset score fell short of Glamorgan’s 99. This left Glamorgan 149 to win, and they were no doubt tremendously relieved to play out the day dourly for 18 runs in 50 minutes without losing a wicket. Tomorrow could be very interesting day, as Glamorgan will be hoping for their second victory of the season. But much depends on the weather, the batting conditions and the determination or fragility of the unreliable Glamorgan batting.
Day 3
Derby: Derbyshire v Essex
As expected, this match ended in a draw yesterday. Derbyshire, after being 149 for three overnight, were unable to make a challenge for the first-innings points after Garnet Lee was out quite early after making a three-hour 65. Only Sam Cadman could stay in long after that, as Laurie Eastman and Joe Hipkin bowled well and wickets went down steadily, earning Essex a first-innings lead of 80. Hipkin’s spell this morning saw him take five wickets for 16 runs in 15 overs. Essex went in a second time simply to play out time and lost five wickets for 87. Only Frank Gilligan, who came in then, made much attempt to entertain a tiny crowd with some good hits in 33 not out.
Gloucester Week: Gloucestershire v Surrey
Percy Fender knew what was needed when play resumed this morning, and he did it himself. He hit the first ball of the day for six, and then in half an hour he hit out at virtually every ball as he raced to a score of 58. He then declared on his dismissal, leaving Gloucestershire to score 324 to win. Charlie Parker could get nothing out of the pitch this morning and Fender gave him some harsh treatment, as well as hitting Wally Hammond for 18 runs in one over.
Colonel Douglas Robinson made an aggressive start to the Gloucestershire innings, hitting Albert Geary for four fours before he was out, but the rest of his team again suffered from timid defensive batting. Harry Smith did rather better this time, with 43 in less than an hour and a half, but he was one of four batsmen who were out between 99 and 112 — all to Fender, who benefited from the drying pitch. Gloucestershire quietly subsided to a heavy defeat.
Bournemouth Week: Hampshire v Sussex
The Bournemouth Week ended dismally yesterday, with rain for most of the night and all morning. As early as eleven o’clock the situation was declared to be hopeless and the match abandoned with no result even on the first innings.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Lancashire
There was a brief flurry of runs from Cecil Parkin this morning before the Lancashire second innings came to an end, setting Northamptonshire 293 to win. Claud Woolley began the last innings with some brilliant strokes, scoring 26 runs off Parkin’s first three overs, but then Parkin trapped him lbw for 30. He has been badly out of form recently and no doubt decided this was the best chance he had of making some runs. Parkin and Frank Sibbles were among the wickets as Northamptonshire steadily lost them, and at one stage six wickets were down for 103. Vallance Jupp this time was dismissed for 8, bowled by a beautiful delivery from Sibbles.
Then came a fightback, led by the Northamptonshire wicket-keeper Ben Bellamy, and Lancashire had to work hard to finish off the match. Albert Thomas helped Bellamy to put on 37 for the seventh wicket, but the best partnership was that between Bellamy and his captain, Maurice Fitzroy, who hit out well to make 78 together for the eighth wicket. Bellamy continued to bat well to the end of the match, finishing with 64 not out.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Kent
Here is one more to add to this season’s remarkable tally of successful big run chases — and the second time it has happened against Nottinghamshire, after Middlesex’s record 502 for six wickets earlier this season. This time there was no declaration for Arthur Carr possibly to chastise himself over, because Nottinghamshire completed their second innings in half an hour this morning, leaving Kent to score 327 to win. The result was all the more remarkable because of Kent’s disastrous start to the run chase, but if the Nottinghamshire slip fielders had held their chances they would surely have won.
Jack Bryan, acting captain in the absence of the injured Stanley Cornwallis, decided to lead from the front by opening the batting himself with Wally Hardinge. However, he was caught at slip off Fred Barratt without a run on the board, Bill Ashdown was bowled by Harold Larwood for a single, and Frank Woolley went for 13, leaving three wickets down for 20 and Kent’s situation looking almost hopeless. Then came some resistance as John Knott played a fine rescue innings, as he did first time round, and added 137 for the fourth wicket with Bryan. However, Knott was dropped on 14 in the slips, and so was Bryan with the total on 66. This ultimately was where Nottinghamshire lost the match.
Bryan never gave another chance. Nottinghamshire almost took control again when Len Richmond had Knott caught at cover from a full toss and Con Johnstone at forward short leg off a long hop next ball, but George Collins helped to take the total to 220 and see Bryan to his century. There followed the match-winning partnership, with Jack Hubble after a shaky start settling in well with Bryan. They added the final 109 runs together in just over an hour and Kent celebrated a fine victory with 15 minutes to spare. Bryan after reaching his century batted better than ever and showed everybody what a tragedy for cricket it is that as an amateur he can rarely play first-class cricket. He batted for just over 4½ hours and hit 23 fours. Apart from Barratt, Nottinghamshire did not bowl particularly well.
