August 30, 1948 – When Donnelly was bowled in the most unfortunate way

Middlesex hosted Warwickshire for the last game of the 1948 County Championship at the Lord’s and wanted to finish on a high having missed their chances to win the Championship title. The home team got off to a flyer as each of their top four batsmen got a fifty after electing to bat first. John Richardson (68) and Sydney Brown added 100 for the opening wicket while William Edrich and Denis Compton shared 111 for the 3rd wicket.

Edrich scored 122 during his 140-minute stay with 17 fours and a six while Compton made a fine 84. Middlesex were cruising with 344/3 at one stage as their top-order shared fifty-plus stands for each of the first four wickets in this innings. However, a middle and lower order debacle saw the hosts get bundled out for 379 before the end of day’s play having lost their last seven wickets for only 35 runs.

Warwickshire, in response, made only 110 as four of their batsmen bagged ducks as leg-spinner John Sims took 4/38 in his 14.2 overs. With a huge 269-run lead in hand, Middlesex decided to enforce the follow-on with nearly five sessions of play left in the match. Fortunes didn’t change for the visiting side in the 2nd innings too as they lost their openers for 45 runs on the board.

The dismissal:

They were still 225 runs apart from avoiding an innings defeat, James Ord joined forces with Martin Donnelly for a big 3rd wicket stand. The pair added 147 runs to bring down the deficit under 80 runs before one of the most unfortunate dismissals in the history of the game followed. Donnelly, batting on 55, tried to play a full-length ball from John Young but the left-arm spinner’s delivery ended up hitting the left-handed batsman’s boot.

The ball then lobbed over his head and landed behind wicketkeeper having beaten him as well. It landed two feet away from the stumps but on the footmarks of the bowlers. As a result, the ball bounced back to rattle the stumps and send Donnelly back to the pavilion. The Warwickshire batsman would have been declared not out if the ball made any contact with a fielder on its way to the stumps.

An easy win in the end:

Donnelly’s wicket opened up the game for Middlesex as they soon dismissed Ord as well who scored 134 during his three and half hours of resilience. They ended the second day at 270/6 with a one-run lead in hand. However, they lost their last four wickets for three runs to be bowled out on 288. The home team took 5.5 overs and lost one wicket while chasing the target of 20 runs.

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