BF Morgan- A Record Never to be Broken?

 By John Butler

John Butler is a stalwart of Morecambe CC and wrote an excellent history of the club a few years ago. As player, umpire and groundsman he is well known in North-West Lancashire cricketing circles and he researches cricket history in the area. John has kindly contributed this article based on his recent research.

When a record wicket-taking feat in league cricket of 111 wickets at just 4.90 runs each in 1929 is recorded in a league handbook, year after year it invokes a sense of ‘who?’ and then the book is inevitably shut tight by players, officials, and supporters for another season.

BAC/EE Preston in more modern times

However, when club officials at BAC/EE Preston realised it was to be the club’s centenary in 2021 the previously mentioned record held by one BF Morgan required some further research.

Bertie Francis Morgan

The club’s original name was Dick, Kerr’s representing an engineering firm founded in Glasgow in 1854 by William Bruce Dick. In 1883 the company joined with John Kerr, a businessman and Conservative Party politician who later became MP for Preston in the early 1900s. Operating under a new name, Dick, Kerr’s, the company expanded into tramway equipment, rolling stock and the building of locomotives.

The company acquired premises on Strand Road in Preston in 1893 and incorporated a public company, the English Electric Manufacturing Co, specialising in the manufacture of electrical machinery, primarily for use by railways and tramways.

The company is best known for fielding one of the earliest known women’s football teams, Dick, Kerr Ladies FC who played from 1917 until 1965.  The team is credited with playing 833 games, winning 759, with 46 draws and only 28 defeats, attracting some huge crowds, including 25,000 for a game against a French team in 1920 which has gone down in history as the first international game in women’s football history.

Bertie Francis Morgan was a predominantly a left arm medium fast seam bowler with a good pedigree of club and Minor Counties cricket. Born in Finsbury Park, London in 1885 he served his time as a Stone Mason and as a groundsman/ professional for the Landsdown club in Bath in 1907 and 1908 (kindly confirmed by Stephen Chalke), with Somerset contributing to his wages. In 1909 he went on the Somerset staff and was handed a County Championship debut against Hampshire. He was a player of considerable ability with Plum Warner stating he had the potential to play for England. The following season he made further appearances for Somerset without making any great success of his opportunities.

Ramsbottom CC, BF Morgan’s club in 1914

In 1913 he started a long relationship with Staffordshire in the Minor Counties Championship taking 37 wickets while playing with the great SF Barnes.  After a move into the paid ranks of the Lancashire League the following season, he then took 84 wickets at 12.26 each for Ramsbottom.

Werneth CC

As with so many of his contemporaries, his best years were lost to the First World War where he served in the Coldstream Guards, but on the cessation of hostilities he undertook a professional engagement with Werneth in the Central Lancashire League that lasted for three seasons from 1920 until 1922. In 1921 Staffordshire and Berkshire topped the Minor Counties Championship and a play-off resulted in a drawn game. He continued to play for Staffordshire up until the 1923 season.

Todmorden CC

Returning to the Lancashire League in 1923, playing for Todmorden, he took a further 75 wickets and then moved to the north-east to play for Wallsend in 1924 and 1925. In 1926 and 1927 he played for Normanby Hall in the North Yorkshire & South Durham League. By now a well journeyed professional he then ended up at Dick, Kerr’s in 1928.

The Palace Shield in 1929

Although at an age of 43 the question of ‘Why Dick, Kerr’s?’ is though-provoking. Did he go there to work? Was he paid? Was he professional/groundsman? Dick, Kerr’s, at this time, had a successful football team playing in the Lancashire Combination and in addition the now world-famous women’s team. Could it have been that there was a plan to take cricket to the next level? In addition, it was reported that Walkden CC of the Bolton Association had unsuccessfully tried to sign Morgan for the 1930 season.

Morgan takes out an advert in Athletic News

The answer to the previous question was answered when a small advertisement in the ‘Athletic News’ Situations Wanted in February 1931 showed him to be working at Dick, Kerr’s as the Head Groundsman and seeking pastures new.