Bath: Somerset v Glamorgan
Somerset and, even more, Glamorgan are desperate for a victory in the County Championship, but Jupiter Pluvius maliciously prevented either of them that joy. Rain prevented any play until 4.15, which left only an hour and a half for Glamorgan to score the 131 runs they still needed for victory. They needed a good send-off to make this feasible, and this did not happen against the bowling of Jack White. Helm Spencer made a brief bid for Glamorgan by hitting 17 runs in 7 minutes, but when he was out there was nobody else able to take over. Cyril Walters batted for over an hour and a half altogether before being out at 64 for five with three-quarters of an hour left and 67 runs still needed. All Glamorgan realistically could do now was to play for a draw, and this Trevor Arnott and Dai Davies successfully achieved.
Day 1
Derby: Derbyshire v Warwickshire
The start of this match was delayed half an hour by rain, and then another hour and a half was lost after the completion of Derbyshire’s innings. The pitch was helpful to bowlers and the home batsmen struggled, scoring only 28 for the loss of both openers in an hour before lunch. Then Edward Hewetson broke through the middle order, well supported by Bob Wyatt. Five wickets went down for 39 and, with only Sam Cadman making any runs in the middle order, eight were out for 70, with only two fours having been hit so far. Anthony Jackson and Harry Elliott decided to attack and this policy was more successful, as the last two wickets added 64 runs, almost doubling the score.
When Warwickshire finally began their innings at half-past five, to bat for an hour and a quarter, they lost Tiger Smith for 14, but Jack Parsons batted well and saw out the day with Len Bates, taking Warwickshire halfway to a first-innings lead with only one wicket down. For Derbyshire the Bank Holiday crowd was dismally low at about 2000, probably owing to the poor weather — even when it wasn’t raining, the day was dull and cold.
Swansea: Glamorgan v H D G Leveson Gower’s XI
The fact that Frank Ryan at No 11 for Glamorgan was the top scorer of the day with 37 illustrates a rather colourless day in which no batsman scored 40 runs and no bowler took more than three wickets. The pitch was rather slow and took some spin, but the visitors had no quality spin bowlers in their ranks. Glamorgan began with good innings from Trevor Arnott and Vernon Morris who took the score to 62 before the second wicket fell, while Frank Pinch batted very well for 29. The best partnership, though, was for the last wicket, between Arthur Perkins, a local amateur with a good defence, and Ryan, who threw his bat gaily as they added 55 runs to take the score past 200. Ryan could probably be a useful all-rounder if he applied himself to it. Harold Hever, left-arm medium from Kent, was the best of the bowlers.
The Leveson Gower team batted for just over an hour, with Sidney Hearn, also of Kent, opening the batting and playing very well. Then rain came on and ended the day’s play. Glamorgan are resting some of their top players and giving some promising younger players a trial for this match.
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Somerset
Alf Dipper played one of his great innings for Gloucestershire today and enabled them to make a big score against their neighbours after a poor start. Dipper’s first three partners were all out for single figures, and Wally Hammond struggled for his innings of 13. Jim Bridges took three of them, well partnered by Raymond Robertson-Glasgow, making a rare appearance for Somerset, but it was Bridges who had all the luck. Four wickets were down for 106, scored very slowly and most of them by Dipper, who nevertheless took over two hours for his fifty.
Then at last Bernie Bloodworth provided Dipper with the partner he needed. They steadily increased their scoring rate and in two hours added 160 for the fifth wicket, although Dipper took four hours for his century, a chanceless innings that many rated one of his very best. After this he and Bloodworth flayed the bowling until both were dismissed by consecutive deliveries from Bridges at 266. Dipper took only half an hour over his last 50 runs. The next three batsmen all scored usefully, and by the close Gloucestershire were in a strong position. The Somerset bowling was very good and they were unfortunate not to have more luck. There was a good attendance of about 6000 today.
Canterbury Week: Kent v Hampshire
There has been much heavy rain at Canterbury during the last few days, and the pitch was soft and not too easy at the start of this match, though Hampshire still decided to bat on winning the toss. Charlie Wright got the early wicket of George Brown for 8, skying a hook that was taken by Percy Chapman in the slips. Kent have three spinners in Tich Freeman, Father Marriott and Frank Woolley, and they soon displaced the quick men, getting little help from the pitch but making scoring difficult. Harold Day tried to dominate them, but soon skyed a catch off Marriott, who also got Jack Newman, opening the innings, lbw. Jack Bryan took a superb low running catch to remove Alex Bowell, these four wickets falling in 80 minutes before lunch. During the interval there was a heavy downpour of rain which, on top of what had fallen over the past few days, made any further play today impossible. This is Canterbury’s 80th Cricket Festival.
