Cricket 1911

462 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g u s t 26, 1911. h Chat about the 5 erkshire Tearr^. There are not a great many records of Berkshire cricket prior to the date of the county club’s establishment in the nineties. It is true that as far back as 1792 Berk­ shire played the M.C.O. both in town and at Oldfields, near Beading; and “ Scores and B iographies” states that the professional Kay (Christian name unknown), a good bat and reckoned the best fieldsman of his time, was thought to have come out of Berkshire. In the sixties and seventies of the last century— a great period for amateur cricket— the Gentlemen of Berkshire played a few matches, but there does not seem to have been any county organisa­ tion at that time. Thus one may fairly take 1895 as the starting point of Berkshire county cricket. In that season the side met only one other county team, Herts., with whom they had the worst of a drawn game at Watford, but whom they beat in Photo by ] [Gillman, Oxford. Mr. Q. G. M. BENNETT. an innings at Reading. In 1896 the Minor Counties Championship was entered, and Berkshire has figured in this ever since— until last year without very conspicuous success, though in 1898 (won 3, lost 1, drew 4), and in 1906 (won 5 outright, won 2 on first innings, lost 3) the side fared sufficiently well. During the fifteen years 1896-1910 inclusive 131 matches were played in the Championship, 31 won, 59 lost, 42 drawn, while one was a tie. Of the 18 matches in which a first innings decision was recorded since the system now adopted by the first-class counties came into vogue, Berks won 8 and lost 10 in this way. Mr. W. O. Nares was the first secretary of the club. Captain J. St. L. Wheble followed him, but did not hold the office long. Major Charles Turner, the present secretary, has been about seven years in office, and the success of the team last season must have been very gratifying to him. This article does not profess to give the history of the county club ; but one outstanding performance must be alluded to. Mr. J. A. Gibb, in 1902, scored 103 and 122 not out v. Oxfordshire at Reading, the only instance of two centuries by a batsman in a minor county match till Silverlock performed the feat against Bucks a few weeks ago. ‘ ‘ Wisden,” in its brief remarks on the Berkshire season, does not record the fact, but merely mentions that ‘ ‘ Gibb batted very well throughout the summer, finishing with a splendid average ” ; but it was duly noted at the time in Cricket. Berkshire has generally had plenty of good batsmen, but the bowling has often been weak, and has all too rarely been helped by first rate fielding. Last year the side was stronger in the attack than ever before. Hawksworth. Mr. Gordon Belcher and Dr. Woodburn bowled really well in match after match, and the fielding was usually excellent. The team’s only failures were in the first, v. Herts, at St. Albans, lost by nine wickets, and the last (the Minor Coun­ ties final) v. Norfolk, at Norwich, lost by an innings and 150 runs. Every other game was won outright, and by such margins as innings and 81, innings and 57 (after a declara­ tion with seven wickets down), innings and 24, 282 runs, 10 wickets (three times), nine wickets, and five wickets. Before passing on to the personnel of the team, one may note here that Berkshire’s opponents during the sixteen years of the county club’s existence have included Wilt­ shire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire pretty regu­ larly, and Worcestershire, Northamptonshire (during the second-class days of those counties), Glamorgan, Monmouth, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Oxfordshire and Surrey Second Eleven less frequently. One naturally gives the place of honour to the leader of the side, Sir Charles Evan Molvneux Yorke Nepean, fifth Baronet, who succeeded to the title in 1903. Educated at Winchester, Sir Charles (who was born in 1867) was in the eleven there in 1885 ; he played for Berkshire in the county club’s first season, and has played every season since except for a gap of three years from 1899-1901 in­ clusive. Though he has never gone in for very heavy scor­ ing, he has made more runs for the county than anyone else except Mr. G. G. M. B ennett; and, though now to be counted among the veterans, he seems in as good form as ever. Last season he made 303 runs in 14 completed innings, and in 1909 he scored 386 in 15. Altogether he has aggregated over 3,000 runs for Berkshire, with an average of just on 20. 1 A second veteran is Mr. Francis Erskine Rowe, though, judging by the manner in which he still shapes, alike for the county and for the Sussex Martlets (he is head-master of a school at Worthing, and turns out frequently for the Martlets), he has years more cricket in him yet. The son of an old Cambridge blue, the Rev. A. W . Rowe, Mr Rowe was born at Hartford End, Essex, on January 30, 1864. After two years at Eelsted, he went to Marlborough, and was in the eleven there three seasons, being captain both in ’82 and ’83. Proceeding to Trinity College, Cambridge, he failed to make his mark in the trial matches, and was never given a place in the University eleven, though in college matches and for Trinity L.V.C., (in 1885 especially), he showed fine form. Prom 1885 to 1895 he played for Essex, though, as a rule only in August, as during the greater part of the period indicated he was a master at Rossall. His best performance for the metropolitan county was a chance- less 129 v. Surrey at Leyton in 1892. Two years earlier he had played very finely for 98 not out against the same side at the Oval. His connection with Berkshire cricket dates from 1900, and since then he has scored nearly 2,000 runs for the county with an average of between 25 and 26 per innings, his highest score and only century being 137 v. Oxfordshire at Reading in 1905. W ith his strong back play and a most effective pull shot off slow balls, Mr. Rowe is a valuable batsman to any side on a slow w ick et; on a fast one he changes his tactics, goes in for more off side play, and drives with great vigour. In the field he is usually either second slip or mid-off, and is very safe in either place. His brother, Captain Ernest Fentiman Rowe, (born at Hartford End on January 27, 1866), was also educated at Marlborough and Felsted, and was the captain and best batsman of the Essex school’s eleven in 1884. Entering the Army, he served with the Bedfordshire Regiment in India, playing a lot of cricket for the Secunderabad Division, and also representing Bombay v. Madras in the Presidency matches. He has played in his time for three counties