Famous Cricketers No 63 - A.O.Jones

244. Nottinghamshire v Essex, Leyton, August 6, 7, 8 (Nottinghamshire won by an innings and 2 runs) (captain) c E.H.D.Sewell b J.W.H.T.Douglas 73 380 129 249 1 245. Nottinghamshire v Middlesex, Trent Bridge, August 13, 14, (15) (Match drawn) (captain) c and b J.T.Hearne 38 355 233 1 246. Nottinghamshire, v Lancashire, Old Trafford, Manchester, August (20), 21, 22 (Lancashire won by five wickets) (captain, won toss) c G.H.Littlewood b J.Hallows 30 127 234 lbw b G.H.Littlewood 34 162 56-5 247. Rest of England v Lancashire and Yorkshire, Hastings, September 7, 8, 9 (Lancashire and Yorkshire won by 87 runs) c and b W.Rhodes 2 173 255 b S.Haigh 9 120 125-4d 248. Gentlemen v Players, Hastings, September 10, 11, 12 (Match drawn) lbw b S.Haigh 1 172-7 5 1 34 1 J.R.Gunn lbw 352-6d SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Gentlemen v Players 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 - - - - County Championship 20 33 2 1378 296 44.45 3 - 27 - Other Notts matches 1 2 0 22 12 11.00 - - 1 - Other matches 1 2 0 11 9 5.50 - - - - Season 23 38 2 1422 296 39.50 3 4 28 - Career 248 415 22 11688 296 29.74 18 55 268 1 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Gentlemen v Players 5 1 34 1 1-34 34.00 - - County Championship 13 0 66 0 - - - - Other Notts matches 20 4 66 1 1-60 66.00 - - Season (6-b) 38 5 166 2 1-34 83.00 - - Career (6-b) 799.5 119 } 7514 232 6-26 32.38 7 1 (5-b) 1440.3 244 1904 Nottinghamshire came fifth in the Championship, winning 7 matches and losing 4. Jones and Iremonger topped the Notts batting with averages of over 60, John Gunn achieved the double of a thousand runs and a hundred wickets and Wass took 99 wickets at under 24 runs each. Wisden comments that, “A.O.Jones in the cricket field is energy personified, and a team under his leadership, though it may at times play bad cricket, will seldom be slack.” The county got off to a wonderful start with five wins, against MCC, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Gloucestershire, in the first seven matches. The promise, however, was not sustained. The wicket at Trent Bridge was prepared for batting, there being ten innings of over 300 in June and July. The problem was, as usual, that the bowlers could not consistently dismiss sides often enough to get near the top of the Championship. At the beginning of the season, Nottinghamshire played Yorkshire in a time limit match at Headingley. It was an early attempt to promote what was later called “brighter cricket” and to eliminate drawn matches. Each innings was to average four and a quarter hours in length. If the first two innings overran, the time was to be deducted from innings three and four. If the first two innings did not last that long, the time could be added to the later innings. In three day’s cricket, each side was intended to have the same amount of batting time. The winners were the side who scored the most runs, irrespective of how many wickets they had lost. Yorkshire were too strong for their opponents and won without the experimental rules being fully tested. 44