Famous Cricketers No 95 - P.A.Perrin

SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct County Championship 17 33 4 1086 173* 37.44 3 3 9 Other Essex matches 2 4 0 33 21 8.25 - - 2 Other match 1 2 0 40 35 20.00 - - 1 Season 20 39 4 1159 173* 33.11 3 3 12 Career 198 349 37 12134 343* 38.89 33 51 90 Bowling O M R W BB Ave County Championship (6b) 37 6 128 2 1-8 64.00 Career (6b) 103.5 18 } 465 9 2-31 51.66 (5b) 33 5 1906 A fine and sunny season, and the return of Walter Mead, propelled Essex back into the top half of the Championship table, with Wisden referring to ‘a gratifying improvement’. The club’s finances improved, but the annual report referred again to poor fielding: there was a ‘lack of dash and energy’ in the field. Passing fifty on sixteen occasions, Perrin was in excellent batting form throughout the season, and the Essex report said he had batted ‘especially splendidly’. He was the top scorer in an innings eleven times. His 1,883 runs for Essex in twenty-two matches set a new county record, and the highest season aggregate of his career: he finished sixth in the national averages. The West Indians were the touring side, but had not yet reached Test status, and it could be said that Perrin had peaked in the wrong year to be selected for England. Although he was perhaps fortunate in being preferred to A.O.Jones, he played for the only time in the Gentlemen v Players matches at Lord’s, the season’s high point when there were no Test matches. One of Fielder’s ‘all ten’ victims in the first innings, Perrin scored only ten runs in two innings before a large crowd in a remarkable match which the amateurs won by 45 runs. Of his performances in county matches, Wisden referred to ‘the ease and finish of his style’, and said that in a side with a great deal of ‘run-getting power’, he stood out by himself. In the Essex second innings at Tunbridge Wells against Kent, the eventual champions, he added 205 for the sixth wicket in 175 minutes with McGahey, setting a county partnership record not broken until 1923. His season’s top score, 150 at Hastings against Sussex, was described in several Press reports as ‘polished’. After his career had finished Perrin said that his 133 at The Oval in May, facing N.A.Knox in his prime, was the best innings of his career. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 199. Essex v Surrey, Kennington Oval, May 14, 15, 16 (Match drawn) [3] b N.A.Knox 133† 429 287 164-4 200. Essex v Northamptonshire, Northampton, May 17, 18 (Essex won by eight wickets) [3] b G.J.Thompson 28 199 138 [3] not out 64† 117-2 176 201. Essex v Kent, Leyton, May 24, 25, 26 (Match drawn) [3] c Jas Seymour b E.Humphries 0 321 104 [3] c H.T.W.Hardinge b C.Blythe 8 135-6 366 202. Essex v Derbyshire, Leyton, May 31, June 1, 2 (Essex won by 209 runs) [3] b F.C.Hunter 57† 178 137 [3] b W.Bestwick 11 221 53 203. Essex v Gloucestershire, Leyton, June 4, 5 (Essex won by an innings and 82 runs) [3] c G.L.Jessop b E.G.Dennett 110† 426 173 1 171 38