In 1930 Dick, Kerr’s had again won the Palace Shield Championship with Morgan taking 93 wickets, only being denied another century by the last two games being decimated by the weather. Morgan does not play for Dick, Kerr’s in the following season, his whereabouts not known. In 1933 Morgan joined Billingham Synthonia as Professional and Groundsman and played well into his fifties. This association enabled him to show his expert groundsman knowledge, being rewarded with Durham hosting Minor County cricket for the first time on the ground in 1936, 1937 and 1939. 

He died in February 1959 at Billingham, Co Durham leaving a record in Palace Shield cricket that will probably never be broken due to the current limited overs per bowler rules. 

Wartime cricket in Yorkshire - June 1943

Posted by Tony Hutton

I have written before of my boyhood experience of watching cricket at Roundhay Park, Leeds during and just after the second world war, involving Jack Appleyard's charity eleven. Having recently stumbled across some more detailed information of wartime cricket, which I gleaned from the archives of the Yorkshire Post newspaper, I felt that the details from June 1943 might be of some interest.

                                  Wartime cricket at Roundhay Park, Leeds.

15.6.1943 - The death was reported of Lancashire cricketer Cecil Parkin, the man who played one match for Yorkshire before it was discovered that he was born the wrong side of the River Tees in Yarm, i.e. in County Durham. There was a tribute from Wilfred Rhodes.

15.6.1943 - A replayed Sykes Cup tie took place in Huddersfield. Almondbury were 99 all out and in reply Paddock were 49 all out, with 15 year old Almondbury Grammar School boy Eddie Leadbeater taking 6-19. Leadbeater of course went on to play for both Yorkshire and England.

15.6.1943 - A Bradford League Priestley Cup tie at Keighley was watched by over 5,000 spectators who paid £124-15-8 which was £15 more than the previous record gate back in 1921. Keighley made 150-5 with professional Eddie Paynter (Lancashire & England) making 66. His collection amounted to thirteen pounds, three shillings and sevenpence halfpenny. Lidgett Green were bowled out for 58.

As you will no doubt notice one name stands out in most of these games, that of Eddie Paynter, formerly of Lancashire and England before the war, but now professional at Keighley cricket club. He still seems to score runs every time he bats, nearly always proudly wearing his Lancashire cap.

                                                             Eddie Paynter

15.6.1943 - Charity match at Roundhay Park, Leeds. Johnny Lawrence's XI 197 (F. Dennis 50 not out - including four sixes and four fours) Jack Appleyard's XI 176 (F. Ambler 58).

16.6.1943 - 6.30 p.m. at Lofthouse cricket club. Jack Appleyard's XI 102-4 (E. Paynter 44) Lofthouse    75-6. A record mid-week collection for charity of £25 was made.

Appleyard's XI was as follows:- E. Paynter (Lancashire), J. Lawrence (Somerset), G. Carter, M.Coope (Yorkshire Colts), N. Whitehead (Warwickshire). A. Newbould (North Leeds). R. Newell (L.I.C.S.), Philip Stones, Geoff Stones (both Kirkstall Educational), J. Rathmell (Clayton Sports) and H. Binks (Whitkirk).

19.6.1943 - Hepworth Cup third round. Royal Army Pay Corps 41 all out, Kirkstall Educational 42-2 won by eight wickets.

19.6.1943 - Bradford League matches. Lightcliffe 108-8 dec. (Len Hutton 5-34), Pudsey St. Lawrence 112-1 (Len Hutton 73 not out). Pudsey won by nine wickets. Keighley 74-3 dec. (E. Paynter 53 not out) Idle 33 all out (E.A. Martindale 6-19). Keighley won by 41 runs.

20.6.1943 - 2.30 p.m. Charity match at Roundhay Park, Leeds. Jack Appleyard's XI 123 all out (Carter 3-8) G. Carter's XI 124-4 (E. Paynter 62 not out). Carter's XI won by six wickets.

