Famous Cricketers No 63 - A.O.Jones

“Mr. A.O.Jones (Nottingham)”. He was caught off the bowling of J.A.Dixon, the Nottinghamshire captain, for 39. This was the second highest score made by the 22 Colts in their first innings total of 156. The County made 174, A.O. taking one catch. In the Colts’ second innings, he made 6 out of 104 for 13 before the match was left as a draw. In early May, he played in the Freshman’s match for F.S.Jackson’s side against that of A.J.L.Hill. Although he was on the losing side, he opened the batting and made 53 runs in good style. For his College, he made 76 against St John’s, 63 against Wellingborough Grammar School and 48 against Emmanuel. The Chanticleer says of him, “A brilliant bat and field; must be congratulated on his place in the Notts. team.” He was 6th in the batting averages with 30.69 and took 8 wickets for 108 runs in 42 overs. He made his first-class debut in the Cambridge University match against Surrey. His captain, F.S.Jackson, was prepared to include A.O. in the team for his keenness in the field alone. Jones was 17 not out in the second innings and at the wicket when the winning run was scored. His county debut was in the Nottinghamshire match against Lancashire at Old Trafford. In the second innings Notts wanted 222 to win, Arthur Owen went in at number 2 with Arthur Shrewsbury and they shared in a stand of 75. Wisden says, “The young batsman’s 38 was a really masterful innings.” It was thanks to this confident start that the county won by 6 wickets. His first home match was against Somerset, during which he took his first catch. The bowler was William Attewell, off whose bowling he took 40 more catches by the beginning of 1899. In between playing for their county, cricketers appeared for a variety of teams around the country. These matches are not as well chronicled as those of first-class status and come to light haphazardly. One such was the match in which Arthur Owen made a century for J.Healing’s XI against a team of masters and boys representing “Dunstable School.” Mr. Healing was a master at the Grammar School. Mr. L.C.R.Thring played for the School XI. The game does not appear in the fixture list at the beginning of the season, but is referred to in the results table which was published in the Borough Gazette in late July. No venue is mentioned so it probably took place on the School’s playing field, not far from where Arthur Owen is buried. Mr. Healing’s team made 334 all out, of which A.O. made 126. The school made 264 for 8 in reply and the match was left as a draw. The match of the season was the fixture at The Oval, at the beginning of August. There were over 30,000 spectators on the Bank Holiday Monday. The total attendance for the whole match was 63,775, a new record. This huge number included free admission to The Oval for workers in uniform, hence the many soldiers, sailors, railway workers, policemen, fire fighters and telegraph operators. Surrey had a first innings lead of 5 runs. Notts won early on the third day, mainly due to the accuracy of their bowlers and the third wicket stand of 94 by William Gunn and William Barnes. Although he only contributed 6 runs and a catch, Arthur Owen benefitted from being on the winning side. The Nottinghamshire supporters were so pleased by this win that they organised a public subscription. £200 was collected. J.A.Dixon, the captain, was presented with an inscribed gold medal, the amateurs received silver medals, while the professionals each got a smaller silver medal and a cheque for twenty guineas. Arthur Owen’s only bowling of the season consisted of two overs against Gloucestershire. He was on the winning side in each of his first 4 matches and of the 14 in which he played, only two were lost. His success with the bat was not marked, although he made half his runs in the 7 innings in which he opened. During his first-class career, he batted at numbers 1 or 2 in fewer than two-thirds of his innings but made almost three-quarters of his runs when he did so. Wisden ‘s review of Nottinghamshire’s season says, “we think the committee were fully justified in playing him. He is a batsman of high promise and is quite irreproachable in the field.” Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 1. Cambridge University v Surrey, Kennington Oval, June 9, 10 (Cambridge University won by 80 runs) b W.H.Lockwood 1 218 267 not out 17 291 162 9