Famous Cricketers No 63 - A.O.Jones

square leg. Jones opened the bowling, putting nearly all his fielders on the on side. When W.P.Robertson, the Middlesex wicket-keeper was hurt, Jones took over that position and had the satisfaction of stumping A.E.Trott off the bowling of Hayman of Middlesex. Nottinghamshire batted first in the drawn match at Derby. Iremonger was first out, having made 19 out of 24. William Gunn made a delightful 273 and featured in stands of over 50 with Jones, over 100 with John Gunn and over 200 with Shrewsbury. With this innings, Gunn passed J.A.Dixon’s record of 268 not out. The visitors made 661, which is still a record between these two counties. A.O. took six wickets and accounted for the second half of the batting order. L.G.Wright made a century to save the match. Arthur Owen’s next century was scored against Gloucestershire, in intense heat. He was now opening regularly with James Iremonger but success came in a second wicket stand of 164 with Shrewsbury. Jones, 99 at lunch, was the second man out with 147 and the total standing at 198. 100 of his runs came in boundaries and he was caught at cover point off a skier. Gloucestershire batted soundly for a first innings lead of 12 runs. A.O. then had a third wicket stand of 84 with John Gunn. The visitors were set 235 to win and the draw looked inevitable. There was, however, a quick succession of wickets, Jones taking three of the six which fell, leaving the tail to bat out time. Nottinghamshire were completely out played in the away match against Yorkshire, a fate shared by many county sides at this time. Their only redeeming feature was that Jones and Iremonger put on 55 runs for the opening partnership of the match. At the Oval, D.L.A.Jephson won the toss and Surrey batted first, making a reasonable total. Arthur Owen and James Iremonger set about the Surrey bowling and put on 134 before being parted. This was the first of 25 century opening partnerships for the county by these two in a span of eleven years. Hallam then bowled consistently and an achievable target was set. Jones and Iremonger made the runs without being parted. Arthur Owen gave a dazzling display of batting, hitting one five and 14 fours. They batted for a little over 80 minutes for the 143 required and Jones was unlucky not to make his century. This was the first occasion on which openers made century partnerships in each innings of a match for the county. This was Nottinghamshire’s first Whitsun win against Surrey since 1892. At the end, Jones appeared on the balcony to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd. The match at Leyton was quite extraordinary as Notts should have won it and yet came close to losing. Jones, making his debut appearance on this ground, batted in a carefree and attractive manner. He and Iremonger, batting in contrasting styles, put on 238 together. Arthur Owen was first out after 260 minutes, having hit 14 fours and a five. This is still the highest opening stand for this fixture. Jones and Iremonger had thus made three century opening partnerships in four days. The Essex first innings contained two centuries and they were only 45 runs behind. The Nottinghamshire second innings lacked sparkle and Essex were closing fast on the target of 265 when play ended. Six centuries were made during this match. The next home match was played on the Duke of Portland’s private ground at Welbeck and proved a success, despite the rain. Jones and Iremonger put on 119 runs. Arthur Owen declared in good time and Wass bowled in devastating form, taking 13 wickets for 40 runs. L.G.Wright’s 23 was the highest score for Derbyshire. After the Championship season, Arthur Owen was invited to play in six more matches, making two further centuries. For C.I.Thornton’s XI, he hit 20 fours in quick time, despite the fact that George Hirst clean bowled L.C.Braund and J.T.Tyldesley before a run was scored. In the third Gentlemen versus Players match of the season, Arthur Owen opened the innings with W.G.Grace and the pair put on 119 together. Arthur Owen must have been very happy as the season closed. He had inherited a county, still mentally resting on its laurels from the glory days of the 1880’s and led it with zest. His enthusiasm was infectious and his team were showing the symptoms. As a result he was picked to go on Archie MacLaren’s winter tour of Australia. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 161. London County v Surrey, Kennington Oval, May 6, 7, 8 (Match drawn) c F.Stedman b W.Montgomery 16 249 9 3 23 1 W.H.Lockwood c sub 249 did not bat - 50-1 362-3d 33