Famous Cricketers No 50 - Reg Simpson

1944/45 In India Simpson’s first-class career began in India in the winter of 1944/45 with two matches for a Services XI, one for the Europeans and one for Sind province. He made 324 runs in seven innings. Five times he passed fifty with a highest score of 88. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 1. Sind v Bombay , Karachi, November 3, 4, 5 (Match drawn) b V.M.Merchant 88 264 432 c and b J.J.Kore 63 244-4d 16-1 2. Europeans v Parsees, Bombay, November 15, 16, 17 (Match drawn) c P.E.Palia b D.B.Satha 69 300 479 b K.K.Tarapore 24 185-2 3. Services XI v Cricket Club of India, Bombay, December 1, 2, 3, 4 (Cricket Club of India won by an innings and 35 runs) b S.N.Banerjee 2 342 615-4d st E.S.Maka b Amir Elahi 50 238 4. Services XI v Bengal Governor’s XI, Calcutta, December 16, 17, 18 (Services XI won by an innings and 1 run) c M.Sen b N.R.Chowdhury 68 471 143 1 327 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Season 4 7 0 364 88 52.00 - 5 1 1945/46 In India Still on duty with the R.A.F. in India, Simpson played in two first-class matches in the winter of 1945/46 - for Sind against Maharashtra at Karachi and for the Europeans against the Hindus at Bombay. He scored 115 runs in three innings with a top score of 59. In the second match the opposing bowlers were S.N.Banerjee, S.W.Sohoni, D.G.Phadkar, V.H.M.Mankad and S.G.Shinde, all future Indian Test bowlers. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 5. Sind v Maharashtra, Karachi, December 29, 30, 31, January 1 (Match drawn) b K.M.Jadhav 26 416 258 1 did not bat - 61-1 250-9d 6. Europeans v Hindus, Bombay, January 12, 13, 14 (Hindus won by an innings and 1 run) c and b M.H.Mankad 30 212 504-7d run out 59 291 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Season 2 3 0 115 59 38.33 - 1 1 Career 6 10 0 479 88 47.90 - 6 2 1946 Simpson was demobbed in July 1946 and made his first- class debut in England on July 6th in the County match against Somerset. He made 29 which was his highest score in his first ten innings. His other scores were 2, 10, 3, 8, 3, 14, 6, 7 and 0 but at the end of the month, playing against Warwickshire, also at Trent Bridge he struck form with a brilliant 201. He followed this up with 74 against Nottinghamshire’s old enemy, Surrey, at Kennington Oval and, altogether, managed to make 592 runs that season in 26 innings at an average of 24.66. He finished ninth in the County’s averages 6