The teams were as follows:-

Appleyard's XI - W. Barber (Yorkshire), H. Fisher (Yorkshire), G.Dawson (Pudsey St. Lawrence), A. Calvert (Lofthouse), G. Brook (Worcestershire), C.Sykes (Spen Victoria), A. Audsley ( Lofthouse), K. Fiddling (Yorkshire), J. Rathmell (Clayton Sports), F. King (Worcestershire), H. Kippax (Yorkshire Colts) and R. Robinson (Hanging Heaton).

Carter's XI - G. Carter (Eccleshill), E. Paynter (Keighley & England), F. Wharton (Yeadon), R. Newell (L.I.C.S.), G. Senior (Yorkshire Colts), R. Newbould (North Leeds), Geoff Stones (Kirkstall Educational), N. Kaye (Huddersfield), A. Davison (Eccleshill), Philip Stones (Kirkstall Educational), R. Whitehead (Warwickshire) and H. James (Leeds).

20.6.1943 - At Shaw Lane, Barnsley. H. Sutcliffe's Yorkshire XI 179-6 (Len Hutton 47, Buckingham of Worcester 51 & Martindale 50 not out) lost to D. Hounsfield's Midland Counties XI 181-4 (C.B. Harris of Notts scoring 88, including two sixes and nine fours). Herbert Sutcliffe was lbw for one.

(To be continued).

-

The Westmorland Cricket League- one of life's pleasures- part one

 By Mike Latham

Watching cricket in the Westmorland Cricket League is one of life’s pleasures.

For the purist, the standard of play might not be of the finest, but more than compensated for that is the beauty of the surroundings and the dedication of the local clubs, players and their supporters in preserving the game of cricket and its traditions, often in far-flung communities.

The League is well organised and has a large network of volunteer officials who contribute in so many ways.

On a personal level, I have a great affinity with Carnforth CC who left the Northern Premier Cricket League to consolidate in a league where no professional was required. Over the last decade or so the Carnforth club has been revitalised and its Lodge Quarry ground is the League’s crown jewel, a regular host to Lancashire age group sides, the county’s Women’s team and the League’s showpiece games.

Wherever you go in the League you will be met by players and volunteers who love the game of cricket. Two people, whom I know, having moved into the area in recent years, have become enchanted by the League which has seen them view the game in a different light.

The highly respected Westmorland Cricket League historian John Glaister helped me prepare a series of features for the Cumberland CCC yearbook which I edited for several years. Together we looked at some of the grounds of the Westmorland Cricket League.

Over the next few weeks, I aim to introduce you to the delights of the Westmorland Cricket League, together with some of John’s background, club by club and my photographs. I hope you enjoy it.

Ambleside CC: Founded 1858

The newly formed club played its first game on Monday 16 August against Windermere CC, formed a year earlier. Exactly where the game was played is lost in the sands of time, but early cricket grounds are believed to have been opposite St Mary's Church and on Kelsick Park. The red letter day, however, came at the start of the 1885 season when Patron Stanley Hughes Le Fleming of Rydal Hall, whose ancestors came over with William The Conqueror, granted the move to the Rydal Ground where the club has played ever since. In 2005 Rydal won the 'Loveliest Ground Competition' organised by Wisden Cricket Monthly.

Arnside CC- founded 1893

After a long period of abeyance between 1902 and 1932 the club re-formed in 1933 when they took up residence at their current 'Playing Field' ground. Watching cricket there on a beautiful summer’s day is one of life’s pleasures. The ground has the feel of an amphitheatre and attracts good crowds that revel in the wonderful surroundings, just inland from the bay.