Leicester: Leicestershire v Northamptonshire
Cricket was more off than on at Leicester today with frequent showers of rain; only two hours and 20 minutes’ play was possible and Leicestershire could do nothing more than start well. The damp pitch gave the bowlers no help, and Alan Shipman and Les Berry put on 72 for the first wicket. Berry completed 50 after several early narrow escapes, and was out at 96, but then Ewart Astill and John King batted well before the close. At one stage, though, King was given run out, but Philip Wright sportingly told the umpires that he had accidentally impeded King and the appeal was withdrawn.
At one stage in midafternoon some of the 4000 crowd were so frustrated when play did not resume after more rain that they invaded the pitch. They had to return rather shame-facedly, though, when they found that the pitch was indeed really sodden and the police persuaded them to leave and wait a little longer.
The Oval: Surrey v Nottinghamshire
Rain cut a large chunk out of the play today, as it came on half an hour after the late start due to heavy overnight rain — when Nottinghamshire had crawled to 13 runs in that time — and the players could not take the field again until 3.30. Much of Nottinghamshire’s early play by openers George Gunn and Dodger Whysall was very slow and suspicious, although Willis Walker then made a few good aggressive strokes, hitting the short fast balls of Errol Holmes powerfully before a ball from Alan Peach lifted unexpectedly and had him caught at the wicket by Bert Strudwick for 17.
Arthur Carr soon imposed himself on the bowlers, hitting powerfully at anything off a good length and scoring 53 out of a partnership of 79 with Whysall in 50 minutes. He was superbly caught at long-off by Stanley Fenley, who took the catch low down almost off his ankles. The other batsmen scored consistently and about three hours’ play were possible altogether. The pitch was lifeless without a strong sun to freshen it up, but most of the batsmen were reluctant to play the attacking game as Carr had done. There was a crowd of over 20,000 people, and many of them left before the close, leaving behind an appalling amount of litter. A strong breeze started blowing it all over the playing field in the last few minutes of play, keeping the fielders too busy dealing with it and distracting the batsmen. Play ended five minutes early for a possibly unique reason: John Gunn complained that serious cricket was impossible in such conditions, and the umpires agreed with him.
Hove: Sussex v Middlesex
This should have been a good toss for Sussex to win, as with dull weather the pitch started soft and easy, but would get difficult as it dried later in the day. Arthur Gilligan made the right decision in batting, only to be badly let down by his batsmen. His policy was to send in as his first pair Ted Bowley to stay in with Maurice Tate, a hitter. Bowley did not stay in, hitting a catch off his very first ball to square leg. Tate did not hit, scraping together 11 runs before trying to hit a swinging ball from the same bowler, Nigel Haig, and edging a catch to slip. Whether hitting or defending, the top batsmen kept hitting across the line of the ball and paying the penalty, five wickets falling for 34. Gilligan himself did best with 26, but Sussex failed to put together a partnership of 30 in their dismal score of 117. Haig was the only bowler who caused any real difficulty, as Jack Hearne and Greville Stevens were not particularly accurate, but most of the Sussex batsmen either mishit or failed to take advantage of the poor deliveries.
The pitch was becoming more difficult, as expected, when Middlesex batted, but they handled it much better than the Sussex batsmen had done, even against the bowling of Tate. They quickly lost Stevens for 0 and Hearne for 3; 12 for two. When Tate bowled Horace Dales after tea three were down for 36, but then came the best partnership of the day between Patsy Hendren and Clarence Bruce. They added 48 for the fourth wicket, mainly by skilful defensive play, before a superb delivery from Tate beat Bruce in the air and bowled him out. Hendren played a fine innings, showing that skilful forward play was the best approach on such a pitch. Tate and Bert Wensley both bowled superbly, keeping the batsmen under constant pressure.
Worcester: Worcestershire v Essex
Rain delayed the start of play and there was more at tea, and conditions were rather against the batsmen, the pitch giving some help to the bowlers, but overall Worcestershire handled them quite well. Dick Pearson and Charles Tarbox opened with a partnership of 76, with Pearson scoring most of the runs before being first out for 48, and the score reached 105 before Tarbox was next out as soon as the spin-bowling all-rounder Jack O’Connor went on to bowl. This was the start of a collapse: four wickets went down for two runs, and O’Connor took a very distinguished hat-trick: Maurice Foster bowled by a leg-break for 2, Harry Foster (playing for the Bank Holiday match) bowled by an off-break first ball, and Gilbert Ashton caught and bowled with the third delivery.
