South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 13 June 1930
Mexborough Set Pace
But Denaby Refuse To Follow
The Whitsuntide cricket fare at Hampden Road on Saturday provided plenty of excitement until the last hour of play, when cricket was seen at its worst.
A good deal of the excitement was caused by the attitude of the Denaby captain, R Carlin, whose side was much weakened by the absence of the strongest batsmen. He loosened the tongues of the spectators by his open disgust at the umpire’s decisions on his repeated appeals when bowling, and on one occasion he threw down the ball after an unsuccessful appeal for a catch behind the wicket. This action aroused further outspoken comment from a number of the spectators, and then we had the unusual spectacle of a captain and spectators engaged in a rather hot combat of words, Carlin standing on the field and facing the pavilion. During this incident play was held up and when that little episode was concluded, there were further words between the Denaby captain and the Mexboro’ captain, W. B. Broadhead.
Mexboro’ had gained the advantage of first innings on a wicket which appeared to be a batsman’s paradise, and the first thrill for the spectators came when Brown lost his wicket at 14. Then, for the first time this season, there was a stand by Broadhead and Ambler, which was long overdue. Their batting was most pleasant, to say the least, and by means of powerful and nicely times hits all round the wicket, the total was taken to 144 before Ambler was bowled.
Two further wicket fell cheaply and the spectators had a big disappointment when Broadhead give an easy catch to Carlin with the score at 90. It was a most polished display brought to a close by a bad stroke. The batsmen subsequently forced the pace and a declaration was made at 211, leaving the visitors over two hours to bat.
Run getting proved a little more difficult with the Denaby men and early disasters promised an easy victory for the home side . Five wickets had fallen for 70, but a slight recovery followed and when the seventh wicket fell the total had reached 112. Richard Probert, who had batted confidently throughout, despite the failures of his colleagues, was then joined by the 18-years old W. Holland, who immediately set out to defend his wicket to the detriment of the scoring. Probert became very subdued as the partnership progressed and the cricket was practically lifeless. There were only a few scoring strokes, and although changes were rung on the attack the batsmen were not to be tempted. The tactics of the two batsmen undoubtedly saved the game for Denaby, but had they show a little more enterprise in the last quarter of an hour they might have forced a splendid victory. As it was, they had added 74 without being parted when time intervened, and only 26 more runs were needed for the full points.
Scores:
Mexboro’
W B Broadhead c Carlin b Richards 90
D Brown b Holland 2
T Ambler b Carlin 14
T Hakin b Holland 5
A Lee b Richards 9
G Williams b R Probert 23
H Leeson b Probert 4
R White not out 2
Extras 15
Total (for 7 wickets declared), 211
Denaby:
H Foster c Hakin b Ambler 0
E Robinson b R White 21
G Robinson c Leeson b Batmen 34
R Probert c Scarcliffe b White 1
R Carlin b White 13
F Clarkson c Scarcliffe b Broadhead 18
Richd. Probert not out 49
W Mycroft lbw b Ambler 7
W Holland not out 21
Extras 17
Total (for 7 wickets) 186