By Gerry Wolstenholme
Warwickshire's rivalry with Lancashire at Blackpool goes back 98 years as the midland county first visited the resort in 1908 when they were the second county side to contest a game at Blackpool, Leicestershire having visited twice in 1906 and 1907.
It was 9, 10 and 11 July 1908 that they came to what was then called Whitegate Park, having been renamed once the Athletics Ground Company that had previously had the cricket ground had gone into liquidation. The game was a closely contested one, as so many of the Warwickshire games have been, and, after a struggle, Lancashire managed a two-wicket in a low-scoring game on the final day.
Warwickshire batted first and Bill Huddleston was Lancashire's bowling star as he and Harry Dean bowled all but one of the overs in the Warwickshire innings. It was Dean who took the first wicket when he bowled William Quaife for a duck but thereafter Huddleston took centre stage. The first three batsmen failed to reach double figures and only three of the others did so. The amateur from Cambridge Harold Goodwin was top scorer with 32 before Huddleston had him caught by Alfred Hartley and Lancashire-born Charles Baker made 23 and another amateur Alfred Glover made 17 as Warwickshire were bowled out for just 120. Huddleston took 7-51, the best innings return at Blackpool up to that time and Dean had 3-55.
If Lancashire thought the total was a meagre one, it looked a long way off when they began their reply by losing amateur openers Archie Spooner and Hartley with only four runs on the board. But "an admirable display of batting" by another amateur, Australian-born Leslie Poidevin, who had been absent from the cricket field for some time, saw Lancashire eventually secure a first innings lead of 29 runs. Poidevin made 80 not out and his main assistance came from another two more amateurs, Ken MacLeod and Albert Hornby, son of 'Monkey' Hornby, who both made 12. The lead was restricted due to some fine bowling from Frank Foster, 5-36, and Syd Santall, 4-49.
Warwickshire's second innings began well with Quaife, 41, and Kinneir, 19, wiping out the Lancashire lead before being parted. But once they had gone Huddleston worked his magic once again and it was only 32 from Glover, 23 from Arthur Lilley and 15 from Goodwin that helped Warwickshire to their final 152 all out, a lead of 123. Huddleston's 6-61 gave him match figures of 13-112, the best match figures at the ground and not beaten until Cecil Parkin took 15-95 in 1923.
Lancashire fared none too well in their pursuit for victory as Santall took five wickets and eight wickets were down for 101. But Ralph Whitehead, 38 not out, "steadily hit off the runs" while Dean, six not out, "kept up his end", and Lancashire were victorious by two wickets with 125-8.
Late August 1910 saw Warwickshire return to Blackpool but the game was blighted by rain. On the first two days, Monday and Tuesday 29 and 30 August not a ball was bowled and "considering the flooding to which the ground had been subjected it was somewhat remarkable that play should have been found possible on Wednesday". However, there was no chance of a definite result and the two teams just went through the motions. Warwickshire batted first and declared at 176-5 after 72 overs with Baker making 81 not out and Quaife 60, both batsmen completing their 1,000 runs for the season in the process. Lancashire replied with 150-6 in 49 overs with Hartley making 62 and Foster continued his liking for Blackpool by taking 4-59.
It was 1938 before Warwickshire returned to the by then renamed Stanley Park. It was the last of Lancashire's games for the season, played on 27, 29 and 30 August and the game ended in a draw after being badly affected by rain. By comparison with the two previous encounters it was a high scoring contest. Lancashire made 338-7 before declaring with Cyril Washbrook, 42, and Eddie Paynter, 98, putting on 119 for the first wicket before Len Hopwood "used punishing strokes" to make a fine 120 out of 175 made while he was at the wicket. Warwickshire used seven bowlers, the most successful of whom was Peter Cranmer who took 2-8.
After Warwickshire lost an early wicket in reply, Arthur Croom, 58, and John Buckingham, 85, put on 136 for the second wicket before "bold batting" by James Ord and Cranmer "raised the score rapidly". Ord made 74 with one six and 12 fours and Cranmer batted only half an hour for 42 but Warwickshire fell 17 runs short at 321 all out. Two future Northern League professionals, Len Wilkinson, 5-79, and Dick Pollard, 3-90, took eight of the Warwickshire wickets.Lancashire lost half their second innings wickets for 43 but then Hopwood, 34, and Eddie Phillipson, 43 not out, came to the rescue with a partnership of 79 runs so that Lancashire were able to declare at 152-7. Warwickshire were left with only 75 minutes to make 169 for victory and although Cranmer accepted the challenge by opening the innings and making a rapid 44 with two sixes and five fours in 35 minutes, Warwickshire could only make 81-2 as the game drifted to a draw.