From 107 for five Fred Root began a recovery, although O’Connor picked up a fifth wicket in Harry Higgins. After that Will Shakespeare shared a vital eighth-wicket partnership of 69 with Harry Rogers, so that Worcestershire finished the day in what they may consider to be a good position for them after O’Connor’s remarkable burst of success, although overall their batting lacked sparkle. Pearson and Rogers played the most enterprising innings.
Sheffield: Yorkshire v Lancashire
The play was badly interrupted by rain, and an hour and a half was lost late in the afternoon. Lancashire were delighted to win the toss when batting conditions were easy, but with rain predicted for the weekend. Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows set up their stalls and dug in. They had to struggle for survival against some excellent bowling from Macaulay, who even got some life from the pitch as he moved the ball off the pitch with deadly accuracy. Hallows was in better form than Makepeace, although he was rather lame, and only a fumble by the wicket-keeper Arthur Dolphin saved him from being run out when called for a quick single just before lunch, when they had put on 77 together. Afterwards Makepeace had an escape when he snicked a ball through a large gap between wicket-keeper and slips, and Roy Kilner missed a return chance due to a sore hand. There were plenty of appeals for lbw by the Yorkshire bowlers, all rejected by the umpires, but the players, perhaps under warning, especially Macaulay and Abe Waddington, accepted the decisions sportingly and so there was no trouble from unruly members of the crowd this time.
After the rain interruption the damp conditions handicapped the bowlers, but Wilfred Rhodes finally broke the opening partnership at 171 when Hallows tried to hit across the line of a straight full-length ball and was out lbw for 79 in almost four hours. This is the first century opening partnership to be scored against Yorkshire this season. George Duckworth came in as night-watchman for the last ten minutes, and at the close Makepeace was still there on 78. If rain arrives during the weekend Lancashire are well placed to take advantage of it — otherwise this match seems already to have the mark of a Roses draw on it. The first day was rather like a typical Roses match of legend, with batsmen dogged, scoring slow, bowlers and fielders intense, and a dull sky above. John Barnes continues the acting Lancashire captaincy in this match; the regular captain, Jack Sharp, is now fit to play, but voluntarily stood down to enable the promising Frank Sibbles to keep his place. The total attendance was estimated to be about 25,000.
Day 2
Derby: Derbyshire v Warwickshire
The day began and ended with rain, which also interrupted the middle of play. Jack Parsons and Len Bates continued their overnight partnership when they were able to get on the field, and Warwickshire took the lead with only one wicket down, the pair adding 112 runs altogether. Both scored seventies, but none of the later batsmen established themselves for very long. However, it was good enough for Warwickshire by the close to score almost double the Warwickshire total. Jim Hutchinson in the covers ran out two batsmen in succession in the middle order. Derbyshire lost the bowling of Bill Bestwick, suffering from sciatica.
Swansea: Glamorgan v H D G Leveson Gower’s XI
The weakness of Henry Leveson Gower’s team was made clear as they were quite outplayed by the bottom county in the County Championship today — or perhaps much of the reason is that Glamorgan play better when they are free from the pressure of the Championship. Play was several times interrupted by showers of rain. The Leveson Gower innings never got under way today, although Sidney Hearn, left-handed in both batting and bowling, went on to reach a good fifty. After he was the fourth man out at 101 the innings went into terminal decline, none of the last six batsmen reaching double figures against the fine bowling of Frank Ryan, well supported by the steadiness of Jack Mercer.
Their first-innings lead of 73 seemed to fill Glamorgan with confidence. Trevor Arnott, promoted to open the innings in this match, seemed very well fitted for this rôle; his batting has much improved recently. He played a fine attacking innings to score a fifty in only an hour, out of an opening partnership of 112. His partner was John Bell, the Yorkshireman qualifying for Glamorgan, and he also batted superbly for 93 in two hours, hitting powerfully off the back foot in particular and being unfortunate to miss his century just before the close of play. However, much of the Leveson Gower team’s bowling was very poor and inaccurate. With a lead now of 266 runs, Glamorgan are well placed to record a rare victory tomorrow — weather permitting.
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Somerset
The Gloucestershire innings came to an end quickly this morning, and Somerset went in with a big task in front of them. Jack MacBryan again gave them a good start, though, helped by Archie Young in an opening partnership of 85. But after MacBryan went at 97 the middle order began to crumble to the spin of Charlie Parker and George Dennett. Randall Johnson hung in while the next five batsmen amassed 9 runs among them, but he finally found a good partner in the last man Jim Bridges. Somerset needed 211 to save the follow on, and Bridges came in at 160 for nine, but they succeeded, adding 61 bold runs in half an hour before Parker eventually had Johnson caught at mid-off.
