Cricket 1912

494 CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. S e p t . 14, 1915. Yorkshire in the County Championship: 1893-1912. T w o D e c a d e s o f S u ccess . In. 1891 Yorkshire finished eighth in a field of nine for the County Championship. In 1892 they moved up a little, but only to sixth place. But in 1893 they went to the top, and at or very near the top they have stayed ever since, for except in 1910 and 1911 they have never since been lower than fourth. Their winning of premier honours this year is all the more welcome, coming as it does after two lean seasons—for Yorkshire, that is. Becords of ten won, seven lost, and of fourteen won, oight lost would be quite satisfactory to most county executives. Not alone in the big county itself will the winning of the championship by Yorkshire be popular. I fancy that in at least half the counties the feeling is that, if the par­ ticular county’s own team could not manage to finish first, it was well that Yorkshire should do so. I believe that Northamptonshire people, for instance, have that feeling. On the two county grounds that are most familiar to me— Worcester and Hove—the White Bose team has for a long time been a bigger draw than any other county side. Yorkshire has not escaped complaints of slow play, perhaps has not deserved to escape them ; but when Yorkshire has played a slow game there have usually been reasons therefor, and the slowness has far more frequently been in evidence on the third than on the first day of a match. It is a good thing to see games finished ; but “ if we can’t win, we don’t mean to lose ” is quite a natural watchword for a team with a big reputation to maintain. Someone has said that, apart from the old guard— Hirst, Denton, Haigh, and Bhodes—this season’s Yorkshire side is a team of useful mediocrities. I do not think this is true. I don’t regard Wilson, Booth, Drake, and Dolphin as mediocrities. I should not feel disposed to look upon Sir Archibald White—who must be a good captain, and can hit well—Kilner, and Oldroyd quite in that light. Of several of these the best has probably not been seen y e t ; but what they did in the damp and dreary season of 1912 is quite good enough to be going on with. Here are Yorkshire’s figures in the County Champion­ ship year by year for the last 20 seasons :— Season. Played. W on. Lost. Drawn. Place in * L Table. 1893 16 12 3 1 1 1894 15 12 2 1 2 1895 26 14 7 [5 3 1896 26 16 3 1v 1 1897 26 13 5 8 4 1898 26 16 3 F7 1 1899 28 14 4 10 3 1900 28 16 0 12 1 1901 27 20 1 6 1 1902 25 13 1 11 1 1903 26 13 5 8 3 1904 27 9 2 16 2 1905 28 18 3 7 1 1906 28 17 3 8 2 1907 26 12 3 11 2 1908 28 16 0 12 1 1909 26 12 4 10 3 1910 28 10 7 11 8 1911 28 14 8 6 7 1912 27 13 1 13 1 Totals 515 280 65 170 I have included as a draw the game in 1910 limited to two days on account of King Edward’s funeral, to avoid an anomaly that seems to have escaped the attention of statisticians— i.e., that, while Yorkshire played only 27 Championship matches in 1910, Bhodes and Hirst are credited with having batted in 28 such matches, the batting and bowling figures of the match thus discarded being included. I have also regarded as draws for the purposes of the table matches won and lost on the first innings; in 1911 and 1912. As Yorkshire has nine times been first, four times second (once, in 1907, bracketed with Worcestershire), and four times third in the twenty seasons, it may be taken for granted that the White Bose record is better than that of any othor county for the period. But it will be of interest to see how it compares with the rest.— TH E CO U N TY CH AM PION SHIP. (1893-1912 INCLUSIVE.) Played. W on. Lost. Tied. Drawn. Perc. of Wins to finished Matches. Yorkshire .................. 515 280 65 0 170 80-1 L a n ca sh ire .................. 489 236 95 1 157 71-2 Surrey .................. 534 240 116 2 176 67-3 K ent ... .................. 429 194 118 1 116 61-9 Middlesex .................. 369 150 94 0 125 61*4 Nottinghamshire ... 366 118 102 0 146 53*6 Warwickshire (1895) 340 93 96 0 151 4 92 Sussex .................. 459 119 132 0 198 47*4 Essex (1895)................. 344 96 115 0 133 45*4 W orcestershire (1899) 275 75 102 0 98 42*3 Northants (1905)... 144 45 70 0 29 39*1 Gloucestershire 392 106 183 0 103 36-6 Hampshire (1895) ... 357 84 165 0 108 33*7 Somerset 339 68 190 0 81 26*3 Leicestershire (1895) 346 59 174 0 113 25-3 Derbyshire (1895) 330 48 - 184 0 98. 20-6 Nine of the counties played throughout. The year in which each of the others joined the competition is given in parentheses. Over a long period the proportion of matches won to finished matches seems to afford a tolerably equitable method of placing, and it has been adopted here. The next table will show how Yorkshire fared in its Championship matches against each of the other counties during the twenty years. Of course the matches played outside the Championship are ignored. All unfinished games, are treated as draws :— Matches against. Played. W. L. D. Derbyshire ... ................ 33 24 2 7 Essex ... ............................... 36 19 7 10 Gloucestershire ... 34 27 3 4 Hampshire 28 19 2 7 K ent ............................................. 38 20 7 11 Lancashire 40 18 7 15 Leicestershire 35 24 2 9 Middlesex 40 20 7 13 Northamptonshire 10 3 2 5 Nottinghamshire 39 19 2 18 Somerset ... 40 27 4 29 Surrey ............................................. 38 14 10 14 Sussex 40 16 4 20 W arwickshire 36 16 2 18 Worcestershire ... 28 14 4 10 Totals ................ 515 280 65 170 Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Notts, Somerset, Surrey, and Sussex were met in each year of the twenty ; but two matches v. Kent, two v. Surrey, and one fixture v. Notts were abandoned owing to rain. The following tables will show who headed the batting and bowling averages for the county, who totalled 1,000 runs, and who took 100 wickets (County Championship matches only) in each year of the twenty. In cases where a batsman who played very few innings or a bowler who took very few wickets was at the top, his name is given in brackets against that of the man who, by virtue of tho amount of work he did, must reasonably be considered as first. Season. Headed Batting. Headed Bow ling. 1893 .. . Brown ................. W ainw right(F. S. Jackson) 1894 .. . P . S. Jackson .................. Wainwright. 1895 .. . M oorh ou se................. Peel (F. W . M illigan). 1896 .. Brown ... ................. Haigh. 1897 .. . Brown Peel (0. E . M. W ilson). 1898 .. . T u n n icliffe............................... Bhodes (E. Sm ith). 1899 .. . F. S. Jackson Rhodes. 1900 .. . T . L. Taylor (W hitehead)... Bhodes. 1901 .. . F . M itchell............................... Rhodes. 1902 .. . T . L. Taylor ................. Haigh. 1903 .. . H irst ............................... Hirst. 1904 .. . Hirst Rhodes. 1905 .. . Hirst ............................... Haigh. 1906 .. . Hirst Haigh (Sedgwick). 1907 .. . H irst ................. Bhodes. 1908 .. . H irst ................. Haigh. 1909 .. . Hirst Hirst. 1910 .... H irst ............................... Hirst. 1911 .. . Denton Haigh. 1912 .. . Denton ............................... Haigh (Newstead).