County Championship 14th (W5, D11, L10)
Captain William Sime
A season that ended with Notts again struggling near to foot of the Championship began in an encouragingly positive way – two wins and a very rare ‘tied draw’ in the first three matches.
This was as good as it got, just three more victories in the rest of the summer.
In his Captain's Report, William Sime said, “The first three matches of the season contained so many thrills and so much of all that was good and exciting in cricket that it was almost impossible to believe that this was the side of which a scribe forecasting the cricket season is a well-known daily newspaper, had said, ‘they will have to struggle hard for the few points they will probably earn’.”
In the match against Warwickshire, on the last day after lunch, it looked as if the game would end in an easy win for Notts, despite a hundred in each innings by Jack Ord. However, the Warwickshire tail-enders and Notts were left to get 76 runs in 35 minutes. The runs were made by 5.23pm and Notts won an exciting match by 8 wickets.
Joe Hardstaff started the season much as he had ended the previous one – with a big hundred, making 182no.
The Bank Holiday match with Surrey saw another late run chase - Keeton and Hardstaff scoring 64 and 79 respectively at such a pace that Winrow joined Giles at 4.30pm only 47 runs were needed with one hour to go. Nothing daunted those two knocked off the runs in half an hour and thereby enabled the team to catch an earlier train for Southend.
At Southend, Keeton and Hardstaff both got centuries. Once again the last day proved thoroughly exciting, Notts declaring at 11.30 am leaving Essex, 328 runs to win. With the aid of some magnificent batting by Tom Pearce, the Essex Captain, and ‘generous’ fielding from Notts, Essex appeared to be in an impregnable position.
With one over to go they required three runs to win and Pearce faced the bowling from Jepson. He scored a single off the first ball; his partner risked a single off the next and then Jepson bowled Pearce with the scores equal.
Three wickets to fall and 1 run to win with 3 balls to go. Price failed to score off the next two and the third struck him on the leg. Sime recalled, “Umpire Ashdown raised his hand to a mighty appeal from the whole of the Notts side who were clustered round the bat.” The scores were tied, unusual in a drawn game, and both sides were awarded six points.
However, the strain of these three finishes told and Notts lost at Peterborough to Northamptonshire by 10 wickets, making just 135 and 106.
The Australian’s first visit to Trent Bridge was a drawn match, notable for the batting of both Hardstaff and Simpson in both innings. Hardstaff scored the first century against the tourists. The Notts bowlers also did very well in dismissing the Australians for 400 on a perfect wicket.
Australia were to return in June for the First Test in which Joe Hardstaff made his last England appearance. Despite a tremendous rearguard action in the second innings – led by Dennis Compton’s 184 – England could not match the firepower of the visitors for whom Donald Bradman and Lindsay Hassett both made centuries to help ensure a comfortable eight wicket win. Curiously, in this season of 'Bradman's Invincibles', the Don himself made a second innings duck, ct Hutton b Bedser after ten balls - not quite as dramatic as his final Test innings a few weeks late at The Oval.
In the Championship, rain reduced the Leicestershire match to a dismal draw; in this fixture, John Clay – who in 1961 would become the first professional to skipper Nottinghamshire in almost seventy years – made his debut.
Two other debutants in that game – Bill Ellis and Edward Blagg – were to play just three First-Class matches for Notts between them.
In the next match of note was the Lancashire game at Old Trafford, Notts were bowled out for 45; Reg Simpson top scoring with 10, the only double figure innings. Lancs, led by 146 from Cyril Washbrook, posted 222-3 dec and then dismissed Notts the second time for a marginally better 120. The home side duly completed a ten-wicket win.
Yorkshire almost matched their Roses rivals, winning at Headingley by 204 runs and dismissing Notts for 113 and 97.
Nottinghamshire then met eventual champions Glamorgan – their first title – at home and away in successive matches. The game at Trent Bridge was a draw with Charlie Harris’s 146 the only innings of note.
At St Helen’s, Swansea, the Welsh side showed why they were worthy champions, winning by 221 runs as Notts made 217 and just 75. Cyril Poole, who played some 400 games for Notts, debuted in the away fixture.
Notts batters continued to struggle for runs, making 115 and 198 to lose to Somerset at Bath by an innings and 25 runs.
That run of sub-200 innings persisted in the home match versus Middlesex; scores of 135 and 186 leaving the visitors winners by an innings and 18 runs.
A draw with Worcestershire saw Notts finally make a decent score, 334, to earn a draw when Roly Jenkins and Fred Cooper each scored tons for the visitors. Another draw followed, as the weather curtailed the match against Essex.
The third win of the season was obtained against Hampshire at Portsmouth – Notts chasing 180 to win by four wickets.
What Bill Sime described as ‘the usual grim game with Yorkshire’ took place at Trent Bridge. The Tykes scored 372 by lunch on the second day and Notts were then faced with a hard struggle for first innings points, which they obtained, thanks to a knock of 181 by Reg Simpson ably backed up by the rest of the side.
Cyril Poole’s first Championship hundred, 143no, and a century from Charlie Harris ensured a draw at home to Sussex, for whom John Langridge and Charlie Oakes also made centuries.
After five matches undefeated, Notts slipped back into a losing pattern, going down by an innings and 33 runs to Derbyshire at Ilkeston. A century by George Pope was the cornerstone of the Derbyshire innings.
Reg Simpson (130) and Freddie Stocks (166) put on 227 for the Notts third wicket against Northants in another draw. In the next fixture, away at The Oval, Notts reverted to their low scoring ways, making only 104 and 187 to leave Surrey clear winners by eight wickets.
Away to Kent, Nottinghamshire were hanging on at 78-4 chasing a modest 233 and were pleased with the draw.
They extracted full revenge from Derbyshire, winning the home game by an innings and 45 runs. Reg Simpson, who made 129, and Joe Hardstaff with 97 each posted 1,000 runs for the season during this match.
The mixed form showed itself in the loss to Gloucestershire, innings total of 168 and 88 leaving the home side winners by an innings and 98 runs. A dour draw with Lancashire followed and the last home game of the season resulted in defeat by two wickets to Hampshire.
Two away matches completed the campaign. The match against Leicestershire was drawn and Sussex were comfortably beaten to end the season as Notts started, with a handsome win. Captain William Sime starred with the bat, making 176 out of 398; Sussex replied with 218and, following on, 206. Notts won by nine wickets for the fifth win of a generally disappointing season.
December 2025
Scorecards and stats can be seen here