and 13 fours). Normality was restored in 1948 when Washbrook, Eric Edrich and Hutton made centuries at Headingley, where 33,000 turned up on Whit Monday. Ted Lester went one better with two in the match at Old Trafford. Hutton also registered three figures and so did Washbrook and Ikin in adding 244 for the third wicket. Then, in the hot sun of 1949, Yorkshire tied with Middlesex for the Championship. At Whitsuntide Hutton struck three sixes, a five and 19 fours in a flawless 201 at Old Trafford. Fred Trueman, playing in his first Roses match, said Hutton had been unjustly criticised for scoring slowly on a rain-affected pitch on the Saturday, when he was 60 not out. “On the Monday morning Len asked me to go out and bowl a few to him in the nets. He returned to the dressing room, changed his shirt, had a cup of tea and then went out and hit the first ball of the day straight back over Bill Roberts’s head for six. He went on to make 201 of the most fantastic runs I have ever seen. In the second innings, feeling unwell, he batted lower down the order and was 91 not out when Norman Yardley declared.” Lancashire, bracketed 11th that season, saved the follow-on by one run and, as it happened, the match after fine batting fromWharton and Ken Grieves. They also frustrated their rivals at Headingley, where Jack Ikin got a century as Lancashire had slightly the better of things. On October 7 1949 a dinner was held at the Grand Hotel, Sheffield to celebrate 100 years of Roses matches, attended by famous players from the past including EB Rowley, RH Spooner, CS Marriott, Ernest Tyldesley and Harry Makepeace. By 1950 both counties were back in contention for the title and at Whitsuntide, Bramall Lane produced the first outright result since before the war. Yardley won the toss and put Lancashire in but rain restricted matters on Saturday. Lancashire were indebted to Wharton (93) and Geoffrey Edrich (70) for their total of 257, made against an attack comprised of Trueman, then in the raw stage of his career, Coxon, Johnny Wardle and Brian Close. Lancashire’s most potent weapon in 1950 was spin: Roy Tattersall (off breaks) and Bob Berry and Malcolm Hilton (different shades of slow left-arm). When Yorkshire batted after lunch on Whit Monday, a fascinating contest developed between Hutton and his new young opening partner Frank Lowson and Berry, Tattersall and the leg spin of Grieves. Yardley declared 64 behind on the third morning, Close and Wardle then dismissing Lancashire on a venomous pitch for 117. It would have been much worse but for a typical Australian display of aggression from Grieves, who made 52 in under an hour. The pitch had eased a little when Yorkshire set about their quest for 182, with 16,000 people transfixed. Hutton made 45 and in company with Yardley looked to be setting Yorkshire on course for victory before falling to a catch by Ikin close in off Tattersall. Yardley continued to resist and with Close batting well, the outcome still favoured Yorkshire. Then Yardley declined a call for a second run and Close, in turning, slipped and was run out by a sharp return from Berry. Seven were down for 125 when Yardley was joined by Wardle. In little more than quarter of an hour, 27 runs came before Wardle was caught and bowled from a full blooded drive off Berry. Thirty needed but the wicket-keeper Don Brennan soon fell and with Trueman at the crease it was really all down to Yardley. He reached 51, declined singles from each of the first three balls of an over from Berry and then, attempting to turn the ball around the corner for one to retain the strike, lobbed a simple catch to Ikin, close in. Tattersall finished with five for 60, Berry four for 67 and Lancashire won by 14 runs. It was their first victory over Yorkshire since 1937. Lancashire v Yorkshire 139