Yorkshire Triumphant
100 Years Ago: Late June 1925
Day 1
Colchester Week: Essex v Sussex
The rain began quite heavily at about ten o’clock, but when it eased a cold wind sprang up which brought drizzling showers. At the tea interval all hope was given up of play today.
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Oxford University
Oxford's batting faltered today against Gloucestershire, managing under 200 despite nine players reaching double figures. Only three passed 20, with Ivor Gilliat top-scoring at 38. A late 63-run stand offered some recovery after a collapse to 125 for eight. Captain John Guise fell cheaply, and most batsmen lacked conviction. Gloucestershire replied cautiously, with Alf Dipper settling in as Oxford missed three chances. The match, like the weather, was thoroughly uninspired.
Manchester: Lancashire v Leicestershire
Leicestershire, led by professional John King in Major Gus Fowke’s absence, posted a modest 205 despite six batsmen reaching the twenties. Only King showed real intent, while Sydney Coulson's unbeaten knock helped salvage a 45-run stand with Tommy Sidwell. Lancashire’s Frank Watson impressed with 3 for 35, though Parkin and the fielding were below par.
Lancashire began strongly with Makepeace and Hallows compiling 105 in 80 minutes, but both fell to Frank Bale in quick succession. Watson followed for 12, leaving Ernest Tyldesley at the crease, yet struggling under tight bowling pressure.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Nottinghamshire
A bitter wind and grim weather made for bleak cricket at Northampton, with few spectators and little joy at the crease. Rawlings Hawtin, returning for his first match of the season, was the lone bright spot in Northamptonshire’s batting, posting the only score over 20. Sam Staples dominated with the ball, striking in his first over and claiming seven wickets, including a post-lunch rout that sealed the innings.
Arthur Carr (above) stood tall amid Nottinghamshire’s inconsistent batting, scoring a commanding 95 in just 100 minutes. Though seven players reached double figures, none surpassed 20 except Carr, who forged key stands with Wilf Payton and Bill Flint. His aggressive strokeplay contributed nearly half the team’s total before falling to John Murdin’s bowling.
Bath: Somerset v Cambridge University
Cambridge flourished at Bath despite Somerset’s injury-hit lineup. Richard Lowe and Eddie Dawson added 154 for the opening stand, with Lowe posting a personal best of 83. K. S. Duleepsinhji dazzled with a masterful 130—his highest first-class score—sharing 107 with Leonard Crawley. Duleep’s unusual dismissal, caught off the keeper’s chest by the bowler, ended an innings praised as one of Bath’s finest. Tom Enthoven chipped in with a brisk 62 not out. Despite being depleted, Somerset’s fielding was sharp and disciplined, while their bowlers toiled persistently.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Surrey
The pitch was good, but the weather was not, and few of the public came to watch the cricket on a very dull, cold and windy day. They probably regretted it when they found out that Jack Hobbs had not only scored his fifth century in four matches and his tenth in eleven, but also turned it into a brilliant double. However, he was dropped by Arthur Croom in the slips on 8. After taking 2¼ hours to reach 100, he then hit out brilliantly to reach 215 in another hour and a quarter. Andy Sandham (10) and Andy Ducat (3) went cheaply, but he put on 151 for the third wicket with Tom Shepherd and 101 for the fourth with Douglas Jardine, who made 16 of them while Shepherd attacked the bowling brilliantly. Altogether he hit two sixes and 25 fours, finally mishitting a catch to long-off. Most of the other batsmen played poorly, and the only other man to reach 20 was Alan Peach, left stranded on 33 as the tail slumped around him. Credit must also be given to the Warwickshire bowlers, who despite Hobbs’s onslaught never gave up, and eventually reaped a reward. Hobbs scored well over half of his team’s total in century number 123. He now seems virtually certain to overtake W G Grace’s record of 126 centuries this season.
Warwickshire had about an hour’s batting before the close, and they opened with Tiger Smith and an amateur debutant in Harold Kirton, who has been scoring well in league cricket. Smith was removed, but Kirton stayed until the close with Arthur Croom, showing a sound defence with a straight bat.
Hull: Yorkshire v Hampshire
Hampshire used their two main bowlers, Alec Kennedy and Jack Newman, to open their batting today, perhaps to give them a good rest before what could be marathon bowling spells when Yorkshire went in. There was a very strong and cold north wind blowing, and after the opening spells George Macaulay bowled with the wind behind him, while Roy Kilner bowled his left-arm spin into the wind. Newman at least did a useful job with 32 runs in an hour and a quarter after the first two wickets went down for 23. Philip Mead and Tom Jameson then shared a useful partnership which took the score to 99 with only three wickets down. Then Mead, who as a left-handed batsman had been scoring freely off Kilner’s left-arm spin, was brilliantly caught by Percy Holmes at slip off Macaulay, and the whole middle order collapsed to these two bowlers, six wickets going down for 12 runs. Alec Bowell, batting too low at No 9, then had support from the last man, Stuart Boyes, and they added a very useful 28 for the last wicket to take the total to 139.
There was no century opening partnership for Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe this time, as Kennedy made the ball swing in the wind and dismissed them both. Edgar Oldroyd and Maurice Leyland took over and were able to play some good strokes and double the score by the close of play. Umpire Alfred Street, a former Surrey player, said later that in his 30 years of cricket he had never had to endure such trying weather conditions as he experienced today.
