Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

71 There followed three losses in which Astill did little of note, but his five for 37 in the fourth innings at Old Trafford, after two marvellous innings by Jack King, was instrumental in bringing an astonishingly large victory by 180 runs in just the fourth victory by Leicestershire over the Lancastrians: only the opener Hallows, who carried his bat for 110, defied him for long. Astill now entered his most successful phase of the season with 68 wickets in eight matches. Eight times he took five or more wickets in an innings, twice over ten in a match and twice nine, and still found the energy to score four 50s. But only three of these matches resulted in Leicestershire victories (two over Warwickshire and one over Somerset). Outstanding in this period were his six for 187 in 39.3 overs in Sussex’ huge total of 519, his match-analysis of nine for 117 which ensured victory over Warwickshire at Leicester, his hauls in the next four innings, five for 86 and seven for 123 against Gloucestershire and five for 38 and six for 40 against Somerset 134 and then four for 62 and five for 107 in a loss to Hampshire. His dismissal of both openers in Gloucestershire’s second innings brought his seasonal total of victims to a century for the first time; and four matches later, in the home Bank Holiday fixture with Northamptonshire, he completed the ‘double’ during his ‘merry’ knock of 93. The taking of the final wicket to bring victory for his side and a collection of £56 on the ground to recognize his ‘double’ can only have added to his joy. After a miserable rain-wrecked game for his county and himself against Yorkshire, Astill returned to form with match figures of ten for 129 in 64 miserly overs at Chesterfield, a top score of 73 when nobody else reached more than 35 and five for 95 at Taunton before bad weather prevented play on the last day, and a seven-wicket haul and a second century in a victory at home over Derbyshire. 135 This chanceless 108, ‘most probably the soundest [innings] of his career’, was achieved ‘with assurance’ in four hours as ‘he declined to get fidgety… [and] play[ed] through the “nervous nineties” quite resolutely’. In the following match at Portsmouth he aggravated muscle sprains in his back while scoring 66, bowled a mere six overs, then played solely (and unsuccessfully) as a batsman at The Oval and, not yet fully recovered, struggled to achieve a last five-wicket innings haul in the final, victorious, encounter with Glamorgan. To make his season well-nigh perfect, Astill ensured his financial security by becoming a managing director of James McRobie Ltd, a company which operated the ‘City Athletic Stores’ on Granby Street in Leicester. The shop advertised ‘Highest Quality Goods at Keenest Prices’ for ‘Cricket, Croquet, Bowls, and all Outdoor and Indoor Games’, promised ‘Repairs of Every Description executed at shortest notice by our own expert workmen’ and prided itself especially on ‘Billiard Repairs and Recovery’. James McRobie was a veteran of some ability in local club cricket who never 134 He thus took five or more wickets in five out of six consecutive innings, the sequence being broken only by three for 48 in Warwickshire’s second innings. 135 He played in three matches against a Derbyshire XI this year, scoring 48 and taking five wickets in a rain-affected and consequently poorly attended charity match in aid of the Leicester Infirmary 150th Anniversary Fund, the teams being selected by local councillors. The First ‘Doubles’