Famous Cricketers No 60 - Ernest Tyldesley

451. M.C.C. v Tasmania, Hobart, January 18, 19 (M.C.C. won by an innings and 64 runs) b R.C.Townley 39 223 66 93 1 452. M.C.C. v South Australia, Adelaide, January 25, 26, 28, 29 (Match drawn) lbw b C.V.Grimmett 22 392 178 c H.E.P.Whitfield b J.D.Scott 4 307-5d 75-1 453. M.C.C. v New South Wales, Sydney, February (15), 16, 18, (19) (Match drawn) not out 68 144-4 128 2 454. M.C.C. v Victoria, Melbourne, March 1, 2, 4, 5 (Match drawn) lbw b H.Ironmonger 81 303 572-9d not out 68 308-3 455. ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA, Melbourne, March 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 (Australia won by five wickets) c P.M.Hornibrook b J.Ryder 31 519 491 c W.A.S.Oldfield b T.W.Wall 21 257 287-5 456. M.C.C. v An Australian XI, Perth, March 21, 22, 23 (Match drawn) c W.J.Horrocks b W.A.Evans 1 241 310 186-3 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Avge 100 50 Ct Test matches 1 2 0 52 31 26.00 - - - Other matches 11 14 2 457 81 38.08 - 5 4 Tour 12 16 2 509 81 36.35 - 5 4 Career 456 676 70 26753 244 44.14 66 132 192 1929 Wisden claimed that Tyldesley was “not perhaps ... the exceptionally brilliant player he had been a year previously” but he nevertheless achieved an average of 45 and scored four more hundreds and eleven fifties. He could well have added more but for sustaining a broken toe playing in a charity match in mid August. He had just accepted an invitation to represent the M.C.C. Australian XI against the Rest at Folkestone in the September but the injury meant that his first-class season finished on August 13th. It was a mixed season; apart from two unbeaten fifties he had achieved little until he came to Worcester at the end of May. There Frank Watson (207) and Tyldesley (187) shared a second wicket stand of 336. At times driving with great power he stayed nearly five hours and hit 3 sixes and 20 fours. This and a tremendous unbeaten stand of 150 with Jack Iddon to win the Glamorgan game against the clock earned him a call up for the Test Trial at Lord’s but, though he again drove well and shared stands with Hendren and Leyland, his 68 was not enough and Duleepsinhji was preferred. This at least freed him for Lancashire’s game with Middlesex where he played “a masterly innings” of 102 out of 241 when “Gubby” Allen took all 10 wickets for 40 runs - still the best bowling performance ever against Lancashire. He followed this with a higher proportion of the total at Bristol, where he notched 68 out of Lancashire’s second innings 130. Then at Blackpool at the end of June both he and Jack Iddon hit hundreds in a stand of 237 for the third wicket in 165 minutes; no other Lancashire batsman reached 20. The last ten days of July brought him the one “purple patch” of his curtailed season. It began with an attractive 74 against Surrey and continued with 66 against Kent when, this time, “Tich” Freeman bagged all ten wickets. Both these innings contributed to century partnerships with Frank Watson. Batting at his most stylish he scored 97 out of 181 in the second innings to set up a Lancashire win. To round off this spell he added a commanding 138 against Warwickshire in three and a half hours, this time sharing in a stand of 229 with Watson. At this juncture his average exceeded 50, but a poor run of scores over the next four games caused it to drop back and then came the injury which cut his season short. 49