Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

150 The Captain ‘Dicky’ Dodds; and altogether his figures were seven for 42 in a total of 364. 269 More clement weather did no service in 1937 to Leicestershire who finished above only the neighbouring ‘Cobblers’. The batting was excellent with five batsman reaching 1,000 runs and even Astill, at the age of 49, scoring 623 at an average of fractionally over 20. The bowling let them down badly, with Smith, despite again dismissing over 100 batsmen, being expensive, and Geary feeling his age. No slow bowler was available to give any worthwhile support to Astill who manfully took another 53 wickets and was second in the averages, but they came at an expensive 28.24 each. To make matters worse, Dempster’s business duties frequently called him away, with the result that Astill again was substitute captain, this year in as many as ten matches. A note in The Cricketer early in the season by E.L.Roberts 270 pointed out that there were now only ten pre-War cricketers likely to appear regularly or even occasionally. Leicestershire were the only county to have two of these ‘rara[e] aves’ (Astill and Geary).’ Astill and Woolley had made their débuts the furthest back (1906), only Astill, Geary and Woolley were to appear in 1938 and only Astill in 1939. The high point of this woeful season was the encounter with Hampshire at Basingstoke. The date was 7 August and Leicestershire had not won a single match. On a plumb, fast pitch Berry scored 153, putting on 135 for the first wicket with Prentice, and then captain Astill, batting at No.8, contributed a breezy 56. The following day Hampshire bowed to the fire of Flamson and Smith and Leicestershire won by nine wickets. It was to be their only win of the year, but it preserved their record of never going through a Championship season without a victory, a record that they managed to preserve until the woeful series of lugubrious but, given the priorities of modern English cricket, predictable performances of the 2013 season. An earlier win against Gloucestershire was almost achieved, but the home side succumbed by two wickets. The game was remarkable for a single over from Astill: he had Tyler caught in the long field after being compelled to watch him being dropped in the same region no fewer than three times off his previous five balls. Little needs to be noted of other matches this year. Astill opened the season by exhibiting his subtle mastery of flight in taking five for 90, again against Hampshire, the final and 140th time in which he dismissed five or more opponents in an innings, 271 and on three further occasions he ensnared four. One of these was at Hove where he flummoxed the brothers Parks with deliberate full- tosses, J.H. bowled and H.W. caught at deep fine leg. A further four wickets at Worcester could not prevent the home side from putting up 347, and when Leicestershire’s seventh wicket fell they were well behind. Astill, however, was then joined by Haydon Smith who won the newly awarded 269 He was to play for the Seconds four times in 1938 (scoring 25*, 34 and 17 but never bowling) and five times in 1939 (scoring 20, 5* and 4 and taking just a single wicket for 39 runs). 270 22 May 1937, p 106. 271 His final total of 185 was the highest number of wickets he took against any team. Only against Warwickshire (14) did he have more five-wicket hauls than against Hampshire (12).