Day 2
Colchester Week: Essex v Sussex
The present weakness of the Sussex team is clearly shown in the fact that Maurice Tate bowled superbly to take eight Essex wickets, and yet Sussex finished the day with a first-innings deficit of 97 runs. The pitch was not in very good condition, with the ball turning and sometimes bouncing nastily. Tate removed the first three Essex batsmen for 41 runs, and Jack Russell is missing with an arm injury. Then Joe Hipkin, usually a tail-ender, unexpectedly came in next and scored the first fifty of his first-class career. Perhaps Johnny Douglas perceptively felt that a hitter was needed at this stage and so sent Hipkin in, and the move worked extremely well. Helped by Percy Perrin in a fourth-wicket partnership of 104, and Jack O’Connor, Hipkin hit his way to 80 in just over an hour and a half, surviving the best that Tate could send him. As usual Tate bowled for most of the innings, as did Bert Wensley, and finished with eight wickets.
Sussex lost their only quality batsman, Ted Bowley, for 7 to Stan Nichols, and his cheap dismissal usually means disaster for the team. Four men were out for 12, but Jack Holmes, acting captain in this match, showed that he may develop into a good batsman with an excellent innings of 45, getting useful late support from Jim Parks and Tate. The Sussex innings was sweet but short, and Essex finished the day with a big advantage.
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Oxford University
The brilliant weather returned to Bristol, but there was not much brilliant cricket, although it was on the whole better than yesterday. Alf Dipper and Harry Smith continued their overnight partnership with much more enterprise than they had shown yesterday, and took their stand to 96 before Dipper was out. The score at one stage reached 183 for two, but the middle order wasted their opportunity and fell apart. The exception was Reg Sinfield, the Hertfordshire-born all-rounder currently qualifying for Gloucestershire, who made a useful 38.
The University began their second innings much better, with an opening partnership of 66 between Philip Stewart-Brown and Gordon Lyon, both hopefuls on trial for the University match. Stewart-Brown played very freely to score 46 of these, while Lyon was much more cautious. Claude Taylor unfortunately came in third and reverted to his old strokeless style, scoring 7 runs in an hour and 40 minutes. This no doubt helped the bowlers to get on top again, and by the close Oxford were only 60 runs ahead with four wickets left.
Manchester: Lancashire v Leicestershire
Although Ernest Tyldesley went cheaply this morning, having pottered around to score 17 in an hour and a quarter, John Barnes and Len Hopwood made a useful, if slow, partnership together that took the score to 200. At this point, George Geary and Ewart Astill came on and bowled superbly with the second new ball, and the last six wickets went down for only 26 runs. The big Lancashire lead that looked likely was restricted to just 21. It was a great fightback by Leicestershire, but poor batting from the home side.
Leicestershire had to face Ted McDonald in their second innings, though, and he took their first three wickets at a personal cost of only 15 runs. Les Berry played very well for 43, though, and Astill and Geary after their successful bowling partnership now did well for their side with the bat, adding 65 for the fifth wicket. McDonald then bowled Geary and four wickets went down quickly to his top pace, but Astill stood firm, and he had rather unlikely help from Frank Bale at No 10, who was dropped before scoring. They shared a fine partnership that was eventually worth 80 before Astill was out for 93, missing what would have been a well-deserved century. Eventually Lancashire were left to score 227 for victory. In 35 minutes before the close the usual Lancashire openers scored 29 of them. Lancashire should be able to win tomorrow, but cannot take victory for granted.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Nottinghamshire
The sun was shining when the match resumed this morning, and seemed to inspire greatly improved batting. The Nottinghamshire innings was soon finished off for another 15 runs, though, giving them a first-innings lead of 58. Philip Wright took six wickets by skilful bowling, very accurate and making the ball swerve.
Northamptonshire lost Claud Woolley to the fourth ball of their innings after edging a boundary, but he was to be the only batsman in their innings to be out for single figures with positive and enterprising batting. Northamptonshire are not usually renowned for their strong batting, but this has been a better season for them and today their batsmen rose to the occasion. Richard Wright, no relation to Philip, scored his second century of the season in 2¼ hours, sharing in successive partnerships of 93 and 120 with Rawlings Hawtin, who batted superbly, and Hamer Bagnall. However he was dropped by Arthur Carr in the slips on 47, the ball speeding on to the boundary. Maurice Fitzroy hit up 30 in 20 minutes and the tail all contributed, the last pair adding 30 to take the score to the verge of 400.
Nottinghamshire have been set 340 to win, a difficult task, but large successful run-chases have been quite common this season, so there could be a good finish here tomorrow. Dodger Whysall and stand-in opener Ben Lilley (in place of the injured George Gunn) began well by making 49 without being separated in the last 45 minutes of a very busy day’s play.
Bath: Somerset v Cambridge University
Cambridge University declared overnight, and Somerset were soon in deep trouble this morning. Jack MacBryan, in one of the few matches this season for which he is available, batted well until he was out for 20, but his first three partners, all inexperienced batsmen, were out for single figures each and four were down for 43. This became 61 to seven, five of them to Jack Meyer, who bowled superbly. This gave the batsmen some respite: Jim Bridges hit up 24 quickly, and then when the wicket-keeper Mervin Hill joined the acting captain Randall Johnson at 100 for eight, the pair turned the innings around. Both batted superbly and the ninth wicket more than doubled the score, adding 103 before K S Duleepsinhji came on and took the last two wickets with successive deliveries.
Cecil Bennett decided that Cambridge should get some batting practice and did not enforce the follow-on despite a lead of 234. This allowed Eddie Dawson to play a beautiful stylish innings of 86 in less than two hours, showing very fluent form, and his stop-gap opening partner Ben Sherwell gave him good support in an opening partnership of 126. Duleep and Leonard Crawley were both out cheaply as they tried to hit out for their side, and at the close Bennett declared again. Somerset need a most unlikely 419 to win tomorrow — although nowadays some big targets are being reached.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Surrey
Warwickshire made a bad start to the day, with Arthur Croom being brilliantly caught at short square leg by Bill Hitch without a run being added. Willie Quaife now joined Harold Kirton, the debutant, and they scored 10 runs together in the first hour, allowing the Surrey bowlers, and especially the leg-spinner Stanley Fenley, to find a length and get on top of the situation. Quaife took almost an hour to score 5 and Kirton took two hours for 22. Only when Freddie Calthorpe came in at No 6 did the batsmen try to shake off the shackles, but seven wickets were down for 103. Reg Santall and Norman Partridge both played some good strokes, but the innings closed for 193. Fenley bowled steadily into the wind and took seven wickets, but was flattered by the defensive play of most of the batsmen.
