Lives in Cricket No 18 - FR Foster

Chapter Five Tell Kent from me she hath lost Founded in 1882, Warwicks were elected to the County Championship in 1895 but had since hovered anonymously around mid-table, with teams comprised of under-achieving professionals and various dilettante amateurs. In 1910 they drifted to fourteenth, only Derbyshire and Somerset below them. Worse, the previous four seasons local rivals, Worcestershire, finished higher. It seemed out of the question that a challenge could be mounted to the old counties. Kent, Middlesex and Surrey in the south, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire up north seemed resentful of the Midland interlopers – why else the reluctance to arrange fixtures? Middlesex and Notts had never yet played the Edgbaston side in the Championship while Kent had not done so since 1899. Kent had won successive titles – perhaps it’s easier if one is allowed to pick and choose opponents. In the circumstances Warwicks did not expect too 31 The Warwickshire side pictured early in the 1911 season. Standing (l to r): Richards (trainer), E.J.Smith (wk), J.H.Parsons, C.Charlesworth, S.Kinneir. Seated: S.Santall, F.G.Stephens, F.R.Foster (capt), G.W.Stephens, E.F.Field. On the ground: W.G.Quaife, C.S.Baker.