Gloucestershire, batting a second time, again made a poor start, losing two wickets for 20, but again Alf Dipper was there to stand firm, and now found support from Leonard Corbett who joined him for the third wicket. Dipper played a remarkably brilliant innings for those who know him best as a solid plodder. Full of confidence and strokes after his great first innings, he hit the ball superbly all over the field and looked set for another century when he was run out for 71, scored out of 102 in less than an hour and a half. Gloucestershire finished the day with the great advantage of 294 runs and with four wickets still in hand. Somerset never stopped trying in their bowling and fielding, saving many runs, but having little luck with the wickets again today — and their batting let them down.
Canterbury Week: Kent v Hampshire
If there is to be any result in this rain-interrupted match, it is likely to go to Kent, who overtook the Hampshire first-innings score with three wickets down today. The ground had more heavy rain on Sunday and was barely fit for play this morning. The pitch was slow and soft, taking spin, but not very difficult; however, scoring runs was not easy. This was the situation where Phil Mead could display his greatness as a batsman, defending very soundly and scoring runs smoothly and steadily with quick footwork. He liked to play a game with Percy Chapman in the covers, placing the ball perfectly just wide of him to take singles time and again without ever being in danger of a run-out. Lionel Tennyson tried to attack the bowling but was well caught at deep square leg for 17, the second-highest score of the innings. Mead was the last man out, well bowled by Father Marriott for 82 as he tried to keep the bowling, having batted for almost 3½ hours. On the slow outfield he could hit only 5 fours, which probably cost him another century. Marriott was the best of the Kent bowlers, lively and accurate leg-breaks and googlies with plenty of disguised variety, and Mead was no doubt helped by his advantage as a left-hander.
Kent were given a sound start of 59 for the first wicket by Wally Hardinge and Jack Bryan, and then Frank Woolley and Chapman took over with some dazzling batting. It seems to make no difference to Woolley what is the pace of any pitch he bats on, and on this occasion neither did it trouble Chapman, who hammered the ball brilliantly through the covers time and again. Kent appear to be well placed for a big total if the weather permits tomorrow. The Kent fielding today was always excellent, and they showed up Hampshire quite badly in this department. There was a crowd of about 14,000 people today.
Leicester: Leicestershire v Northamptonshire
John King was soon out when Leicestershire continued their first innings this morning, but Ewart Astill continued to bat with superb confidence and skill, scoring 80 altogether. He shared a good partnership of 64 for the fifth wicket with George Geary, who appears to have recovered from his long-standing elbow injury. After they were separated at 211, though, the tail collapsed quickly to Philip Wright and Nobby Clark with the second new ball. Clark bowled with pace and hostility to take a five-wicket haul.
Northamptonshire lost their openers for only 16 runs, both bowled out by Alec Skelding, but for a while Hamer Bagnall and Vallance Jupp stemmed the tide, taking the score to 47 before Skelding bowled out Bagnall. In fact when the fifth wicket fell at 63, Skelding had taken all five wickets to fall, and all of them bowled out. Like Clark, he bowled very fast and also managed to get awkward lift from the pitch. After that it was a battle between Jupp and Skelding, which Jupp can be said to have won, for he was still batting when Skelding had to take a rest, and he was still unbeaten, as in his first innings against Lancashire last week, when the innings closed with 67. Leicestershire had a good lead of 98 on the first innings and, if the weather permits, they will hope to bowl out the visitors cheaply a second time so as to secure a victory.
The Oval: Surrey v Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire enjoyed a lot of good fortune when they continued their innings this morning. John Gunn held the side together with a solid 39, while his partners kept finding the edges of their bats and scoring runs through or past the slips. It was rather a curiosity that every batsman in their team reached double figures before the innings closed for 313. The last four batsmen all scored twenties. Errol Holmes was given a chance with the ball today and once he had found a good length, he was the most impressive of the bowlers.
A huge record crowd of about 34,000 packed the ground and as usual caused a lot of trouble by encroaching on to the field of play and getting in front of the sightscreen, causing considerable disruption to play. Jack Hobbs and Andy Sandham played the bowling with ease, although Sandham batted better than the Master, and runs came freely as they put together another century opening partnership, 127 this time. Hobbs reached his fifty, but to the huge disappointment of the crowd failed to reach that crucial century, as on 54 he missed an attempted glide to a straight ball from Fred Barratt and was out lbw. The crowd in its disappointment scarcely applauded him, and thousands left the ground straight away.
Surrey kept on batting, but had rather a middle-order slump, as the score was only 170 when the fifth wicket went down. Douglas Jardine survived the crash, and then Percy Fender came in and played a dazzling innings of 46 in only 25 minutes, hitting the ball brilliantly all over the field before being caught at slip. Nine wickets were down for 277, and it was not expected that Alan Peach would bat after he badly injured his thumb on Saturday, but he came out to join Jardine in an attempt to gain the lead on the first innings. He held up his end well as the pair added 25 runs, but then Jardine was comprehensively bowled by Harold Larwood and Surrey finished 11 runs in arrears. Larwood took the last four wickets for 15 runs in 6.3 overs in his last spell.