Percy Fender enforced the follow-on, 183 ahead, and Tiger Smith hit an aggressive fifty that did not allow the bowlers to settle down again, while Croom and Quaife were rather more enterprising the second time round as they put on 80 for the third wicket. A good partnership between Jack Parsons and Calthorpe was in progress when play ended. Warwickshire are 60 runs ahead with six wickets in hand, and have given themselves a good chance to fight out a draw tomorrow. Surrey fielded brilliantly in their first innings, but rather slackened off in the second.
Hull: Yorkshire v Hampshire
Yorkshire exerted their dominance on this match today after a poor start. Both overnight batsmen were soon dismissed, and two more wickets fell to make the score 142 for six; Tom Jameson took three wickets in quick succession, bowling cunningly into the wind with advantage. But then Yorkshire took over. Wilfred Rhodes was batting well, and he was now joined by the aggressive George Macaulay, the pair putting on 126 for the seventh wicket. The Hampshire bowlers could get no help from the pitch, and Reg Allen next joined Rhodes and hit out freely until Rhodes was out for an excellent 91 in less than three hours. Abe Waddington and Arthur Lupton both kept their wickets up as long as they could as Allen showed his best batting form. Lupton tried hard to see Allen through to his century, but was out lbw to Stuart Boyes when he was five short, after batting for only 95 minutes. Yorkshire took a first-innings lead of 269, and their last four wickets had scored 266 of them.
Hampshire went in again and put up a miserable show, looking like a beaten team as Macaulay ripped his way through their batting. Eight wickets went down for 59 runs, but then George Brown showed some determination and finally found support from Walter Livsey and Boyes. Yorkshire were keen to finish the match in two days, but the last pair survived for 20 minutes, including some unofficial extra time, and took the score from 86 for nine to 105 by the close, and they will all have to come back tomorrow to finish the match. The weather today was a little warmer and there was some sun, but the wind was still too strong for comfort.
Day 3
Colchester Week: Essex v Sussex
The pitch was difficult yesterday, but today it was quite lifeless and frustrated Essex’s hopes of forcing a victory. Not that they made much effort. Laurie Eastman and John Freeman gave Essex a positive start to their innings this morning, but after a while they lost their momentum — and this on a pitch where Maurice Tate could not prosper. The gentle bowling of George Cox tied the later batsmen down and caused them to throw away their wickets: he took four for 31 off 23 overs before the belated declaration came. Sussex were set 289 for victory in 2¾ hours, and they batted somnolently for 35 minutes before rain came at 3.50 and ended a match that had now become pointless.
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Oxford University
The only thing to cheer Oxford University today was a good-quality fifty from Geoffrey Legge, who batted for an hour and a half. He played much the most attractive innings by an Oxford man in the match, but had little support from the later batsmen, and they could set Gloucestershire only 110 to win. Alf Dipper smoothly saw the county through to victory by attractive play. Wally Hammond came in and finished the match in a blaze of powerful strokes, with two fours and a six, although he also survived an easy chance. Oxford University’s stocks with a view to the University match starting on 6 July are very low right now with their run of indifferent performances compared to the recent Cambridge run of successes. All they have to take a pride in right now is their excellent ground fielding.
Manchester: Lancashire v Leicestershire
Lancashire were soon in a bit of trouble chasing down 227 to win, as Harry Makepeace was quickly dismissed for 12 and Ernest Tyldesley for a single. When Hallows also went at 69, also to Alec Skelding who was making the ball fly at times, and Leicestershire were bowling well, the match looked to be in the balance. But the Lancashire batting is more solid than it was three or four years ago. Frank Watson steadied the innings with John Barnes until the score was 119, and when he was out Len Hopwood took over. He and Barnes put on 108 together in an unbroken partnership to take Lancashire to victory, not an easy task against very good bowling and fielding. The possibility of rain forced them to adopt a more aggressive policy than Lancashire have usually followed in this match, and we hope that the fact that it paid off will not be lost on the team in future. Both batsmen played very skilfully and well, giving no chances, and Hopwood showed great confidence and maturity. Rain was beginning to fall when they completed the job, with Barnes allowing Hopwood to make the winning hit and reach his fifty.
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Nottinghamshire
Yet another great and successful run-chase has been achieved in first-class cricket this season, as Nottinghamshire easily chased down 340 to beat Northamptonshire, losing only three wickets in the process. They soon lost Ben Lilley this morning, but then Willis Walker joined Dodger Whysall for the partnership that virtually won the match for their team. They put on 183 for the second wicket in just over two hours, making light of the best bowling the home county could produce. Whysall batted just over three hours for his 108, and Walker, a little more fluent but dropped when 55, for 2½ hours. Another dynamic innings by Arthur Carr saw Nottinghamshire home with far more time and wickets in hand than anyone expected. The bowling was steady and never fell to pieces, but was quite unable to trouble the batsmen. The match was over by half-past three.
