County Championship 11th (jt with Lancashire) W6, D15, L5
Captain William Sime
The team moved slightly up the Championship table from 14th to a joint 11th, winning six matches and losing five.
The main feature of the season was the batting of Joe Hardstaff, Reg Simpson and the evergreen Walter Keeton, who occupied respectively the positions of first, third and fifth in the national averages.
Hardstaff joined the distinguished company of Arthur Shrewsbury and George Gunn, the only other Notts batters to have topped the list to that point. He also set a new mark, having scored more centuries than any other Notts player (to that date).
Keeton and Harris also set up a county record for century opening partnerships, having performed this feat on 43 occasions.
Eric Meads played in every match but one; against Somerset he voluntarily stood down to give Eddie Rowe a chance, who kept wicket with competence (he was to play more than 100 First-Class games for Notts).
The season began disappointingly with two draws and two defeats in the first four matches. The first game, away at Lord’s was very tense – Middlesex finishing on 197-9, chasing 221 to win.
The draw against Gloucestershire is most interesting in hindsight for the 139 scored by Tom Graveney, the first of 122 First-Class hundreds that he would make in an illustrious career. Walter Keeton almost matched the Gloucester man, making 124.
Away to Hampshire, Notts fell 36 runs short of the victory target, being all our 226 in their second innings.
The match versus Kent was lost by a greater margin, seven wickets, a century from Arthur Fagg and seven second innings wickets for Doug Wright sealing a win for the visitors.
Notts gained their first win of the season against Northamptonshire by scoring 245 in very fast time, due chiefly to Joe Hardstaff, who scored 114 not out. This match was remarkable in that Hardstaff scored 100no in the first innings, thus scoring two centuries (both not out) in one match for the first time in his long and brilliant career.
Exactly 200 by Reg Simpson, opening with Charlie Harris in Keeton’s absence, ensured that Nottinghamshire beat Surrey by eight wickets, even though Laurie Fishlock emulated Hardstaff by scoring a century in each innings for the visiting side.
Notts visited Brentwood for the first time and did not find the visit a success, going down to Essex by 10 wickets. Eric Martin, who would go on to play 125 First-Class games, made his Notts debut in this match.
Leicestershire inflicted an even heavier defeat at Loughborough, Frank Prentice making 191 as the home side won by an innings and 24 runs. Immediate revenge – by nine wickets – was ensured at Trent Bridge with Simpson becoming the second Notts player to make a century in each innings within the space of five matches.
Winston Place, who had such a great record against Notts, was again the principal factor in securing a draw for Lancashire, making 226. He was almost matched by Keeton in the next game, against Yorkshire; the opener made 210 and put on 260 with Hardstaff (162) in a drawn fixture at Bramhall Lane.
Nottinghamshire then won against Hampshire in a match that had four separate century makers, the home side winning by 5 wickets.
This was followed by a sequence of seven drawn games. Another double hundred by Keeton (208) and a big partnership with Hardstaff (124) was the familiar story of the match against Glamorgan. Keeton (134) took second place to Simpson (238) as they put on 318 for the first wicket against Lancashire.
The entire side only made 207 in the draw away to Worcestershire at the War Memorial Ground, Amblecote, a venue only used rarely for First-Class matches after 1962.
A fore-shortened home game against Yorkshire was drawn despite sporting declarations on both sides; Yorkshire declared the first innings at 150-2, a lead of just four runs, and Notts their second innings at 138-2, but time was still the only winner.
Unremarkable draws followed against Essex and Derbyshire. Eric Bedser took the spotlight in the draw with Surrey, making his career-best 163 as an opener but rain washed out the final day; Bernarr ‘Bill’ Notley made his only First-Class appearance for Notts in this match.
Nottinghamshire got back to winning ways at Hastings, beating Sussex by eight wickets, Simpson and Poole being the century makers.
Simpson was back in the side having been on England duty in the Third Test against New Zealand at Edgbaston. In his first Test on home soil, he made 103, the highest score of the drawn match.
He fared less well against the tourists in the county game at Trent Bridge; Joe Hardstaff made 123 for the home side but with John Reid (120) and Geoff Rabone (155) putting together a healthy stand of 246, the game was drawn.
Notts completed the only double of their season, beating Sussex at Trent Bridge by an innings and 85 runs. Peter Harvey, with match figures of 9-146, was the main contributor to the win.
The next match saw a similar margin but this time against Notts, Northamptonshire winning by an innings and 13 runs.
The last four matches of the season were all draws. The first was away to Glamorgan, played at Cardiff Arms Park; this was followed by home draws with Derbyshire and Somerset before the final fixture was played at Edgbaston.
Walter Keeton passed 2000 First-Class runs for the season in this game, joining Joe Hardstaff who had passed the same milestone a game earlier. Reg Simpson almost made it three, scoring 1977 in the season. The batting strength was such that Cyril Poole also passed 1000 First-Class runs.
In March, on the initiative of the Club, the Nottinghamshire Youth Cricket Advisory Committee was formed. This consisted of representatives of all organisations interested in youth with the object of encouraging cricket by schoolboys* and youths. With the co-operation of the club, that Committee organised classes at Trent Bridge for training cricket coaches with Bill Voce and Keeton as instructors. It is believed that these were the first of their kind.
The deaths were announced of E. S. Heane, Tom Oates and Frank Dalling. E. S. Heane (no first names recorded) brother of former captain George, appeared on several occasions for the Second XI and the wartime County XI.
Tom Oates was the wicket-keeper who played for the county from 1897 to 1920 and Frank Dalling was ground superintendent and looked after the gatemen’s staff.
*In 1949, it was just ‘schoolboys’ that were being sought.
January 2026
Scorecards and stats can be seen here