Famous Cricketers No 63 - A.O.Jones

Gloucestershire a target of 339. The visitors would have won quite easily had it not been for a series of dropped catches. This match saw the Nottinghamshire debut of Albert William Hallam, who was to play such a prominent part in Jones’ Championship winning side of 1907. The first home match, against Lancashire, was drawn despite a promising start. Nottinghamshire had a first innings lead of 226 and Shrewsbury and Jones put on 52 and 50 for the first wicket partnerships. J.T.Tyldesley made 221 out of 400 for the second innings and ended any chance of the Notts win. The first Championship win of the year, against Surrey, was a great achievement as Notts had not beaten them either home or away since A.O.’s first season. Wass bowled superbly and Jones hit a dashing 75. He had an opening stand with Shrewsbury of 69 to which the latter contributed 13 runs. In the second innings Jones took three cheap wickets to enable a win by five wickets. So much rain fell before the beginning of the Essex match that the original pitch could not be used. William Gunn, dropped in the long field when on 13, made 127 out of his side’s 293. Arthur Owen’s leg breaks were almost unplayable. The opening pair made almost half the Essex total before Jones put himself on as the fifth bowler and took six wickets. He had Carpenter’s wicket with his fifth delivery. By lunch, Jones had 3 wickets for 5 runs. He asked Essex to follow on and opened the bowling with A.W.Hallam, off whom he caught F.L.Fane. This was the first of 67 such catches, which represent over eight percent of Hallam’s wickets. Jones took 4 wickets to raise his match total to ten. This was the only time in his career on which he achieved this feat. Jones batted brilliantly in the second innings and was out with three runs still needed. The away match at Hove proved to be a triumph for Arthur Owen although the result was a draw. He won the toss and batted first, making 249 before being the fourth man out with the score at 414. His 39 fours during this display came mainly by way of the on-drive and the hit to square leg. He attacked the bowling from the outset and scored at almost a run a minute. His only time of caution was as he approached his 200. He put on 72 for the first wicket with C.E.Dench, 128 with John Gunn for the third and 183 in 100 minutes with Shrewsbury for the fourth. Jones was typically caught at long leg. Nottinghamshire scored at about 100 runs an hour, all through the first day. The Sussex batsmen played with extreme care and the bowlers were not able to make a breakthrough. Jones used seven bowlers in the first innings and eight in the second. John Carlin, the wicketkeeper took only five wickets in his career, three of them in this second innings. The home match against Yorkshire was a tragedy for Nottinghamshire. Lord Hawke won the toss and the Notts bowlers did well enough. Rain fell in the night and Wilfred Rhodes, 6 for 4, and Schofield Haigh, 4 for 8, were unplayable on a sticky wicket. Nottinghamshire were all out within the hour for 13 runs. Arthur Owen was top scorer with 4, made in a single hit to leg. It was the lowest total made in the Championship and is still the second lowest on record. The home side followed on and lost by an innings in two days. Disastrous though this match was, it did contain a sign of things to come. Arthur Owen decided to open the second innings with James Iremonger. This was their first such partnership and they put on 82 in an hour. Jones and Iremonger put on 50 or more for the first wicket, on 69 occasions, which is just over thirty percent of the times on which they opened the innings together. Partnerships between Jones and Iremonger, however long or short, were absorbing and entertaining. They became a feature of Nottinghamshire cricket and were greatly anticipated by the spectators. Jones would usually score at a faster rate than Iremonger but would normally be the first out. Iremonger would then continue to play his supportive role with subsequent partners. The antidote to this humiliation came in the next match, with a win against Leicestershire. It also illustrated the fact that a captain does not necessarily need lots of runs, wickets or catches to bring about success. The first day was completely rained off, yet Nottinghamshire won in the two days left. A.O.’s main contribution was to declare earlier rather than later in the second innings. In his second match of the season for the Gentlemen, the amateurs were without many of their best players. In the first innings, Arthur Owen made two beautiful hits for 4 off J.R.Gunn and should have been stumped off the same bowler when on 32. L.G.Wright and he put on 65 in 35 minutes before Jones was clean bowled, playing forward to one of W.H.Lockwood’s slower balls. Jones hit 8 fours altogether. In the second innings, the results of a recklessly attempted straight drive were 4 runs to 32