Famous Cricketers No 50 - Reg Simpson

1948 By the standards that he had set in 1947, Simpson fell back a little in 1948 failing to make 1000 runs in the Championship despite hitting four centuries including an innings of 181 against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge. Against that there were eighteen single figure scores in his 37 innings with a run of eight innings in June in which he only made thirty-seven runs. But he played two outstanding innings for Nottinghamshire against the touring Australians scoring 74 and 70. Bill O’Reilly commented on the way he batted against Lindwall and Miller and went on to say that “his scoring in either innings seemed just as certain as Bradman’s usually does”. Praise indeed. He later hit another half century against the tourists at Lord’s for the Gentlemen of England. Simpson was chosen as twelfth man for the Trent Bridge and Kennington Oval Tests and, at the end of the season, was picked to go to South Africa with the MCC Touring Team. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 50. Nottinghamshire v Warwickshire, Trent Bridge, May 8, 10, 11 (Nottinghamshire won by eight wickets) b W.E.Hollies 2 435 235 b C.W.C.Grove 0 77-2 275 51. Nottinghamshire v Surrey, Trent Bridge, May 15, 17, 18 (Nottinghamshire won by four wickets) run out 38 420-9d 419 lbw b F.R.Brown 8 266-6 266-8d 52. Nottinghamshire v Essex, Southend-on-Sea, May 19, 20, 21 (Match drawn) b T.P.B.Smith 123 371 261 c K.C.Preston b T.P.B.Smith 12 217-8d 327-8 53. Nottinghamshire v Northamptonshire, Peterborough, May 22, 24 (Northamptonshire won by ten wickets) b V.Broderick 32 135 230 c N.Oldfield b A.E.Nutter 4 106 1 0 1 0 12-0 54. Nottinghamshire v Australians, Trent Bridge, May 29, 31, June 1 (Match drawn) b K.R.Miller 74 179 400 st D.Tallon b D.T.Ring 70 299-8 55. The Rest v England, Edgbaston, June 2, 3, 4 (Match drawn) c A.V.Bedser b D.V.P.Wright 15 158-9d 213-7 56. Nottinghamshire v Lancashire, Old Trafford, June 5, 7 (Lancashire won by an innings and 57 runs) st E.H.Edrich b M.J.Hilton 10 45 1 1 0 0 222-3d c J.T.Ikin b R.Pollard 0 120 57. Nottinghamshire v Glamorgan, Trent Bridge, June 19, 21, 22 (Match drawn) lbw b W.Wooller 7 138 273 c B.L.Muncer b W.Wooller 4 263-6 58. Nottinghamshire v Glamorgan, Swansea, June 23, 24, 25 (Glamorgan won by 221 runs) c B.L.Muncer b S.Trick 9 217 329 1 lbw b B.L.Muncer 0 78 187-5d 1 59. Nottinghamshire v Somerset, Bath, June 26, 28, 29, (Somerset won by an innings and 25 runs) b M.F.Tremlett 7 115 1 1 0 0 338-8d c M.F.Tremlett b H.L.Hazell 0 198 60. Nottinghamshire v Middlesex, Trent Bridge, June 30, July 1 (Middlesex won by an innings and 18 runs) lbw b D.C.S.Compton 20 135 339-7d c and b D.C.S.Compton 24 186 61. Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire, Trent Bridge, July 3, 5, 6 (Match drawn) c and b R.O.Jenkins 11 334 - - - - 200 10 4 22 0 295-3 62. Nottinghamshire v Essex, Trent Bridge, July 10, 12, 13 (Match drawn) not out 5 120-1 318 1 63. Nottinghamshire v Hampshire, Portsmouth, July 14, 15, 16 (Nottinghamshire won by six wickets) b D.Shackleton 13 247 248 1 c D.Shackleton b J.Bailey 18 180-4 177-7d 64. Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire, Trent Bridge, July 17, 19, 20 (Match drawn) c E.I.Lester b H.Halliday 181 479 - - - - 372 12 5 16 0 93-2 10