Lives in Cricket No 9 - JH King

disappointed to finish as low as fourteenth, but the fact that as many as seven matches were won, the second most in the county’s history up to that time, indicates that there was much to admire. The weak point was batting with only three centuries scored, and King himself, with presumably little energy to spare, scored only 780 runs at 19.02, but this still allowed him the boast of achieving the all-rounder’s criterion of a batting average above that for bowling. As if knowing what was to follow, Leicestershire entrusted him with the county’s first ball of the summer, against Hampshire at home, and he speedily took the first wicket and followed this up with the county’s first 50, but he managed only four more of the latter, the biggest, a mere 72, being the highest innings of a low-scoring match at Northampton in which he brought his side victory by taking five second-innings wickets for 35. His finest bowling performance was a double of eight for 61 and five for 41, statistically the third-best innings and second-best match figures of his career, in an eventually comfortable victory over Derbyshire after a first-innings deficit. There were many other notable performances such as his seven for 46 and four for 52 at Old Trafford, where he got ‘the ball to turn awkwardly’ on a ‘soft, 98 Nestor ‘In great need of new blood.’ Six of this Leicestershire side in June 1920 were over forty. Standing (l to r): S.Taylor (scorer), A.Mounteney, jun., G.Shingler, W.E.Astill, A.Skelding, H.Whitehead, W.E.Benskin and S.C.Packer (secretary). Seated: S.Coe, C.E.de Trafford, C.J.B.Wood (captain), J.H.King and T.E.Sidwell (wk). De Trafford, playing in his final first-class match, was 56 and, at the time, the oldest cricketer to play in the ‘official’ Championship.