holiday fixtures. Some, such as 1951 and 1952, fell foul of poor weather. Others produced some outstanding individual performances, hundreds for Bird, George Dews, Kenyon, Outschoorn, the brothers Peter and Derek Richardson, Avery, Bailey, Dodds, Insole, Horsfall and Barry Knight and fine bowling from Bailey, Bob Berry, Jenkins and Perks. There was a memorable finish to the high-scoring 1953 match at Worcester. The home side declared at 355 for seven (Dews 139) and Jack Flavell, now sharing the new ball with Perks, shot out Dodds and Avery cheaply. Essex, 13 for two at the close, were soon 30 for three after Perks got rid of Paul Gibb but this was one of only two wickets to fall on Whit Monday when 479 runs came, Insole (160 not out) and Horsfall (118) putting on 227 for the fourth wicket. Insole, who made seven hundreds in 29 matches for Essex against Worcestershire, declared as soon as the lead was obtained and then Kenyon (120) and Peter Richardson (99) began Worcestershire’s second innings (133 at Monday’s close) with an opening partnership of 212. Bird set Essex 285 in just over three hours and when Dodds and Paul Gibb added 94 for the second wicket in 45 minutes they were on target but Perks broke through and they needed three off the last ball with two wickets remaining. Bailey tried to hit a boundary but gave a catch to mid-on and the match was drawn. Essex ended the sequence of draws with a win at Chelmsford in August 1953, Worcestershire avenging the defeat on the same ground two years later. They piled up a total of 450 before declaring with only five wickets down, Kenyon and Richardson beginning with 145 and Outschoorn remaining unbeaten with 150. The two captains, Insole and Perks, kept the match open and Essex accepted a challenge of 260 in 140 minutes but found the bowling of Perks, Flavell, Jenkins and George Chesterton too much. They faced a similar task – 206 in 170 minutes – at Romford on Whit Tuesday 1956 but Geoff Smith and Ken Preston, the last pair, played out the last seven minutes. Essex saved the match and duly noted the promise of Worcestershire’s new-ball attack of Flavell and Len Coldwell. In August 1957 there was a nostalgic return to Leyton after 24 years. Essex beat Middlesex in the first match of a cricket week but Bank Holiday proved that the pitch proved to be as favourable to batsmen as ever. The match against Worcestershire was drawn after 912 runs were scored for the loss of only 23 wickets. Honours were shared at Romford and Worcester in 1958 and Essex began 1959 by winning their first five matches in the Championship, including one at New Road over Whitsuntide. They had fallen away by August when the teams were back at Leyton for another high-scoring draw. After some fine bowling from Bailey, Worcestershire followed on but 212 from Martin Horton and a hundred from Dews (they added 203 for the fifth wicket) saved the game. Worcestershire now began a period of ascendancy. It was not particularly noticeable in 1960, when both holiday games were drawn – hundreds for Ron Headley and Kenyon and five wickets for Flavell at Romford, centuries again for Dews, Horton and Insole and five victims for Coldwell at Worcester, when Roy Ralph took 24 off an over from Doug Slade as Essex strove for victory – but by 1961 it was evident that a fine side was developing under the captaincy of Kenyon. Peter Richardson had left for Kent but Martin Horton forged a successful opening partnership with his captain, there were plenty of runs from Bob Broadbent, Dick Richardson, Headley, Dews and the wicket-keeper Roy Booth, while Flavell and Coldwell, Horton with off spin and the medium pace of Jim Standen took care of the bowling. Essex also had a decent team; runs from Essex v Worcestershire 164