Ernest Tyldesley

Ernest Tyldesley, like his famous brother, belongs by birth to Lancashire. He was born in February, 1889, and played when a boy for Roe Green--the family club--Worsley, and the Salford School of Technology. At the age of seventeen he played for Lancashire's second eleven, and in 1911 he was engaged as a professional by the Liverpool club, afterwards joining the ground staff at Old Trafford. Before this, however, he had a good trial for Lancashire, taking part in five county matches in 1909 and fifteen in the following year. His beginnings were modest enough, as in twenty innings in 1910 he only scored 302 runs. There was little in these early efforts to suggest the form he has since shown. The debt he owes to the teaching and encouragement of his famous brother it would be impossible to over-estimate. Slowly as his powers developed, Johnny Tyldesley never lost faith in him. In 1911 there were distinct signs of advance and in the next year he made further progress, but though steady and painstaking he remained very deficient in the off-side hitting in which his brother was always so brilliant. In 1913, however, he took a decided step to the front, hitting up three hundreds for Lancashire and coming out third in batting with an average of 31. The next season he was still better, and then came the war. There is no doubt that military training and life in the Army did him a lot of good. To increased strength and confidence in himself his friends attribute much of the success that rewarded him last summer. He not only made a lot of runs and headed the Lancashire averages but played in far finer form than he had ever shown before. In particular he was much stronger on the off side.