Famous Cricketers No 50 - Reg Simpson

Bowling O M R W BB Ave Test Matches 2 1 9 0 - - Championship 191.4 66 465 14 3/22 33.21 Other Notts matches 12 5 26 0 - - Other matches 3 1 11 2 2/11 5.50 Season (6-ball) 208.4 73 511 16 3/22 31.93 Career (6-ball) 280.4 92 709 20 3/22 35.45 1950 Reg Simpson had a magnificent season in 1950 finishing second in the national batting averages and scoring more runs, 2576, than any other player. He also hit the highest individual score of the season, and of his career, 243 not out against Worcestershire at Trent Bridge and carried his bat against Glamorgan at Swansea to score 230 not out in an all-out total of 352. He made other centuries for Nottinghamshire against Sussex, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire and actually averaged 85.13 in the Championship whilst scoring 1873 runs. He played in three of the Test Matches against West Indies, missing the match at Lord’s through injury. His best performance came in the third Test at Trent Bridge when he opened England’s second innings with Cyril Washbrook facing a first innings deficit of 335. The pair put on 212 with Simpson contributing 94 before he was run out going for a sharp single. In John Arlott’s account of the tour in Days at The Cricket , he says of this innings:- “Simpson had well earned a century, although he had batted in the stubborn manner which he appears to adopt for Test matches and which is so foreign to his usual Trent Bridge style and stroke-play”. In Nottinghamshire’s match against the tourists in June he hit 109 out of a total of 224. With the ball he took twelve wickets for 333 runs, an average of 32.56. After such a season he must have been one of the first names to be entered on the selectors’ list for the tour of Australia and New Zealand in the winter of 1950/51. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 116. M.C.C. v Yorkshire, Lord’s, April 29, May 1, 2 (M.C.C. won by nine wickets) b K.Smales 100 284-4d 113 c L.Hutton b A.Coxon 1 23-1 192 117. Nottinghamshire v Glamorgan, Swansea, May 6, 8, 9 (Match drawn) not out 230 352 4.4 0 24 1 W.E.Jones c sub 149-5 118. Nottinghamshire v Sussex, Trent Bridge, May 13, 15, 16 (Match drawn) c and b D.J.Wood 153 376-2d - - - - 325-9d not out 30 58-3 1 0 2 0 369-3d 1 119. Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire, Trent Bridge, May 17, 18, 19 (Match drawn) c V.E.Jackson b J.Sperry 95 489 - - - - 187 2 0 10 0 343-4 120. M.C.C. v West Indians, Lord’s, May 20, 22, 23 (M.C.C. won by 118 runs) c J.D.C.Goddard b A.L.Valentine 34 188 170 c J.D.C.Goddard b A.L.Valentine 77 247 147 121. Nottinghamshire v Surrey, Trent Bridge, May 27, 29, 30 (Surrey won by nine wickets) b J.C.Laker 31 120 2 1 3 0 275-9d st A.J.W.McIntyre b J.C.Laker 34 212 2 1 4 1 E.A.Bedser lbw 58-1 122. England v The Rest, Bradford, May 31, June 1 (England won by an innings and 89 runs) st R.T.Spooner b R.Berry 26 229 27 113 123. Nottinghamshire v Gloucestershire, Bristol, June 3, 5, 6 (Match drawn) c C.J.Scott b C.Cook 131 321 8 3 19 0 518-8d b G.E.E.Lambert 58 119-3 124. ENGLAND v WEST INDIES, Old Trafford, June 8, 9, 10, 12 (England won by 202 runs) c J.D.C.Goddard b A.L.Valentine 27 312 215 c E.de C.Weekes b G.E.Gomez 0 288 183 15