Bare CC: Founded 1946

The Bare club began life as an appendage of Morecambe Cricket Club in the war years and played midweek games as the 'Bare Section' of Morecambe CC. After a stormy AGM in 1945, the ‘sectioners’ declared UDL and re-branded as 'Bare CC.' Games continued at Woodhill Lane but sharing rarely works and no games were played in 1950 and 1951. Revival saw the club as itinerants playing on a variety of middens until a Eureka moment. Negotiations with the Lancaster and Morecambe Agricultural Society bore fruit and Bare CC have played on Cross Hill Park, Lancaster since 1964.

Bolton-le-Sands CC- founded 1877

There is little information on the club's history, but it is known that Bolton-le-Sands CC joined the Westmorland Cricket League in 1952 (after re-establishing) and presumably took up occupation of the Main Road A6 ground, between Lancaster and Carnforth. Club stalwarts maintain the ground to a high standard and though the club has fallen down the leagues, it remains a hugely valued part of village life.

Burneside CC (Kendal)- founded 1850

The Cropper family (ie. the paper people of Burneside) were (and still are) patrons of village sports, the members of which provided the workforce. They lived in the mansion named Ellergreen House and in 1863 allowed cricket to be played where it is to this day. In the 1970s Burneside CC purchased the ground from the Croppers. The senior Cumberland CCC side has played at Ellergreen.

Carnforth CC- founded 1867

The Lodge Quarry ground has been a secure home since 1904 when it was reported that 'the club has been fortunate in buying the field which has so long been rented to them.' It had been 'long rented' since July 1891. The ground hosted the Lancashire-Nottinghamshire Women’s county championship game in 2019 and several Lancashire age-group sides. Extensively developed, with the pavilion redeveloped and the old quarry slope now landscaped, the Lodge Quarry ground is the jewel in the Crown of the Westmorland League, a wonderful cricket ground for a club that has been league and cup winners in each of the last three seasons.

Cartmel CC: Founded 1852

Then, as now, patrons of the Cartmel Club are the Cavendish family of the Holker Hall Estate. The name Cavendish and the Dukes of Devonshire (from Chatsworth House, Derbyshire) are synonymous. In residence at Holker in 1852 was William Cavendish who became the Seventh Duke of Devonshire in 1858. He and his two sons were cricket ‘buffs’, hence Cartmel Park was given over to the summer game. The club has been there ever since. Should there be a problem (eg Cartmel Races) there is always a spare Cavendish Ground at Holker Hall itself.

England win but so too did West Indies & Pakistan.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Very rarely do we mention Test Cricket on these pages, as it is given such blanket coverage on other forms of the media. However it would seem churlish not to mention England's splendid victory in India, where they managed to win handsomely despite all the problems of Covid they have had to withstand for such a long time and an Indian team full of confidence after their success in Australia. Particularly pleasing was the display of the England captain in his one hundreth Test Match, especially so to we favoured few who have watched his progress closely since he first appeared for the Yorkshire Academy as a young teenager who looked even younger.

                                                       A very young Joe Root.

It was particularly good to see the splendid tribute video prepared by ECB with contributions from many people from cricket, other sports and his family to celebrate the hundred match milestone. Here is a picture taken at Loughborough many years ago when Root and Stokes were batting together for England Under 15s, when we first met Joe's grandad, who appears at the end of the video.

                                  Root and Stokes batting together at Loughborough for England Under 15s.

However two other Test Matches were going on in Asia at the same time and the game at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdury Stadium, Chittagong proved to be of particular interest. Bangladesh were hosting the West Indies, who appeared to be fielding a below strength side due to Covid problems. In fact three players were making their Test debuts for the visitors. These three were Sheyne Moseley (26) from Barbados a left handed batsmen who is the nephew of Hallam Moseley, once of Somerset, Nkruma Bonner (32), a right hand bat from Jamaica and Kyle Mayers (28) another left hander, also from Barbados.

West Indies lost the toss and Bangladesh batted first. The visitors might have been reasonably happy when Bangladesh were 193-5, but the game turned against them when the number eight batsman for the home side, Mehedi Hasan, scored a century and with good support from the tail took the Bangladesh total to 430 all out. It got no better when West Indies batted, losing three early wickets, but new skipper Brathwite with 76 and Blackwood with 68, together with 40 from Mayers kept them afloat until the tail collapsed and they were all out for 259. A deficit of 171.

