1953
County Championship 8th (W9, D9, L10)
Captain Reg Simpson
Two things dominated the summer of 1953 – the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the winning back of The Ashes after almost twenty years.
For Nottinghamshire, it was an Australian that made the difference to their season, albeit one who did not make the test side. Bruce Dooland had waited two years, playing league cricket, to qualify for Notts and made an immediate impact, falling only a few runs short of the 1,000 runs and 100 wickets double in his first season.
The spinner from Adelaide played against the visiting Aussies when they came to Trent Bridge – he top scored with 69 and took one wicket – in a match reduced to two days to avoid a clash with the Coronation (but, exceptionally, the match was still regarded as being First-Class).
To finish eighth in the Championship was terrific progress for Notts, having finished in the bottom three on each of the three previous seasons. Nine wins was, similarly, more than they had managed in total in those seasons.
With the bowling strengthened, it was the batting that struggled. Although four batters – Simpson, Clay, Poole and Stocks – passed 1,000 runs (Dooland finished with 970), only captain Reg Simpson (54.37) averaged more than 30.
Led by Dooland’s 172 First-Class wickets (16 five wicket hauls and thee ‘ten-fer’ matches), the bowling showed improvement with four bowlers – Dooland (inevitably), Jepson, Butler and Stocks – averaging under 30.
The season opened with a run glut at home to Kent. The visitors’ Arthur Fagg made 269 as Kent reached 507-6 dec and Notts 313 was not enough to avoid the follow-on. But the draw was safely secured by Reg Simpson (whose 157 proved to be the top score of the summer for him and the team) and Ron Giles, with 132, sharing a 239-run partnership.
The next match, also at home, saw rain bring the game against Warwickshire to a premature draw. At Gloucester, the rain again washed out the final day for a third successive draw.
Dooland and fellow spinner Gamini Goonasena shared all the wickets in Surrey’s first innings at Trent Bridge; Simpson’s century (exactly 100), matched by Bernard Constable’s 104 were the batting highlights in another drawn game.
After the abbreviated Australia game, Championship cricket was resumed and Notts secured their first win of the season, by 10 wickets against Worcestershire; Dooland, with nine wickets in the game, was the key difference.
A first defeat followed, Notts going down by 88 runs in the return fixture at Kidderminster. Jack Flavell and Roly Jenkins each took six wickets in an innings for the home side.
Yet again, no play was possible on the third day of the draw with Yorkshire at Bradford; the weather similarly truncated the draw at Northamptonshire – a game in which John Clay and Eric Martin put on 95 for the fifth wicket, in an innings that only totalled 143.
Notts lost a close, low-scoring, game at Lord’s in which both Dooland and Middlesex’s Fred Titmus posted their best figures to date. Titmus took 6-46 in Notts second innings and Bruce Dooland 7-55 in Middlesex’s first; the home side won by 20 runs.
Goonasena, with ten wickets in the match was the winner for Notts against Cambridge University at Trent Bridge, the home side winning by 7 wickets.
The home return fixture with Middlesex drifted to a draw with Notts on 137-3 at the close, still a hundred runs short of the chase.
Nottinghamshire subsided to a 7-wicket loss to Derbyshire at Ilkeston but ran Glamorgan much closer at home, eventually losing by 37 runs, losing their last seven wickets for just 34 with off break bowler Jim McConnon taking 8-36.
They took full revenge on Derbyshire at Trent Bridge – Simpson and Stocks contributing hundreds as they won by 10 wickets.
Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson made his First-Class debut when Northants visited Nottingham but went wicketless as the game ended in a draw. As he started his career, Notts stalwart Eric Meads was playing his last First-Class game. Meads played more than 200 games for his home county, taking more than 400 victims behind the stumps – 366 catches and 80 stumpings.
Against Glamorgan at Cardiff, Notts rested Dooland but still played three spinners, which might explain how they bowled 135 six-ball overs on the first day! Glamorgan declared overnight on 353-6 (Gilbert Parkhouse 104) and Notts replied with 293. The home side declared their second innings at 84-4 but there was not time for Notts to start their reply.
Notts then went to Edgbaston, where they lost by 51 runs to Warwickshire in a match where only one of the four completed innings passed 200. Another away defeat followed, losing by 3 wickets to Hampshire at Bournemouth, Charlie Knott taking 8-36 as Notts collapsed to 88 all out in their second innings; curiously, Hampshire made 88-7 (Jepson 5-45) to clinch the win.
It was then back home – and home to very significant victory. As the Committee Report celebrated, “our first win over Yorkshire for 62 years”!
Dooland and Jepson dismissed the visitors for 114 and though Harry Halliday made a century when the Tykes followed-on, Notts were set a modest target and were 113-6 at close to secure a four wicket win.
The next match, also at Trent Bridge, was won even more comfortably, Gloucestershire being beaten by seven wickets. This despite a 115 run deficit on first innings. The combination of Dooland and Jepson again set up the win as Gloucester made just 141 in the second innings. Led by 145 from skipper Reg Simpson, the home side made 259-3.
Things continued to go well and away to Somerset at Weston-super-Mare. Notts made 252 in their first innings but, remarkably, that was more than enough. Somerset were dismissed for 94 and 108 – Dooland five wickets in each innings – as Notts won by an innings and 50 runs.
A long journey across the South of England was rewarded with a 37-run win over Essex at Southend. It was – yet again – the bowling of Bruce Dooland (eight wickets in the match) and Arthur Jepson (nine wickets) that set up the victory. Austin Baxter fell agonisingly short of a maiden First-Class ton, stumped by Paul Gibb off the bowling of Ray Smith for 98 – which proved to be his career-best.
A triumvirate of seaside journeys ended at Eastbourne where Sussex won by three wickets. Ian Thompson, 6-37 was the second innings destroyer. Despite the defeat, there were a couple of personal milestones as Reg Simpson passed 2000 runs for the season and Freddie Stocks made his 1,000th run.
Back home and back to winning ways, Nottinghamshire beat Leicestershire by 10 wickets. Another ‘ten-fer’ for Dooland being the principal factor in a comfortable win.
Notts then lost by the same margin – ten wickets – to Lancashire at Old Trafford. Roy Tattersall’s career best 9-40 in the visitors first innings set up the win and with 5-33 in the second innings, the off-break bowler easily had his best figures in any county game.
The final fixture of the season saw an impressive ‘double’ completed over Somerset and the biggest win of Notts’s season. Somerset was dismissed for 117 and 82 – Dooland ending his triumphant first season with match figures of 12-48 – which meant that with 266-7 dec, Notts won by an innings and 67 runs.
As mentioned earlier, Bruce Dooland came very close to the double in this season and also very close to what would have been his first First-Class hundred, being bowled by Tom Hall for 98.
In the First Test of the summer, played at Trent Bridge a fortnight after the county game, Australia again played out a draw. The feature of this match was the bowling of England and Surrey stalwart Alec Bedser whose 7-55 and 7-44 set, and then beat, his personal Test best.
Reg Simpson played in three of the five Tests, making 0 and 28no in the Trent Bridge game, but was not able to replicate his county form and was not in the England XI that won at The Oval to bring The Ashes back home.
The verdict of the Committee Report is worth repeating here “On the whole we experienced a most encouraging season and we hope that is may be the first step to the return of the county to their rightful place in cricket at or near the top of the County Championship table.”
Scorecards and stats can be seen here
January 2026