Hobbs closes in on WG's record

100 Years Ago: 15-17 July 2025

Day 1

Lord’s: Gentlemen v Players

Carr Leads Gents from the Front

GENTLEMEN 309 (G T S Stevens 75, A W Carr 82, E W Dawson 33, H J Enthoven 36, F S G Calthorpe 33; G G Macaulay 3/67, R Kilner 2/80, R K Tyldesley 3/36). PLAYERS 9/0 (J B Hobbs 1*, H Sutcliffe 6*).

Maurice Tate and George Macaulay opened the bowling to Jack Bryan and Greville Stevens. Bryan was out for 6 and K S Duleepsinhji for 12 before the first major partnership took place between Stevens and Arthur Carr, 137 for the third wicket. Carr’s hitting was the most spectacular event of the day, although he was twice dropped at slip by Frank Woolley, who is less reliable in that position than he used to be. As the pair settled in Stevens too started to attack the bowling in good form before he was run out at 178, with Carr skying a catch to long-on soon afterwards. Stevens is not generally known for handsome strokeplay, but he is very effective and looked much more attractive when attacking the bowling with Carr. The next three batsmen in the middle order all reached the thirties, but did not go on to greater things. The last five wickets went down for 30 runs, the last four for only 10 to Macaulay and Dick Tyldesley, only just crawling past 300. Overall, though, it was a good display of batting by the generally recognized weaker team.

Tate briefly bowled well at the start of the innings, but was afterwards not at his best, still troubled by his injured arm. The other bowlers did a fair job, although Tyldesley was perhaps the most fortunate and least accurate of them, as he bowled too many short balls. The Players fielding was not all it should have been, and in a couple of instances certain fielders allowed Carr’s hardest shots to bypass their tender hands. The Players had just over a quarter of an hour to bat before the close, and Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe survived not altogether comfortably against the bowling of Gubby Allen and Freddie Calthorpe.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Derbyshire

Riches in Form

GLAMORGAN 231 (N V H Riches 74, C F Walters 20, T Arnott 27, J C Clay 46*; W Bestwick 2/51, E F Loney 4/35). DERBYSHIRE 24/0 (G M Lee 11*, J Bowden 6*).

Glamorgan won the toss for only the third time in their 15 matches this season. They again showed rather improved batting form against Derbyshire today, mainly due to Norman Riches, on one of his all too rare appearances for the Welsh county. He did not score as freely as usual but, opening the innings, batted very solidly and valuably to score 74 in three hours. After he was out and six wickets were down for 137, Johnnie Clay held together the lower order with a very good 46 not out that took the total over 200, scored at a slow pace in five hours, but their batsmen were taking no chances. Clay was well supported by Trevor Arnott, with 27 in two hours.

The pace bowler Escott Loney was the most successful of the Derbyshire bowlers, while Bill Bestwick bowled superbly early on but was well kept out by Riches. The bowlers were supported by some excellent ground fielding, led as usual by Jim Hutchinson. He and Joseph Bowden achieved a brilliant run-out each. Derbyshire’s openers survived the last 35 minutes of play in the evening.

Southampton: Hampshire v Nottinghamshire

Lilley Revives Struggling Notts

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 274 (W W Whysall 39, J R Gunn 36, B Lilley 72, S J Staples 31, W A Flint 29; A S Kennedy 4/60, J A Newman 4/69). HAMPSHIRE 86/3 (C P Mead 38*, T O Jameson 13*).

Nottinghamshire were rather depleted in this match, with Arthur Carr playing at Lord’s, and Wilf Payton and Fred Barratt both injured. Lionel Kirk came in to captain the side as the obligatory amateur, and the county gave another trial to a 49-year-old colt named John Gunn . . . Hampshire were without Lionel Tennyson, who has laryngitis (no doubt a serious affliction for a man like him!), and Alex Bowell is their acting captain.

When Nottinghamshire batted, George Gunn carelessly allowed himself to be stumped for 7, and Dodger Whysall and John Gunn set about retrieving the situation in the way northern professionals seem to know best, by dogged defence. Its success was limited, as four men were out for 99, but Ben Lilley came to the rescue to score 72, helped by an enterprising Sam Staples, who scored 31 in 20 minutes, and Bill Flint, taking the score to 220 before the seventh wicket fell. Their final total of 274 was no better than moderate, but Hampshire made a poor start in the hour before the close when they lost three wickets for 43. However, Phil Mead played very well and with help from Captain Tom Jameson their partnership doubled the score before the close of play.

Maidstone Week: Kent v Gloucestershire

Brilliant Hammond Saves Gloucestershire

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 351 (R A Sinfield 35, W R Hammond 121, B S Bloodworth 62, C W L Parker 43; A C Wright 3/87, W S Cornwallis 2/65, H L Hever 2/68, A L Hilder 2/14). KENT 51/2 (C P Johnstone 33, H L Hever 0* overnight).

