Ted Alletson's great innings

Edwin Boaler Alletson's great innings was for Nottinghamshire against Sussex at Hove in May 1911.

First a brief recap of the match: Notts won the toss and batted first. Though the captain A.O. Jones and George Gunn (stumped for 90) batted well, Nottinghamshire totalled only 238 all out. Ted Alletson scored 7. Nottinghamshire were undone by the "occasional" bowling of Killick (5-14). Sussex spent the rest of the first day and most of the second establishing a commanding 176 run lead.

When Nottinghamshire went in again, Jones was out immediately but his opening partner Iremonger and George Gunn put together a good partnership until Gunn was stumped again at 129. Before long, Hardstaff, John Gunn, Payton, Whysall and Iremonger were out; Nottinghamshire were 185 for 7 and lletson was in. His partner was Lee, another allrounder in name, if not in practice. Together, they put together a bright 73 runs for the 8th wicket in 40 minutes when Lee was dismissed. In the very next over the new batsman Oated was bowled and lunch was taken at 260-9. Alletson had compiled 47* at lunch, at a rate which was as brisk as he ever had scored.

During lunch Alletson was heard to ask his skipper Jones if, with one wicket left and only 84 runs on, it really mattered how he now played. Jones said he thought not. In that case, said Alletson, he was going to go for Tim Killick. What happened in the next 40 minutes made the No. 9 batsman famous.

The figures tell the tale:

Edwin Boaler Alletson: 189, Notts vs Sussex, May 20, 1911

Whole Innings After Lunch -------------------------------- Runs 189 142 Time (min) 90 40 Balls 106 (approx) 51 6's 8 8 4's 23 18 3's 4 2 2's 10 6 1's 17 4 Balls not scored off 44(approx) 13 Scoring rate (runs/hr) 178 278 Runs scored by team 227 152 % of total runs scored 83.26 93.42 Balls bowled by Sussex 156(approx) 68 Runs/over by Notts 8.84 13.81 Runs/100 balls by Notts 146 213

Scoring after lunch:

(Balls faced by Riley in parentheses; * = no score)

Killick * 4 4 1 (*)(1) Leach (1) 2 4 2 * 1 -do- 6 * 4 2 4 6 -do- (*)(3) 4 * 6 3 -do- 4 4 * 2 1 (*) -do- 4 6 * 4 3 (*) -do- 4 6 6 * 4 4 4 6 Relf (1) * * * * 4 Cox (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(3) -do- (1) 4 2 2 6 1 -do- 4 4 out

Tim Killick's last over (which included 2 no balls) yielded 34 runs to a rampant Alletson (the record until Sobers smashed 36 off Nash). However, the two new bowlers introduced immediately after the over, Cox and Relf did seem to contain Alletson a bit, but Alletson was beginning to hit them as well when he was caught at the boundary (all reports say that the fielder was actually outside the boundary). In the course of 5 consecutive overs- 3 from Killick & 2 from Leach, Alletson scored 97 runs out of a 100. Notts was all out for 412 & nearly won the game as Sussex hung on for a draw at 213-8, needing 237 to win.

Alletson never played as devastating an innings again, though he did manage 60 in 30 minutes in his very next innings and 88 in 40 minutes two years later, an innings in which he hit the great Wilfred Rhodes for 3 consecutive 6's.