Dimming of the Day

30 Opening Moves The county season did not exactly begin with a bang. Starting on 2 May, Leicestershire played Essex at Leicester and Surrey played Northamptonshire at the Oval. The Chelmsford Chronicle was pleased to welcome the return of Captain W.M.Turner who had not played since 1906 because of his military duties. This season he was to play regularly until the end of July, though overall he played only 46 games for Essex over 27 years. In the second innings for Leicestershire, Sam Coe and Cecil Wood made the first hundreds of the season. Coe was a stalwart professional batsman who had first played for Leicestershire in 1896 and would carry on for a few years after the war, making over 17,000 runs at an average of less than 25. He had appeared for the Players in 1908 in the less prestigious Oval fixture, but his main claim to fame in cricketing folklore was as the first batsman to fall victim to Bosanquet’s new mystery ball, the googly, in 1900. Mind you, legend also says that it bounced four times. Wood’s career was remarkably similar in some ways, as he played as a batsman who bowled a bit from 1896 to 1923, but very different in others: he was an amateur (later a coal merchant by trade), though he had played his first Leicestershire season (1896) as a professional. After that he was appointed as the county’s Assistant Treasurer so that he could play as an amateur. He had been newly appointed captain for 1914. Both King and Coe, too, had played for London County with W.G.Grace. One wonders just what their relationship was like after all this time. Coe was over 40, Wood just under. After retiring, Coe went on to be the county scorer in the early 30s and continued until 1949. In 1940 Wood became the county secretary. Just to confuse things further, Wood, the amateur, was a stolid opening batsman whereas Coe, the professional, was a dasher. Also in the Leicestershire side was Alec Skelding, picked as a bowler. Skelding was to carry on for some years, having his best season in 1927 (his benefit year) at the age of 41. and was then for 27 years a first-class umpire. It was John King, though, who won the match for Leicestershire, taking five for 26 as Essex subsided for 129 in their second innings. At the Oval, remarkably enough, Northamptonshire (then the newest first- class county) had the better of the draw with Surrey. Northants had been performing well above expectations, finishing second in 1912 and fourth in 1913, a performance largely driven by two players, Sydney Smith and George Thompson. Thompson, unusual in that he was a grammar school boy turned professional, had made his debut for the county in 1895 and almost single-handedly dragged the county up to the first-class status it achieved in 1905. Sydney Smith was born in Trinidad of British parents and had toured England with the West Indian team of 1906, doing the double in all matches. A slow left-arm bowler, he had taken six wickets in each innings against Northants and had then stayed to qualify for the county. He captained the county from 1913, was to do the double in 1914 and was one of Wisden ’s Cricketers of the Year for 1915. In that year he emigrated to New Zealand and subsequently appeared for Auckland and for New Zealand, though before the country was awarded Test status. 22 22 Bill Francis, Cricket’s Mystery Man, Cricket Publishing Co.Ltd. 2014