How wonderful in these strange times to be transported back to the summer of 1947 by Andy Bull in his article on the Test series of that year (Compton’s summer of ’47 is the kind of succour the nation needs now, 28 April). I was a nine-year-old Lancastrian living in Rochdale with my Yorkshire-born father. Of course, my first Test match could not be at nearby Old Trafford, home of Dad’s hated Lancashire, so we journeyed each day in late July by bus across the Pennines, to reach the sacred Headingley, to see England beat South Africa by 10 wickets on the third day.
Andy Bull rightly celebrates the achievement that summer of Denis Compton, but how appropriate that the heroes at Headingley were Len Hutton of Yorkshire and Cyril Washbrook of Lancashire, with 100 and 75 respectively in the first innings, and both undefeated at the crease in the second, when Hutton won the match with a six over square leg.
Dean Hawkes
Cambridge
• I was at Lord’s in 1947 to see Denis Compton’s double century against South Africa in the second Test. His swagger to the wicket, his fearlessness and his sweep on one knee were a delight to behold for their novelty and courage. His partner through much of this was Bill Edrich, who was equally brave and also made over 3,000 runs in a season. It appeared that all the formally dressed adults at Lord’s that day were quite prepared to see Compton through the eyes of a small boy who was enhanced by bravery and audacity. Heroes were in short supply in 1947.
Dr David Lyon
Chesterfield, Derbyshire
• In 1947, when I was 14, Compton and Edrich thrilled me from the sports section of Dad’s four-page Daily Express. It had seemed always full of food rationing and Russia. Who’d have thought the two cricketers would bring the same delight now to my 64-page Guardian? It seems always full of PPE rationing and Covid-19.
Colin Crouch
Bognor Regis, West Sussex
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