PACE OF CRICKET SCORING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 254, 27 October 1939, Page 11

PACE OF CRICKET SCORING

COMPILATION OF CENTURIES NOT OFTEN DONE WITHIN AN HOUR In the last few years competition for the Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest century of the season, has aroused considerable interest, writes Gerald Brodribh in The Cricketer. For the sake of comparison with the tj nlc> o f the recent winners, I have made a list of the most rapidly-made hundreds ever scored in first-class cricket. The time given is that taken j n raising the batsman’s personal score from 0 to 100: 35 minutes Fender, P. G. H. (113*) v . Northants, Northampton ... 1920 4<> .. Jessop. G. L. doll v Yorkshire, Harrogate . 1897 42 Jessop, G. 1,. <l9l' v Players of South, Hastings 1907 45 Voce. \\ . (129) v . Glamorgan. Trent Bridge ... 1931 48 Carr, A. W. (124) v . Sussex. Hove 1925 50 ~ Gehrs, I.’. P.. A. 'll9' v . West Australia. Adelaide 1912-3 50 Hutchings. K L. (100) v.Gloucester. Catford 1909 51 .. Hardstaff. J. (jn.) (126) v . Kent, Canterbury 1937 52 .. Constantine, L. (100) v. Tasmania. Launceston 1930-1 54 „ Crawford, J. N. (114) v . South Australia, Adelaide 1907-8 ('Raphael. J. E., made 111 in 55 minutes v. Worcester in 1905; Jessop, G. L„ made 116 in 60 minutes v. Kent, in 1913; Hornby, A. H., 93 in 40 minutes of his innings of 106* v. Somerset in 1905; but I have not been able to discover times for reaching the hundred for any of these three innines.)

tuicr uiiit'b t'Ji t t_<t(. hiiil; lijv nuiiutuu Not often has a hundred been scored within an hour, and apart from the innings just mentioned, the feat has been done by the following batsmen only:—Jessop, G. L. (three times), Foster. G. N.. Foster, R. E., Lyons, J. J., Llewellyn. Simms, H. L„ Streatlield. E., Trumper, V.—and, since the war by Bariiett. H. T., Barnett, Bettington, R. H., Brown, C. R., Carr, A. W., Constantine, L. N., Cox (G. junr.i, Fender, P. G. H„ and Lord Tennyson. Even rarer that scoring 100 in an hour is the feat of reaching 50 in 15 minutes. Jim Smith, in making 65 v. Gloucester at Bristol last year, reached 50 in 11 minutes, and the only efforts approaching this are:—ss* in 13 minutes by Hitch (68*) v. Gentlemen of Scarborough 1913; 50* in 13 minutes by Tate (142) v. Hampshire at Horsham 1921. Other 50’s in a quarter of an hour have been made by Cox (G. junr.), Dacre. Earle. G. F., Foster. F. R., Hardstaff. Jessop, G. L. Mann, F. T., Murrell, Pegler, S„ and Smith. J. While Jessop features only once m this list of fast fifties, he scored easily the fastest °OO ever made when he reached 200 in 2 hours in his innings of 286 <made under three hours) against Sussex at Hove in 1903, but no doubt this time would have been broken by himself with his innings of

i anj oi i-nese inree innings.) 191 in 90 minutes against the Players | of the South in 1907, and by Alletson I with 189 (also in 90 minutes) v. Sussex lin 1911, had either of them managed to reach 200. Jessop reached 200 in under two an 1 a-half hours on three other occasions, land only five other batsmen, namely; •.Macartney, C. G., Maxwell, C. R., Mor--1 rison, J. S. F., Walford, M., and Woods, S. M. J., have managed to do this. I Very seldom do fast-scored innings ; last as long as to reach 300. but there have been ftiree remarkable triple centuries, namely—Woolley’s 305* in hours v. Tasmania in 1911-12, C. G. • Macartney’s .345 in 4 hours v. Notts in • 1921. and D. Bradman’s 369 in 4 hours !13 minutes v. Tasmania in 1935-36. ! Macartney reached his 300 in 205 I * minutes; Bradman took eight* minutes ; longer to reach the same figure. ; In compiling this brief list of fast : scoring achievements I have checked ' I the times as carefully as possible, but figures given in news reports often t 'differ, and information is not always j I adequate. It must also be realised that reckon- ; ing by time can never be completely! satisfactory, but the innings I have i mentioned here are so exceptional that 'we can let the figures speak for them- I selves.