Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

29 proceeded to win the match comfortably. His first-innings analysis proved statistically his best and the only time that he took five wickets in an innings at home in 1908, but he achieved the feat five times on other grounds. His outstanding feat was at Derby. On a difficult wicket the Leicestershire batsmen, with the notable exceptions of Whitehead and Crawford, struggled until Astill joined Shields to score an undefeated ten in a last wicket partnership that boosted the total to 186. Wright and Needham then put on 48 to give the home county the advantage, when Astill appeared in the attack, dismissed both openers and ran through the side to finish with six wickets for 31. Derbyshire were left 218 to win late on the second day, but Astill once more dismissed both openers and ran through the side, taking one more wicket for one fewer run. Although Wisden comments that ‘Worse batting than that of the second day has seldom been seen’, it does see fit to commend Astill, whose match figures of 13 for 61 he was never to exceed. Typically for an achievement on behalf of an unfashionable county against another such, his feat was never even mentioned by The Times whose single comment was: ‘Leicestershire won this match at Derby yesterday by 141 runs’. Indeed this same national newspaper had pontificated a month earlier: ‘it cannot be said that cricket is improved by these counties’ 54 taking up so much valuable time in the practically hopeless task of competing against the five or six leading counties at the top of the list’, and this in the latter half of June on the day after Leicestershire, with Astill opening the bowling and taking six wickets, had defeated Sussex, one of the hitherto unbeaten counties, 55 in two days. His other three five-wicket hauls could not be so readily ignored nationally. At Harrogate he opened the bowling and shared the ten wickets with his uncle. Although they both conceded just over 100 runs, they had to put up with slovenly fielding and had little relief from other bowlers in an innings of 325, following which the youngster improved his top score by one in a vain attempt to secure first-innings lead in a drawn game. Better still, at Old Trafford, he bowled through the first innings with Odell, keeping an excellent length to take four for 64 and followed up with six for 92 in the second, including four of the first five batsmen in the order. Lancashire must have grown some respect for him since, a few days before, he had ripped away their lower middle order at Aylestone Road in a spell of four for nine, after conceding 86 runs without reward on the first day in an eventual total of 506. In mid August at Lord’s he played a leading part in what was described as ‘one of the most exciting matches of the M.C.C. season’. A Leicestershire collapse in the second innings left the home team with 260 to make for victory, and they made a comfortable start before Astill dismissed both openers, Raphael with an extra fast ball and Payne with a slow one, and then the next two batsmen in the order, Weigall and top-scorer Barnett with ‘fine break-back[s]’. His later dismissal of Tandy, 54 Worcestershire, Essex, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Somerset, Derbyshire and Warwickshire in that order. The Times continued ‘it seems to be impossible that even at Lord’s anything can be seen in the way of first-class cricket till the beginning of July’. 55 Sussex eventually finished fifth in the table. The Prodigy