Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

76 Chapter Six Travel with Ball or Gun In January 1906 Kate was elected to membership of the Society of Authors. Hex must already have been a member (though the Society’s records don’t show it), because Kate remarks that the Society gave them some help this year with a copyright issue. First-class cricket for the season began for Hex on 14 May, when he played for MCC against Kent. Now 29, he took two for 75 in 16 overs in the first innings, and four for 61 in the second. MCC won by 69 runs with Tarrant doing most of the damage. In the first innings Hex was run out for 17, so probably raising his hopes about his batting again. On 4 June he made his first appearance of the season for Hampshire, against Derbyshire at Southampton. Hampshire had already played four matches, losing them all, but many thought that the batting was a bit more reliable this year. In this game Hampshire batted and made 346. Arthur Hill made 110. Hill, another amateur, was a banker and so an irregular player of other games as well – he captained the county at rugby and hockey. The county’s problems are indicated by the fact that Philip Mead, still only 19 years old, was the only one of the first six Hampshire batsmen in this game who could play regularly. Derbyshire made 243 (Hex 19-1-68- 3) and Hampshire’s second innings was 252. Derbyshire were all out 208 (Hex 13-1-56-2) for the first win of the season. He then went to play for Lord Brackley’s XI against the touring West Indians at Lord’s on 18 June; this was not a first-class match, though it was a three-day game. The West Indians scored 158, mostly falling to Simpson- Hayward’s lobs as he took seven for 37. The Times lamented that ‘the value of lob bowling is still imperfectly recognised in English first-class cricket,’ but in reality Simpson-Hayward (another who had changed his name to a double barrel) was almost the last of the lob bowlers. There’s something charmingly typical about The Times seeing the future where others saw the past. Hex had six overs, taking one for 19. Brackley’s XI scored 213, Teddy Wynyard getting 76. The West Indian second innings was a more substantial 298 – they still had trouble with Simpson-Hayward who took four for 71. Hex was ineffective, taking none for 65 in 16 overs: even as early as this West Indian sides had little trouble with fast bowling. Lord Brackley’s XI got the runs for eight wickets, with Wynyard, who had opened the batting, 70*. The next game Hex played for the county started on 28 June, by which time they had played four more games without winning any, and this was a complete disaster, as they managed to lose to Somerset by an innings and 151, scoring 71 and 66, with Hex bagging a pair, against Somerset’s