Bath: Somerset v Cambridge University
Cambridge University completed their third successive victory on tour today by beating Somerset. Four county batsmen put up a good fight, and with a bit more support from the other seven who all failed to reach double figures they might have saved the match, as the last wicket fell only 35 minutes from time. As in the first innings, Jack MacBryan looked good, but his first three partners all went cheaply. This time, however, MacBryan kicked on with great determination to show his side what they have been missing during the time he was unable to play. Randall Johnson again did well, adding 86 for the fourth wicket with MacBryan, who played superbly for three hours to score 129 before being sixth out at 210. After these two the only resistance came from George Hunt and Jim Bridges. As in the first innings, Jack Meyer was the most dangerous bowler, but Cecil Bennett gave K S Duleepsinhji a good spell with his leg-breaks, and he took three of the later wickets, although expensive.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Surrey
In an exciting finish Surrey, thanks to brilliant batting from Andy Sandham, just succeeded in winning a match that Jack Parsons had almost saved for Warwickshire with his excellent century. This morning Parsons and Freddie Calthorpe added another 55 runs before Calthorpe was out. Parsons continued to play a fine game, though, helped by a dogged defensive innings from Bob Wyatt with 13. Surrey were struggling when Percy Fender finally brought Tom Shepherd on to bowl; with the score 371 for five at one stage, Shepherd then removed both batsmen in quick succession and the last five wickets fell for 36 runs. Parsons was dropped twice, but otherwise played a very fine innings. The Surrey fielding was rather mixed, but Bill Hitch was most brilliant; if he is past his best as batsman and bowler, he is still virtually worth his place for his fielding alone.
Surrey had to score 225 to win in two hours, including the extra half-hour. Jack Hobbs and Andy Sandham for half an hour made the task look easy, so well did they bat, until Hobbs sent up a huge skyer that was well held by the bowler, Wyatt, ending his sequence of four successive centuries. Sandham, however, batted with a sustained brilliance rarely seen from him, while his partners came and went. Percy Fender played cat-and-mouse with the bowlers and fielders for a while as both captains strove to outwit the other, but in the end Howell knocked his off stump out of the ground. Alan Peach then joined Sandham for another good partnership, and in the end Hitch came in. All the time rain was approaching and a drizzle began, but Calthorpe sportingly continued in the conditions. Eventually, with a few minutes to spare, Sandham reached a magnificent century, despite a couple of narrow escapes, and Surrey got home with about ten minutes to spare in a most exciting finish.
Hull: Yorkshire v Hampshire
All the players and officials had to turn out this morning for the benefit of one last Hampshire wicket, but George Brown and Stuart Boyes certainly made them fight for it. They hung in for 40 minutes, despite several confident appeals, and 48 runs before Brown reached his fifty and then celebrated with a wild swing against Abe Waddington that edged the ball on to his stumps. Most of the play went on in a light drizzle which made the ball damp and slippery for the bowlers. This is Yorkshire’s seventh consecutive victory and their eleventh altogether this season, of which seven have been by an innings. In fact, discounting two matches abandoned without a ball being bowled, Yorkshire have won 11 of their 12 matches they have started this season so far.
Day 1
Derby: Derbyshire v Kent
The pitch appeared to be a good one, but the pace bowling on either side was impressive and the batting was poor. Derbyshire’s first six batsmen were all out for single figures as Charlie Wright and Stanley Cornwallis, who has bowled little for Kent this season, ripped the innings open and seven men were out for 53. Unexpected salvation came from Basil Hill-Wood, who surprised with his bowling against Essex earlier this month, and now did the same with his batting, reaching a maiden fifty in just under an hour and putting on 80 for the eighth wicket with Jim Horsley. After such a bad start, Derbyshire were no doubt delighted to score 154, and at a brisk pace too.
There was another unexpected turn as the Kent batting did even worse than that of Derbyshire; for both teams only three men reached double figures. Wally Hardinge and Frank Woolley batted well, apart from both being dropped in the slips, and Kent had no problem until suddenly Bill Bestwick broke through, dismissing them both and shattering the middle order with four quick wickets. Horsley also bowled superbly, mopping up the tail, but Bestwick’s performance at the age of 50, bowling 23 overs unchanged throughout the Kent innings, was remarkable.
Derbyshire to general surprise thus led by 34 runs on the first innings, and by the close they had scored another 37 in 25 minutes in their second, for the loss of Garnet Lee. Kent more than the other Big Six teams seem to be vulnerable to lesser counties, and they are in danger of it happening again.
Colchester Week: Essex v Northamptonshire
Bowlers dominated the first day’s play, with few exceptions, the pitch being untrustworthy. George Louden is unable to play for Essex, so Stan Nichols opened the Essex bowling with Johnny Douglas, and bowled out Claud Woolley without a run on the board. Both bowled very well before Joe Hipkin came on and ran through the middle order. Amid all the disaster, his first five partners all being out for single figures, Vallance Jupp batted superbly for an hour and 50 minutes, scoring 56 out of 80 for six. Then Maurice Fitzroy and Philip Wright played good attacking innings to take the score to 140 before the last four wickets crashed for only one run. Hipkin bowled very skilfully to take his six wickets.
Essex also struggled with the bat. Nobby Clark, bowling left arm at pace, made batting very difficult, and soon Jupp came on to bowl off-spin. Percy Perrin handled the bowling best with all his skill and experience, but Clark removed Jack O’Connor and Johnny Douglas both without scoring so six wickets were down for 62. Whiz Morris made a stand with Perrin, but by the close Essex looked likely to fall behind on the first innings.
Swansea: Glamorgan v Gloucestershire
There was nothing badly wrong with the pitch, although the bounce was sometimes uneven ― just with the batsmen. Gloucestershire lost their stand-in opening batsman Percy Mills for 7, but Alf Dipper and Harry Smith put on 50 for the second wicket in good style — Dipper played a superb enterprising innings of 43 before being brilliantly run out by Dai Davies — and the score reached 119 before the third wicket fell. This began a series of batting disasters that continued throughout the day. Eddie Bates, an occasional left-arm spinner, enjoyed Christmas early as he took four middle-order wickets in quick succession, and Jack Mercer finished off the innings for 162.
