came in 22 minutes before lunch and by the interval he had made 42, taking five fours off the last over delivered by Frank Vigar. The Don reached 50 after 34 minutes and 100 in 74 minutes before surviving a hard chance in the deep off Price when he was 160 in an over in which he again hit five fours. The pair added 219 in 94 minutes before Brown was caught off Bailey for 153 but Keith Miller, sickened by the slaughter, declined to join the party. Coming in at 364 for two he gave his wicket away first ball, Bradman saying: “He’ll learn.” But that, of course, was Miller. Fingleton added that the Southend spectators were out to enjoy themselves but the afternoon sun was not long on its downward path before boundaries were being received in complete silence. “The spectators had had too much of a good thing, and no wonder, because 87 boundaries were hit in the day on a field of average size.” Bradman’s last 87 came in 50 minutes and a wide variety of orthodox and unorthodox strokes brought him a five and 32 fours before he was bowled for 187, swinging across a straight ball from Peter Smith. It was his sixth and final innings in the holiday fixtures from 1930 to 1948, in which he made 350 runs with an average of 70. Sam Loxton (120) and the reserve wicket-keeper Ron Saggers (104 not out) piled on the runs and the last wicket fell at 721, in five hours 50 minutes. The bowling figures made sorry reading but to their credit Essex sent down 129 overs in the day which reduced the run rate to below six an over. Bailey took heed. Doug Insole said: “He bowled 21 overs for rather more than six runs apiece. He came back to Cambridge mumbling something to the effect that if he had placed his field properly and bowled intelligently he could have cut it down by half, and feeling rather humiliated. He began to look searchingly at his bowling and set about improving it.” Bailey said: “Tom Pearce, the captain, had a pre-war approach. The idea was to get the opposition out, not to stop them scoring.” On Whit Monday, the Essex flag was found to be flying upside down before play started and the county batsmen gave a poor display. The side was dismissed twice, failing against Miller and Ernie Toshack in the first innings and Ian Johnson in the second. Bailey did not bat because of an injury but during the follow on Pearce and Ray Smith added 133 before the match ended, the margin of victory being an innings and 451 runs. The attendance of 32,000 – 16,000 on each day - was a ground record. Worcestershire’s visit to East Anglia in 1948 occurred in late August and ended in defeat at Clacton, Avery (214 not out) and Dick Horsfall sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 298. Since leaving Leyton, Essex usually played their home games in a series of weeks on grounds owned or rented by local clubs such as Brentwood, Clacton, Colchester, Ilford, Romford, Southend and Westcliff before the county bought their headquarters, the Chelmsford ground in 1964. It was Romford’s turn for the 1950 Whitsuntide match against Worcestershire and Outschoorn, Norman Whiting and Insole marked the occasion with hundreds; Insole and Don Kenyon emulating the feat at Worcester. Both matches were drawn, which was something of a bonus for Essex who finished last in the Championship against Worcestershire’s sixth. Neither side mounted any sort of realistic challenge for the title in the 1950s, although Essex flickered briefly in 1959. Worcestershire’s highest placing was fourth in 1951, with 15th in 1953 ad 1955 and 16th in 1957 their lowest. Essex were fifth in 1957 and sixth in 1958 and 1960. Correspondingly, a series of eight drawn games dulled the appetite for the Essex v Worcestershire 163