Bangladesh then collapsed to 33-3 before skipper Mominul Haque scored another century and took them well past the 200 mark before declaring on 223-8. This set West Indies the mammoth target of 395 to win and when they finished day four on 110-3 it looked very much as if defeat was staring them in the face. However the two debutants Bonner and Mayers had other ideas and were both not out at the end of day four.

On day five these two took the game by the scruff of the neck and despite living dangerously at times put on an incredible partnership of 216 for the fourth wicket. Bonner was eventually out for 86 which took him just over five hours, but he kept his end up and enabled Mayers to take complete control. Blackwood was also out quickly but wicket keeper De Silva stayed around to give valuable support as Mayers continued on his merry way to a double century with twenty fours and seven sixes. He was still there at the end, despite losing another two partners, as West Indies cruised to an incredible victory by three wickets with just 2.3 overs remaining. What an advert for Test cricket. I even managed to find highlights of the amazing last day on You Tube.

                                       Kyle Mayers & Nkrumah Bonner

Mayers apparently toured England last summer but did not get a game. Now he looks like a fixture for some time to come. To score a double century on debut has happened before but not very often. Now we look forward to the next match in the series which starts at Mirpur on Thursday 11th February.

Meanwhile at Rawalpindi, Pakistan were entertaining South Africa and obtained a first innings lead of 71. The South African slow left armer George Linde took 5-64 in the Pakistan second innings, but that still left the visitors chasing a mammoth 370 to win, which would have been the highest innings of the match.

However at one stage it appeared that South Africa might do what West Indies had done when they got to 240-4, with a century for opener Markram, who played briefly for Durham. It was not to be as they then collapsed almost without trace against the pace attack of Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali to be all out for 274. Victory for Pakistan by 95 runs so they win the series 2-0. A series of T20 games between the two countries also starts on Thursday 11th February.

Sussex by The Sea Part 2

 posted by John Winn

 

Sussex CCC 1981

Stewart Storey (coach) Colin Wells, Tim Booth-Jones, Geoff Arnold, Garth le Roux, Imran Khan, Paul Phillipson

Ian Gould, Ian Greig, John Barclay, Paul Parker, Chris Waller, Gehan Mendis

(thanks to Tony for the photo)

1983 was something of a landmark year for me given that it was the first year since 1967 that I had not played club cricket. I did not sever my connection with Bexhill CC, becoming a regular watcher at Polegrove Sports Ground but it was also a pivotal year in my teaching career with the appointment of a new dynamic principal at the college where I was working. All work and no play did not become the norm however and my scorecards for that era show that I was no stranger to grounds where Sussex were in action. 

Although Sussex had been founder members of the County Championship they had never been champions, a state of affairs that continued until 2003, but in 1981 they came within a whisker of taking the pennant, losing out to Notts by just two points. It was not until the penultimate day of the season, September 14th, when the news from Trent Bridge that Clive Rice's boys had beaten Glamorgan by ten wickets meant that Sussex knew they could only finish runners up at best. An eight wicket win over Yorkshire at Hove which gave them 23 points did the trick. Wisden describes the 1981 XI as 'one of the best balanced (Sussex) have ever fielded'. Imran and le Roux were a fearsome opening attack and the former backed up his 66 wickets with 857 runs. Leading run scorers were Paul Parker and Gehan Mendis. 

A look in the loft yesterday found a file marked Scorecards 1951 to 1991 and one of the first from my time in Sussex dates from 1983 and a match at The Saffrons*, Eastbourne, when Hampshire made the short journey along the south coast. An attractive match on paper, Hants had Gordon Greenidge and Malcolm Marshall in their side, lived up to expectations with the visitors winning by three wickets off the penultimate ball. Those present on the first day saw a century by Imran  and one by Paul Terry on the last afternoon which brought Hants close to victory. Nigel Cowley and Tim Tremlett saw them home. This game was in contrast with one against Derbyshire played earlier in the week when according to Wisden 'the tempo of play was hardly more hectic than on the neighbouring croquet lawn'. Ah my Saffrons of nearly 40 years ago. 

