Lives in Cricket No 9 - JH King

fraction under three times that for bowling, a statistic reminiscent of Grace in his best years. For his club King topped the batting averages and aggregates, and the fact that he was only third in the bowling averages (and fourth in number of wickets) with so low a figure is a striking indication of his batting mastery. After giving such sterling service he must have been disappointed not to have his employment extended, a decision taken for a solely economic reason, as the South African Annual in its review of the season 1905/06 for the Western Province club makes quite clear: ‘J.H.King was again engaged as professional and proved very useful both in batting and bowling, whilst his duties were carried out in the same obliging and courteous manner as during the previous season. The committee, having carefully considered the matter, recommended that no steps be taken to get a professional from England for the next season. . . . It is with great reluctance that the committee have come to this decision, but they feel the necessity for reducing expenditure is imperative.’ In 1905 Leicestershire attained fifth position in the Championship, its highest until it came third in 1953, long after King’s death, and he was never again to figure in a team finishing in the top half of the competition. Surprisingly, however, this achievement owed little to the all-rounder. Wisden commented on his decline in both disciplines, perhaps a little unfairly since in Championship matches his batting average was still one above that for bowling and the latter was superior to his corresponding figure in 1904; but he took only 33 wickets in the Championship. After a promising start with 69 and 50 against Warwickshire in the second match of the season he suffered an injury to a hand in the following match against Yorkshire, missed the following three fixtures and perhaps returned too early – the Leicester Daily Mercury certainly attributed his poor season to this injury. He achieved nothing of note until early July with five for 39 in the second innings against a woeful Derbyshire, sixteen of whose batsmen were bowled out, an extraordinary quantity for the twentieth century; and 95 and 43* v Sussex. Confidence in his batting was not restored by opening at Northampton in early August, although he achieved the rare double of opening both batting and bowling, a thing that Alan Shipman regularly did in later years for Leicestershire. In the penultimate match, however, he had the satisfaction of bundling Lancashire out for 222 after MacLaren and Spooner had scored a swift 102, dismissing both 62 Successes and Disappointments