Kent have lost half of their regular bowling attack, with Frank Woolley and Tich Freeman playing at Lord’s, as is Percy Chapman, and George Collins injured. However, their captain Stanley Cornwallis, who usually leaves the bowling to others, turned in a fine opening spell alongside Charlie Wright and, helped by the heavy dew that freshened the pitch for a while, removed Alf Dipper (1) and Douglas Robinson (1) with only 7 runs on the board. Wright then removed Harry Smith for 5, but this only brought in Wally Hammond. Nobody has ever questioned Hammond’s wonderful talent, but he lives up to it all too rarely at present and tends to be too impetuous. Today he got it right, playing the perfect attacking game against the Kent bowlers with superb balance and brilliant footwork. It is a pity we could not see a battle between him and Freeman, but today he hammered the bowlers all over the field, scoring 121 in just over two hours and hitting 2 sixes and 17 fours, mainly through powerful drives.

Reg Sinfield and Bernie Bloodworth gave him very good support in partnerships of 99 and 89 for the fourth and fifth wickets, and when he was finally out Bloodworth and Charlie Parker shared a good sixth-wicket partnership of 73. Gloucestershire have a long tail in this match, so Parker batting at No 7 was a surprise, but he justified the promotion. The tail all scored usefully and Gloucestershire were no doubt delighted to reach 351 after such a poor start. They were helped by some unusually sloppy Kent fielding, although the bowlers stuck to their task well.

Kent had an hour to bat, and they lost Bill Ashdown for 7 to Parker. Con Johnstone played a fine, fluent innings of 33 out of 41 before falling to Percy Mills, while his opening partnership Bill Ashdown took the hour to make 7 runs and was out to Parker, caught by Hammond at extra cover, in the last over of the day.

Weston-super-Mare Festival: Somerset v Lancashire

White Boosts Somerset

SOMERSET 212 (A Young 30, A S Bligh 21, J C White 77*, E T L R Haywood 21; C H Parkin 4/39, F B Watson 2/47, F M Sibbles 4/56). LANCASHIRE 115/1 (J W H Makepeace 62, J L Hopwood 50*, J Iddon 0*).

Jack White, returning from injury, had a good day and gave a major boost to Somerset against their strong opponents, Lancashire playing at Weston-super-Mare for the first time. He took over the acting captaincy, with John Daniell still missing — in fact both sides are rather depleted — and went in to bat with Somerset 38 for two after Cecil Parkin had taken the early wickets. He stayed for the rest of the innings, almost 2½ hours, which had declined to 71 for five at lunch, four wickets to Parkin. Some of the later batsmen played usefully while White held the innings together and the last pair managed to take the score past 200. Most of the later wickets fell to Frank Sibbles, a medium-paced off-spin bowler making a promising début for Lancashire in place of Dick Tyldesley, playing at Lord’s. Very rarely in thirty years has a Lancashire team played without a Tyldesley in its ranks — Ernest has just had a successful operation for appendicitis and is recovering, although he will not play again this season. Ted McDonald was not effective today and took no wickets.

It is a good pitch and Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows’ replacement Len Hopwood showed Somerset how to make use of it with a sound but rather dogged opening partnership of 113 in about two hours. They almost batted out the day, but Makepeace was well caught at fine leg just before the close, leaving Lancashire in a strong position. White, well supported by Jim Bridges, now held the bowling together with some very economical overs — five of his first six were maidens.

Hove: Sussex v Worcestershire

Root Roasts Sussex

WORCESTERSHIRE 270 (C V Tarbox 67, G E B Abell 24, C F Root 71, M K Foster 22, W E Adshead 26; A F Wensley 3/80, J H Parks 3/57, E H Bowley 3/42). SUSSEX 80/7 (E H Bowley 12, J H Parks 25, T E R Cook 18, G R Cox 2*; C F Root 4 wkts, G C Wilson 2 wkts).

Sussex may have gone into this match thinking that at least in the match where they were without Maurice Tate, playing at Lord’s, they were opposed to lowly Worcestershire. If so, by the end of the first day they must have been quite stunned. Worcestershire for their part must have gained confidence in playing a Sussex without Tate. They began their innings very cautiously, but Charles Tarbox, enjoying a lot of good fortune, scored 67 and Maurice Foster played a brief dazzling innings of 22 (a six and 4 fours). Then Fred Root took over with a solid innings, scoring 71 in two hours and 40 minutes and taking the total to 270. Jim Parks was the best Sussex bowler, although he tried to bowl rather too fast, while Bert Wensley was also steady, but should develop more variations in his bowling.

Ted Bowley and Parks put on 28 for the first wicket, despite having to battle against the leg-theory bowling of Root with a host of short-leg fielders. After they were separated, the score reached 71 with three wickets down, but then suffered a disastrous period before the close, when seven were out for 80. Worcestershire must have felt they were dreaming when they finished the day 190 runs ahead and only three more first-innings wickets to take with all the major batsmen gone after 70 minutes.

Coventry: Warwickshire v Leicestershire

Smith Heads Good Warwickshire Batting

WARWICKSHIRE 321/6 (E J Smith 149, W G Quaife 66, A J W Croom 31, R E S Wyatt 14*, H Venn 22*; A Skelding 3 wkts). LEICESTERSHIRE to bat.

Warwickshire are playing for the first time for several years in Coventry. They gave a good but at times rather tedious batting performance on a very flat batting pitch. The best feature was certainly Tiger Smith’s third century of the season, which is also the highest score of his career. He batted for four hours altogether, and shared a third-wicket partnership of 196 with Willie Quaife, who took three hours to make 66. Smith gave no chance until he reached 118. The middle order played their part, although Arthur Croom and Bob Wyatt annoyed the crowd with their slow batting late in the afternoon, when they should have been taking advantage of Smith’s good foundation to dominate the bowling. Wyatt finished the day not out with 14, which had taken him an hour and a quarter to make.

