In the English Cricket history, the duo of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich will always be remembered for their great partnerships. The two Middlesex players had some great innings together for both their County as well as the national team. Compton was the attacking one and Edrich was the more solid, classical one and together they used to be called as the ‘Middlesex Twins’.
Their greatest partnership came on 23rd June 1947, although against a relatively weak South African squad. Both of them were in great form and in the entire season their tally was 3,816 at 90.85 for Compton and 3,529 at 80.43 for Edrich. It did not only help Middlesex to win the Championship that year, but they also carried their form in international matches.
South Africa were touring England and after a strong showing in the first test match, the South Africans came to Lord’s more confident and unaware about what was going to hit them. The test match started on 21st June as England captain Norman Yardley won the toss and opted to bat first. The openers were first to go after some contrasting style of batting and Compton-Edrich started their partnership on 96/2. It was not easy at the beginning as Lindsay Tuckett bowled brilliantly and Tufty Mann and Athol Rowan provided good support. Their superlative fielding also came handy and the duo started cautiously.
However, once they were set runs started to come more freely. Compton was more adventurous and Edrich was more correct in approach, and they batted without any trouble. 100 of the partnership came and then came the individual milestones as Edrich and Compton both reached their respective hundreds. England ended the day on 312/2 with both the batsmen not out on hundred plus totals.
After a rest day on 23rd June, the teams came back to Lord’s and both the batsmen started to play their shots immediately. Throughout that period they kept breaking various old records like Wally Hammond and Joe Hardstaff Jr’s 245 against New Zealand in 1937 and set a new third-wicket partnership record at Lord’s. Soon after, they went past Hutton and Compton’s 248 against West Indies in 1939 to register a new record for any wicket at Lord’s. Once they passed 265, they became the holder of the highest 3rd wicket partnership for England. The partnership comfortably moved past 300 and finally finished on 370, a new World record for the 3rd wicket. Edrich was the first man to get dismissed for 189 as Compton later got out for 208. England went on to comfortably win the test match by 10 wickets.
