Essex first visited Blackpool’s Stanley Park for a County Championship
match in 1924 and have returned on eight occasions since. Lancashire
won that first meeting and have won twice more since then so the results
to date show Lancashire with three wins, Essex with two wins and four
games drawn.
That first visit in 1924 was just one year before the ground was
named Stanley Park and in a low scoring, but close, contest, Lancashire
came out on top by 35 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat,
Lancashire lost cheap wickets early but Harry Makepeace, opening the
innings, held firm and made 100 out of the final total of 209 with Alfred
Pewtress’ 35 being the next best effort. Claude Ashton and Johnny
Douglas both took four wickets for Essex for 26 and 59 runs
respectively.
In reply Essex made 180, mainly thanks in no small part to a 10 th
wicket partnership of 55 runs by skipper and top scorer Frank Gilligan,
33, and Laurie Eastman, 29 not out. Cecil Parkin and Dick Tyldesley
both took four wickets with the former’s costing 80 runs and the latter’s
45 runs.
Charlie Hallows made 50 in Lancashire’s second knock that
equalled the Essex effort of 180, Joe Hipkin, with his with slow left arm
deliveries, taking 4-26. Needing 210 for victory, Jack O’Connor, 50, and
Douglas, 45 not out, made every effort to take them to victory but Parkin
prevailed and his 6-62, giving him match figures of 10-142, as Essex
were dismissed for 174. It was Parkin’s second 10-wicket or more haul
at the ground having taken 15-95 against Glamorgan the previous year.
It was a celebratory event when Essex returned in 1925 because it
marked the opening of the new pavilion that had cost £4,500 to build and
which was, along with the ground, to be the gift of Sir Lindsay Parkinson
to the Blackpool club. Sir Edwin Stockton, Lancashire’s president, did
the honours after which Percy Perrin won the toss, Essex batted after a
rain delay and were dispatched for just 98 to which Jack Russell
contributed exactly half, finishing 49 not out. All four Lancashire bowlers
took wickets with Frank Watson the pick of the bunch with 4-26.
The inclement weather hung about for the three days and took
chunks of play away so that only three innings got underway. Lancashire
lost two wickets for three runs as Hallows and Don Davies both failed to
score [the latter was one of the journalists to lose his life at the
Manchester United 1958 Munich air disaster] but 58 not out from skipper
Jack Sharp enabled him to declare at 203-7 with Eastman taking 4-45.
But rain prevailed and Essex meandered to 184-7 from 110 overs as the
match petered out to a draw.
Essex returned again in August 1930 with Lancashire on their way
to their sixth County Championship title and their fourth in the previous
five years. After Peter Eckersley won the toss, Lancashire batted and on
the back of 72 by Watson and a career-best 54 by number nine Frank
Booth totalled 308 all out with Ken Farnes taking 4-51 from 29 testing
overs.
The Essex reply owed much to opener Dudley Pope, 45, and
number 10 Peter Smith, 49, as they fell 109 runs behind Lancashire with
199 all out with Dick Tyldesley taking 5-54. Second time around only
Eddie Paynter [who played a couple of games for Blackpool in the early
1920s before returning home due to ‘home sickness’] with 63 made
much headway against Smith’s leg breaks and googlies that earned him
5-28 and reduced Lancashire to 176 all out.
Needing 285 for victory, Essex fell well short but without Jimmy
Cutmore, who scored 69.37% of their total, they would have lost by more
than the 174-run deficit that they finished with. Cutmore with 77 was the
only double figure scorer of the innings as the other 10 batsmen
managed only 30 runs between them so that Essex were dismissed for
111. Ted McDonald was the most successful of the Lancashire bowlers
with 4-26.
It was 1948 before Essex appeared in Blackpool once more and
again rain interfered badly with play so much that only two innings were
completed. In what play was possible, batsmen reigned supreme and it
all began with Dickie Dodds scoring 51 out of an Essex opening
partnership of 76. Thereafter his partner Sonny Avery was run out for
146 made in 315 minutes and with Tom Pearce making 137 and Trevor
Bailey 60 not out, Essex were able to declare at 478-7 on the second
day. Avery and Pearce put on a visiting club ground record 147 for the
fifth wicket while Pearce and Bailey added a championship ground
record 111 for the sixth wicket [the Indian tourists put on 113 in 1959.]
Lancashire replied with 494 all out with Winston Place making 176,
Jack Ikin 99 and captain Ken Cranston 74 and a much delayed drawn
game was dominated by the batsmen with Lancashire’s Dick Pollard, 3-
145, Essex’s Ray Smith, 3-135, and Peter Smith’s 3-152, all conceding
over 100 runs and Bailey and Cranston both conceding 87.