Hove: Sussex v Middlesex
The Middlesex first innings was held together by a rather strange but skilful innings of 82 not out by Patsy Hendren. His partners came and went, several of them showing more aggression than he did, but not staying long; he proved to be in fact the only batsman in the first innings of either team to reach 30. His 82 not out lasted for over 4¾ hours and contained only three fours, but 35 singles. The pitch at the top end of the ground was wearing, but strangely Arthur Gilligan put Maurice Tate on to bowl a long spell from that end, and only later did he change him to the sea end, where he bowled much more successfully. He bowled 49 overs in the innings, taking six wickets, all bowled out, for 72. Middlesex led by 110 runs after a very dogged innings that lasted 121.3 overs.
Sussex batted much better a second time. This time Ted Bowley did his expected job and stayed in for almost 2½ hours, holding together the top order, although four wickets were still down for 72. George Cox and Tommy Cook, the latter very aggressive, both played useful innings and Sussex avoided the innings defeat and ended the day 65 runs ahead with three wickets left.
Worcester: Worcestershire v Essex
Rain several times interrupted play in this match today and made conditions rather difficult for batsmen, but Essex fought their way through to take a lead on the first innings. It took only three balls from Stan Nichols to dismiss the last two Worcestershire batsmen without addition to the score of 241 this morning.
The Essex openers were both gone with just a single obtained; at 13 Jack Russell went for 8. Jack O’Connor and Percy Perrin then made a stand, with Perrin using his great experience to provide the backbone of the innings in scoring 52 in an hour and a half. Later Laurie Eastman made the highest score of the match so far, but he had a very fortunate innings, playing and missing many times in between some good aggressive strokes, as he hit his 60 in two hours. Essex overtook the Worcestershire score with eight wickets down.
Sheffield: Yorkshire v Lancashire
Lancashire continued their dogged innings today, but with much less success than yesterday. After a delayed start Harry Makepeace looked in better form than he had done yesterday, but he added only another 12 runs before he was caught at the wicket off George Macaulay, who managed to get some life from the pitch from just short of a length. Makepeace’s innings lasted 4¾ hours for 90. Alfred Pewtress, coming in after the night-watchman at No 4, was the most impressive batsman of the team today, the only one who could make the bowling look quite easy, and his 44 was a fine innings. At one stage he hit Macaulay for three successive fours, a feat that few have done and lived to tell the tale. The other wickets fell steadily, and only a few bold hits by Ted McDonald and Cecil Parkin, the last two men in, took the score past 300. Although it fell short of yesterday’s expectations, this was the highest recorded this season against Yorkshire. The Yorkshire bowlers kept up their high standard to the end. Lancashire’s 320 runs took all of 171 overs to compile.
Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe opened the Yorkshire batting with a smooth, sound partnership of 86 in an hour and three-quarters, with Holmes taking on McDonald by hooking his short deliveries successfully. McDonald tried to trap him with a catch in the deep, but this was not successful and he paid for it. Eventually, though, he bowled out Holmes with a full-length ball that just knocked off the off-bail. Unless something extraordinary happens, this match will be a first-innings contest only.
Day 3
Derby: Derbyshire v Warwickshire
Warwickshire finished their innings this morning at 297, a lead of 163, and set about their task of bowling Derbyshire out a second time. They would probably have done so, were it not for four quite straightforward dropped chances by their fielders. Derbyshire for their part batted with great determination and achieved a draw, thanks to three good partnerships. Garnet Lee and Joseph Bowden showing the way by scoring 58 for the first wicket, and then Guy Jackson and Sam Cadman added 82 for the fifth. Jackson so curtailed his usual attacking style as to take 2¼ hours over his 60, but he survived two chances.
The match was still in the balance when the eighth wicket went down at 208, but then Jim Hutchinson, whose unbeaten fifty was rated one of the best innings of his career, and Harry Elliott added an unbroken 50 for the ninth wicket and saw Derbyshire through to safety. Elliott earlier had taken three catches and two stumpings in the Warwickshire innings, although he also twice missed stumping Jack Parsons.
Swansea: Glamorgan v H D G Leveson Gower’s XI
The malice of Jupiter Pluvius robbed Glamorgan of a likely victory over Henry Leveson Gower’s team today. Morning drizzle eventually lifted, giving hopes of play, but before that was possible more rain returned and the match had to be abandoned without a ball being bowled today. At least there was a good crowd on the first two days that brought the county some much-needed revenue.
