Dimming of the Day

66 July 1914 Remarkably, Sydney Smith of Northamptonshire took four wickets in four balls against Warwickshire, only a few days after Alonzo Drake had done it. He and George Thompson bowled unchanged as Warwickshire made 103 and, following on, 76-2, but, as this was the last day, a draw was inevitable. Colin Blythe reached 100 wickets for the season as Kent beat Gloucestershire. Yorkshire, surviving after being out for 75 on the first day, beat Nottinghamshire comfortably enough: Alonzo Drake should have had a hat trick but the third man was dropped at short leg. Rain ensured that Hampshire and Sussex drew at Southampton. Captain K.R.McCloughlin made 112 for MCC against the Royal Engineers. He had played a few first-class matches, the first in Bombay in 1909. He died in France in November 1915. Middlesex, with eight wins and no defeats in twelve matches, were still top of the table from Surrey, Kent and Hampshire. The Daily Express sports page was decorated with a picture of ‘sea nymphs at Brighton’. It remarked on S.G.Smith’s four in four coming just a few days after Alonzo Drake’s feat. The paper included results from the South London Cricket League (and probably a note of gloating in the report that the Daily Herald’s team had been bowled out for 37 by Hardinge). Now, on 24 July the Bayreuth Festival opened with Der Fliegende Hollander and Parsifal . Mme Gueydon, Caillaux’s first wife, gave evidence on a day of ‘dramatic incidents’. The drama was playing out to everyone’s satisfaction, with gasps of amazement all round. Austria-Hungary had delivered a formal note to Serbia. It gave Serbia 48 hours to comply with a list of demands with which it was practically certain Serbia would not comply. The leaders of the St Petersburg strike had been arrested. The Times continued to lead with the Buckingham Palace conference which now seemed likely to end in failure, Several county games began on 23 July. Middlesex ran into trouble at Maidstone. They bowled Kent out for 265, but then slumped to 70-8, with seven wickets for Colin Blythe. At Southend Johnny Douglas put Sussex in to bat (most unusual in 1914) and bowled them out for 102, Bert Tremlin six for 52. Against Surrey at Portsmouth, the amateur Johnston and the professional Remnant put on 110, but they were all out for 202. The Times gave the full scores for the ‘Cock House’ match at Harrow. For the Daily Express the main story was the failure of the conference (hard pushed by Mme Caillaux). Page 2 was devoted to where to go on your summer holidays, complete with railway advertisements with timetables. The Brighton Railway and the South Eastern and Chatham offered trains to the continent and the Great Eastern offered trips to North Germany via Harwich and the Hook of Holland. The paper also ran a composite picture