Famous Cricketers No 63 - A.O.Jones

His only slow period was as he approached 200. His innings contained 32 fours and he was first man out with the score on 391. This is still the highest first wicket stand for Nottinghamshire, passing the previous record which Shrewsbury and he had set against Kent in 1896. It is also still the highest first wicket partnership made against Gloucestershire and was the record for any wicket against them until 1974. The highest first wicket partnership at the time was 554 and had been made by J.T.Brown and J.Tunnicliffe for Yorkshire against Derbyshire the year before. The only other higher stand was one of 398 for the second wicket, made by Shrewsbury and William Gunn against Sussex in 1890. Jones’ 250 was the highest score made against Gloucestershire, passing Shrewsbury’s 227 not out of 1886. W.G.Grace had made two scores of over 250 at Bristol by this time but Arthur Owen’s was the highest score by a visitor. His 250 would not be passed by a visitor to the County Ground, Bristol until Arthur Morris played there in 1948. His score was the fourth highest made for Nottinghamshire, coming behind Dixon’s record and the two made by Arthur Shrewsbury. At the end of the first day’s play, the Notts score stood at 438 for the loss of only two wickets. Nottinghamshire were finally all out for 607 runs. This is still the record innings total between these two counties. After his marathon innings, Jones opened the bowling with Wass and took three of the first six wickets. Gloucestershire might have been expected to crumble after the Notts innings but Townsend batted in style to make 141. J.A.Dixon put himself on as the eighth bowler and took four wickets. Gloucestershire followed on and, despite the fact that C.E.Dench performed the hat-trick, were 193 at the end of the third day’s play, ensuring a draw. 1166 runs had been scored for the loss of only 25 wickets. The Gloucestershire side contained J.A.Healing, for whose team Jones had scored a century in Dunstable, in 1892. His innings at Bristol brought Arthur Owen back into prominence and he was invited to appear again for the Gentlemen, this time at the Oval. Abel won the toss and decided to bat first. The Players made 647 which included a last wicket stand of 135 in an hour and a quarter. Arthur Owen came in with the score on 65 for 4 and made a brilliant 71 in just over the hour. He put on 108 runs with C.L.Townsend and was finally caught close to the pavilion rails. His score included 11 fous. The amateurs were all out for 303 and were asked to follow on. Despite three individual scores of over 50, by W.G.Grace, B.J.T.Bosanquet and D.L.A.Jephson, and despite again scoring over 300, the Gentlemen lost by an innings and 36 runs. Arthur Owen had his second taste of captaincy when he was asked to lead the Midland Counties against the Australians. Joe Darling won the toss and the Australians batted first. Midland Counties did well to be only 7 runs behind on the first innings. The tourists batted resolutely in the second innings, making 234. Arthur Owen’s team were therefore set 242 to win and were 98 for 3 at the close of the second day. The wicket was ruined by heavy overnight rain and the required total became unobtainable. Resuming at 38 not out, A.O. made 90 runs in two and a half hours and hit 13 fours. He showed considerable judgment in spotting the poor ball early and dispatching it to the boundary. He and W.G.Quaife put on 94 in 105 minutes. Wickets tumbled rapidly when he was out. In the home match against Sussex, Shrewsbury and he put on 130 for the first wicket and his was the second wicket to fall, with the score on 194. Notts were all out for 410 and then used 7 bowlers to dismiss their opponents for 338. Jones and Dixon then shared a third wicket stand of 111 and Notts declared, leaving themselves two hours in which to bowl Sussex out. Despite bowling 54 overs in that time, only 5 wickets fell and the match was drawn. In the return match with Gloucestershire, Charlie Townsend and Gilbert Jessop put on 144 for the 4th wicket, the latter reaching his century in an hour. Arthur Owen and WilliamGunn replied with 124 for the fifth wicket. Notts were required to follow on and Shrewsbury batted brilliantly to be 89 at the close of the second day’s play. The third day was washed out by rain and a promising match was left as a draw. Arthur Owen scored a century against Surrey with some fine driving on what was a slow wicket. His 50 came up in 83 minutes and at lunch he had made 71 of the 131 runs on the board. He scored 16 off one over by Lockwood, during which he reached his 1,000 runs for the season. He finally played forward to a ball which broke in and took the leg stump. He had batted for 170 minutes and had hit 18 25