Ernest Tyldesley

(George) Ernest Tyldesley (born February 5, 1889, Roe Green, Worsley, Lancashire, England; died May 5 1962, Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire, Wales) was the younger brother of Johnny Tyldesley and the leading batsman in Lancashire's formidable batting sides of that late 1920s which broke Yorkshire's inter-war monopoly on the County Championship. He surpassed even his brother's run-scoring feats for Lancashire - though on much less fiery pitches - and remains Lancashire's most prolific run-getter of all time. As a batsman, he was much more defensive than his elder brother but still possessed an excellent range of scoring strokes and the sound, quick-footed technique that was necessary on the many sticky wickets of Lancashire was very much in evidence.

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However, owing to the amazing strength - probably never equalled before or since - of English batting when Ernest was at his peak, his opportunities of performing at higher levels than county cricket were severely limited by the presence of Hammond and Hendren. He never went on an Ashes tour and played only four times in a homes Ashes Test, but in 1921 he did very well in the last two games, scoring 78 at Old Trafford. His skill on matting wickets against Buster Nupen spinning viciously in South Africa in 1927/1928 is further proof Ernest really was a batsman of international caliber.

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Ernest Tyldesley had a slow start in county cricket in 1909, and though he played fiarly regularly for Lancashire in the following three years - scoring his first century against Sussex in 1912 - but it was 1913 before he was firmly established in the team. That season he reached 1,000 runs for the first time and in 1914, the last season before war put a stop to cricket, he maintained this form.

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After war ended, 1919 saw Tyldesley jump into the ranks of the top English batsmen with some superb batting, which resulted in his nomination as a Cricketer of the Year by Wisden. Though 1920 was uneven despite a brilliant 244 against Warwickshire, Ernest was already among a large crop of top-class professional batsmen who were to raise English batting to an unequalled level in the coming decade. 1921 saw Tyldesley make his debut in Test cricket: though he was dropped after a poor performance on a damp pitch at Trent Bridge, he played excellently in the last two games suggesting a mistake was made dropping him. 1922 saw him reach 2,000 runs for the first time, and despite treacherous wickets in Lancashire Ernest Tyldesley continued unstoppably until injury kept him out of the last half of 1925. 1926, however, saw him batting better than ever, playing a succession of innings in July unrivalled in cricket history for its consistency. Tyldesley maintained his form in 1927 despite quite incredible amounts of cricket being ruined by rain. However his superb 523 runs on the South African matting against bowlers like Nupen who could spin the ball viciously and make it rise chest-high (though not unpredictably) that placed him firmly in the league of the world's top batsmen, being backed up by his 3,024 runs in 1928. However, Ernest Tyldesley was not at his best on his only tour of Australia in 1928/1929 and the extraordinarily strong competition kept him out until injury weakened England's team at the end of the tour.

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Though he was never considered for a Test place again with Hammond, Hendren, Woolley and later Eddie Paynter entrenched in the middle order, Tyldesley remained a prolific scorer for Lancashire right up to 1934, and in 1933 had the unusual distinction of being granted a second benefit for his services to the county, though this only raised ?802 as against ?2458 for his 1924 benefit. 1935, at the age of 46, saw him again affected by injury and playing only rarely - though retaining all his skill, whilst the following year, playing as an amateur, he only played two matches before moving into business.

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Ernest Tyldesley died in 1962 in Wales, where he had at the time resided for several years.

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February 5: February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 329 days remaining (330 in leap years)....

1889: 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar)....

Worsley: Worsley, in Greater Manchester, England, is a village that is best known as one terminus of the Bridgewater Canal....

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