Ten years later in 1958 Essex were back at the seaside and even
though it was towards the end of the holiday season in early September
there was a good sized crowd there to see the action. On a Stanley Park
wicket that in those days nearly always favoured the batsmen, Essex
chose to bat and made 271 all out from 76.3 overs. Charles Williams top
scored with 86 and there were 40s from Dodds, 45 and passing 1,000
runs for the season in the process, Gordon Barker, 48, and Doug Insole,
48, while Brian Statham took 4-53 and Malcolm Hilton 4-65.
Lancashire took a very modest first innings lead with 279-8 before
declaring, with the bulk of the runs coming from their numbers two, three
and four batsmen, Alan Wharton, 80, Geoff Pullar, 71, and Peter Marner,
67. The Essex bowlers, Bailey, 3-84, Alan Hurd, also 3-84, and Ken
Preston, 2-74, shared the wickets as they bowled 58.3 of the 62.3 overs
bowled.
Hilton 5-78, and Statham 3-15 reduced Essex to 157 all out
second time around with only Barker, 41, and Michael Bear, 30 not out,
making much impression. So with Lancashire requiring only 150 runs for
victory, it looked odds on a red rose victory. But it was not to be
because, despite 55 from skipper Cyril Washbrook no other batsman
reached 20 and with Hurd, 6-60, and Bailey, 4-15, sharing the wickets
Lancashire, in their 35 th game at the ground, went down to only their
second ever defeat at Stanley Park by 26 runs [Northamptonshire had
been the first visiting team to taste success in 1957.]
Essex were back in 1960 and with skipper Doug Insole winning the
toss, his side batted and it was Insole himself who, with the help of a
certain ‘Barnacle’ Bailey led the way to a first day total of 334-9 from 120
overs. Insole made 105 and with Bailey, 82, put on 199 runs for the
fourth wicket and this is still a ground record for that wicket for a visiting
side. Ken Higgs was the most successful bowler with 6-60, including a
late in the day hat-trick when he dismissed Micky Bear, Roy Ralph and
Bertie Clarke and, being there, I can confirm that it was a relief after the
lengthy Insole/Bailey stand.
Essex declared overnight and Lancashire took all the second day,
119 overs, to make 368-6 with Bob Barber making 97, Geoff Pullar 82,
and Ken Grieves 52. It therefore all boiled down to a one-innings game
on the last day. And after Essex had used 50.1 overs to make 228-7
declared, Lancashire went for the runs early on but once wickets began
to fall, they shut up shop and the two Jacks, Bond, 33, and Dyson, five
and batting down the order, held on at 157-8 from 43 overs.
It was a quick return to Stanley Park for Essex as they were back
in 1961 when rain ruined the second day of the game but, after two early
declarations, turned out fine again for Essex to snatch victory on the final
day. Geoff Smith made 74 from the Essex first innings total of 252-8
declared and there was just time for Lancashire to reach 15 without loss
before the close. They were only able to add 38 runs on the rain ruined
second day and declared at 53-0 in order to try to force a result.
And a result there was but unfortunately it went in Essex’s favour.
After they had declared at 59-2, Lancashire were set 259 for victory but
the damp conditions suited Bill Greensmith’s leg break and googly
bowling and he finished with an excellent 7-46 as only Roy Collins with
41 could make much headway as Lancashire were dismissed for 176 to
lose by 82 runs.
Essex returned in 1963 and after Grieves won the toss, his side
made a modest 187 all out with Bob Bennett, the future Lancashire
chairman, top scoring with 44 as Preston took 5-54 for Essex. Resuming
on their overnight 69-2, Essex went on to make 239 on the second day
with Barker making 118 and Lancashire’s leg spinner Tommy
Greenhough taking 6-60. Lancashire, 133-3, then took an 81-run lead
by the close of the second day and went on to declare at 256-9 with
Marner making 63 and Barry Knight taking 4-61. Requiring 205 for
victory, Essex closed on 157-3, Barker once again in the runs, this time
with 54 not out, and the match was drawn.
It was 17 years before Essex next appeared at Stanley Park and
with the first day of the game washed out, without something spectacular
happening there was never much chance of a positive result. And so it
proved as Lancashire made 244 all out with skipper Frank Hayes
making 41 and welcome runs from down the order from David Hughes,
32, and Paul Allott, 30 not out, as David Acfield wheeled away for 31.2
overs to take 4-72. And with 46 from Ken McEwan and 45 from Mike
Denness, the latter in his final first-class match, Essex almost reached
parity at 226 all out with Hughes taking 5-40. There was sufficient time
remaining for Lancashire to score 152-3 with Andrew Kennedy making
92, before stumps and the match were drawn.
So Essex make their 10 th visit to Stanley Park for next Monday’s
LV= County Championship Division One game, which sees sixth-placed
Lancashire, 87 points, take on second-placed Essex, 106 points. It
should prove to be a fascinating contest and, weather permitting, good
crowds are expected for all four days … please come along to Blackpool
Cricket Club and join in the fun!
Gerry Wolstenholme
Comments