Sheffield: Yorkshire v Essex

Essex Block Out the Day

ESSEX 250 (J R Freeman 37, C A G Russell 29, J V Richardson 37, V E Jarvis 37, L C Eastman 26*, A B Hipkin 36; E Robinson 4/78, G H Crawford 2/51, W Rhodes 3/42). YORKSHIRE to bat.

Essex are able to play George Louden and the Oxford University player James Richardson for this match, while Yorkshire are weakened by the loss of four players to the Players side at Lord’s, including their two top bowlers of the season, George Macaulay and Roy Kilner. Yorkshire supplemented their bowling by calling on their former fast bowler George Crawford, who last played for them in 1914; he is no longer so quick, but was accurate enough to do a valuable job. Most of the Essex innings was a slow grind, in the mould of their captain, Johnny Douglas. Emmott Robinson took the first two wickets with only 9 runs on the board, and then John Freeman and Jack Russell shared a dogged partnership. Five wickets were down for 78 when Douglas joined Richardson, who was the first batsman to play positively in scoring 37 in just over an hour. Douglas batted an hour and a half for 15. They succeeded to an extent in wearing down the sharp edge of the Yorkshire bowling, but did not survive to take advantage of it themselves.

Eight wickets were down for 176, but then came the one entertaining partnership of the day, after a cautious start, as Joe Hipkin laid into the bowling, with good support from Laurie Eastman. They put on 60 runs in an hour, with Hipkin hitting Wilfred Rhodes for two fours and a six off consecutive deliveries. With Macaulay and Kilner away, Rhodes was called on to bowl 27 overs today; he has been used very little this season, although still bowling well, and has rarely bowled since the beginning of June. He will not add to his 15 season doubles this year, as he has even now taken only 24 wickets. Robinson returned to finish off the innings before the close. Essex are only the fourth team this season to score 250 in an innings against Yorkshire.

Day 2

Lord’s: Gentlemen v Players

Hobbs Back in Centuries Mode

GENTLEMEN 309 and 30/0 (J L Bryan 12*, G T S Stevens 10*). PLAYERS 457 (J B Hobbs 140, H Sutcliffe 50, P Holmes 92, F E Woolley 32, E H Hendren 28, R Kilner 59; G O B Allen 2/82, G T S Stevens 4/72). Overnight score was: Players (1) 9/0 (Hobbs 1*, Sutcliffe 6*).

After playing his last two matches without scoring a century, Jack Hobbs chose the big occasion to score his number 124. He and Herbert Sutcliffe put on 140 together for the first wicket in an hour and three-quarters. Sutcliffe was run out after completing a very good 50 when Hobbs refused his call for a quick single into the covers. Percy Holmes came in and played a very fine, confident innings, at the top of his form, being finally dismissed by a brilliant leg-side catch by the wicket-keeper Ben Sherwell, who did a fine job all day. Hobbs was finally out forcing the pace, pulling a short ball powerfully to be brilliantly caught at short leg by Gubby Allen. The Gentlemen’s score was passed with only three wickets down. Another major partnership was one of 85 for the sixth wicket between Patsy Hendren and Roy Kilner after the Players had already taken the lead. The only top batsman to fail was Jack Hearne, who pottered around to score 6 in 40 minutes before being brilliantly caught by Arthur Carr. Kilner especially played the quick, aggressive innings that his team needed, 59 in 50 minutes. The later batsmen, hitting out, did not last long.

In the face of such a powerful batting line-up the Gentlemen on the whole bowled quite well, with Allen bowling with particular hostility early on and Greville Stevens causing even Hobbs and Sutcliffe to play him with care. Reg Bettington was disappointing, as he kept pitching too short. At the end of the day the Gentlemen went in again 148 behind, and Jack Bryan and Stevens played some excellent bowling from Maurice Tate, back near his best, and George Macaulay very skilfully to survive the day.

Hobbs’s century is his 11th of the season, and it does not seem to be generally noted that three further centuries this season will not only break W G Grace’s career record of 126 centuries, but also break the current record for most centuries scored during a season, which is 13 — achieved by Charles Fry in 1901 and Tom Hayward in 1906.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Derbyshire

Best Day for Glamorgan

GLAMORGAN 231 and 256/9 (T E Abel 52, D Davies 40, T Arnott 26, H Spencer 35, J C Clay 32; W Bestwick 2/40, W W H Hill-Wood 2/42, L F Townsend 2/37). DERBYSHIRE 136 (G M Lee 34, S W A Cadman 37, J M Hutchinson 25; T Arnott 4/43, F P Ryan 5/19). Glamorgan lead by 351 runs. Overnight score was: Derbyshire (1) 24/0 (Lee 11*, Bowden 6*).

Glamorgan enjoyed their best day of a so far dismal season today, and finished it with the very real prospect of a victory tomorrow, barring a climatic disaster. They began with some fine pace bowling from Trevor Arnott, who made the ball lift sharply, Derbyshire losing their first three wickets for 34 runs. They should have tightened their grip, but Garnet Lee and Sam Cadman were dropped off successive balls from Arnott — it should have been 34 for five — and were able to put on 54 together, Lee being dropped three times altogether. But only they and Jim Hutchinson reached double figures in the innings, as Frank Ryan wove his web around the batsmen with some superb bowling, his 20 overs dismissing five batsmen for only 19 runs. He bowled with great accuracy and considerable spin. Glamorgan found themselves with a first-innings lead of 95.

