Double Headers

7 1: Surrey in 1909 Surrey v Lancashire (The Oval) and Surrey v Oxford University (Reigate), June 1909 HOW DID IT COME ABOUT? Misapprehensions My first encounter with Surrey’s 1909 double-header came as a result of an e-mail in 2005 from George A.Smith of Hove, who queried: “Is there any other occasion when because of a fixtures mix-up a first- class team fielded two sides simultaneously?” Mr Smith is not alone in assuming that the doubling-up occurred because of some sort of backstage cock-up. Jack Hobbs – who played in one of the 1909 matches – and his biographer John Arlott seem to have been under the same apprehension: “[1909] was an odd season for Surrey. Owing to an administrative muddle which delighted Jack Hobbs’s dry sense of humour, they were scheduled to play two first-class home fixtures – against Lancashire and the return with Oxford University – on the same three days.” John Arlott: Jack Hobbs – Profile of the Master (John Murray, 1981). Others have fought shy of suggesting or investigating a reason for the double-header: “For reasons it is now difficult to comprehend, Surrey had arranged to meet Oxford University at Reigate on the same days that they were entertaining Lancashire at The Oval and therefore engaged in two first- class matches at one and the same time.” David Lemmon: The History of Surrey CCC (Helm, 1989) Whereas yet others are more confident of the reason: “A rather unfortunate error in the arrangement of fixtures for this season gave Surrey a match with Oxford University at Reigate when, in fact, the County had a match with Lancashire.” Gordon Ross: The Surrey Story (Stanley Paul, 1957) But all these writers were wrong. Surrey’s 1909 double-header was no fixtures mix-up, no administrative muddle; and it certainly was not an ‘unfortunate error’. The following pages give the true explanation, as far as it can be deduced from surviving sources. 1 Fixture pressures When the County Championship was formalised in 1890, most of the first- class counties sought to play all their rivals home and away each season. But for most, this was impossible, or impractical, after the expansion of the Championship in 1895, and only three counties sought to maintain the practice after that date. 1 The sources used for the background to the 1909 double-header consist principally of Surrey CCC Committee Minutes now held at the Surrey History Centre at Woking, especially those under references 2042/1/6, 2042/1/7, 2042/3/2 and 3035/8/6. Unfortunately no records survive from either Oxford University CC or Reigate Priory CC which might shed further light on the origin of the double-header fixtures.