Famous Cricketers No 95 - P.A.Perrin

309. Essex v Kent, Leyton, August 31, September 1, 2 (Kent won by ten wickets) [3] b A.Fielder 113† 300 - - - - 543 1 [3] lbw b D.W.Carr 7 254 0.5 0 6 0 12-0 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct County Championship 15 27 2 1281 114 51.24 6 4 12 Career 309 538 49 19064 343* 38.98 50 91 162 Bowling O M R W BB Ave County Championship (6b) 0.5 0 6 0 - - Career (6b) 129.4 22 } 587 11 2-31 53.36 (5b) 33 5 1912 The weather in the year of the Triangular Test tournament was memorably described by Wisden as ‘one of the most appalling summers ever known’. Essex, fielding only four regular professionals, won just one of their eighteen fixtures, and were sent back down the Championship table to fifteenth out of sixteen, ‘a dismal experience for the eleven’, according to the Almanack. Their overall batting return was particularly poor. In a season where even the county champions recorded a financial loss, the consequences for Essex were almost overwhelming. The Essex annual report simply said the season was ‘the worst ever experienced by the county.’ The club’s chairman, C.E.Green, resigned at the end of the season, expressing disappointment at the lack of support for the side. A Special General Meeting of the club held at Leyton in December decided to continue operations. Perrin ploughed on against this deteriorating background until mid-August, at one stage opening the Essex batting, but he then withdrew from the last three Essex matches. He passed fifty only seven times in twenty-six innings but Wisden still recognised him as the county’s ‘most consistent run-getter’. Even so he reached a thousand runs only with help from two innings at Lord’s playing for the MCC against the Australians where, batting well down the order, he gathered 33 runs in two innings on a difficult pitch. He finished fourteenth in the national averages. His best performance of the season was his fiftieth century for Essex, 245 in 250 minutes in the only match which Essex won. This was against the ever-obliging Derbyshire side at Leyton during a dry spell in late May, and was the highest score in any first-class cricket in this English season. At the time it was the third highest score obtained for the county. Wisden described his play as ‘so perfect he seldom lifted the ball, either in pulling or driving’: the innings included a third-wicket partnership of 312 with C.P.McGahey, just short of their county record set in 1900. Perrin himself, though, was apparently especially proud of his 22* off Surrey at The Oval in June, facing J.W.Hitch, whom he thought ‘unplayable’ on this particular day. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 310. Essex v Australians, Leyton, May 13, 14, 15 (Australians won by an innings and 132 runs) [3] c C.Kelleway b S.H.Emery 3 192 564-3d [3] b S.H.Emery 20 240 311. Essex v Northamptonshire, Leyton, May 16, 17, 18 (Northamptonshire won by seven wickets) [3] c G.A.T.Vials b S.G.Smith 13 166 260 2 [3] c G.J.Thompson b W.Wells 0 188 96-3 312. MCC v Australians, Lord’s, May 20, 21, 22 (Australians won by five wickets) [7] b G.R.Hazlitt 1 169 326 1 [7] not out 32 323 169-5 313. Essex v Derbyshire, Leyton, May 27, 28, 29 (Essex won by an innings and 27 runs) [3] c G.Beet b L.Oliver 245† 609-4d 246 336 2 48