In their second innings they lost their first three wickets for 38 runs, perhaps trying to be too aggressive too soon, and the match was at the crossroads. But Glamorgan took the right turn, with Tom Abel and Dai Davies coming to the rescue with a partnership of 84. The middle order all came in with useful contributions, although only Abel reached a fifty, a fine attacking innings, and by the close Glamorgan found themselves with a great lead of 351 runs. At last today Glamorgan have almost played up to their true potential. Even in this season of high fourth-innings targets being chased down, it will take a virtually unprecedented effort by the Derbyshire batsmen, or weather interference, for them to avoid defeat, and Glamorgan’s first victory of the season, tomorrow. Ryan is not likely to be any easier to play.

Southampton: Hampshire v Nottinghamshire

Mead and John Gunn

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 274 and 230/2 (W W Whysall 87, J R Gunn 136*, W Walker 1*; J A Newman 2 wkts). HAMPSHIRE 348 (C P Mead 112, T O Jameson 39, H A W Bowell 58, A S Kennedy 42, W H Livsey 24; F C L Matthews 3/108, S J Staples 3/88, T L Richmond 3/61). Nottinghamshire lead by 156 with eight wickets in hand. Overnight score was: Hampshire (1) 86/3 (Mead 38*, Jameson 13*).

Both teams showed good form with the bat today. Hampshire had five wickets down for 162 and it still looked evenly balanced for first-innings lead, but Phil Mead was still batting. The acting captain Alex Bowell supported him well and their partnership of 111 all but settled the first-innings question. So Hampshire took the lead with four wickets in hand, and soon afterwards Mead was out for 112, a well-paced innings of just over three hours. A ninth-wicket partnership of 50 between Alec Kennedy and Walter Livsey helped to give Hampshire a very useful lead of 74. They were helped by a knee injury to Harold Larwood, who was unable to bowl today.

Nottinghamshire again lost George Gunn (2) cheaply, but then the real Notts batting power began to kick in. John Gunn, dropped for a long time this season due to poor form, joined Dodger Whysall and they made a fine positive partnership together of 208 for the second wicket. Gunn, often known for tedious batting, was almost a revelation today, outscoring Whysall and playing very freely and attractively, sweeping to his century in only 1¾ hours — believe it or not — before Whysall was out just before the close, and is still there with 136. Alec Kennedy bowled accurately and well, but could not break through, and Nottinghamshire will go into the final day in a potentially strong position.

Maidstone Week: Kent v Gloucestershire

Johnstone Leads Kent Recovery

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 351. KENT 115 (J A Deed 25, J C Hubble 1l; W R Hammond 3/35, C W L Parker 3/35) and (following on) 363/7 (C P Johnstone 102, A H Ashdown 83, H T W Hardinge 90*, J C Hubble 44; W R Hammond 3 wkts, G E Dennett 2 wkts). Kent are now 127 runs ahead with three wickets in hand. Overnight score was: Kent (1) 51/2 (Hever 0*).

Gloucestershire quickly got right on top of the shaky Kent batting this morning as wickets started to tumble. Their bowlers did a fine job, well handled by Colonel Douglas Robinson, but Kent batted very poorly. Only John Deed, an occasional amateur player for Kent, put up much of a fight and all the bowlers shared the honours. The innings was over before lunch. With a first-innings lead of 236, Gloucestershire enforced the follow-on.

As has happened before in several recent matches, Kent batted like an entirely different team in the second innings. Con Johnstone and Bill Ashdown again opened the innings, and Johnstone, once he had got over a shaky start, played a fine attacking innings, scoring freely all round the wicket, while again Ashdown hung in and let his partner dominate. Again it was Johnstone who went first, but not before completing a fine century in about two hours in an opening partnership of 146. The next two men in did not contribute much, but Wally Hardinge, batting at No 5 in this match, played a good sound innings. He and Ashdown put on 58 for the fourth wicket before Ashdown finally went for 83 in 3¼ hours at 246 for four, Kent now having erased the deficit. Jack Hubble was Hardinge’s next good partner — 76 for the sixth wicket. Hardinge was still there at the close, approaching his century and showing superb footwork in handling the slow left-armers of George Dennett. With Kent 127 runs ahead and three wickets to fall. There could be a very good finish tomorrow.

Weston-super-Mare Festival: Somerset v Lancashire

Lancashire Tighten their Grip

SOMERSET 212 and 118/5 (C C C Case 25, A S Bligh 46, R A Ingle 14*; F M Sibbles 2 wkts). LANCASHIRE 361 (J L Hopwood 70, J Iddon 44, F B Watson 32, J Sharp 57, F M Sibbles 29, E A McDonald 33; J J Bridges 5/111, W T Greswell 4/74). Somerset are still 31 runs behind with five wickets in hand. Overnight score was: Lancashire (1) 115/1 (Hopwood 50*, Iddon 0*).

