Famous Cricketers No 63 - A.O.Jones

33. Nottinghamshire v Middlesex, Trent Bridge, August 16, 17, 18 (Match drawn) c A.K.Watson b A.E.Stoddart 38 276 1 0 4 0 294 1 not out 7 67-5 - - - - 171 1 34. Nottinghamshire v Lancashire, Old Trafford, August 23, 24, 25 (Lancashire won by eight wickets) st C.Smith b T.Lancaster 9 114 117 G.R.Baker b A.W.Mold 9 133 132-2 35. Nottinghamshire v Kent, Trent Bridge, August 30, 31, September 1 (Match drawn) c W.Rashleigh b W.Hearne 12 234 1 0 2 0 162 b W.Hearne 41 86-5 - - - - 260-7d SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St County Championship 5 10 1 139 41 15.44 - - 4 - Career 35 57 5 646 41 12.42 - - 34 - Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m County Championship (5-b) 2 0 6 0 - - - - Career (5-b) 16 3 43 0 - - - - 1895 The Championship was increased to include 14 first-class counties. They did not all play the same number of matches. Nottinghamshire finished 12th equal, with 3 wins and 10 defeats. Arthur Shrewsbury topped the county’s batting averages and scored the most runs. William Gunn came next and Arthur Owen had the third highest aggregate of runs. William Attewell took the most wickets. This was the season in which Arthur Owen’s cricket began to show the promise which others had seen in him for so long. During his 39th match, he passed 50 for the first time, in the home fixture against Yorkshire. John Tunnicliffe fell to a particularly fine catch by Jones at slip. In their second innings, Nottinghamshire scored 50 in 95 minutes and 279 for four wickets in just under five hours. It was uphill cricket. Jones and H.B.Daft opened with a stand of 70 and for the third wicket he put on 48 with Wilfred Flowers. Arthur Owen played on and was bowled for 67 with the score at 124 for 3, having scored 7 fours. Two matches later, he recorded his first century. Leicestershire batted first and made 192. In reply, Nottinghamshire scored 312, of which Jones made 118. He shared a second wicket stand of 230 with William Gunn and batted with great caution for over 4 hours. Wisden comments on the slowness of the play, the “runs only coming at the rate of 48 per hour.” He hit nine fours and 16 threes. Most of his runs came by driving hard. He reached his century without giving a chance. Overnight rain meant that Leicestershire were dismissed for 104 on the third day and Notts won by an innings and 16 runs. Jones took a neat catch at slip to dismiss J.P.Whiteside. In the days of uncovered wickets, these sudden changes in fortune were quite common. The side winning the toss tended to bat first in case the weather intervened. In the away fixture against Derbyshire, Arthur Owen made the highest Nottinghamshire score of the match. The home team had a first innings lead of 42, Flowers took 7 wickets. Jones and Flowers hit out in such fine style that they had 71 runs on the board before the first wicket fell. The game was interrupted by rain and ended in a draw. During the initial 45 matches of his first-class career, he held 51 catches. He had also, by this time, bowled 25 overs and taken no wickets for 61 runs. In the next match, which was against Kent, he took 4 wickets for 98 runs in 30 overs. Kent batted first and made 468. J.R.Mason and Alec Hearne put on 179 for the first wicket. Arthur Owen was the sixth bowler to be used by the Notts captain, C.W.Wright, and yet he took the wicket of both openers. His first wicket, that of Hearne, resulted from a catch by Attewell. Despite a fine century by Arthur Shrewsbury in the second innings, Kent won by an innings and 65 runs, their first win of the season. In the home match against Middlesex, 13