Dimming of the Day

82 August 1914 time, replacing the gold sovereign. There was agreement across the country with the trade unions – strikes were ended in the London building trades and various active demands were withdrawn across the country. The Admiralty and the War Office had set up an official news bureau (not to disseminate news so much as to control it). The German consul in Sunderland had been arrested and charged with something unspecified. More race meetings had been abandoned and a general suspension was expected (as had already happened in France). It was reported that the pavilion at Trent Bridge had been commandeered by the War Office for the wounded: in practice this did not happen right away and Nottinghamshire were able to complete their fixtures. Mr F.H.Bacon, the Hampshire secretary, was suggesting the formation of a squad of professional cricketers for home defence, and said that all the Hampshire professionals had agreed that they would join such a squad. The county scoreswere provided in brief. Kent (301) beat Northamptonshire (70 and 179) by an innings, Blythe and Woolley taking the wickets. Yorkshire beat Warwickshire. Essex had replied to Lancashire’s 179 with 386-8, with centuries for Douglas and J.R.Freeman, brother of the ultimately more famous ‘Tich’. John Freeman played for Essex from 1905 to 1928. A.P. was shortly to make his championship debut, though a Kent team with Blythe and Woolley seemed in little need of another spinner. Middlesex replied to Sussex’s 411 (Relf had made 150) with 293-8. H.P.Chaplin, the Sussex captain, was summoned by the War Office during the game and was replaced by H.E.Roberts as a full substitute (though in fact he neither batted nor bowled). Chaplin was effectively in his last years of first-class cricket, but his last recorded appearance on CricketArchive was for his own XI against Sussex in a one-day game in 1943 when he was 60 years old. In that game he had the nous to pick the young Alec Bedser who took eight for 43. Surrey had gained a substantial lead against Worcestershire, though a second-innings collapse for 147 against F.A.Pearson (six for 55) left Worcestershire with 251 to win. Fred Pearson played for Worcestershire from 1900 to 1926, yet another long-life professional: he had also played three games for Auckland in 1910/11 taking 21 wickets. Hampshire were being routed by Nottinghamshire, replying to 341 with 103 and 111-5. Hampshire’s team was by now shorn of all its military men, and somewhat weakened. They were already without Johnston, Greig and Tennyson while Melle was summoned from the game. Hampshire, incidentally, had no spare men to hand and had to send for Stone and A.C.P.Arnold. Leicestershire, chasing 205 against Derbyshire, were 83-6. 10 August came, and Liege was still said to be holding out gallantly, and indeed The Times suggested that the Germans had been ‘handsomely beaten.’ The Daily Express was even more sure – ‘Germans routed in Alsace’, it said.