WG comes to Halifax

 posted by John Winn

A recent visitor noticing my collection of Wisden's asked if I had read them all. My answer was that the best I could say was that I had not read any of them in their entirety but that I had read at least part of each copy of the almanac. One of the main pleasures that the collection gives is to take a copy from the shelves, open it at random and see what turns up. Rarely does this random approach fail to arouse my interest and today's blog stems from such an event.

Over the weekend I looked at the oldest almanac in the collection, that from 1889 which in the main covers the cricket in 1888, a season which saw an Australian tour, the sixth such tour of this country and to which 60 pages were devoted. The tour involved cricket almost every day from May 7th to September 22nd, Yorkshire played them three times. Inter county matches are not classified as 'county championship' but a table is printed which shows Surrey top with Kent and Yorkshire tied for second place. Two pages are given over to a match played at Hanson Lane, Halifax,'the first important match ever played on the new ground of Halifax Cricket and Football Club. The ground which was only laid out in 1887, is a spacious one, having a capital pavilion, facing one side for cricket and athletics and the other for football.'

Yorkshire's opponents for this significant game were Gloucestershire, skippered by Mr WG Grace, who having won the toss opened with his brother Mr EM. The West Country men did not fare well being bowled out for just 80, Peel 7 for 39, to which Yorkshire replied with 122, Peel top scoring with 25. Gloucestershire's second innings was only a little better than their first, 102 all out setting Yorkshire 70 to win which they achieved for the loss of seven wickets with Ulyett top scoring with 23. Man of the match was undoubtedly Peel for in addition to his first innings runs he took 13 wickets. 

Peel's record over the season qualified him for a feature in the almanack  'Six Great Bowlers of The Year' and  his statistics show he bowled 1768.1 overs, 886 of which were maidens and took 181 wickets at a cost of under 13. The portraits of the six were from 'fresh negatives taken by the well known Brighton firm of E Hawkins and co.' Alas time has not treated the photos kindly and they are very faded. 

The return match between Yorkshire and Gloucestershire was played at Clifton College in Bristol in August and this time it was the batters who were on top. WG for the third time in his career made centuries in both innings but Yorkshire showed great depth in batting and led by 213 on first innings. Grace's outstanding second innings effort when he batted over three hours saved the day for Glos and although Yorkshire batted a second time they were unable to hit off the 104 needed for victory in the time available

To close I must mention a curiosity of Yorkshire's season, namely a match they played at Sheffield in May against 23 (sic) colts. Despite having more than twice the customary number of players the youngsters were bowled out for 114 and 96 and lost by an innings and four, Peel taking 15 wickets in the match.

A parson named Parsons

 posted by John Winn

Whilst researching my last posting, the subject of which was the Warwickshire cricketer Percy Jeeves, I came across a photograph of a Warwickshire XI taken in 1914 which included the aforesaid Percy. Accompanying the list of players is the note that only five of them played for Warwickshire immediately after the war. Of those who did not appear as soon as cricket resumed it is perhaps surprising that only one, Jeeves, was a casualty of the war whereas Frank Foster was forced to retire following a motor cycle accident, Septimus Kinneir retired, Syd Santall became coach which leaves only the subject of this posting, Jack Parsons or to give him his full title Reverend Canon John Henry Parsons MC, born 1890, died 1981. *

Jack Parsons was a sufficiently distinguished cricketer to merit a short biography 'Cricketer Militant' by Gerald Howat published shortly before the subject's death and a half page obituary in the 1982 Wisden. Like so many others Jack answered the call in 1914 joining the Warwickshire Yeomanry but his war service took him not, like Jeeves, to France but to Gallipoli which unlike thousands of British, Australian and New Zealand troops, he survived. In July 1916 he was commissioned as Second Lt in the Worcestershire Yeomanry with whom he stayed until transferring to the Indian Army. In March 1919 he returned to England arriving in time to see his mother shortly before her death on May 26th. A week later he was approached by Warwickshire and having accepted their terms he turned out in their first home championship match since 1914 against Derbyshire on June 9th and 10th, a match they lost and in which our hero scored 5 and 0. Parsons soon discovered his old form however and in twelve innings hit over 500 runs at an average of just under 50. His last appearance of the summer was against  an Australian Services XI for in August army duties took him back to India where he played some cricket and got married. 

In June 1922 he was again offered terms by Warwickshire which he refused, but in 1923 he returned to England and picked up where he had left off four years earlier with a century in his second match v Northants at Edgbaston and once again he finished the season top of the averages. Parsons returned to regular cricket in 1924 and continued until 1934 when he was in his 44th year and twenty years after he had played for the Players at the Oval. His final appearance could not have been better for playing against Yorkshire at Scarborough, Warwickshire were bowled out for 45 but when set 216 to win JHP hit 94 including three sixes and twelve fours and only 12 were needed when he was out and the winning runs were hit by JH 'Danny' Mayer, a great Warwickshire servant whose obituary appears two pages before that of Parsons in Wisden.

