Famous Cricketers No 60 - Ernest Tyldesley

75. Lancashire v Sussex, Horsham, July 24, 25, 26 (Sussex won by 65 runs) c H.P.Chaplin b G.R.Cox 57 236 81 c J.H.Vincett b A.E.Relf 10 112 332 76. Lancashire v Warwickshire, Old Trafford, July 28, 29, 30 (Lancashire won by seven wickets) c W.C.Hands b P.Jeeves 47 307 162 not out 61 193-3 335 1 77. Lancashire v Yorkshire, Headingley, August 4, 5, 6 (Yorkshire won by three wickets) lbw b A.Drake 11 275 249 lbw b A.Drake 21 190 220-7 78. Lancashire v Derbyshire, Old Trafford, August 8, 9, 11 (Match drawn) lbw b A.Morton 8 229 211 did not bat - 34-1 167 79. Lancashire v Middlesex, Liverpool, August 14, 15, 16 (Lancashire won by an innings and 11 runs) b J.W.Hearne 14 295 125 159 80. Lancashire v Worcestershire, Dudley, August 18, 19, 20 (Worcestershire won by five wickets) b W.H.Taylor 9 198 171 lbw b R.D.Burrows 3 134 162-5 81. Lancashire v Essex, Old Trafford, August 21, (22), 23 (Match drawn) b G.B.Davies 66 368-9d 267-7 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Avge 100 50 Ct County Championship 25 44 3 1306 123 31.85 3 5 8 Other Lancashire match 1 2 0 10 7 5.00 - - 2 Season 26 46 3 1316 123 30.60 3 5 10 Career 81 117 6 2799 123 25.21 4 14 47 Bowling O M R W BB Avge County Championship 6.2 0 48 0 - - Career 14.4 0 86 2 2-2 43.00 1914 A very modest start to the last season before the Great War saw E.T. make only 173 runs in his first nine innings; this was soon to be remedied as, in a season when he played in every available game for his county, he passed 50 nine times in all, despite only once going on to a century. But what a century it was. Lancashire were 194 for 9 at Edgbaston when Tyldesley was joined at the crease by Ralph Whitehead; together they added 131 for the last wicket with E.T., who had taken three hours to reach his 100, adding his final 56 in 30 minutes. Twice dismissed in the 90s, he also suffered by being removed four times in the 70s, including a top score for his side of 74 in the one and only first-class game ever played at Lancaster. Then another poor run of scores in August was rescued by one final flourish. His 77 against Hampshire contributed to a partnership with Jimmy Heap which increased the total by 172 runs in just 80 minutes. He finished the season second behind his brother in the county averages and, in a suitably military metaphor for the times, Wisden claimed he made “no appreciable advance, but fully held his ground” and that he still lacked “his brother’s brilliancy (sic) on the offside.” This brilliancy had indeed been demonstrated at Canterbury in the August when, at the age of 40, J.T. made 253, the then second highest score of his career. Ernest assisted him in a stand of 101. Tragically three players who had a hand in dismissing Ernest Tyldesley during the course of the year were to lose their lives in the 1914-18 war - Harold Wright, Percy Jeeves and the great Colin Blythe; the last-named had claimed his wicket five times in all. 17