Warwickshire were the second visitors after World War II, appearing at Stanley Park on 25, 26 and 27 June 1947 when rain robbed Lancashire of almost certain victory. Cranmer put Lancashire in to bat and Barry Howard completed a maiden first-class century with 109 and with 124 from Geoff Edrich, 45 from Winston Place and 42 from Ken Cranston Lancashire totalled 371.
Pollard, 6-32 including a hat-trick, the second taken at Blackpool for Lancashire, was then instrumental in bowling Warwickshire out for 129 with no batsman making 30. New Zealander Don Taylor made 28 and there were 22 each from Ord, Bill Fantham and John Hossell but everyone else fell for single figures and there were three ducks at the tail end of the innings while Pollard completed his hat-trick. Second time round Warwickshire fared little better although Hill did make 42, Hossell 33 and Taylor 31 not out but Warwickshire subsided to 147-8, still 95 runs short of making Lancashire bat again when rain caused the match to be abandoned.
Twelve years later Warwickshire returned and one of their batsmen produced the greatest display of hitting ever seen at Stanley Park. They were three fine days on 29, 30 and 31 July 1959 and the pith was conducive to good batting. Warwickshire's Jim Stewart took full advantage with a powerful display that saw him become the first batsman at Stanley Park to make a century in each innings. Not only that but he put up a new world record for the number of sixes hit in a game as he smote Jack Dyson, Tommy Greenhough, Malcolm Hilton and the rest for 17 of them, many sailing out of the ground.
But it was Lancashire who took centre stage on the opening day as all the first seven batsmen got a good start with captain Alan Wharton, who "made runs freely" and David Green both making 88. Peter Marner made 77, Jack Bond 38 not out, Malcolm Hilton, 34 and Geoff Pullar 31 so that a declaration was made at 389-6.
Warwickshire opened with a stand of 97, as Lancashire had also done, by Norman Horner, who made 39 and Stewart. Then Stewart and Mike Smith, 76, put on 141 for the third wicket. Stewart was eventually caught by the long-suffering Hilton off Ken Higgs for 155 made in 195 minutes and struck 10 sixes, one short of the world record for an innings, and 12 fours. Even with 42 from Ray Hitchcock Warwickshire fell 57 runs behind, being bowled out for 332 with Greenhough taking 5-77 and Dyson 3-53.
Wharton "batted excellently" in making 122 in Lancashire's second innings and he and Pullar, 84, put on 183 for the first wicket. A declaration was made at 222-4 that set Warwickshire to make 280 for victory in 160 minutes. With Stewart once again in devastating form they took up the challenge, much to the regret of Dyson whose two overs were despatched for 34 runs by Stewart who finished with 125 with seven sixes and 12 fours. Townsend made 80 in a second-wicket alliance that produced 159 runs but in the end Warwickshire fell short of their target and had to settle for a draw at 247-6.
The two teams fought out another draw on 18, 19 and 20 August 1965, but this time it was an exciting one with Warwickshire falling eight short of victory with their last pair at the wicket. Lancashire first innings was a modest 162, which was reached by the addition of 51 runs from the last two wickets as Brian Statham made 18, Greenhough 30 not out and last man Keith Goodwin 11 as Roger Edmonds took 4-40 and Tom Cartwright 3-28.
Warwickshire's reply was ruined by Greenhough's 5-46 and only 54 from John Jameson and 53 from Mike Smith helped Warwickshire reach 221, a first innings lead of 59 runs. When Lancashire replied Pullar was out early but Green, 85, and Harry Pilling, 132, put on 153 for the second wicket in even time. There was 37 from Duncan Worsley and 34 from Ken Snellgrove and this helped Lancashire to declare at 318-6, setting Warwickshire a target of 260 in 190 minutes.
Once again Warwickshire set about their task with gusto and Bob Barber, 39, and Khalid Ibadulla, 69, put on a rapid 89 for the first wicket. Contributions from down the order then put Warwickshire on course for victory but Statham returned to the attack to take three wickets on his way to 4-64 and with Greenhough taking 4-103 Lancashire just did enough to ensure a draw as Warwickshire closed on 252-9.
It was Mike Smith's match in 1973 when on the first day, 22 August, he made an imperious 161 and his side totalled 350 after losing both openers, Jameson and Neal Abberley, with only four runs on the board. Norman McVicker contributed "a spirited" 65 and skipper Alan Smith made 46 while the bowling honours went to Peter Lee, 3-82, and David Lloyd, 3-51 but "taking the opportunity to bowl Hughes for a long spell [39 overs], Lancashire saw their left-hand spinner punished for 110 runs in picking up two wickets".
Lancashire lost wickets regularly when they replied and only 42 from John Sullivan and 41 from Snellgrove enabled them to reach 231 as they "found McVicker in good form with the ball" as he took 4-46 and was aided by 3-65 from Eddie Hemmings. But Lancashire hit back strongly with Lee and Peter Lever bowling superbly to take 5-30 and 4-25 respectively. Fortunately for Warwickshire McVicker made 34 as only Jameson with 12 reached double figures of the rest as they were bowled out for 72, which left Lancashire a good chance of victory needing just 192.