The journey to Eastbourne from my home in  Bexhill began with a right turn on to the A259, for Hastings it meant turn left and although a shorter trip it involved numerous sets of traffic lights along the sea fronts of St Leonard's and Hastings and difficult parking when one reached the Central Ground. But it was a trip worth making to enjoy cricket on the historic ground where the game had been played for well over a hundred years. Alas first class cricket finished there in 1989 and where the greats of the game once entertained the likes of WG Grace and Bradman there is now a shopping centre. 

One of the most entertaining matches seen in Hastings must have been that between Sussex and Kent in 1984. It ended in the first tie in the championship for ten years when with victory for Sussex seeming inevitable they went from 186 for 6 to 192 all out, wickets for Terry Alderman and Richard Ellison at the death. As if the last afternoon did not provide enough excitement on the first morning Kent had been bowled out for 92, five wickets for Colin Wells who went on to score fifties in both Sussex innings. The most remarkable batting however came from Derek Underwood who batting as night watch man hit 111, his only century in first class cricket. In their brief summary of the game Wisden failed mention this feat. 

I lived almost 30 years in East Sussex and also saw county games at Horsham and Hove. At Horsham one could watch the trains pass by and a sunny afternoon in Hove's famous striped deckchairs was blissful whatever the state of play. Although by the time of Sussex's first championship in 2003 I had moved to Yorkshire I shared the the joy of the many good cricket loving friends I had made in the county and from more than 270 miles joined in their chorus of Good Old Sussex By The Sea. 

* a poignant moment at The |Saffrons came on August 8th 1990 on the first day of that season's match with Yorkshire. Just a few hundred yards from the ground came the sound of church bells tolling for the funeral of MP Ian Gow who had been murdered by an IRA bomb at his Pevensey home just along the coast a few days earlier. I am tempted to say that play was halted but I may be mistaken in this

 Central Ground Hastings, Sussex v Kent 1959

Philosophical about Plato

By Mike Latham

Carlisle’s Edenside is a wonderful, historic cricket ground.

There, on one glorious Friday afternoon over one hundred years ago Plato Harrison hit a stunning double century by the banks of the Eden.

Friday 5 August 1910. The Edwardian era at its height, hard to imagine that four years later would come the carnage of war.

Cumberland hosted Westmorland on the first day of a two-day county match.

 

Edenside in more recent times

As the game continued Saturday some of Cumberland’s best players were unavailable, required for club duties. But even so, they had been expected to roll over the Westmerians. They reckoned without Plato.

A leisurely start was made at 2.40pm but by the close of the first day Westmorland had scored 420 for 9, Harrison 216- it remains the highest innings ever against Cumberland.

On Saturday, after an overnight declaration, Cumberland succumbed meekly, 73 and then 79 all out, their heaviest defeat, an innings and 268 runs, the match over by 3.20pm.

The Westmorland opening bowler Joe Foulkes, who played for Kendal, took seven for 27 in the first innings, four for 28 in the second.

Harrison, also the Westmorland wicketkeeper picked up two catches behind the stumps but a total of ten of the 20 dismissals were bowled. It was not a bad two days for Plato, however philosophically he viewed the game of cricket.

 

The original scorebook

The original scorebook of the game is preserved for posterity in the county archives. Written in neat fountain pen the details of Harrison's innings unfold. In all he hit 30 fours and one six. Sixth out at 313, he had batted a little more than three hours.

Harrison added 192 for the fourth wicket with Tom Punchard, an old Sedbergh Schoolboy whose elder brother James later kept the scoreboard ticking over, with an undefeated 70. The Punchards and Harrison were team-mates, playing for the Kirkby Lonsdale club.

