COVERED 2024 Winter

A century has now passed since Nottinghamshire’s Ashes icon Harold Larwood made his First- Class debut. But, new stories and souvenirs are still being discovered to this day. STORY BY Peter Smith & John Hess HAROLD’ S HUNDRED 37 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR ALL THE LATEST: TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK/MAILINGLIST HERITAGE F or Notts cricket fans, August 2024 saw an anniversary worthy of toasting. 100 years prior – on 20 August 1924 – one of the club’s all-time homegrown sporting heroes, Harold Larwood, made his debut for Nottinghamshire in First- Class cricket. At that time, Larwood, who hailed from a coal mining family, was in his early 20s. Born in Nuncargate, near Kirkby- in-Ashfield, he initially worked at the local pit in Annesley. His father, Richard, also worked underground, but when he came to the surface and daylight, he would take his son to the local village playing fields to practice with bat and ball. Even then, Larwood was obsessed by cricket. His dad made bats from wood off-cuts and bought ninepenny cricket balls – albeit they would last barely a week with his boy’s swashbuckling ball-striking. He was modestly built and weighed less than 11 stone, but what particularly stands out in some early photographs are Larwood’s piercing eyes.There’s an intensity looking straight into the camera lens; a laser-like focus which would bode well. The 1924 season started with a warm- up match against the Notts Cricket Association, in which Larwood bagged seven wickets for 49 runs. He then saw success in Minor Counties matches – including 6-70 against Staffordshire. Little wonder he was to earn selection in the first team. His debut came against Northamp- tonshire at Trent Bridge in August – for which the weather was distinctly average. Rain had affected all three days of play. Yet, in between the showers, Larwood took his first wicket in the County Championship. It would have been a moment to savour. The wicket was that of Vallance Jupp, an experiencedTest player who was described byWisden as “the best amateur all-rounder” in county cricket. He was lbw for 23 runs.