Lancashire steadily moved into a potentially winning position at Weston-super-Mare today by slow and sure methods. The overnight pair of Len Hopwood and Jack Iddon, two younger players, added 48 together, and then Frank Watson helped Iddon take the score to 216, with Lancashire going into the lead for only two wickets down. But then three wickets fell quickly and Lancashire were 218 for five. Jack Sharp came to the rescue with a valuable but uncharacteristically slow fifty, and Frank Sibbles played well in support for 29. The only really memorable batting, though, came from Ted McDonald, who hit 33 in a quarter of an hour, including two sixes, and should have had a third, as he was mistakenly given out caught in the deep when the fielder’s feet were over the boundary line. For the later part of the innings Somerset lost the bowling of Jack White, who suffered a side strain after bowling 30 overs for one wicket and only 35 runs. The pace bowlers Jim Bridges and Bill Greswell bore the burden of the bowling manfully and took nine wickets between them.

Somerset went in again and, despite ‘Box’ Case and Algy Bligh taking the score to 57 before the second wicket fell, wickets fell steadily after that, and unless some of the remaining players can come good, Somerset look doomed to defeat tomorrow.

Hove: Sussex v Worcestershire

Abell Century in Great Worcestershire Lead

WORCESTERSHIRE 270 and 282 (M F S Jewell 28, W M Hampton 44, G E B Abell 124; A F Wensley 5/106, G R Cox 2/44). SUSSEX 122 (R A Hollingdale 22*, W L Cornford 14; C F Root 6/53, G C Wilson 3/31) and 106/4 (E H Bowley 21, L C R Isherwood 21, T E R Cook 23, J H Naumann 26*, A F Wensley 1*; C F Root 3 wkts). Sussex target: 431. Overnight score was: Sussex (1) 80/7 (Cox 2*).

This was another rare good day for Worcestershire cricket. They soon had nine Sussex wickets down for 98, and only some plucky batting from the last pair of Richard Hollingdale and Tich Cornford enabled them to save the follow-on — in theory, as Worcestershire intended to bat again. Fred Root finished with six wickets, using his leg-trap effectively and deceiving the batsmen with his inswingers and balls that unexpectedly went straight through.

When they did so they lost three wickets for 51, but then came the partnership that put the match completely beyond Sussex’s reach. George Abell continued his remarkable advance as a batsman with his maiden first-class century, and scored 124 out of a partnership of 176 for the fourth wicket in about 2¼ hours with William Hampton, who played a much more defensive innings. After this the later batsmen hit out and got out, setting Sussex in the end a target of 431, a situation before today possible only in the wildest Worcestershire dreams.

Sussex quickly lost Jim Parks, lbw to Root, and after that batted steadily, with some useful twenties but without anybody settling in for the long haul. Bowley is probably the only batsman at present equipped to do that, and he also fell to Root, brilliantly caught in the leg-trap by Maurice Foster for 21. In just over an hour and a half they lost four wickets for 106. Barring unexpected intervention from Jupiter Pluvius, Worcestershire are as certain as anything in cricket can be of a rare victory tomorrow.

Coventry: Warwickshire v Leicestershire

Berry and Astill Come Good for Leicestershire

WARWICKSHIRE 422 (R E S Wyatt 49*, H Venn 34, H Howell 24; A Skelding 6/107). LEICESTERSHIRE 302/5 (A W Shipman 25, G L Berry 87, W E Astill 109, C H Taylor 20*, G H S Fowke 36, G Geary 1*; H Howell 2 wkts). Overnight score was: Warwickshire (1) 321/6 (Wyatt 14*, Venn 22*).

The Coventry pitch certainly proved itself as a batting paradise today, and only 15 wickets have fallen over the two days. Warwickshire passed 400 before they were dismissed, withheld Bob Wyatt being left stranded on 49 not out, which probably earned him sympathy from nobody, as it took him 2¾ hours in perfect batting conditions and his team in a good position. Harry Howell’s quick 24 was much more appreciated. Len Bates, who scored 4 as opening batsman, was the only man on the side who did not reach double figures.

Leicestershire for their part generally scored freely when they replied, the best innings certainly being the century by Ewart Astill, who drove superbly and showed up Wyatt by scoring 109 in less than two hours. He shared a second-wicket partnership of 167 with Les Berry, who is still feeling his way in county cricket and took 3¼ hours to score a good 87, his highest career score to date. The first-innings issue is still far from decided, and that is probably as far as this match will go, as an outright result seems most unlikely. However, there was a crowd of over 6000 today, which should encourage Warwickshire to allocated further matches to Coventry in future.

Sheffield: Yorkshire v Essex

Consistent Yorkshire Lead

ESSEX 250 and 27/2 (J R Freeman 12, J O’Connor 11*, C A G Russell 0*). YORKSHIRE 303 (M Leyland 70, E Oldroyd 48, H Taylor 24, E Robinson 35, C Turner 33, A Waddington 22; G M Louden 4/85, J W H T Douglas 2/47, A B Hipkin 3/76). Essex are 26 runs behind with two second-innings wickets down. Overnight score was: Essex (1) 250 all out.

