Boyhood hero Eric Hollies - highest score.

Posted by Tony Hutton

I have written in the past about my boyhood upheaval in 1949 when my family moved away from Yorkshire to the Midlands. I had only just got into the routine of following the fortunes of my native Yorkshire county cricket team and it took some time to get into the routine of watching Warwickshire and Worcestershire during my schoolboy years. The long serving Warwickshire leg spinner, Eric Hollies, soon became one of my boyhood heroes, not only for his immaculate bowling but for the fact that he was the ultimate number eleven batsman. His appearance at the wicket was always greeted with hilarity, for he had taken far more wickets than he had scored runs in a career going back to the 1930s.

                                               Eric Hollies.

Purely by chance the other day, while trawling the British Newspaper Archive, I came across a report from the Birmingham Post cricket correspondent dated 20th May, 1954. It concerned a game between Warwickshire and Sussex at Edgbaston. This was a mid-week game, played while I would be at school. I can do no better than quote the writing of J.M. Solan, for it was he, only allowed to modestly add his initials at the end of the report, rather than his full name.

''Warwickshire recovered as a result of some remarkably good batting further down to 282 all out, notably to the partnership of Hollies and King who put on 65 for the last wicket in a little more than an hour and a half. The day belonged to Hollies. One of the most widely-used record books says laconically of him ''Unambitious RHB'' and it is not an unfair judgment of the batting of this great leg break bowler. It is normally Hollies's role to bring comedy to the wicket.

In all his long career, though he has often played many valuable defensive innings, he has never managed to scrape together more than 24 runs. That is until yesterday, when he leapt to 47. He hit four 4's and one gigantic 6 into the members' stand. They ducked delightedly. Where recognised batsmen had failed Hollies equalled the best score of the innings. Some of his strokes had not been bettered by any of them; some were in the Hollies tradition. For an hour the Jester held court and regally.

Hollies, if he cares to, can now rest on his oars. He scored more runs yesterday than he did during the whole of last season. The only danger in his new-found greatness is that he is narrowing the gap between the number of runs he has scored in first-class cricket (1,322) and the number of wickets (1,885). That distinction is too good to lose.

The last act began in that atmosphere of good-natured tolerance that bowlers reserve for their kind. It did not change when Hollies took hold of Marlar and straight drove him for 4. Incredulity greeted a half-volley for another boundary, again off Marlar. Singles came with valuable frequency, the time slipped on and Hollies was still there. A wag called out, with more truth than he knew: ''Wait till he's had his tea!'' Sussex began to miss the point of the joke and Wood took the new ball. Flattered, Hollies took a single off it. A parched and rather worried Sussex took tea half an hour late.

Their position worsened after tea. They really tried but Hollies was dropped by Oakman at second slip, to give him the single to equal his previous best score, and then romped past that monumental figure with a terrific four to mid-wicket. The 50 partnership was reached by Hollies with a high, straight half-volley for 4 off Parks. The next ball was a massive, towering 6 into the members' stand.

It was not all thrashing nor all absolutely correct. There were some accurately placed cover drives and one little hop and a skip for a single to bring him level with the highest score of the match. When Hollies went at last, it was in swinging happily at James, who took his off-stump. It is probably that he had had enough of it. He'd shown them. J.M.S.''

Sadly you don't read reports like that any more. Splendid stuff from Mr. Solan who wrote on cricket and rugby union for the Birmingham Post for almost 30 years until his retirement in 1975. He died two years later at the age of 66. His obituary in the Cricketer Magazine mentioned his conspicuous war service and said that his writing was marked by a distinctive gentleness, subtlety and sense of observation. His general serenity and good humour were valued in the many press boxes he graced up and down the country. He was Chairman of the Cricket Writers' Club in 1969.

The highlight of Hollies' career - bowling Bradman for nought in his last Test 1948.

(The pictures are taken from Norman Rogers excellent biography of Eric Hollies published in 2002.)