Chapter Seventeen Hatching Bodyline For the first part of the period between the wars matches between Nottinghamshire and Surrey retained much of their 19th century aura. Nottinghamshire were champions in 1929 and runners-up in 1922, 1923 and 1927. Surrey’s highest placing was second in 1921 and 1925. The spectators still passed through the gates at Trent Bridge and The Oval regardless of the Championship tables. After all, these were clashes between two of the Big Six counties and people were attracted by batsmen of quality: George Gunn, Joe Hardstaff junior, Walter Keeton, Charlie Harris, Jack Hobbs, Andrew Sandham and Laurie Fishlock. These were opposed by high calibre bowlers such as Harold Larwood, Bill Voce, Harold Butler and Alf Gover. But it was the leadership which added lustre to the earlier part of the period. Teams captained by Arthur Carr, Percy Fender and Douglas Jardine were incapable of playing anything other than positive cricket for very long. Carr, ironically, was born in Surrey, at Mickleham. An attacking batsman who drove powerfully he scored heavily at Sherborne and demonstrated great promise for Notts before the war. Appointed captain in 1919, he added improved judgement to his aggressive style and became a consistent runmaker. Carr played in 11 Tests, captaining England in the first four against Australia in 1926 and in two against South Africa in 1929. He enjoyed a pint, visits to the racecourse and in contrast to some of his fellow amateurs, he was very close to the professionals. A drinking culture developed, with Carr, who had a private income, in the chair and the professionals hard-pressed to keep up. He was a spirited defender of Larwood and Voce over the Bodyline issue in 1934 and this led to his dismissal by Nottinghamshire in December. An Extraordinary General Meeting demanded his reinstatement but subtle manoeuvring at the club’s AGM reversed the decision and this ended his career with the county. Percy George Herbert Fender was an even more colourful character. A controversial and shrewd captain of Surrey from 1921 to 1931 his leadership somehow contrived to keep a team deficient in bowling high in the table. Fender, a hard-hitting batsman and leg break and googly bowler, had a sharp eye for a batsman’s weak spot which he fully exploited. Raymond Robertson-Glasgow wrote: “He hated the dull finish, the formal declaration, the expected stroke, the workaday over. He rescued treasures of cricket from dust and oblivion, snatched off the covering and showed them to an astonished and delighted public.” Fender’s long sweaters and spectacles became rich sources of material for the cartoonist Tom Webster and the Surrey fast bowler Alf Gover recalled that he had the finest cricket brain he ever come across in over 50 years in cricket, going on to say that Fender was “a fine player and the greatest of captains, of course, but pitches, people’s techniques, the lot: he knew it all.” He never captained England – Carr believed Fender rather than Percy Chapman should have succeeded him in 1926 – and many found this an injustice. Others, 75