Glamorgan batted even worse than Gloucestershire, after a sound opening partnership of 39 between Norman Riches and Bates. Then Charlie Parker, helped by Wally Hammond, started to skittle out the batsmen quickly, getting the ball to break and varying his pace skilfully. The pair bowled throughout the innings. Only Helm Spencer, with a powerfully-hit 30, able to do much with his fine bowling. Sheer lack of confidence seemed to be a major problem. Glamorgan wasted their opportunity and finished 50 runs behind. They are not likely to get another in this match, as another determined partnership between Dipper and Smith meant the Gloucestershire finished the day 123 runs ahead and with nine wickets in hand in their second innings. They had almost an hour and a half to bat before the close of play.
Interest in cricket in Swansea is certainly high, as there was a capacity crowd and several times spectators encroached on to the field of play.
Eastbourne: H D G Leveson Gower’s XI v Oxford University
It was bad luck for Oxford when they found the pitch in the morning was wet after overnight rain, and they lost the toss and were put in to bat by Shrimp Leveson Gower. There was a drying wind, so the pitch was not easy and became rather sticky for a while. Also in the bowling attack was the leg-spinning all-rounder Reg Bettington, who had shown no mercy to his former University team in the two previous matches he played against them this season, and was not inclined to do so now. Having said that, the Oxford batting was very feeble, and it seems very likely they were quite spooked by the prospect of facing Bettington again in conditions that favoured his bowling, so much so that even when he sent down the occasional loose ball, they had not the courage to attack him. Only Gordon Lyon reached double figures and he was not out at the end. Only two boundaries were hit in the whole innings, one by Lyon and the other by Tom Raikes, who scored 6. They were all out in 85 minutes for 56, Gubby Allen and Bettington bowling unchanged. They also had to bat one man short, as Errol Holmes arrived late, having had to take a University exam in the morning.
Although Jack Bryan went early for 4, the Leveson Gower eleven passed the pathetic University score with only one wicket down. Greville Stevens, opening the batting, played a fine innings and exceeded the University score off his own bat. John Naumann has not succeeded for Sussex this season so far, but today he took the opportunity to play himself into form. The Oxford bowling was steady but not particularly difficult, while their fielding was very good and Ivor Gilliat as wicket-keeper did a fine job.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch: Leicestershire v Hampshire
The ground at Ashby-de-la-Zouch has recently been flooded, and this has left a sandy surface on the pitch that the bowlers enjoyed. So did George Brown, who decided the best way forward was to attack, and he did that very well for his innings of 64. He pulled a short ball from Alec Skelding for six in the first over of the match. He slowed down later, though, to bat for almost two hours, but Guy Bignell hit a powerful fifty in less than an hour. George Geary and Ewart Astill bowled well to take most of the wickets between them.
The Leicestershire first innings was a complete disaster, but at least it was entertaining — 59 all out in less than an hour. The first five wickets went down for 18. Almost half the runs were scored by Ewart Astill, the only batsman able to stand up to the bowling of Brown and Alec Kennedy. They only just avoided the follow-on with two wickets in hand. For once Kennedy was outshone as a bowler, with Brown following up his fifty by taking six wickets in the innings. Hampshire went in again before the close, and in the short time available Brown dominated that too, scored 17 of the 19 runs put on the board.
Lord’s: M.C.C. v Cambridge University
M.C.C. have a strong team, but Cambridge are badly handicapped, especially in bowling, by absences of key players. Of their two main bowlers, Tom Enthoven was said to need a rest, while Jack Meyer is not fully fit after his influenza and is also being rested. This left Richard Lowe and Sam Jagger to open the attack, and hard though they tried they are not of the same quality. The pitch is damaged at the pavilion end, but the bowlers were unable to take advantage enough of it, although Jack Hearne, Patsy Hendren and Nigel Haig were three batsmen who were dismissed from balls that reared unexpectedly.
Opening the innings, Maurice Foster was badly hit on his sore right hand and was soon dismissed. However his partner, Charles Titchmarsh, emerging from Hertfordshire for his first appearance of the season in first-class cricket, played a superb innings, showing good footwork, driving well and making two brilliant hooks for four. He scored 110 in less than three hours before being run out. Walter Franklin later hit a good fifty. Despite the pitch, the bowlers took rather a pasting, but they never lost their steadiness and the team fielded well. They had to bat for the last 40 minutes and lost Eddie Dawson to the final delivery with the score only 17 in that time.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
Lancashire’s top-order batsmen took good advantage of winning the toss at Trent Bridge, taking the score to 284 before the fourth wicket fell. Their score was built on an opening partnership of 117 for the first wicket by Harry Makepeace and Charlie Hallows in an hour and three-quarters, with the latter showing the greater freedom of strokeplay. This good foundation encouraged Ernest Tyldesley to play his natural free-flowing game instead of the unnecessary caution that often seizes him, and he played superbly, reaching his first fifty in less than an hour, although he did not maintain that rate afterwards. He put on 80 with Makepeace, and although Frank Watson failed for once, John Barnes shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 87, although the scoring rate slowed.
