ON THIS DAY by Paul Hargreaves.
16th May, 1921. East Lancashire vs Lowerhouse
The 1921 season saw pro’ Billy Cook in destructive form for Lowerhouse and East Lancs weren’t spared on this day.
Batting first the home side crumbled to 75 all out. It was an ominous start for them when pro’ Victor Norbury was run out for merely a single. The Hampshire county man had 10 seasons at the Meadows scoring almost six thousand runs, with ten centuries. Herbert Emmett’s 19 was the top score as Cook faced little resistance. His final tally of 7-28 would be a personal best for most cricketers. For Cook it was just another Saturday. Ho hum! Lowerhouse legend Tommy Shutt took the other two wickets. These two players took over 3,000 Lancashire League wickets between them but sadly neither is acknowledged on their respective final resting places. That doesn’t seem right. Surely their respective efforts deserved better accolades.
‘House’s reply wasn’t entirely convincing but every batter at least contributed and the target was reached with 6 wickets down. As was customary in this era the play continued after the target was reached until they were all out or time elapsed at 7 p.m. Clearly spectators wanted value for their entrance fee, and to be fair in pre-television days they didn’t have ‘The Generation Game’ , ‘Ant and Dec’ or ‘Gladiators’ to rush home for.
Norbury ended with 8-43, a fine effort in a losing cause.
Lowerhouse went on to finish tenth in the final standings, two places above East Lancs. The abiding memory of the 1921 season was the unbreakable pro’ bowling record Billy Cook set. His 130 wickets is 18 higher than the second placed Fred Webster achieved later in the decade.