Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

168 His Place in Leicestershire’s Annals those counties by a Leicestershire player. His partnership of 157 for the tenth wicket with Marlow against Gloucestershire was the county’s record for that wicket and has been beaten only once since. It is in bowling, far more than in batting, that he is a dominating figure. He bowled more overs (20,325) and maidens (5,339) and had more runs scored off him (49,399) than any other bowler. Hardly surprisingly, therefore, his total of 2,131 wickets is also the most, comfortably 372 more than that of Geary and 811 more than that of Spencer. Of other players only Walsh, King and Haydon Smith took more than half as many as he did. His number of wickets is the highest against ten counties, second highest against four and third against one, while against Middlesex he played in only eight matches. Six times he took over 100 wickets for the county in a season, third to Geary (10) and Walsh (7), 294 and 23 times in all over 50, 295 far more than his closest rivals Geary (16), Spencer (15), King (12), Jackson (11), Savage (11) and Haydon Smith (10). When he took 126 wickets for the county in 1928 he had taken the three highest totals in the County’s records (153, 138 and 126), while his 153 in 1921 has been overtaken only once, by the Australian Jack Walsh in 1948. All but one of his 22 ten-wicket match figures were for Leicestershire, thus making him third to Geary (27) and Walsh (25); but his 127 (out of 140) five-wicket innings returns is the highest number, ahead of Geary’s 110 and Walsh’s 96. He appeared in the matches against nine counties in which they recorded their lowest innings scores against Leicestershire. Necessarily the devastation was often wrought by two opening fast bowlers, and he did not bowl at all in two and took but a single cheap wicket in three, but against Hampshire and Northamptonshire he took five, against Gloucestershire six and against Somerset was the arch-destroyer with eight. In all these matches his total was 27 wickets for 117 runs, and in the four in which he had a leading rôle 24 wickets for a mere 82 runs. He is third for the number of catches held, 392, after Hallam (427) and Whitehead (407), although holding more (464) in all first-class matches than any other player who has appeared for the county other than Tony Lock, who played only 65 matches, and the Leicester-born M.J.K.Smith, who played as an amateur in 28 matches early in his career. At Weston- super-Mare in 1920 he held five catches in an innings, a number that has never been exceeded for Leicestershire by other than a wicketkeeper. 296 If longevity is a requisite of greatness as a sportsman, Ewart Astill must qualify as a great county cricketer. 297 He played in a record 628 matches for Leicestershire, appearing in 30 seasons either side of the Great War, from 1906 to 1914 and from 1919 to 1939. Only F.J.Titmus played in 294 In all matches he reached 100 wickets in three further seasons, as did Geary in one. 295 He captured over 50 wickets also on MCC’s tour to India and Ceylon in 1926/27. 296 Though achieved twice before and four times since. 297 Whereas one innings by Edwin Boaler Alletson and one long jump by Bob Beamon were great performances, Alletson was not a great batsman and even Beamon, perhaps, not a great jumper. See on the subject Simon Barnes, The Meaning of Sport , London, 2006, p 125.