Public Schools' Cricket Week

BATTING. No. Times of Not Ings. Out Runs Highest Score Aver.

BOWLING. Mai- Wick- Dyers. dens. Runs. ets. Aver. Rayson 15 1 306 60 21.9 Boyes ...109 24 326 32 10.2 Speight 15 2 282 59 21.7 Clark ... 60 11 174 14 12.4 Shardlow ... 14 — 284 53 20.3 Dook ...I03 21 367 28 13.2 Wright ... 11 2 172 61 19.1 Rodger ... 35 5 101 7 14.4 Oliver ... 7 2 70 27 14.0 Andrews ... 75 11 280 19 14.7 Dook ... 12 — 142 37 11.8 Shardlow ... 27 4 100 6 16.7 Forsythe 12 2 105 30• 10.5 Rayson 78 14 230 10 23.0 Macpherson 6 • 1 31 12 6.2 Boyes ... 10 2 38 7• 4.8 Clark ... 4 1 14 8* 4.7 Hudson ... 7 2 22 9 4.4 Andrews ... 10 4 22 8* 3.7 * Denotes not out.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS' CRICKET WEEK.

The season 1945 ended on a high note with a week of festival cricket. Representatives of Bootham, Bradford Grammar, Giggleswick, Leeds Grammar and Sedbergh Schools were our guests for the week when, under glorious summer skies and on perfect wickets (for which our thanks are due to the groundsman, Mr. C. Wallbank), the game of cricket was seen at its best.

Two separate elevens of approximately equal strength played matches on Wednesday and Thursday, and the strongest team that could be found from them did battle against our visitors from Lancashire in a two-day match that was the climax of the week.

A Yorkshire Schools XI v. 50th Division.

Early disaster befell the Schools when Rayson was run out, and the fast bowling of Henderson and Watson had the boys in trouble, and only Aber, C., of the early batsmen met with any success. Determined batting by Clark, and useful contributions from Rhodes, Boyes and Hall, however, saw the total mount to 133.

The 50th Division had a strong batting side, but the bowling of Rhodes, Clark and Aber, G., was never loose, with the result that although the runs came at a steady pace, six wickets were claimed before the Schools' total was passed.

A Yorkshire Public Schools X. 50th Division.

C. P. Aber, b. Watson ... ... 25 Capt. Anderton, 1.b.w., b. Aber, G. 20 J. C. Rayson, run out ... ... 6 Lt. Godfrey, b. Rhodes ... ... 6 G. M. Aber, c. Elderton, b. Pte. Innis, l.b.w., b. Aber, G. ... 30

Watson Sgt. Shreeve, c. Foster, b. Clark 32 J. T. Barker, l.b.w., b. Hawley ... 0 Maj. Brown, c. Boyes, b. Clark ... 14 A. R. Foster, b. Henderson ... 3 Lt. Murray, l.b.w., b. Rhodes 8 W. J. Clark 1.b.w., b. Innis ... 16 Lt. Henderson, not out ... 10 D. F. Rhodes, b. Henderson ... 12 Sgt. Whittle, not out ... 5 K. A. Boyes, b. Murray ... ... 19 Extras 9 T. P. Hall, b. Watson ... ... 14 J. C. Ratcliff, b. Watson 1 A. J. Graham, not out ... 0

Extras ... 29

133 For 6 wkts. 134

A Yorkshire Public Schools XI v. R. Richardson's XI.

On Thursday the opposition was provided by a very strong local side, and the bowling (faster than anything the boys had experienced before) of Close and Pearson caused great trouble. The Schools' score of 103 was due entirely to splendid innings by Harrison, Blakey, and Dook.

Against seasoned batsmen the boys, well, and as in the previous game, six ended. in particular Banks, bowled exceptionally wickets were claimed before the match

A Yorkshire Public Schools XI.

R. Richardson's XI.

P. A. Speight, c. Bedford, b. Close 0 H. Houseman, b. Banks ... 18 H. B. Morley, 1.b.w., b. Pearson 1 T. Hobson, l.b.w., b. Banks ... 18 G. R. Harrison, b. Pearson ... 33 W. A. Kay, 1.b.w., b. Goates 4 J. H. Goates, c. T. Hobson, • b. E. J. Brown, b. Banks ... 25

Pearson 1 E. V. Bedford, b. Holdsworth 19 R. V. Blakey, b. Close ... ... 24 J. Knowles, b. Banks ... 3 M. F. Holdsworth, b. Close ... 5 R. Hobson, not out 11 W. R. Banks, c. T. Hobson, b. M. Pearson, not out 2

Pearson 0 Extras 4 J. M. Dook, c. & b. Birrell ... 25 R. S. Longbottom, c. Kay, b.

Pearson ... 2 W. H. Nelson, b. Birrell ... 3 E. W. Meadowcroft, not out ... 0

Extras ... 9

103 For 6 wkts. 104

Yorkshire Public Schools v. Lancashire Public Schools.

This two-day match was the grand finale of the week, when the following teams were in opposition :- Yorkshire.—M. F. Holdsworth (Capt.), R. V. Blakey, R. S.

Longbottom, D. F. Rhodes (Bradford Grammar) ; W. J. Clark, J. McD. L.

Dook, J. C. M. Rayson (St. Peter's) ; G. • R. Harrison, W. R. Banks (Sedbergh) ; C. P. Aber, G. M. Aber (Leeds). Lancashire.—G. H. Sharp (Capt., Denstone) ; F. A. Jones, F. Milieu,

R. D. Gooding (King's, Macclesfield) ; G. Banks, T. C. Mather, P. C.

Emmes, M. Holden (Manchester Grammar) • M...hodes, (Rossall) ; J. W.

Brownhill (New Mills) ; N. Fletcher (William Hulme's).

Glorious sunshine, brilliant cricket and the visit of the civic dignitaries and their ladies were the features of the first day's play. The teams were 'presented to the Lord. Mayor and the Sheriff at the tea interval.

Winning the toss, Lancashire elected to bat on a perfect wicket, but D. Rhodes, bowling very fast, claimed two early wickets. Then followed a stand by M. Rhodes and Jones, which took the score to 109 before Rhodes was well taken in the gully by Dook, for a fine 58. Jones continued to show complete mastery of the bowling and scored with well-timed strokes all round the wicket until caught with his score at 92. His had been a magnificent display of first class batting. Few other Lancashire batsmen fared well until the last wicket partnership which added a merry 34 to bring the totar to 220, scored in less than two hours and a half. Holdsworth bowled very well to claim five wickets for 39, and Longbottom, behind the wicket, had the exceptional record of four victims and not a single bye.

The Yorkshire innings was dominated by Rayson, who scored a fine 83 out of a total of 148 scored whilst he was at the crease. He shewed sound defence and scored freely all round the wicket. Valuable assistance was afforded by Harrison and Clark, and Dook recorded a well played 28. The day's play closed with the score at 174 for seven wickets. • The glorious uncertainty of the game was never better illustrated than during Saturday's play. The Yorkshire innings closed for the addition of but 13 runs, but so well did Holdsworth bowl his slows that in the hour before lunch, Lancashire lost five wickets for 49 runs and hopes of a Yorkshire win ran high. After the eighth wicket had fallen at 99, however, Sharp and 30