Yorkshire suffered a quick loss when they went in to bat this morning, with Maurice Leyland promoted to open the innings with the second-eleven batsman Arthur Mitchell in place of the prolific regular pair of Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe. Mitchell was bowled out by George Louden in the first over without scoring, but the other ten Yorkshire batsmen were all to reach double figures. Leyland was the only one to reach fifty, though, as he and Edgar Oldroyd put on 112 runs for the second wicket in two hours in their best partnership. Five wickets were down for 163, though, before there was another good partnership, with Emmott Robinson putting on 63 for the sixth wicket with Cyril Turner, playing his first match for Yorkshire and batting impressively.

After Robinson went at 240 for seven, Abe Waddington and Major Arthur Lupton took Yorkshire ahead before another wicket went down. In the end the last-wicket pair of Arthur Dolphin and George Crawford added 25 to take the score past 300 and the lead to 53. When Essex went in again, Robinson and Crawford took a wicket each to leave Essex at 27 for two when bad light ended play a quarter of an hour early, still 26 runs behind.

Day 3

Lord’s: Gentlemen v Players

Stevens and Allen Save Gents

GENTLEMEN 309 and 315/8 dec (J L Bryan 22, G T S Stevens 129, G O B Allen 52*, P G H Fender 32, R H B Bettington 21*; G G Macaulay 2/71, R K Tyldesley 2/58, R Kilner 3/37). PLAYERS 457 and 58/1 (M W Tate 38*). Match drawn. Overnight score was: Gentlemen (2) 30/0 (Bryan 12*, Stevens 10*).

The Gentlemen, 148 behind on the first innings, had only a draw to play for today, and they did that well in the end. Their opening pair of Jack Bryan and Greville Stevens stayed in, not very convincingly, for another three-quarters of an hour to put on 75 together against some fine bowling early on. The middle order then began to crumble, the next five batsmen only making 31 runs among them, an unconvincingly dogged Arthur Carr being the best of them with 13, so the score tottered to 179 for six and the Players were right on top. But Greville Stevens was still there, playing one of the finest innings of his career, in a more positive way than many of his innings, and at last he found a worthy partner in Gubby Allen. They took the score to 213 when Stevens, struggling with his concentration now, was out for 129, scored in over four hours. He was still cramped at the wicket, with little backlift, but he stayed in with great patience and solid defence, and made runs at a reasonable pace given the situation, though he was missed twice in the seventies by Bert Strudwick of all people. Allen and Percy Fender put their heads down and batted stubbornly until it was clear that the only result could be a draw. Once the Players stopped taking the match too seriously, Carr declared and let them bat out the day with their tail-enders.

It was a well-fought match, although the Players always had the big guns and the Gentlemen did well to pass 300 twice and secure a draw. Probably things would have been different if the players had held their catches better; it was a poor display in the field for top cricketers. Stevens, with 204 runs in the match, certainly improved his chances of further representative cricket, although he still does not really look the part, while Carr batted, fielded and captained his side well. The Players, better known for their capabilities, produced no real surprises, but Percy Holmes and Roy Kilner both had good matches. There were few bowlers, however, and they not all the time, who looked really threatening on a good fast pitch in the hot weather.

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Derbyshire

Ryan Bowls Glamorgan to First Victory

GLAMORGAN 231 and 256/9 dec. DERBYSHIRE 136 and 151 (G M Lee 46, J Bowden 16, S W A Cadman 31*; F P Ryan 8/41). Glamorgan won by 200 runs. Overnight score was: Derbyshire (1) 24/0 (Lee 11*, Bowden 6*).

Glamorgan not only won their first match of the season at Cardiff Arms Park today, but they did so by the great margin of 200 runs over Derbyshire. This is indeed a cause for celebration after 13 consecutive defeats this season. Glamorgan declared at their overnight score, setting Derbyshire 352 runs to win. The visitors began quite well, as Garnet Lee and Joseph Bowden put on 59 for the first wicket, but it was some while before the Glamorgan captain Johnnie Clay brought Frank Ryan on to bowl his left-arm spin. From that point Glamorgan’s victory was assured, as he spun the ball sharply and bowled with accuracy and good flight. Most of the Derbyshire batsmen seemed to find him unplayable and surrendered feebly.

Lee held out for 46, an excellent innings, before being bowled by Ryan, while the experienced Sam Cadman survived to make 31 not out, but Glamorgan won an hour after lunch, with Ryan taking eight wickets. His match figures were 13 wickets for only 60 runs, and in successive matches he has now taken 27 wickets for Glamorgan for 225 runs. Glamorgan showed their true form in this match, and it is to be hoped that this victory will now give them the confidence to play their best cricket in the future and record more victories this season.

Southampton: Hampshire v Nottinghamshire

Hosie Saves Hampshire

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 274 and 400/6 dec (W W Whysall 87, J R Gunn 166, W Walker 83*, B Lilley 37; J A Newman 2/130, G Brown 2/98). HAMPSHIRE 348 and 277/8 (G Brown 27, J A Newman 54, R Aird 60, A L: Hosie 96; H Larwood 2/54, F C L Matthews 4/46). Hampshire were set 327 to win. Match drawn (Hampshire 3 pts, Nottinghamshire 1 pt). Overnight score was: Nottinghamshire (2) 230/2 (J R Gunn 136*, Walker 1*).

After the fine batting of Dodger Whysall and John Gunn yesterday, Nottinghamshire began the day 156 runs ahead with only two wickets down in their second innings. They pushed on quickly in search of a declaration, with Gunn eventually out for 166, one of his finest innings for Nottinghamshire. He batted for three hours and 20 minutes, hit 24 fours and gave no chances. Willis Walker and Ben Lilley batted well and they were able to declare just before lunch, setting Hampshire 327 to win in about 3½ hours, a tough task.