After the match Henry Leveson Gower said how much the Glamorgan team had improved over the last two years and he expected them to do much better in the County Championship in three or four years’ time. He added, “Glamorgan are what I should call a very happy family. They have an excellent captain in Mr J C Clay, and a fine sporting lot of amateurs and professionals, who create a big impression wherever they play because of their keenness and love of the game. They play cricket as it should be played. The game after all is the thing that counts and not the points won. Have no fear, Glamorgan are assured of a bright future. They have the right people behind them and a following such as many counties of much longer standing might envy.”
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Somerset
Rain fell steadily from early morning until about 1.30, by which time the pitch was so sodden that it need much sun or wind to make play possible. Neither of these products was obtainable, though, and the match was abandoned as a draw.
Canterbury Week: Kent v Hampshire
There was plenty of action at Canterbury yesterday, although things at first did not go the way Kent had planned. They were well placed to build a big first-innings lead, but instead their last six wickets crashed to the fine bowling of Alec Kennedy (four wickets in 4.2 overs), well supported by Stuart Boyes, for only another 25 runs. 20 of these were scored by the captain, Stanley Cornwallis, who hit out boldly.
Hampshire went in again 62 runs behind, and in a peculiar second innings found only three men to reach double figures, while the other eight could score only 21 runs among them. The main factor in this was the superb leg-spin bowling of Father Marriott, who opened the bowling and stayed on for three hours. In his first two overs he removed George Brown for 2 and Harold Day for 0, but then came up against his first-innings tormenter, Phil Mead. Jack Newman, opening the innings, hung on with determined back defence until Marriott finally bowled him when the partnership was worth 107 and Hampshire were well on course for a draw. The real turning point came when Mead somehow got himself stumped by Jack Hubble off Tich Freeman for 71 at 137 for six. Tom Jameson fought hard until he was caught at slip off Marriott, and then Freeman finished off the tail quickly.
This left Kent exactly 100 to win in an hour and a half. Kennedy soon bowled out Jack Bryan for 8, but then Wally Hardinge and Frank Woolley began to dominate the bowlers, who were handicapped by a light drizzle that began to fall, wetting the ball and deadening the pitch. Woolley was out for 27 at 79 for two, and John Knott (2) and Percy Chapman soon followed. Kennedy was bowling superbly and the drizzle was worsening, but Lionel Tennyson sportingly continued to play to the end. Hardinge paced his innings and played the bowling superbly, and with help from Jim Hubble saw Kent through to victory with ten minutes to spare.
Leicester: Leicestershire v Northamptonshire
Leicestershire went in again with a lead of 98 runs, and were looking for quick runs with a declaration in mind. Their innings went in fits and starts, with George Geary playing the best and most aggressive innings, 42 in about 40 minutes. While he was there Leicestershire were planning to declare about 20 minutes after lunch, but Gus Fowke’s declaration was helpfully spared him by the tail-enders (including himself), as the last five wickets crashed for only 6 runs in 15 minutes, and Northamptonshire were set 245 to win in about three hours, which obviously was never likely.
The visitors were never in a position to dream of victory, as the top order went down quickly, with Alec Skelding’s fast bowling again being prominent. Northamptonshire lost six wickets for 68 runs, including Vallance Jupp for 13, and looked doomed to defeat, although their opening batsman Wilfrid Timms was still there, although batting with a runner after taking a painful blow just above the knee. At last he found a worthy partner in his team’s wicket-keeper Ben Bellamy, who plays some fighting innings at times. This proved to be such an occasion, and the pair admirably batted out the day, adding 52 runs in the process in 50 minutes without being parted.
The Oval: Surrey v Nottinghamshire
There was little chance of an outright result in this match, unless Nottinghamshire collapsed badly in their second innings, a situation that was hardly likely against a limited Surrey bowling attack further weakened by the loss of the injured Alan Peach, on an Oval pitch. The batting of Arthur Carr at least gave the crowd some entertainment. He was bowled taking a terrific slog at the first ball he faced, from Percy Fender, making the crowd roar, but they hadn’t heard the umpire calling no-ball. In just over two hours he hit a century, his seventh of the season, seemingly trying later in his innings to see just how hard he could hit the ball this time; he gave three difficult chances.
Just after doing so, he made a token declaration, giving Surrey about an hour to bat. Jack Hobbs could hardly reach a century in that time, but Fender sent him in first anyway, probably because the crowd would want to see him bat — but he was caught at the wicket off Harold Larwood for 1. Andy Sandham scored an easeful, cultured 47 before the match was given up.
Hove: Sussex v Middlesex
Sussex nearly pulled off an amazing heist today as the last Middlesex pair scraped home for their team with an unbroken partnership of 18 for the last wicket. The turf on the pitch was cutting up badly and batting was never easy. The last three Sussex wickets added 26 to their overnight score, mostly from Bert Wensley, before the innings closed and they set Middlesex 92 to win.
