Lives in Cricket No 9 - JH King

without a run conceded. Only Grace, in 1877, had ever taken seven wickets in fewer balls (17); and, although C.H.Palmer later took eight wickets for the county without conceding a run against Surrey in 1955, his first seven took him 47 balls. 35 Yorkshire’s collapse in losing eight wickets for ten runs – declining from 37 for two to 47 all out – was, however, statistically less dramatic than one surprisingly little-remembered in Leicestershire’s last match of the 1951 season. In that match seven Lancashire wickets fell, again to spin (on this occasion that of Jackson and Munden), for the addition of only two leg-byes (towards the end, however, at least two easy runs were turned down by the bewildered and demoralized batsmen); but, with the onset of rain, that collapse did not ensure a victory for Leicestershire. Other fine performances this season pale into insignificance, but it should be mentioned that, at Aylestone Road, King scored centuries on good pitches against Sussex and Hampshire, in the former match gathering fours as ‘plentiful as blackberries’, and in the latter showing a mastery now over the googly and being Maturity 83 The county’s grandees solemnly gather for a formal presentation to King and C.J.B.Wood for their performances in Leicestershire’s matches against Yorkshire in 1911. King took 8 for 17 in the home match and Wood twice carried his bat for centuries at Bradford. 35 Palmer’s eight took him 63 balls, King’s eight required 47, but the latter had nine runs scored off him between the taking of the first and second wicket.