Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

have cost the visitors the lead at Horsham; his three for 34 and five for 64 on soft turf (and a top score of 26 when opening in the second innings) in the home match with Worcestershire could not prevent a loss; and six for 93 at Trent Bridge similarly failed, although he completed his century of wickets for the season. In his only extraneous match he and Pegler, with four wickets each for MCC, mesmerized Wales in their first innings, but he himself had already fallen victim for just five runs to the incomparable Sydney Barnes, now well advanced into his sixth decade. Before the 1931 season began Leicestershire had hopes of improvement with Dawson returning full-time and as captain, but he never regained his erstwhile form and achieved only one really worthwhile innings, a century to grace Astill’s second benefit and save the match. Their county managed a mere two victories and ended the season with only the ‘Cobblers’ below them. Astill the batsman was hardly to blame, elevating his Championship average to 28.51 and nine times being his team’s top-scorer despite customarily entering the fray at No.7; but he suffered a severe decline as a bowler, his 62 wickets costing as many as 27.98 each, leaving Snary as Geary’s chief support. His two centuries came in drawn games. At Aylestone Road he both outscored Duleepsinhji’s 112 by three runs and surpassed it for brilliance. His score came in 150 minutes, and when Duleepsinhji eventually caught him at slip, ‘he threw the ball at his wicket’ in delight. But Leicestershire were far behind in their quest for the lead. At Hinckley on a wicket made difficult by rain Astill took 45 minutes longer in putting together an identical score, but this time it was sufficient to force Warwickshire to follow on. His most valuable innings was, however, made against Worcestershire at home. Labouring under a deficit of 102 Leicestershire were in real trouble when on a soft pitch Astill joined Bradshaw with five wickets down in their second innings. Nonetheless, having shared the largest partnership, a mere 37, the first time round they now added 76 together, but Astill’s 66 was, unusually for him, made chiefly by strokes behind the wicket on both sides and was marred by three chances. The wicket was, however, becoming increasingly difficult and Geary ensured an eventual victory by 47 runs. His other fifties came in drawn games against the visiting New Zealanders and Essex (both at home and at Leyton) and in the loss to Kent (a ‘magnificent’ 56 ‘in which sound defence was allied to powerful driving’). Only twice did he have good all-round games. A competent 40, including ‘just a touch of savagery in the way he worked Jupp to the boundary, and then stepped out to Thomas for a beautiful straight drive’, was quite sufficient at Northampton to ensure the lead when in the course of 27 mean overs he dismissed five ‘Cobblers’ at a personal cost of 33 runs. Rain, however, as so often, easily prevented a final result. In the last county match of the season, against Essex at Leyton, his persevering well-pitched up bowling brought him five for 73, enough to force a lead of 58, but three of the dismissals were of lower-order batsmen. Attempting to increase that lead fast, he then hit out to make 85 in 80 minutes, albeit giving three 132 The Last ‘Double’ and the Gentle Decline