Famous Cricketers No 60 - Ernest Tyldesley

643. Lancashire v Somerset, Weston-super-Mare, August 7, 8, 9 (Match drawn) c F.S.Lee b W.H.R.Andrews 85 422 216 1 c W.T.Luckes b A.W.Wellard 20 70-6 307 644. Lancashire v Sussex, Old Trafford, August 14, 15, 16 (Lancashire won by an innings and 105 runs) c J.H.Parks b H.E.Hammond 137 484-5d 245 134 2 645. Lancashire v Kent, Dover, August 17, 19, 20 (Lancashire won by five wickets) lbw b A.P.Freeman 28 175 340 lbw b A.P.Freeman 48 396-5 230-9d 1 646. Lancashire v Northamptonshire, Northampton, August 21, 22, (23) (Match drawn) b E.W.Clark 47 521-5d 178 111-0 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Avge 100 50 Ct County Championship 10 14 1 602 137 46.30 1 3 9 Other Lancashire matches 1 1 0 52 52 52.00 - 1 3 Season 11 15 1 654 137 46.71 1 4 12 Career 646 959 105 38840 256* 45.48 102 191 296 1936 The events of the winter of 1935 were rather unusual. Firstly the Lancashire captain Peter Eckersley was returned as Conservative Member of Parliament for Manchester Exchange in the General Election of November 1935. This obviously meant the end of his cricket career and Lancashire, who would not countenance the appointment of anyone other than an amateur as captain, had only the former Cambridge University blue Lionel Lister in their first team squad. At this juncture Ernest Tyldesley, with a view to assisting the committee, declared himself prepared to resume his amateur status; it appears that several of the members had persuaded him to put his name forward as a potential candidate for the captaincy. In the event Lionel Lister was appointed to the post early in January 1936 and Tyldesley cleared up the equivocal position in which he now found himself with the following letter to Lancashire Secretary Captain Rupert Howard: Dear Captain Howard, Will you kindly inform the Committee that I am willing to offer my services, should they be required during the coming season, as an amateur. I ammost anxious not to stand in the way of younger players, but if the Committee consider that at any time I may be able to render useful help I shall be more than pleased to give my services to the County. With all good wishes, Yours faithfully, Ernest Tyldesley With characteristic generosity and magnanimity he also sent a message of congratulations and good wishes to Mr Lister, who, when interviewed for this book on the circumstances surrounding what was obviously a matter of some controversy at the time, would only comment that Ernest Tyldesley conducted himself as a gentleman at all times as he gallantly sidestepped any suggestion of acrimony. In the event Tyldesley did play as an amateur in 1936 but, for whatever reason, his appearances were limited to just two games. Now deferring to Eddie Paynter at Number 4 in the order, he batted twice for once out and retired. The first occasion was dramatic enough; facing Yorkshire, the county against which he had found it most difficult to score, he was required to bat just before lunch on the third day 66