Personalities In Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 873, 17 January 1930, Page 7

Personalities In Sport

Fastest of M. C. C. ’s Fast Set of Bowlers

Prior to Harold Larwood’s burst into fame, M. S. Xichols, the Essex professional, who was so successful against New Zealand in the first test, was regarded as All-England’s coming fast bowler. Xichols bowls right hand, but with the willow he is a left-hand, forcing batsman. He is 29 years of age, and is an enthusiastic and untiring player. He secured a regular place in the Essex side in 1925, by an all-round advance in his cricket. Though not ranking as a really fast bowler in 1926, he showed in that season considerable pace, swerve and life from the pitch. He took 110 wickets for the county and Wisden’s remarked that, in the supremacy of the bat that year, the cost, 26.05 runs each, was not excessive. As an all-rounder Nichols stood out by himself in the Essex team in *1927, averaging 22.47 runs in 43 innings, with a highest score of 76, and taking 118 wickets at 21.27 runs each. His two outsanding bowling performances that year were nine for 32 against Somerset, and nine for 59 against Hampshire. He played for the South against the Xorth, and for

England against The Rest. He scored 61 against the New Zealand team, but did not do well with the ball in that match. In 1928 he was handicapped by a fractured toe, and his bowling fell off. This was compensated for, to a certain extent, by an improvement in his batting. Before he met with the injury which fractured his toe, Plum Warner, the famous England test captain of other days, remarked: “Nichols, of Essex, is a fine, energetic fast bowler. He can make the ball rise, and bowls a disconcerting scries of length balls that pitch on the wicket and swing away. If backward point and three slips could take every chance that is offered, Nichols would get many more wickets.” Since His accident, Nichols appears to have been rather laboured in his bowling. However, he has increased his pace, even if he is not so consistently fast over a long period as his team mate, F. Barratt, can be. He has by no means an ideal action for a fast bowler, but he can stano work, and he attacks the batsmen constantly.