Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

135 The Last ‘Double’ and the Gentle Decline major contribution in a win was an innings of 60 in the home match with Glamorgan, but on this occasion his runs were hardly needed as the Welshmen succumbed by a margin of 174. His other highlights came in drawn matches except for the one at Old Trafford. Here he took the last four Lancastrian wickets (including top- scoring Eddie Paynter) in thirteen balls for no runs to complete an analysis of six for 41, but 263 was too large a total for the visitors to handle. The pitch, after Lancashire’s initial innings, deteriorated badly, but Astill showed some mastery over it in making 43 runs on it for once out. In mid season in consecutive matches he took five wickets in an innings against Somerset and Warwickshire, at Taunton his 57 runs of ‘spectacular batting’ in an hour and five for 63 producing a first-innings lead whereas at Coventry his five for 76 proved insufficient. His other half-centuries all came in August: in the Hinckley Week 81 out of 116 in 85 minutes, when the lead was almost assured, against Warwickshire, 70 out of 105 in an hour and a half on an ‘excellent wicket’ in an hopeless attempt to match Worcestershire’s huge total of 502, and finally 64 at Lord’s in the large total of 479 for six declared, which again proved insufficient for the lead. Nonetheless, the match showed that though now in his forty- fifth year he still had great stamina, for his runs came after a bowl of 40 overs in All-India’s only innings at Leicester and was immediately followed by 55 more overs, for three wickets, in Middlesex’s massive 573. He had also graphically shown earlier in the season that he retained alertness and swift reaction in a ‘wonderful’ one-handed catch in the gully to hold onto a fierce cut by Glamorgan’s Lavis off fast bowler Haydon Smith. One further innings deserves mention: at Trent Bridge Larwood and Voce carried all before them as they bowled unchanged through the match, but Astill with 34, nearly half the total in the first innings, alone showed resistance in the ‘indifferent light’ despite his dislike of really fast bowling, ‘execut[ing] a number of strokes with all the grace and polish he could command’. Apart from Astill and Snary 249 the other nine members of the Leicestershire team managed only 51 runs between them in the two innings combined. As the 1933 season opened Leicestershire cricket and its veteran all- rounder received rare national recognition when Wisden named Astill one of its Five Cricketers of the Year. He was only the third Leicestershire cricketer after early colleague Albert Knight in 1904 and his friend George Geary in 1927 to be so honoured. 250 His biography in the almanack says: It can be safely said that day in and day out Astill, since the war, has been the best all-round player in the Leicestershire team and 249 Primarily a bowler, Snary (he spelled his name also Snarey) was often an obdurate and valuable batsman (he remained undefeated in 114 of his 249 first-class innings with an average of 15.97).  Although he never reached 50 in the Championship (his highest score was 48*), in 1932 against All-India, having scored 25 at No.8, he opened in the second innings and carried his bat for 124 (out of 291 in a losing cause).  How many regular cricketers have scored a century but no fifty in their careers ? 250 Astill’s future colleague and captain C.S.Dempster had gained the distinction in 1932, but purely as a New Zealander.