By any standards Harrison's innings was remarkable, but for the time, with bowlers usually in control and a team score of 100 considered a decent score it was something special.

He scored 43 of the first 53 runs, reached his 50 after an hour, his hundred after batting for 105 minutes, with some brilliant shots all around the wicket. Changes in the bowling made no difference to him.

At tea Harrison was 172 not out and finally, at 5-40pm he reached 200, eventually falling to a catch in the outfield. "Harrison’s driving was a feature of his display and some of his straight drives were extremely fine strokes," reported the Carlisle News and Star.

Plato Denny Harrison, it is fair to say was a character. He was also an all-round sportsman.

Born Barrow-in-Furness 1 Aug 1883, his father, also Plato was originally a Brewer's Traveller, one the directors of a newly registered company known as the Barrow Mineral Water and Bottling Co. Ltd, registered on 22 March 1890.

Plato senior then set up business in Kirkby Lonsdale, carried on by his descendants.

Plato's, a highly regarded boutique hotel, restaurant and bar in Kirkby Lonsdale celebrates the family history and operates from the same premises at 2 Mill Brow.

From an early age Plato junior, known as ‘Denny’ was an independent person. At the age of 14 he joined the Volunteers Company in the town when it was part of the Border Regiment.

Two years later he volunteered for service in the South African (Boer) War where he served as a bugler, seeing action in Natal, Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Before he was 17, he had been awarded a medal and five clasps. He later became a Corporal in Westmorland and Cumberland yeomanry and later was mobilised when war broke out in 1914.

Records show that he was a Sergeant in the Military Police Corps (Mounted Branch) from 16 July 1915 to 3 April 1919, serving in the Dardanelles and Egypt.

He was one of the first people to enter Jerusalem in 1917 after General Allenby following the defeat of the Turks, twice mentioned in despatches.

As well as being a keen cricketer young Denny was an all-round sportsman, excelling at association football, playing with distinction for Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal Swifts in the North Lancashire League.

His pace his biggest attribute, he once scored 50 goals in a season playing centre forward for Kirkby Lonsdale. Offered trials with Nelson, then members of the Lancashire Combination, he declined the offer.

 

Maude’s Meadow, once the home of Kendal RU club

In 1909 he took up rugby union, quickly given a first team debut by Kendal. He made rapid strides as a fleet footed winger, became a favourite of the Maude's Meadow spectators, soon picked to represent Cumberland.

 

Plato Denny Harrison, the rugby player, with Barrow

In January 1911 he turned professional, signing for St Helens (7 games, 1 goal), later played for Barrow (34 games, 13 tries, 2 goals).

In the 1914 cricket season, now a Kendal player, he won the North Lancashire League batting prize which he did not receive as by the time for the annual dinner the war had started. Nine years later, a meeting of the North Lancashire League received a report that Harrison had not received his prize and it was agreed this should be rectified.

However, it was pointed out that the value of a bat in 1914 was considerably less than in 1923. After much discussion it was agreed that Harrison should receive the sum of twenty-five shillings, an amount halfway between the 1914 and 1923 values.

In his 50th year Harrison won the Westmorland League batting prize after being a stalwart of the Kirkby Lonsdale side for many years, that brief spell at Kendal aside.

He died at Carlisle in Sep 1966 aged 83.

 

Kirkby Lonsdale CC- once home to Plato Denny Harrison

Cricket is a great leveller. A fortnight after his momentous innings Harrison faced the Cumberland attack again, on his home ground at Kirkby Lonsdale in the return game.

He must have fancied his chances of a repeat performance.

This time the two-day game was played midweek, meaning Cumberland could field a stronger side.

Cumberland mustered 156, then bowled out Westmorland for 40 and 55, Harrison making five in the first innings, a single in the second.

Bert Shutt, a former Hampshire player and the Whitehaven CC professional, took nine wickets for 51 in the match, Carlisle’s Albert Smith surpassing him with ten for 40.

It must have made our friend Plato quite philosophical.

