Double Headers

To the six players just highlighted, the selectors added the amateur Wilfred Curwen and the professionals William Abel, Edward Goatly, George Platt, Herbert Vigar (another local man: his club cricket was for Redhill) , Bill Hitch, William Spring and Henry Blacklidge, giving a squad of 14 from whom the final selection was to be made. The squad was selected before 18 June, for it was announced in the Surrey Mirror on that date, indicating that Abel’s and Goatly’s performances in the Club & Ground match on that date were not factors in their selection – not for the squad, at least. So there was no place in the squad for Razor Smith, nor was there a sentimental or appreciative pick for Rutty. Both played for Surrey Club & Ground against Norwood on 22 June (the second day of the Reigate match), so it seems unlikely that they missed selection for the Reigate game through injury. 22 The Mirror said on 18 June that “It has been definitely decided that the seven amateurs [Shuter, Bird, Altham, Sarel, Raphael, Budgen and Curwen] will play, and the remaining four places will be filled from the seven professionals whose names are given above [Abel, Blacklidge, Goatly, Hitch, Pratt, Spring and Vigar].” Six of the seven amateurs were essentially batsmen (the exception being Budgen); add in a wicket-keeper and there would be room for only three professional bowlers. So it is unsurprising that the two specialist bowlers among the listed professionals, Hitch and Platt , were both selected for the final eleven, Hitch providing the only real pace in the attack. In the event, for reasons unknown (perhaps because of the balance of the side?) one of the amateurs, Curwen, did not play, so only two of the remaining professionals had to be omitted. As Abel and Goatly could both bowl respectably, and moreover had both shown excellent recent form in the Club & Ground fixtures on 17 and 18 June, they must have been seen as the natural choices to play, along with wicket-keeper Vigar . Blacklidge and Spring were accordingly the ones who drew the short straws. The final Surrey XI for the match at Reigate was thus as follows. The numbers in brackets are the numbers of first-class matches which they had played in their careers to date, and the number played to date in 1909: W.J.Abel (0, 0), H.S.Altham (4, 3), M.C.Bird (15, 4), H.Budgen (2, 0), E.G.Goatly (52, 3), J.W.Hitch (27, 7), G.J.W.Platt (5, 0), J.E.Raphael (88, 0), W.G.M.Sarel (6, 0), J.Shuter (305, 0), and H.E.Vigar (8, 3). The chosen side was a definite mix of youth and age, of callowness and experience. There were three players under the age of 22 (Altham 20y 7m, Bird 21:3 and Abel 21:10), and three over the age of 30 (Budgen 30:2, Sarel 33:6, and Shuter 54:4). Abel was the only one with no prior first- class experience, though five of his team-mates had played fewer than 10 first-class games, and only five had had any first-class experience in 1909. 22 Smith’s appearances for Surrey up to this date had been limited by the fact that, rightly or otherwise, he was seen purely as a wet-weather bowler. Nevertheless, his non-selection when Surrey had to pick two first-class elevens seems difficult to explain. Perhaps he was squeezed out of the Reigate game by the home-town selection of Budgen? 23 Surrey in 1909