Runs came at a fine rate, but perhaps the later batsmen tried too hard to hit out instead of simply supporting Tyldesley, who was ninth out at 328, after batting for just over three hours. The last seven wickets fell for just 45 runs. Four batsmen reached double figures, the other seven made 18 runs among them. On such a good pitch 329 may not prove to be such a good score after the home side bats. The Nottinghamshire bowling was weakened by the absence of the injured Fred Barratt (strained arm), but the promising young Harold Larwood took three quick wickets to accelerate the middle-order collapse; he was the only bowler able to get any life from the pitch. For Lancashire, John Barnes again acted as captain as John Sharp is still struggling with his injured leg, and carried on Sharp’s skill at winning the toss.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Sussex
The chariots and horsemen of Sussex! Maurice Tate is out of the match against Warwickshire, ordered to rest his strained right forearm by a perhaps patriotic Birmingham specialist. Sussex could have used his batting as well as his bowling today against Warwickshire. They began weakly, with Ted Bowley out for 14 and three wickets down for 40. Then Tommy Cook and a dour Jack Holmes almost doubled the score, but the man who brought the much-needed revival was the 51-year-old George Cox. With little support from the later batsmen, Cox fought his way to 95 in three hours, ninth out and most unfortunate to miss his century. He then took a wicket when Warwickshire batted and lost two quick wickets in just over an hour before the close to a Tate-free Sussex bowling line-up. It was a cold day and few of the players from either side did much to warm themselves up.
Bradford: Surrey v Yorkshire
This match aroused tremendous local interest, with about 28,000 people, a ground record, squeezing into the Park Avenue ground despite cold and gloomy weather, and mounted police had to be used after the lunch interval to keep them from encroaching on to the field of play. In the end the boundaries had to be shortened. The crowd gave Jack Hobbs and Andy Sandham a great cheer as they walked out to open the Surrey innings, but this was nothing compared with the roar that came when Hobbs, on 20 and looking to take charge of the bowling, skyed a catch to mid-on off Emmott Robinson’s bowling. George Macaulay as usual was the most dangerous Yorkshire bowler, though, and Surrey fought hard to go in to lunch on 81 for three. Afterwards came the crash. Andy Sandham was lbw to Macaulay from the first ball after the break, and no batsman was to score more than 8 (Bill Sadler) after that, as Macaulay and Roy Kilner carved their way through the remainder, bowling superbly. The last eight wickets went down for 24 runs, and Macaulay’s figures after lunch were five for 15 in 7.4 overs. The pitch is in good condition for batting, although a little slow.
When Yorkshire replied, Herbert Sutcliffe was run out for 8 due to a bad call, the ball going too close to Hobbs in the covers, who has no hesitation in running out his Australian tour opening partner. Holmes did his best to make up for the error, and put on 63 with Edgar Oldroyd. Three wickets were down for 98, but then Holmes and Wilfred Rhodes added 69. Holmes looked set for another century, but on 86 was tempted to hole out on the leg boundary. Much of the Surrey fielding looked to be rather dispirited, although the Yorkshire batsmen never really dominated the bowling. By the close Yorkshire were 85 runs ahead and had four wickets left.
Day 2
Derby: Derbyshire v Kent
Derbyshire turned in one of their best and most positive batting displays today as they built up a total of 314 off the Kent bowlers in only about four hours. They had useful innings all down the order, starting with Wilfred Hill-Wood, who batted soundly for 34. Les Townsend and Guy Jackson pushed the score along briskly in adding 52 for the third wicket, while the best batting was seen when Jackson and Arthur Morton put on 70 in 70 minutes for the fifth wicket. For the tail Jim Horsley hit out boldly for a lucky 47 and the score passed 300, rare territory for Derbyshire.
Kent were therefore set 349 to win, just seven more runs than they had successfully chased down against Warwickshire a week ago. George Collins went in first with Wally Hardinge this time, but at 31 he was out for 9. Hardinge again is playing a major part in the run chase, and he found a good partner in James Seymour, who was cautious at first but then began to open out. They played out the day without being parted, looking ominously good. By the close they had reached 138 with only one wicket down, still needing another 211 to win, with the Derbyshire bowlers unable to make any further impact. There could be a good finish tomorrow, but Derbyshire will probably need to make an early breakthrough.
Colchester Week: Essex v Northamptonshire
The pitch played rather better today, but it was too late for Essex to take much advantage of it in their first innings. They were soon dismissed for 112, a deficit of 29 runs. Northamptonshire went in again and batted with a confidence rarely seen in recent seasons. They lost two wickets for 41 before Vallance Jupp, with sound and cautious support from Richard Wright, took charge. In an hour and a quarter this third-wicket pair added 110 runs to put the visitors on top, though both survived difficult chances. Both batted for just over an hour and a half. There was a slump in the middle order against the spin of Jack O’Connor to 196 for seven, but then Ben Bellamy came good. In at No 9, he put on 41 with Fanny Walden and then 76 in an hour for the ninth wicket with John Murdin. All the main scorers survived chances in the field, so Essex contributed to their own misery.
Essex were set 350 to win, which seems unlikely for them even in this season of big and successful fourth-innings run-chases. Laurie Eastman and Jimmy Cutmore made 32 together and looked like playing out the day until the inevitable Jupp came on and bowled out Eastman.
Swansea: Glamorgan v Gloucestershire
Alf Dipper and Harry Smith took their overnight partnership to 120, with a total of 132, before they were separated. After that the Glamorgan bowlers did well, with none of the later batsmen reaching 20, and Gloucestershire were bowled out for 199. As so often, Jack Mercer did most of the damage with six wickets, and finished with match figures of ten for 85.
In theory, Glamorgan stood a chance of winning when they were set 250 to win, but with their record of batting failures it never seemed likely unless some batsman played the innings of his life. Norman Riches certainly played a very fine innings to score 74 in two hours, but was controversially given out lbw after he appeared to edge the ball. He gave a masterly display of batsmanship and might have inspired a much-needed victory. His best partnership was one of 51 for the third wicket with the promising left-handed batsman Emrys Davies. After he was out the later batsmen had little to offer against more excellent bowling from Charlie Parker, who bowled unchanged throughout the match. His match figures were 14 wickets, seven in each innings, for 145 runs. Sadly, Glamorgan have now lost all nine matches they have been able to start this season.