(with thanks to the estimable Mike Davage for additional research)

Cricket from the North goes South

 Posted by Tony Hutton

This blog may be considered somewhat old fashioned by some, possibly because of the rather advanced ages of some of our contributors. However in our long history, covered by our archive which starts in 2008, I think we can rightly claim to be up to date with at least one modern trend - that of diversity. Although the majority of our stories relate to cricket in the north of England we have always travelled further afield with regular tours of southern parts. Therefore I was delighted to see two blogs this week which could almost be said to be poles apart, in a geographical sense, from Whitehaven and Bexhill-on-Sea.

Other events this week involving my activities on both Facebook and Twitter have reminded me of a trip I made back in 2002. I regularly check new postings on the excellent 'Cricket Grounds of Britain' site on Facebook and this week have been intrigued to see pictures of several grounds all over England which I had visited in the past. I particularly enjoy reading all the comments which follow each posting and have got into the habit of adding a picture of my own if appropriate.

                                     Trowbridge, Wiltshire.                

I came across a picture of the rather substantial pavilion at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, which looked familiar and reminded me of a visit in the early years of this century. Looking up my own detailed personal archive, I discovered this was in the middle of June 2002 and I was able to add my picture with flags flying due to the football world cup being played in Japan at that time. This provoked a reaction from the original author and also Chris Chatten of the Yorkshire Cricket Federation who had worked and played rugby in Trowbridge.

                         Corsham, Wiltshire                           

Looking back I was able to tell him that I spent the Saturday morning watching county championship  cricket (Somerset v Hampshire) in Bath, before doing a tour of Wiltshire grounds in the afternoon taking in Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, Melksham, Corsham and Purton, where I spent the night at the splendidly named Pear Tree at Purton. The following day I stayed put at the County Ground, Swindon, adjacent to Swindon Town's football ground, to watch a Minor Counties game between Wiltshire and Dorset.

                                                             Swindon, Wiltshire.

This was only the start of what was a very carefully planned three week holiday with our base for the following week, after a day at The Parks in Oxford, being at my late wife's aunty's house in Lymington, Hampshire. This enabled me to see cricket at Winchester College and the Rose Bowl Nursery ground before a Saturday tour of Hampshire and Dorset league grounds. Fortunately the weather remained kind throughout the whole trip and to visit and take photographs of such grounds as Cadnam, Bramshaw, Whiteparish, Redlynch, Breamore, Hyde, Ellingham, Christchurch and Mudeford was a delight.

Breamore, Hampshire.

We then moved on to Sussex with another wonderful programme of matches starting with MCC playing against various public schools such as Ardingley, Hurstpierpoint and Lancing Colleges, all with very picturesque grounds. This was followed by Sussex v Yorkshire at Arundel Castle in a championship game which proved to be full of runs. Then a finish which went to the last ball, when former Yorkshire player Mark Robinson, one of the world's worst number eleven batsmen, playing out the last few overs to give Sussex the draw. I understand this was Robinson's last first class match. Darren Lehmann had earlier made a double century for Yorkshire.

Lancing College, Sussex.

                                                        

                                 Arundel Castle, Sussex.                    

We also managed a day trip into Kent to see MCC play Tonbridge School, which all the Cowdrey family had attended, and Kent seconds at Sutton Vallence. Then we returned to Hampshire for a weekend in the Isle of Wight with plenty of league cricket on the Saturday  and a few friendlies on the Sunday, which included Ventnor v The Honourable Artillery Company (no less). 

                                   Tonbridge School, Kent.                    

                   

                                     St. Helens, Isle of Wight.              

The final two days were spent watching more Minor Counties cricket at Bournemouth and Salisbury before the long journey back to Yorkshire, interrupted by a brief stop at Studley in Warwickshire to see the county's second eleven in action against Northants. Obviously an exhausting schedule, but one well worthwhile with so many pictures taken and memories which last for ever.

                              Dean Park, Bournemouth.