By Mike Latham
After researching Haigh CC the other day and the role of
their first professional, James Tyldesley, by chance I found this photo among
my archive.
The Lancashire team takes the field before their opening
county championship game against Northants at Old Trafford on Saturday, 2 May
1930.
One of James Tyldesley’s four cricketing sons was in the
Lancashire side, slow bowler Dick making an important contribution to what
proved to be a convincing win to kick-start a successful campaign.
Emerging from the Old Trafford pavilion led by Peter
Eckersley, in his second season as county captain, are some of the biggest
names in Lancashire cricket history.
Seven of the side played Test cricket for England: Charlie
Hallows, Ernest Tyldesley (no relation to Dick), Jack Iddon, Len Hopwood, Eddie
Paynter, George Duckworth and Dick Tyldesley.
The great Ted McDonald, then aged 39 but staring impassively
at the camera, tall and erect, had played 11 Tests for Australia, his last
almost a decade ago.
Frank Watson and Frank Sibbles, both fine county cricketers,
made up the Lancashire XI.
The Lancashire team takes the field on the opening day of the 1930 County Championship season
The players (left to right) are: Watson, Iddon,
Sibbles, PT Eckersley (captain), Hopwood, E Tyldesley, McDonald, Hallows,
Duckworth, Paynter. Dick Tyldesley is not pictured.
I looked up the reports in the Manchester Guardian
and found that rain and bad light curtailed play on the opening day, Northants
struggling to 122 for 8. When play resumed on the Monday in much better
conditions Lancashire quickly polished off the tail (Northants 152 all out,
Dick Tyldesley 4-36) and then set about building a large first innings lead.
Hallows looked in prime early season form, though Watson,
his opening partner struggled for fluency in an opening stand of 65. Nobby
Clark, Northants’ Test bowler, bowled his left arm quicks ‘with a vehement
action’ and gained pace from the pitch, contributing to a fine duel between bat
and ball, bowling both Watson and Ernest Tyldesley.
Hopwood played aggressively, with skill and spirit. He was
described as ‘young Hopwood’ but was aged 26. Iddon was criticised as one of
the ‘stone-wall’ contingent, his innings ‘played without a smile’ but offering
high value in terms of runs and patience. He batted three-and-a-half hours and
just missed out on a century.
Eckersley came in at no7 to play a captain’s innings,
determined to get the scoreboard ticking, mindful of the threat of rain on the
final day.
Lancashire declared at their overnight 337-6 (Hallows 51,
Iddon 93, Hopwood 62, Eckersley 68*) and set about trying to beat the weather.
Northants reached 135-4 at lunch, but lost their last six wickets for
only 29 runs to lose by an innings and 21 runs. The Northants captain, Vallance
Jupp, another former Test match cricketer, provided most resistance with an
innings 48. Left arm bowler Hopwood,
flighting the ball cleverly, shared the wickets evenly with Dick Tyldesley,
while Duckworth ‘agile and crowing shrilly’ effected four stumpings.
Lancashire went on to win the county championship for the
second time in three years and won it again in 1934. Northants finished bottom
of the County Championship in 1930.
Early impressions are often misleading. For all his fine
innings Hallows’ season tailed away, and he managed 631 runs at an average of
26. Watson went on to score 1,712 runs at 43, including two centuries and 14
fifties. Ernest Tyldesley made seven centuries and compiled 1,811 runs at 54.
Iddon was the other Lancashire batsman to pass one thousand runs, hitting 1,195
at 38.
Dick Tyldesley and Ted McDonald shared the bowling honours.
The former took 121 wickets at 14, the latter showing that his benefit year of
1929 had not dulled his ambition, collecting 104 wickets at 20.
Hopwood had a fine all-round campaign, scoring 949 runs at
31 and taking 63 wickets at 19.
(ends)
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