July 5, 1935 – When Stan Nichols was denied a six due to non-striker's late arrival

Yorkshire was cruising in the 1935 County Championship when they toured Colchester to take on the Essex team at the Castle Park Cricket Ground. Yorkshire won seven matches outright out of the 13 games they played while another six ended in a draw. Essex team was slightly low on confidence after suffering five outright defeats in the 11 matches they played before taking on the Yorkshire. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first in this 3-day match that began on July 3rd.

Brian Sellers, the Yorkshire captain, top-scored with 69 runs but his team was bundled out on the first day for 253. Stan Nichols and John Stephenson claimed four wickets apiece to keep the visitors down to a modest total. However, their batting performances weren’t up to the mark in reply as they were collapsed to 150 with Bill Bowes bagging a 7-wicket haul which included four ‘bowled’ dismissals.

Wickets fall in a hurry!

Skipper Sellers (57 runs) scored his second fifty of the match while Wilf Barber made 73 as Yorkshire declared their second innings at 228/5 in 68 overs. They declared at the start of the final day’s play and set a target of 332 in front of Essex. Victor Evans picked four wickets but couldn’t stop the Yorkshire from posting a solid total. The home team’s struggle continued as they were reduced to 41/4 from 39/1.

Bill Bowes took three of the four wickets to fall and completed a 10-wicket match haul. Things happened quite quickly while Essex lost three wickets for just two runs. As a result, the No.6 batsman Charlie Bray couldn’t make to the crease by the time the action on the field resumed. No one on the field, including the umpires, failed to recognize the missing non-striker while Stan Nichols began to face Hedley Verity.

Where is the non-striker?

Nichols decided to loft one in the bowling of Verity which landed well over the fence. Meanwhile, the umpires and fielders found the absence of the non-striker. When Bray finally joined the crease, the officials were involved in a discussion to decide the fate of the six struck by the Nichols. The umpires settled to rule out everything that happened in the absence of the non-striker. Nichols was gutted about the decision as it was not an easy task to smash a Verity for a six.

Stan Nichols was later trapped in front by the same bowler after scoring 17 runs which happened straight away after Charlie Bray changed his bat. Verity finished with a 5-wicket haul as he picked up five of Essex’s last six wickets. Bray top-scored in Essex’s second innings with 25 while they were bowled out for only 105 runs. Yorkshire went on to win the County Championship by a clear 55-point lead as they won 19 matches outright out of the 30.