ABSTRACT
Golden summers So far our attention has been focused on the interruptions by rain, or the moist conditions in which swing bowlers profit. We now switch to those long, hot days of summer when the sun shone, batsmen prospered and fast bowlers toiled for little reward. Perhaps the best example of such a golden summer was in 1947 when Denis Compton topped the first-class batting averages with 3,816 runs at an average of 90.85, closely followed by his Middlesex colleague Bill Edrich with 3,539 runs at 80.43. During that marvellous summer for batsmen, Compton hit 18 centuries and Edrich 12, whilst their team-mate Jack Robertson chipped in with 12. Many other batsmen had fine seasons during 1947, with 11 centuries being scored by Yorkshire's Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook of Lancashire, for whom Winston Place also registered 10 hundreds.