Having been ordained in 1929 and from 1934 to 1940 Parsons enjoyed life as a country rector in Shropshire and later Cornwall with his wife, son and daughter but the outbreak of another world war saw saw him return to the army as chaplain which included overseas service in North Africa and Italy before returning to Liskeard in 1944. He died in a nursing home in Plymouth in February 1981. Parsons earned distinction as an army officer, he was awarded the Military Cross, and one wonders what his reputation as a cricketer might have been had he not lost ten years to army service. Let us leave the last word to Wisden 'By the time he resumed his career (1923), English batting was fast recovering, a younger generation, Hammond Leyland, Jardine, Chapman, was knocking at the door and his chance was gone.'

* the caption to the photo on page 74 of Jack Bannister's History of Warwickshire CCC contains an error for it omits any reference to EB Crockford. Crockford appeared in just one match in 1919, v Yorkshire at Edgbaston, a match Yorkshire won with ease and Crockford's contribution was modest. He achieved greater fame in 1920 when winning an Olympic gold medal for hockey. 

Hopes for conciliation & memories from the past.

Posted by Tony Hutton

It is with great reluctance that I enter the debate currently raging around Yorkshire county cricket club. I will try to be brief, but of course must start by saying bad mistakes have been made and the people responsible must be punished appropriately. Without doubt Yorkshire have compounded the problem by their unnecessary delays. However it does seem that judgements have been made too quickly by both politicians and the ECB hierarchy (who both need to put their own houses in order) which have precipitated the events which have brought the club into this chaotic situation. 

Certain journalists have also taken a somewhat blinkered approach without the full facts. However thank goodness for people like Mike Atherton, Simon Heffer of the Daily Telegraph and Syed Ahmed in the Times for providing a more reasoned view of the proceedings. I initially welcomed the appointment of Lord Patel, although not sure who appointed him. He faces a difficult job but certainly has the right qualifications. It remains to be seen how well he can assess the full facts of the situation.

In response to many of the uncalled for messages on social media I think it is important to stress that there are many good people involved with Yorkshire County cricket, not least the volunteers involved with the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, which has already done much good work in improving relations with the ethnic communities.

Lord Patel has called for conciliation, but sadly some of the latest pronouncements do little to suggest this. One person who suffered more racial abuse than anyone was Nelson Mandela and surely we can all learn from him what conciliation really means.

Azeem Rafiq in happier times being awarded his county cap by the late John Hampshire 2016.

Returning to the main theme of what this blog is all about, which is more involvement in what happens on the field of play rather than off it, I recently paid a visit to the museum in Thirsk, North Yorkshire and came across a team picture of the Yorkshire side of 1920. Many of those pictured were household names at the time, but there is one mystery man (third from left on the back row). This may have been a local benefit match in Thirsk and the mystery man could be a local lad co-opted into the side.

Apart from the two umpires and the scorer, the players are as follows:-
Back row - Dolphin, A.N. Other, R.Kilner, Waddington, Macauley and Holmes.
Front row - Robinson, Denton, Burton (capt), Rhodes and Sutcliffe.

Looking back on Cricket Archive to try and find the mystery man I came across two remarkable games between Yorkshire and Hampshire that season. The first game was at Headingley at the end of June and Hampshire put the Yorkshire bowlers to the sword in a big way on the first day when they compiled a score of 456-2. Opener George Brown making 232 not out, putting on 183 for the first wicket with Alex Bowell, who was dismissed for 95. Another wicket fell quickly but then Brown put on 269 in partnership with Philip Mead, the legendary Hampshire batsman, who also made 122 not out.

Both Hampshire wickets fell to the bowling of Charles Whiting, a little known opening bowler from the East Riding, who disappeared from the scene very quickly. He could possibly be the mystery man on the picture. The next day brought further disaster for the home side as Yorkshire were quickly bowled out for 159, largely due to bowling of another Hampshire stalwart Alec Kennedy, who took 6-69. Herbert Sutcliffe top scored for Yorkshire with 58.

Hampshire enforced the follow on and Yorkshire were 152-3 at the close of day two with Percy Holmes on 75 not out, partnered by the ever reliable Wilfred Rhodes. However on day three Holmes was quickly out for 78 and despite a valiant effort by Rhodes, who was run out for 64, and a rear guard action from wicket keeper Dolphin with 37, Hampshire achieved victory by an innings and 72 runs. No doubt leading to great celebrations from the visitors captained by Lionel Lord Tennyson.

Notwithstanding all that Yorkshire bounced back at the United Services Ground, Portsmouth at the end of August. In one of their earliest big partnerships Holmes and Sutcliffe put on 347 for the first wicket. Percy Holmes made 302 not out, Sutcliffe 131 and there were sixties from both Denton and Rhodes in a final total of 585-3 declared. The demoralised Hampshire side were dismissed for 131 with five wickets each for Rockley Wilson and Wilfred Rhodes. They followed on and despite a slightly improved showing went for 219, with Rhodes yet again the main destroyer with 6-73.

Yorkshire had turned the tables with a vengeance winning by an innings and 235 runs. In a season when counties all played different numbers of matches the Championship Table was decided on a percentage points system. Middlesex took the title playing only 20 matches, whereas Yorkshire, who finished fourth, played 28.

 Mentioning Wilfred Rhodes we had the pleasure of having a presentation on Zoom last week for Wombwell Cricket Lovers by Patrick Ferriday author of a splendid new book on the great man together with David Frith, who once interviewed Rhodes in his later years. This is a highly recommended book on one of the great periods of Yorkshire County Cricket Club's history.