Probably few people thought Middlesex would have such trouble in chasing down this target after they had before now dominated the match from the start. Maurice Tate and Wensley opened the bowling; Tate bowled without a break for 22 overs and Wensley was rested for only two overs when the bowlers changed ends. The first three Middlesex wickets went down for 15 runs, including that of Patsy Hendren, who after his first-innings heroics was out without scoring to a good return catch by Wensley. Jack Hearne dug in, but he struggled as Tate bowled with six fielders on the off side to cut off his favourite scoring stroke past point. He was also dropped by Tich Cornford at the wicket on 5, a crucial miss that probably cost Sussex the match. He and John Guise took the score slowly from 37 for five to 66 before Hearne popped a catch to midwicket after batting for almost an hour and a half.
Then came a collapse, and nine were out for 74, including brilliant catches from Ted Bowley at slip and a superb return catch by Tate off a powerful drive from Nigel Haig. The last man Jack Durston arrived at the crease to join Frank Mann, who had yet to score. Mann took full responsibility himself, going on the attack as he knew Durston probably could not last long. He scored 11 off an over from Wensley, including two fours, and finally driving a two wide of mid-off off Wensley to win the match, while Durston had a single to his credit. It was a heroic innings in a tight victory. Sussex were at their best in this innings, with the leadership of Arthur Gilligan inspiring his team to a magnificent fielding performance, with astute field placings, and superb bowling from Tate with outstanding accuracy and steadiness from Wensley, who were both handicapped by deep footholes.
Worcester: Worcestershire v Essex
Rain delayed play until after lunch today and probably denied Essex an outright victory, although Worcestershire might have batted differently had there been more time available for them to lose. The last Essex wicket added another 14 runs in a quarter of an hour before it concluded, with Essex taking a first-innings lead of 36. Fred Root bowled almost without a break through the innings, taking five wickets for 127 in a massive 52.3 overs.
Worcestershire opened their innings with the Foster brothers, Maurice deciding to go in first and take his brother Harry with them to give the crowd some entertainment. They put on 49 together with some fine strokes before being separated, but that was as good as it got for the home county, as wickets fell quite quickly for a while after that, and Worcestershire were in some danger of defeat after all. Laurie Eastman was the man danger, as he was getting spin from the pitch. Root, not satisfied after all his bowling labours, now did a good job by standing in the gap and seeing his county through for a draw. When the last wicket fell only the extra half-hour was available for play, and since Essex needed 82 runs for victory the captain shook hands.
Sheffield: Yorkshire v Lancashire
For the second time this season Lancashire have done what no other county has yet achieved, taking points off Yorkshire — three first-innings points in a drawn match. The match continued today in dry weather and on an easy-paced pitch. Herbert Sutcliffe began in very fluent style as he went from 49 to 62 in a few minutes, but then Frank Sibbles produced two fine deliveries that had Sutcliffe caught at slip and Edgar Oldroyd bowled. After that Lancashire were on top, although a fighting partnership between Maurice Leyland and Roy Kilner saved the follow-on and ensured a draw. Leyland early in his innings was struck a severe blow on the left wrist by one of Ted McDonald’s fastest deliveries, and although he did not retire he was not able to attack in his usual way and was restricted largely to defence. He could not find a durable partner and wickets fell steadily at the other end, until the last wicket fell with Leyland still unbeaten, but Yorkshire 43 runs behind on the first innings. Leyland batted for three hours altogether, and his best partner overall was the last man Arthur Dolphin, who batted very well for 14 in a partnership of 37 before he suddenly attempted a massive cross-bat heave at a ball from Dick Tyldesley and was bowled.
Apart from McDonald’s lethal ball to Leyland, Sibbles was Lancashire’s best bowler and really won his spurs for his county today — accurate, tireless, some bounce and movement, pace from the pitch and very persistent. He took four vital wickets and without his efforts, and Leyland’s injury, Yorkshire would almost certainly have taken the lead. He was well supported by Tyldesley, but McDonald, who did not look particularly well, and Cecil Parkin were on the whole disappointing.
Lancashire went in for a token second innings, and Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows played their normal cricket to start with before Makepeace went at 29. Then the left-arm spinners Kilner and Wilfred Rhodes came on, tempted the batsmen, and there occurred scenes unheard of at a Roses match, as the middle-order batsmen played all manner of ridiculous strokes and got themselves out — perhaps suffering from the Parkin Syndrome, although he himself did not bat to demonstrate how it is done. Lancashire were of course safe from defeat, but the match ended in farce. Leyland had his hand X-rayed later in the day; no bones are broken, but it is badly bruised and he will not be able to play in tomorrow’s match against Leicestershire, at least.