Famous Cricketers No 50 - Reg Simpson

earn selection for the official MCC tour to the Caribbean which started in January 1954. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 254. Commonwealth XI v Holkar, Indore, October 31, November 1, 2 (Match drawn) c M.M.Jagdale b S.Dhanawade 125 417-5d 3 0 14 0 352 c R.Shah b H.G.Gaekwad 23 168-3 255. Commonwealth XI v North Zone, Amritsar, November 13, 14, 15 (Match drawn) c H.R.Adhikari b Om Prakash Kumrai 80 396-5d - - - - 278 did not bat - 148-7d 4 0 23 2 W.Gosh c D.G.W.Fletcher 101-7 C.B.Mathur lbw 256. Commonwealth XI v India, New Delhi, November 19, 20, 21, 22 (India won by an innings and 15 runs) c and b S.P.Gupte 57 198 387 b Ghulam Ahmed 59 174 257. Commonwealth XI v Bombay, November 28, 29, 30 (Match drawn) c P.K.Kamat b B.J.Gowadia 54 510-7d 338 132-7 1 258. Commonwealth XI v India, Bombay, December 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Match drawn) c J.S.Patel b H.M.Mankad 121 504-6d - - - - 153 5 0 28 0 447-5 259. Commonwealth XI v Indian XI, Nagpur, December 11, 12, 13, 14 (Indian XI won by four wickets) c K.S.Srinivasan b H.L.Vohra 97 309 354 b G.S.Ramchand 18 181 137-6 260. Commonwealth XI v Bihar Governor’s XI, Jamshedpur, December 18, 19, 20 (Match drawn) c P.Sen b P.R.Umrigar 12 282 - - - - 127 c B.Frank b P.R.Umrigar 7 135-6 1 0 2 0 346-7d 261. Commonwealth XI v Bengal, Calcutta, December 26, 27, 28 (Commonwealth XI won by an innings and 80 runs) c S.Khanna b N.R.Chowdhury 68 434 277 77 262. Commonwealth XI v India, Calcutta, December 31, January 1, 2, 3, 4 (Commonwealth XI won by six wickets) b Ghulam Ahmed 24 245 238 c G.R.Sunderam b G.S.Ramchand 5 187-4 190 1 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Tour 9 14 0 750 125 53.57 2 6 2 Career 262 442 33 18401 259 44.99 46 93 107 Bowling O M R W BB Ave Tour (6-ball) 13 0 67 2 2/23 33.50 Career (6-ball) 735.3 218 2062 55 3/22 37.49 1954 Simpson did not have such a good season in 1954. A broken finger caused him to miss several games and he failed to reach 1000 runs in the Championship scoring 758 at an average of 30.32. This relegated him to sixth position in the Nottinghamshire averages which were led by Joe Hardstaff. The County finished in fifth place this year winning ten games, with Dooland taking 179 wickets at just over 14 runs each. Simpson hit one hundred, 147 against Somerset at Trent Bridge, reaching his century before lunch and leading his County to an innings victory. He followed this with an innings of 126 for MCC against the touring Pakistanis at Lord’s and later in the season hit 101 in the Trent Bridge Test, a “handsome century” according to Wisden . Altogether he played in three of the Tests, missing the Old Trafford game through injury, and he scored 170 runs at an average of 42.50. In all 26