However it was not to be and they fell 19 runs short, being bowled out for 173 with David Brown taking 5-30. It was disappointing because after Lloyd had gone early, Barry Wood, 34, Pilling, 40, and Snellgrove, 33, had taken them to 115-3 but no other batsman could make any headway and the county suffered its first defeat at the hands of Warwickshire in Blackpool.
A second defeat was suffered on 11, 12 and 13 August 1976 when Warwickshire won more easily by four wickets. On a pitch of uncertain pace and bounce Lancashire struggled to reach 201 and only did so thanks to an unbeaten 94, with 14 boundaries, by David Hughes, batting at number eight. Lloyd made 57 but good seam bowling by Steve Rouse, 3-54, Brown, 3-32, and Bill Bourne, 4-39, helped Warwickshire hold sway.
It was the spinners who did the damage when Warwickshire batted as Bob Arrowsmith, on his championship debut, took 5-57, and Hughes took 4-49 as the visitors were dismissed for 203. There were starts from K Smith, 33, John Whitehouse, 23, Rohan Kanhai, 33, Neal Abberley, 34, Eddie Hemmings, 27 not out, and Geoff Humpage, 20, but none could go on to capitalise and give Warwickshire a commanding lead.
Sadly Lancashire's second innings was not impressive as "the ball began to turn and lift" and only Frank Hayes with 42 made much headway. The next best was 25 from Sullivan and then the only other batsman to reach 20 was John Abrahams as Lancashire fell for 174. Bourne took 3-50 and R le Q Savage 3-23.
Warwickshire batted steadily to reach their target, which they did with 175-6 as K Smith made 48, Whitehouse 38 and Kanhai 30 while Arrowsmith could not quite reproduce his first innings form but his 2-66 gave him an impressive seven wickets on his debut.
It was 21 years later when Warwickshire returned to Stanley Park on 6, 7, 8 and 9 August 1997 and after a pulsating three days cricket Lancashire won an exciting game by three wickets with over a day to spare. At one point it looked as though the game would be over early on the third day, so much so that the authorities allowed spectators into the ground free and those that took advantage, and the crowd swelled as the drama unfolded, saw two-third's of a day's play as Warwickshire fought back magnificently. They failed at the last thanks to some gritty batting from Warren Hegg and Gary Yates.
But all that followed the happenings of the first two days when Warwickshire were dismissed for 137 thanks to Peter Martin who "utilised the conditions superbly while taking 6-46". He had four cheap wickets in his opening 11-over spell but then some resistance came from Trevor Penney, 20, Doug Brown, 42, and Graham Welch, 27 so that from 44-5 Warwickshire reached their modest total. Ian Austin was Lancashire's other wicket-taker with 4-45.
Despite a savage new-ball spell from Allan Donald, Lancashire at 194-3 had taken the lead by the close of the first day and Austin then made 68 following on from Neil Fairbrother's 60 and Graham Lloyd's 75. With the help of "an adventurous innings of 32" by Yates plus a generous 59 extras, including 30 no balls and seven wides, Lancashire reached 362, a lead of 223 runs.
A spell three wickets in 10 deliveries by Darren Shadford had Warwickshire floundering at a sorry 98-6 and the lead looked sufficient to give the Red Rose county an innings victory but then Brown, 53 at a run-a-ball, and Welch, 38, started a minor recovery and put on 81 runs for the seventh wicket, riches indeed in view of what had gone before. But by the close Warwickshire were only 19 runs ahead at 241-8 with Ashley Giles 34 not out and Frost nine not out so the decision was made to allow spectators in for nothing on the final morning.
But it was not to be just a morning for Giles showed that he could bat and went on to make 72 while Frost made 40 and the 107-run partnership for the ninth wicket enabled Warwickshire to eventually total 310. Shadford finished with 5-80 and Austin, who wrapped up the innings by having Giles caught by Yates, had 3-78. It was a great effort by Warwickshire but they still looked as though they had left themselves little to bowl at Lancashire required only 91 runs for victory.
The Warwickshire bowlers had other ideas and Donald opened as his fastest and put the batsmen on their guard so that Welch at the other end benefited. Lancashire were soon in trouble at 28-4 and then 45-6 with only Nathan Wood resisting the onslaught. Brown had him caught by Waugh for 26 and at 67-7 an unlikely Warwickshire victory looked a distinct possibility. Fortunately for Lancashire Hegg, 16 not out, and Yates, 14 not out, saw Lancashire to an exciting three-wicket victory.
So with Warwickshire leading the series at Blackpool by two games to one, Lancashire will want to redress the balance and bring parity back to the results over the next four days. Weather permitting it should be enthralling cricket.
