Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

46 his seasonal batting average into double figures (10.29) for the first time, persuading his captain on occasion to elevate him in the order to No.8 or even an improbable No.7. Were these sufficient to portend a recovery in 1910? The answer in batting was a very lukewarm affirmative, his average improving slightly in another wet summer to 10.64 in all matches and 11.08 in the Championship. The answer in bowling must be a negative despite the words of The Times correspondent: The brunt of the work has fallen on Astill, and as he is still quite young, we probably have not seen the best of him yet. He can make the ball swing, has a good command of length, and is a useful bowler, though on a good wicket he does not look really difficult. The bulk of the wickets, if not of the work, since injury restricted King’s contribution to but one in two matches, was taken by Astill’s fellow- villagers Bill Shipman and Jayes, who both disliked the regular soft pitches of this year. Yet their achievements, combined with consistent batting and an improved spirit in the side, enabled Leicestershire to rise three places to tenth in the table: despite not playing four of the six teams below them, 98 they beat Yorkshire, Lancashire, Kent and Surrey in addition to the weaker Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. Astill’s own contribution was 56 championship wickets at 27.87 each. For a normal 22-year-old that would have been considered satisfactory, but Astill’s past performances had promised so much more, and he dropped to fifth position in his county’s averages and 83rd position in the national list with only a single five-wicket haul. A gleam of hope, however, was that his economy rate was once more very respectable at 2.61 runs an over, 155 or nearly 23% of his overs being maidens. Moreover, Hazlerigg’s handling of the young bowler may not have been always wise, as ‘Reynard’ periodically criticized adversely the captain’s decisions as to when to put him on and take him off and also commented on ‘his usual bad luck’. The season opened with a comfortable victory over Northamptonshire, but despite being entrusted with the new ball on a treacherous pitch drying in the sunshine after rain, Astill’s bowling was only respectable as he played second fiddle to Coe in the first innings and Jayes and Wood in the second. The following match against Yorkshire, restricted anyway to two days owing to the funeral of King Edward VII, 99 barely started for rain. Then, at Lord’s, Astill played a praiseworthy part in a victory in a fluctuating game against an admittedly not very strong MCC side at Lord’s with a match analysis of seven for 89 and a critical 27 in the second innings. ‘He bowled with much more fire and spin on this fast pitch than he did on the slower ones of last week.’ The might of Kent, champions to be, seemed to inspire him for he took six wickets in all and scored 54 runs for once out, to help materially in what ultimately proved a fairly easy win at home and the first 98 The schedule turned out curiously with Kent, Notts, Kent, Notts and then Derbyshire twice being played in six successive matches in the middle of a season that was concluded by the two encounters with Surrey. 99 MCC decided at a meeting on 25 July that all unfinished matches thus curtailed should not ‘count’ in the County Championship. Next Year, Sometime, Never