Eastbourne: H D G Leveson Gower’s XI v Oxford University
This morning the Leveson Gower eleven continued batting to establish a first-innings lead of 229. The Naumann brothers, John and Frank, both batted very well, and it is to be hoped that John will now be able to show similar form for Sussex, who badly need it. The pitch was better for batting than it was on Saturday. Tom Raikes bowled very well with little luck; Edward Hewetson had all of that. John Greenstock with his left-arm spin also bowled well, with deceptive flight. The Oxford fielding was again very good, apart from the odd chance going missing.
There is little good that can be said about the batting, though, and few people give Oxford much chance in the University match. Reg Bettington was less of a threat and less accurate today, but the batsmen still did not play him well. John Guise played well at the start of the innings until he was out to a long hop, as were several other batsmen, bad strokes, but eight wickets were down for 105. All that kept Oxford from disgrace was a fighting ninth-wicket partnership of 77 in 40 minutes between Ivor Gilliat and Greenstock, who showed much more positive enterprise that the earlier batsmen. But they could not stave off the innings defeat.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch: Leicestershire v Hampshire
Hampshire dominated this match from start to finish. The overnight Hampshire opening pair of George Brown and Jack Newman took their partnership to 131, Brown attacking the bowling for 70 in just over two hours while Newman just held his end up. Philip Mead ‘failed’ with 26, but Guy Bignell and Lionel Tennyson put on 81 for five wickets, with Tennyson launching one of his great assaults on the bowling to reach his fifty in less than 25 minutes. The tail did not add much, but they didn’t need to; Hampshire were able to set Leicestershire 450 to win.
Leicestershire were a dispirited side and their top order failed again; in the two innings of this match the first four Leicestershire batsmen scored only 21 runs among them. The best that can be said about losing their first five wickets for 32 is that it was better than 31 for six in the first innings. Gus Fowke and George Geary hit back with some aggressive and thanks to them the total reached three figures, but it was still a humiliating defeat. Brown accomplished a fine all-round performance by hitting the top score in both Hampshire innings and taking nine wickets in the match for 79 runs, although Alec Kennedy pipped him there with nine for 53.
Lord’s: M.C.C. v Cambridge University
Cambridge University had to bat this morning with the pitch at its fastest and worst, although strangely it did not play so badly after lunch. But in the morning it was very awkward, and K S Duleepsinhji was bowled for 15 by a very fast ball from Jack Durston that jagged back sharply down the slope at Lord’s. Cecil Bennett was the only batsman to score more than 15, and he played a very courageous but even reckless innings, being struck by the ball several times and once badly hurt attempting a hook. Tom Francis did not bat owing to a bad cold. The low total of 133 can be blamed more on good bowling on a bad pitch than on bad batting.
M.C.C. did not enforce the follow on, and the main feature in their second innings was a third-wicket partnership of 85 between Jack Hearne and Patsy Hendren, although Hearne was handicapped after taking a bad hit in the groin. Sam Jagger was the best of the attack, and he bowled them both out. When the innings was declared, Cambridge had 50 minutes to bat in their second innings and were set 476 to win. Their openers did very well to survive the day.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
George Gunn is back for Nottinghamshire after injury and opened their innings as usual this morning, although at times he was still obviously in some pain from his thumb. He soon lost his partner, Dodger Whysall, for 7, but shared a good partnership with Willis Walker, and then with Arthur Carr. At 164 for two wickets Nottinghamshire were doing well, but then Gunn, switching to attack, played some brilliant strokes off Ted McDonald before he hit a catch to cover point, and this started a collapse to McDonald and Dick Tyldesley. Two runs and eight balls later six wickets were down, Nottinghamshire were in trouble, and the seventh fell at 186. Wilf Payton and Harold Larwood added 44 for the eighth wicket, but Nottinghamshire were eventually out for a deficit of 87. Payton, batting soundly, defence interspersed with some superb boundaries, was unbeaten when the last wicket fell with 37 not out in an hour and a quarter.
When Lancashire batted again they had an early shock, as Harry Makepeace was caught in the slips off Larwood without scoring. Ernest Tyldesley replaced him and played a sound, safe innings until he was out to a bad stroke in the last over of the day for 47 in 1¾ hours. Lancashire were potentially well placed at the close with a lead of 201 and only three second-innings wickets down.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Sussex
Ted Bowley had a fine all-round day at Edgbaston today as he played the major part in taking Sussex, without Maurice Tate, into an unexpectedly strong position against Warwickshire. The home county reached 67 for two wickets before another three went down for 70, two to Bert Wensley and one to Bowley. Bowley then winkled out the middle order with three more wickets, although he did not remove Bob Wyatt, who scored a very good 55 in less than an hour and a half, much more aggressive than usual. There was too little from the other batsmen, who should have done better, and Sussex led on the first innings by 21.
Bowley then took charge when Sussex went in again, moving smoothly to a fine century. He was helped by Captain Lionel Isherwood in a second-wicket partnership of 110, and then Jack Holmes played another good innings. Bowley batted for about three hours altogether in scoring his chanceless 133. The Warwickshire bowling was not impressive, but it was an excellent afternoon for Sussex after their recent string of batting failures. They finished the day 300 runs ahead of Warwickshire with five wickets still in hand. Dare they dream of victory tonight? They will have to bowl out Warwickshire without Tate to achieve it.
Bradford: Surrey v Yorkshire
It could be said with justification that this was a match between county cricket’s strongest batting side and its strongest bowling side — and the strongest bowling side won. Yorkshire were 85 ahead at the start with four wickets in hand and they added another 43 runs this morning, with Roy Kilner batting well but nobody else making many. The innings was polished off by the tearaway fast bowling of Bill Sadler with the second new ball. Surrey fielded much better than they had done on Saturday and held some good catches, with Herbert Strudwick keeping wicket brilliantly.
