Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

80 The First ‘Doubles’ accomplished a very guarded death-bed repentance’ in allowing play to commence after a wash-out on the Saturday, he made a splendidly confident 56 against Essex, being ‘on the dead turf … the one batsman to welcome the difficulties’ ( Wisden ), and completed his 1,000 runs for the season. Thus inspired he demoralized the southerners with five for 24 and a further three wickets in the second innings to allow Leicestershire to end the season on a victorious note. Becoming now a regular at the Scarborough Festival he found himself opening the batting for MCC with Kennedy. Although he scored 37 and the Hampshire man 16, their partnership reaching 53, the rest of the team collapsed so spectacularly despite containing J.W.Hearne, Hendren, Chapman, Douglas and Tennyson that the final total was a mere 101 (88 from the bat) with the next highest score being six by Leveson Gower, batting at No.11. The next day the Leicestershire player completed his ‘double’ upon bowling Dolphin as one of three victims in two overs to finish off the Yorkshire innings, but MCC had to concede defeat when playing time was extended on the third day to allow a positive conclusion to be reached. His season ended in the following match, again at Scarborough, when the recent Nos.1 and 2 found themselves at Nos. 9 and 10 for the Players. Astill made the third highest score, a mere 21 out of 144 in a sea fret that almost hid the game from the spectators. In late September he sailed in company with the South African team on the S.S.Armadale Castle to Cape Town to take up an engagement with the Cape Town Cricket Association. 147 At this late date I cannot ascertain 147 So said the Leicester Sports Mercury on 20 September 1924, but on 25 June 1925, its daily equivalent reported that Astill had been invited by the Western Province Cricket Union to coach ‘at the schools and colleges in the province, as he did last winter’. A regular at the Scarborough Festival, Astill is pictured here with the MCC team that played Yorkshire in September 1929. (l to r): V.W.C.Jupp, H.J.Enthoven, F.W.Gilligan, J.W.H.T.Douglas, H.D.G.Leveson Gower (capt), N.E.Haig, E.W.Dawson, G.T.S.Stevens, K.S.Duleepsinhji, W.E.Bowes, W.E.Astill. It is interesting that Bill Bowes, in his debut year for Yorkshire, was turning out against his home county.