Hampshire took up the challenge and made a good start, with George Brown and Jack Newman putting on 71 for the first wicket. Then the unpredictable Frank Matthews broke through with three quick wickets, including Phil Mead caught in the slips for 7. Four were down for 106, but Alex Hosie joined Ronnie Aird and the two fought back with a partnership of 75, still looking for victory. Aird, the dominated partner, was then out, and when Larwood took two quick wickets the score was 222 for seven. Arthur Judd kept up his wicket nobly for 8 not out while Hosie continued his fine innings, although victory was now out of the question. Hosie almost saw out the match, almost reached his century, but he was caught and bowled by Matthews six minutes from the close, after batting for an hour and 50 minutes. Judd and Walter Livsey managed to play out time and earn a draw for Hampshire, who thus kept their three points for a first-innings lead, which they had sportingly been prepared to risk as they aimed for an outright victory.

Maidstone Week: Kent v Gloucestershire

Wright and Cornwallis Bowl Kent to Unexpected Victory

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 351 and 129 (R A Sinfield 26, W R Hammond 17, F J Weeks 17; A C Wright 3/52, W S Cornwallis 5/47). KENT 115 and (following on) 389 (H T W Hardinge 99, S E Day 11*; W R Hammond 4/93, C W L Parker 2/89, E G Dennett 3/72). Kent won by 24 runs. Overnight score was: Kent (2) 363/7 (Hardinge 90*).

Kent achieved a fine victory at Maidstone today after being forced to follow on, bowling Gloucestershire out cheaply a second time even with their depleted bowling attack. Their innings did not last long this morning, and Wally Hardinge just failed to reach his century, as he played a false shot to square leg in trying to score the necessary run. The last three wickets fell for 8 runs, leaving that good amateur batsman Sydney Day, held back too long to No 9, left stranded with 11 not out, and Gloucestershire were set 154 runs to win.

The match-winners for Kent were their pace bowlers, Charlie Wright and Captain Stanley Cornwallis, the latter, who has bowled himself little this season, stepping into the breach when three of his main bowlers were missing from his team and bowled with real pace. These two found a little life in the pitch, which was wearing, and bowled superbly. For their part, the Gloucestershire batsmen approached their task too defensively and allowed the bowlers to get on top of them. Alf Dipper was the first man to go, again caught in the slips off Cornwallis after scored 5. Wally Hammond was the only batsman who tried to dominate the bowling, having been dropped in the slips off Cornwallis first ball. Six wickets were down for 77, and although the later batsmen fought hard, especially Reg Sinfield with an injured knee, the fast men took the last three wickets all at 129 to give Kent a remarkable victory.

Weston-super-Mare Festival: Somerset v Lancashire

Parkin Polishes off Somerset

SOMERSET 212 and 155 (R A Ingle 28; C H Parkin 4/51, E A McDonald 2/62, F M Sibbles 2/21). LANCASHIRE 361 and 9/0 (L Green 6*, G Duckworth 3*). Lancashire won by ten wickets. Overnight score was: Somerset (2) 118/5 (Ingle 14*).

Somerset began the day still 31 runs behind Lancashire with five second-innings wickets left, and they showed so little fight that they only just avoided the innings defeat with their last pair together. Reggie Ingle resisted well for a while before he was run out owing to a bad call by Jim Bridges, but the others crumbled before the bowling of Parkin, who seems to have regained his vitality in this match. Bridges tried to atone for his error by hitting Parkin for two successive fours to save the innings defeat, before that bowler hit his stumps with the next delivery to end the innings. Lancashire needed 7 runs to win, and we had the unsatisfactory spectacle of two of Lancashire’s later batsmen coming in to score them off two Somerset non-bowlers; only eight balls were necessary. The morning’s cricket lasted less than an hour. The new Lancashire man Frank Sibbles is being highly praised by the players and critics for his impressive all-round performance in this match.

Hove: Sussex v Worcestershire

Naumann Fights in Vain as Worcestershire Win

WORCESTERSHIRE 270 and 282. SUSSEX 122 and 209 (J H Naumann 74, R A Hollingdale 28; C F Root 3/66, G C Wilson 4/46, M F S Jewell 2/8). Worcestershire won by 221 runs. Overnight score was: Sussex (2) 106/4 (Naumann 26*, Wensley 1*).

All Worcestershire cricket followers rejoiced today as their county team completed their third victory of the season, and that by the huge margin of 221 runs over Sussex. With the weather dry, it was only a matter of time for them, as the home county had no chance of chasing down their target of 431 runs.

The main resistance came from John Naumann, who had batted well yesterday evening and today showed his true batting ability. He has been virtually out of first-class cricket since leaving Cambridge University in 1919, and though he has played quite regularly for Sussex this season he has not until now been able to catch up on the five missing years. He drove beautifully and frustrated Fred Root with his leg-theory bowling, hooking and pulling so skilfully that wherever Root moved his leg-side boundary fielder, Naumann pulled the ball to the place he had just vacated. He batted for almost two hours and was helped in a sixth-wicket partnership of 70 in three-quarters of an hour by Richard Hollingdale. Once he was out at 192 to a return catch by Cliff Wilson, however, the innings collapsed quickly and quietly in just 15 minutes and Worcestershire had something to celebrate before lunch. Some good news for Sussex, though, is that Arthur Gilligan has been cleared medically to play again, although not to bowl, and he will captain the side in their match against Warwickshire starting tomorrow.