When Surrey batted again Jack Hobbs was never comfortable and struggled to score 11 in 40 minutes before he was caught at the wicket off George Macaulay playing an uncertain stroke. Then Abe Waddington bowled Andy Sandham with a brilliant delivery that pitched on leg stump and hit his middle and off. The only batsman to come to terms with the Yorkshire attack, and Macaulay in particular, was Tom Shepherd, who was unbeaten at the end of the innings, although near the end he was three times dropped by Reg Allen behind the wicket, surprising lapses after a hitherto excellent display with the gloves. Macaulay again bowling magnificently throughout, always aggressive and difficult to play, although he did pitch a little too short at times. His match figures were 11 wickets for 104 runs. Yorkshire needed only 48 to win, which Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe knocked off easily in half an hour to give Yorkshire a great victory, their eighth win in succession, by five o’clock in less than two days. Being a Monday, there was a smaller crowd at the ground today — only about 18,000!
Day 3
Derby: Derbyshire v Kent
Kent did it again, as they did against Warwickshire, easily chasing down a target of over 340 with wickets in plenty to spare. The uninspired Derbyshire bowling toiled away but could not break in time the huge second-wicket partnership of 247 between the overnight pair of Wally Hardinge and James Seymour until it was too late. Both scored centuries, with Seymour the first out at 278 after scoring 119 in 3½ hours. Remarkably, Frank Woolley followed him immediately without scoring, but Con Johnstone, home from India, took the score to the verge of victory when both were out in trying to win the match with a big hit. Hardinge batted 5½ hour without giving a chance, and this was his 50th century for Kent. So dominant were the Kent batsmen that they should actually have won by seven wickets.
Colchester Week: Essex v Northamptonshire
Rarely has a cricketer dominated a first-class match as Vallance Jupp did for Northamptonshire against Essex. Top score in both innings (56 and 70), best bowling figures in both innings (five for 34 and seven for 71). When Essex resumed this morning, Jimmy Cutmore batted solidly for nearly an hour and a half, but after that only Percy Perrin was able to come to terms with the bowling of Jupp, well supported by Philip Wright. Perrin, batting at No 5, batted for two hours and a quarter, although he was missed in the field on 8, and was the last man out. Northamptonshire won by the big margin of 168 runs, but basically Jupp was the difference between the two teams.
Lord’s: M.C.C. v Cambridge University
The Cambridge run of victories predictably ended at Lord’s today with a heavy defeat. They had the worst of the luck in this match, but they did choose to play a weakened team. Their main problem today was the bowling of Nigel Haig, with their batsmen quite unable to discern which way he would move the ball off the pitch; this year he seems to have increased his ability to cut the ball at pace and disguise its movement. There were some unwise strokes, as when K S Duleepsinhji tried to glide a fast ball from Jack Durston down the leg side but was bowled leg stump instead, while Cecil Bennett immediately tried another hook before getting his eye in and had to retired hurt with a split right thumb. Leonard Crawley drilled a catch off Haig straight to mid-off. Richard Lowe played a steady innings of 32 and looked a useful all-rounder in this match. With Bennett retiring hurt and Tom Francis unwell, Cambridge only had eight wickets to lose in this innings, but they tended to play as if it was no longer worth a fight and were all out before lunch.
Nottingham: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
Lancashire were quite content with a draw in this match, as they made no effort to leave themselves time to bowl Nottinghamshire out a second time and take a risk of losing. They began quite briskly, with John Barnes scoring a good fifty in 70 minutes and put on 52 in half an hour with George Duckworth. But again the Lancashire tail failed badly, although they stayed long enough in the end for Lancashire to be able to set Nottinghamshire a very unlikely target of 338 in 3¾ hours.
The first three Nottinghamshire batsmen showed no intention of going for victory, but as they were all dismissed for only 34 runs, Lancashire had a sniff of victory. They were handicapped, though, by Ted McDonald suffering a strain to his side that enabled him only to bowl slowly and will keep him out of the next match against Gloucestershire. Arthur Carr survived a very close lbw appeal early on, but he played his aggressive natural game, whatever the situation, but even he had no illusions that the target could be reached. The team was saved any further trouble by Wilf Payton, who played another sound innings and stayed in while Carr went on to pass 1000 runs and also reach his fourth century for the season in just under two hours, at which point the match was given up as a draw.
Birmingham: Warwickshire v Sussex
Edgbaston saw yet another brilliant and successful fourth-innings run chase today, when amazingly four centuries were completed during the course of one day, and Warwickshire chased down a target of nearly 400 runs while losing only one wicket. Harold Gilligan as acting captain of Sussex could not be criticized for declaring when Jack Holmes completed his century this morning, leaving Warwickshire to score 392 for victory, even with their weak bowling attack lacking Tate. But Gilligan himself probably lost the match when he missed a chance from Tiger Smith at cover point when that batsman had scored only 4.
After that Warwickshire never looked back. Jack Parsons was in brilliant form and raced to his century in just over an hour and a half. Smith, usually the main aggressor, wisely contented himself with support this time until Parsons was out after scoring 124 in 1¾ hours out of an opening partnership of 176. Then Freddie Calthorpe promoted himself in the order, came in next, and both batsmen flogged the bowling in brilliant style. The partnership this time was worth 216 in two hours and took Warwickshire to victory with no less than 45 minutes to spare. Weak though the Sussex bowling is without Tate, they never lost their steadiness or effort, and took their defeat, bitter blow as it must have been, very sportingly. All ten of their fielders bowled, but George Cox was the only one to take a wicket when he had Parsons caught in the deep in front of the pavilion.