Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

27 greatest bowler who ever lived might have boasted about to the day of his death. Of course the pitch helped him, but the advantage he took of all the means open to him was admirable – admirable! It was by this feat that the youngster’s name began to be bruited beyond the bounds of his native county. Further notable events followed. Against Kent for the first time a one- handed catch (off Frank Woolley) was described as ‘brilliant’; against Warwickshire he opened the bowling for the first time (with King) and took four for 62; against Hampshire at Aylestone Road he opened with Odell despite Jayes and King being in the side and his five for 15 in the second innings resulted in his first experience of victory (in his eleventh match) with Leicestershire not needing to bat again; at Leyton against Essex with six for 44 he (and Odell) bowled unchanged through an innings for the first time; against Warwickshire at Leicester, opening again, he took five wickets in each innings; and at Northampton he had the startling figures for a nineteen-year-old of conceding fewer runs than bowling overs with figures of 18.5-11-17-5 when he and Odell dismissed the opposition for a paltry 35, still today the lowest score by Northamptonshire against Leicestershire. In the County’s ‘most extraordinary victory of the season’ the Mercury reporter comments on one of Astill’s victims: ‘It was ludicrous to watch some of the men come out, such as Buswell, whose bail was removed while he knew nothing about it’. He finished the season top of the Leicestershire bowling averages and twentieth in the country with an average of 17.03 for 80 wickets of which 74 at 16.58 were in the Championship, 51 thus materially helping his county to move up four places to eleventh with six victories. Praise for his bowling was unstinting, the most moderate and judicious coming from Wisden , which reports that he went through his first year in important cricket, and, not unnaturally, felt the effects of its hard work. Quite young and of slight physique, Astill bore the strain of many matches and met with wonderful success against Surrey at Leicester … and against Hampshire … During August his effectiveness diminished. With more experience and greater strength Astill should become an excellent bowler. What of his batting? His average was a mere 6.57, but, since out of 37 innings 18 were not out, he actually averaged only 3.37 on each visit to the wicket. It is hardly surprising that he usually entered the fray last, with just an occasional elevation to No.10. Notwithstanding, there was the occasional sign of some potential in this discipline. As related above, at Lord’s he helped in achieving a tie in the tense game against MCC; and later in the season in the home match against Northamptonshire he walked in as last man with his side needing two runs to win: The people who anxiously wanted to see them win felt pounds of cold, having lead in the place where their hearts should have been – the said hearts, of course, having taken up temporary quarters in their mouths’; 51 Odell hadmore wickets but at a higher average (97 at 17.17 in the Championship, 107 in all matches for the county at 17.14 and 109 in all first-class matches in the season at 17.72). The Prodigy