Famous Cricketers No 60 - Ernest Tyldesley

390. Lancashire v New Zealanders, Old Trafford, August 17, (18), (19) (Match drawn) c H.M.McGirr b W.E.Merritt 124 229 57-1 391. Lancashire v Sussex, Eastbourne, August 24, 25, 26 (Sussex won by an innings and 196 runs) b F.B.R.Browne 0 99 371 lbw b M.W.Tate 1 76 392. Lancashire v Leicestershire, Leicester, August 27, 29, 30 (Match drawn) c H.C.Snary b G.Geary 47 301 268 290-6 1 393. Players v Gentlemen, Scarborough, September 3, 5, 6 (Match drawn) c sub (G.E.V.Crutchley) b N.E.Haig 116 513-9d 271 204-3 1 394. M.C.C. South African Team v Mr.C.I.Thornton’s XI, Scarborough, September 7, 8, 9 (Match drawn) c M.S.Nichols b M.W.Tate 0 205 364-9d not out 8 145-1 395. Lancashire (Champion County) v The Rest of England, Kennington Oval, September (10), 12, 13, 14 (Match drawn) c C.W.L.Parker b V.W.C.Jupp 63 290 181-2 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Avge 100 50 Ct Players v Gentlemen 1 1 0 116 116 116.00 1 - 1 County Championship 28 33 3 1432 165 47.73 5 3 12 Other Lancashire matches 2 2 0 187 124 93.50 1 1 - Other matches 2 3 1 21 13 10.50 - - 1 Season 33 39 4 1756 165 50.17 7 4 14 Career 395 591 56 22090 244 41.28 52 111 176 1927/28 – M.C.C. in South Africa Although a five-match Test series was to be played, England took a less than full strength side out to South Africa; Hobbs, Hendren, Chapman, Tate and Larwood were amongst those left behind. Even so Tyldesley’s achievements on this tour were considerable; he topped both the Test averages with 65.00 (520 runs, 2 hundreds) and the overall averages with 59.47 (1,130 runs, 4 hundreds) leaving Percy Holmes, Herbert Sutcliffe and a young Wally Hammond in his wake. He was quickly into his stride, outshining Sutcliffe in a 216 stand in the second match; Tyldesley’s 143 was scored out of 249 in just over two and a half hours. In his next innings a week later he went even better, his 161 rescuing M.C.C. from a disastrous start. More scores followed and it was his 122 which was the driving force in a record-breaking 230 run partnership for the second wicket in the First Test. This proved vital as, apart from Sutcliffe’s 102 and Hammond’s later 51, the other eight batsmen contributed only thirteen runs between them. Despite a first innings duck in the Second Test, he recovered to score 87 at the second attempt and found himself, rather oddly, the fourth highest scorer in an innings when nobody reached 100. Though failing in the intervening matches he was back to prime form for the Third Test at Durban, scoring 140 runs for once out and sharing a century partnership in each innings (with, respectively, Holmes and Hammond). Though South Africa won the final two Tests to tie the series, Tyldesley’s concentration brought him a further century at Kingsmead in the Fifth. His 100 was scored out of 177 in 165 minutes and, with Sutcliffe, he added 130 for the second wicket. It was to be the only time that he was called upon by England to play a full five-match series - and he celebrated his 39th birthday during the final Test! At its conclusion Tyldesley, as senior professional, took it upon himself to write a letter to the South African captain Hubert Deane on behalf of all the professionals in the England team thanking South 42