Date-stamped : 04 Nov95 - 02:27
"He  made a  duck in his first match for Middlesex,  and  a  duck
in his last, a memory which gave him as much pleasure as that  of
his 170 centuries."

JGLiverman`s recollections of Hendren`s last match.....

>From my  own memories I would add a comment on   Hendren`s  last
county   match  which  I saw as a schoolboy of sixteen.  The out-
standing event was not the duck he scored in the second   innings
but   the   century  he  scored in the first.  It was a three day
match against, I think, Surrey.     At Lord`s there was a capaci-
ty  crowd  of  at  least  15000, not unusual in those days before
television and one-day matches, many of us coming  to  cheer  and
send a fond farewell to our  idol `Patsy` - possibly the most po-
pular cricketer who ever played though there can be no statistics
to prove it.  Throughout my cricket watching days in the thirties
he was  a regular century maker for Middlesex against other coun-
ties and against the touring sides.   The only time he seemed un-
comfortable at the crease was before he got off the mark, and  he
aimed  to  reduce this time to the minimum  by stealing a single,
usually by a cheeky prod to leg, off his first ball.

A  speedy deep fielder in his youth - he had been a wing  forward
in  first  class soccer -  Middlesex put him in the slips when he
began to slow down in the field.    In his last two years, howev-
er,   his  eyesight was not so keen, one or two slip catches went
astray, and he returned to the deep field, probably  at  his  own
request  ,  where he covered the ground with remarkable alacrity,
held some fine catches, and was well placed  to  exchange   jokes
across the boundary with the crowd.

On this last county match in 1937  he strode  to  the  crease  to
sustained  cheers from the huge crowd and treated us to an enter-
taining innings of great distinction and showing remarkable ener-
gy and stamina for a man in his 49th year. He reached his hundred
in little over two hours and the crowd rose to him. We  gave  him
three  cheers  and  sang `For he`s a jolly good fellow` and tears
were running down many a furrowed cheek among supporters who  had
enjoyed  his  cricket for thirty years.    We readily forgave him
his all too brief second innings. Those who saw that last  centu-
ry,   his one hundred and seventieth, now nearly sixty years ago,
will treasure the memory.

<END> Contributed by Dave Liverman (liverman@morgan.ucs.mun.ca)