Coventry: Warwickshire v Leicestershire

Only a Draw

WARWICKSHIRE 422 and 191/5 dec (L T A Bates 67, W G Quaife 51*, F R Santall 33; F Bale 2/34). LEICESTERSHIRE 374 (C H Taylor 32, G Geary 42; H Howell 2/103, W G Quaife 3/42) and 30/0. Match drawn (Warwickshire 3 pts, Leicestershire 1 pt). Overnight score was: Leicestershire (1) 302/5 (Taylor 20*, Geary 1*).

As expected, the play today was no more than a contest for first-innings points, although with three being awarded for these in a drawn match, Warwickshire earned a reasonable reward. Leicestershire began the day still in with a fair chance of taking these points, but after the sixth wicket fell at 341 their challenge fizzled out. Both the overnight batsmen, Claude Taylor and George Geary, ended up being run out. The sad story of Taylor continues. In 1922, when he first played for Leicestershire, he was heralded as a great batting prospect with the ability to play for England, but during his time at Cambridge University he lost confidence in his strokes, and has degenerated into an under-performing stonewaller. Will he ever fulfil his potential? In this innings he emulated Bob Wyatt’s stodginess by taking two hours to score 32.

The Leicestershire challenge faded out when, in the only burst of wicket-taking in the match, the last five Leicestershire wickets went down for only 33 runs in half an hour. The second innings were token affairs, although Len Bates and Willie Quaife took the opportunity to score fifties; for Quaife it was his second of the match. Ironically Tiger Smith, after his fine century in the first innings, was this time bowled by Alec Skelding without scoring.

Sheffield: Yorkshire v Essex

Douglas Blocks Out Draw

ESSEX 250 and 182 (J O’Connor 29, P A Perrin 29, J W H T Douglas 35, A B Hipkin 54; E Robinson 2/57, G H Crawford 3/44, A Waddington 4/34). YORKSHIRE 303 and 68/2 (C Turner 21, E Oldroyd 28*, A Mitchell 12*; G M Louden 2/24). Match drawn (Yorkshire 3 pts, Essex 1 pt). Overnight score was: Essex (2) 27/2 (O’Connor 11*, Russell 0*).

Essex had only a draw to play for at Bramall Lane today, and they pulled out all the stops to achieve it, with Johnny Douglas as may be expected the chief performer. They lost Jack Russell to the first ball of the day, somehow hitting a full toss back to Emmott Robinson. There were useful innings from Jack O’Connor and Percy Perrin, but eight wickets were down for 95 runs and Essex were only 48 behind. However, Douglas was still there, and at last he found a reliable partner in Joe Hipkin, who is usually a hitter these days but this time knuckled down to put on 81 runs in an hour and a half. Hipkin was dropped by Abe Waddington in the slips on 17, but otherwise played a well-judged innings, defending while when necessary but missing no reasonable opportunity to score. Douglas was last out, having batted for almost three hours.

His effort proved to be just enough to achieve a draw. Yorkshire were set 130 to win in an hour and a half. They began positively, but after losing two wickets for 38 against good accurate bowling from George Louden and Russell they made no real effort to keep up with the clock. Edgar Oldroyd and Arthur Mitchell played steady innings when more enterprise was needed, and Yorkshire could really blame themselves as much as Douglas for their failure to win after 12 successive victories. They gave up the chase, if it can be called that, without even claiming the extra half-hour.

County Championship Leaders: Yorkshire 93.33, Lancashire 81.05, Surrey 78.66, Middlesex 73.38, Nottinghamshire 65.33, Kent 57.38, Essex 55.29, Northamptonshire 51.42, Gloucestershire 43.52, Hampshire 40.00.

TOMORROW’S MATCHES (first-class)

County Championship:

Southend-on-Sea: Essex v Hampshire

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Worcestershire

Blackheath: Kent v Surrey

Manchester: Lancashire v Middlesex

Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire

Weston-super-Mare: Somerset v Derbyshire

Eastbourne: Sussex v Warwickshire

Other first-class matches:

Lord’s: Army v Royal Navy

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Dublin University

No matches: Gloucestershire and Leicestershire.

Despite their failure to beat Essex, Yorkshire are still well ahead in the championship table, though they may be strongly tested when they play Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. This is a most interesting round of matches, as the Big Six are all playing against each other, with Middlesex (finally in action again) visiting Old Trafford and Surrey visiting Blackheath, which used to be a Kent stronghold until Percy Fender’s Surrey beat the jinx last season. Essex will be hoping to strengthen their position further when they play unpredictable Hampshire.

At the foot of the table, Glamorgan play Worcestershire, yet paradoxically both have just won their last matches, so it will be interesting to see which will triumph again. Arthur Gilligan is now finally medically fit to play again; can he inspire the wilting Sussex team to better things? There are two benefit matches: Cecil Parkin for Lancashire and George Gunn for Nottinghamshire.

WEATHER FORECAST: The good weather is generally set to continue, although some places will have rain interruptions.