Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

117 The Test Player reduced to two for two and had recovered only somewhat to 68 for three when he entered the fray to reach 37 by close of play. The next day, on a slow pitch on which none of his colleagues could manage more than 43, he proceeded ‘in his gayest mood’ to score ‘at all points of the ring’, glancing, pulling cutting late and square and especially driving (‘never had he hit harder than on this occasion’). He ‘took out his bat’, in the idiom of the day, for 164, made out of 264 in 225 minutes while he was at the wicket and graced by 19 fours (and a five from an overthrow). Despite Wisden’s report that he ‘did nothing wrong’, the Leicester Mercury mentions that he survived one chance to the keeper and one at cover, but these appear to have been the only blemishes in a ‘superb’ innings, the highest of his entire career. He continued his good form with the bat with 46 (out of 61 in an hour) and 70 at Northampton, and then ‘applied’ himself ‘sedulously to the tactics of “safety first”’ in a dauntless but unavailing 52 to stave off defeat against the might of Surrey. Ten days later he was faced with a similar task at Trent Bridge when the visitors were set 353 to win in four and a quarter hours. Visions of victory, however, dictated his tactics on this occasion and he scored 121 in only 145 minutes with a six and 16 fours, adding 102 with Bale (15) in an hour for the eighth wicket, but upon his partner’s dismissal reality struck and he had to be satisfied with seeing his county through to a draw after a final anxious ten minutes with last man Skelding. Although naturally unknown at the time, this was a result of crucial importance because it deprived Nottinghamshire of the Championship, which went narrowly to Lancashire. In the following match at Edgbaston, on a pitch made treacherous by overnight rain, five of Leicestershire’s top six batsmen in the order made The MCC team to tour South Africa in 1927/28. Back row (l to r): G.B.Legge, W.E.Astill, E.W.Dawson, G.Geary, I.A.R.Peebles, H.Elliott, R.E.S.Wyatt, A.P.Freeman. Front row (l to r): H.Sutcliffe, P.Holmes, G.T.S.Stevens, R.T.Stanyforth (capt.), G.E.Tyldesley, S.J.Staples, W.R.Hammond. Seated on ground: T.H.Carlton-Levick.