Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

33 But despite all the misfortunes already logged here, we haven’t yet come to the reason why he qualifies for an appearance in this book; and I can put it off no longer. For Harry Wilson is the only cricketer in the 20th or 21st centuries in Britain to be run out for a duck in both innings of his only first-class match. And in one of those innings he didn’t face a single delivery, while in the other he faced perhaps only one, or at most two. How’s that for misfortune? Although, as we have seen, Wilson was a competent and sometimes very successful batsman at club level, he was placed at number 11 in the order against the New Zealanders. Fair enough; the man he replaced (Reg Partridge) had been the number 11 in the county’s previous matches, and although he was a bowling all-rounder at club level, in this match Wilson was being played purely as a bowler. In the first innings he joined the number nine, W.C.Brown, with the score at 334 for nine. Brown was on strike, as the batsmen had crossed before the catch was taken that secured the ninth wicket, and there were still two deliveries left in Giff Vivian’s 32nd over. Off the second of those deliveries, Brown called Wilson for what the Northampton Daily Echo refers to as ‘a short run’; the Peterborough Standard tells us that Wilson, ‘after hesitating in starting the run’ failed to get home, and so was dismissed for the first time in his first-class career before he had even faced a single ball. Surely things would go better in the second innings? They did, up to a point. This time the score was 154 for eight when Wilson, still the last man, came to the crease (Northants’ wicket-keeper Ben Bellamy had earlier had to retire hurt) to replace ‘Taffy’ Thomas and join Fred Bakewell. The latter - who was to make his Test debut at Lord’s the following week - had opened in both innings, made 109 first time around, and was now 71 not out. If Wilson could stay with him, a second century in the match was a definite possibility 22 . According to the Northants’ scorebook, Thomas had been dismissed - bowled - off the fifth ball of an over from Bill Merritt, so Wilson had to face one delivery before Bakewell could once again take strike. He survived, and Bakewell scored five off the next over from Tom Lowry - a four off the first ball and a single off the sixth. According to the scorebook, the next over from Merritt to Bakewell began 04201, taking him to 83 not out, and with the century looming ever larger. The scorebook shows the last ball of Merritt’s over as a dot - presumably faced by Wilson (his second delivery). The Echo then tells us that Wilson lost his wicket ‘when Bakewell, making a bid for his second hundred in the match, had called a very sharp single to the last ball of an over in order to retain control of the bowling’. That run out may have come off the last ball of the following over, which the Northants’ scorebook suggests may have been a maiden bowled by 22 In fact, Bakewell never did score two centuries in the same first-class match. Never a run