Lord Hawke declines to declare
At Edgbaston tomorrow, weather permitting, the players of Warwickshire and Yorkshire will play 96 overs of cricket. The reduction, from 104 overs per day, was a response to the players who complained that playing 104 overs of cricket in a day was too tiring for them.
When Yorkshire played in the county championship at Edgbaston in 1896 they chose to bat first. That was on Monday. When their captain Lord Hawke allowed the innings to continue until Wednesday, his team amassing 887 in the process, Warwickshire, were understandably piqued,
On the Tuesday, as it became clear that Lord Hawke was taking a diabolical liberty, the Bears tried every trick in the book to slow down the over-rate. Captain Herbert Bainbridge took an age over every bowling change and made lots of them. The players took the field slowly, meandered between overs and found all sorts of injuries and distractions to cause delay. Play was reportedly stopped for ten minutes to escort an injured pied wagtail from the outfield.
That grumpy Tuesday, Bainbridge and his players used every device they knew to slow the game down.
They still bowled 120 overs.
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Brian Halford - Brian Halford’s look at Edgbaston.
On a similar theme, you will no doubt have taken note of the greatest ever run-feast known in first-class cricket.
On 27 and 28 December 1926, Victoria ran up 1,107 against the hapless bowlers of New South Wales at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (Their captain Bill Woodfull was not quite so self-indulgent as Lord Hawke, since his team also found ample time within the four days to dismiss NSW twice and win by a trifling innings and 656.)
During that extraordinary massacre of leather by willow, NSW maintained an amazing rate of 18 EIGHT-BALL overs an hour.
That must even have allowed for some time to lick their wounds after they messed up a run-out chance early on, Woodfull and Bill Ponsford finding themselves at the same end when the total was only 17. But the fielder tripped, and the first wicket fell a short time later at 375.
The great Arthur Mailey (64-0-362-4) said he was disappointed when the innings closed, as he was "just finding his length". He also lamented the dropping of at least three catches off his bowling by spectators in the South Stand.
Which fielder tripped?
In the account I read, it was Ray McNamee, the bowler, tripping as he went to collect a return from mid-on. After that his return of 24-2-124-0 probably didn't look that bad in the circumstances.