Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

32 today saw him bowl in his heyday. Philip Snow 58 had memories of batting against him in the nets when Astill was in his very late forties; and I was fortunate in being able to talk about him also with Bob Wyatt, who had known him already in the mid 1920s, George Dawkes, who kept wicket to him at the same period, and Colin Cowdrey, who was coached by him at Tonbridge School and said that ‘he still bowled pretty well’ even at the age of 58. The following attempt to give an indication of what type of bowler he was is largely dependent upon comments in newspapers, which are often little more than hints, the position of fielders who took catches off him and my conversations with Wyatt, Snow, Dawkes, Cowdrey and a few others who saw or had experience of him in the twilight of his career; but contradictions in their information make some of my conclusions hazardous. Astill was of moderate height, about 5ft 10in, 59 and as a boy was of a slight physique. As he grew older, however, he began to fill out and become both more broad-shouldered and stronger. He kept a close eye on his weight and was fairly abstemious in food and alcohol (perhaps a legacy of the Band of Hope), but by his late forties, though still nimble on his feet, he had reached a weight of around eleven and a half stone. He had considerable athleticism and agility for an average human, but certainly did not stand out in this regard among fellow cricketers. His stamina was great. From the time of making his début at 18 he played in 88 consecutive matches for his county until he was left out of 58 P.A.Snow, OBE, who died on 5 June 2012, captained the Leicestershire Second XI in 1936-1938 before entering the diplomatic service in Fiji shortly after, at Astill’s instigation, having a few gruelling hours as substitute fielder against the hard-hitting Somerset batsmen in one county championship match. He became a first-class cricketer in 1988 when matches played in New Zealand by a Fijian XI, of which he was captain, were retrospectively elevated to that rank. From 1964 to 1994 he represented Fiji on the ICC and in 1970 was made an Honorary Life Member of MCC. He was a younger brother of C.P.Snow (Lord Snow of Aylestone), a scientist, government minister and novelist, and of E.E.Snow, the Leicestershire cricket historian. He was an ACS member. 59 Philip Snow put him at 5ft 9in and six inches shorter than George Geary, but this seems to me somewhat too great a difference. The Bowler Very few photographs of Astill bowling still exist. This poor quality view of him bowling in Barbados does at least show his follow-through and largely off-side field-placing.