Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

68 A remarkable season, and a lost opportunity 1901-02 The great sensation of the season was not in the winning of so many games, or the crushing nature of most of the victories. It was in the lost match – to Somerset, at Headingley in mid-July. Somerset batted first and were bowled out for 87 pretty well on the first morning. Yorkshire after a shaky start in which none of the first five batsmen, including Mitchell, reached 25 then accumulated well and made a highly respectable 325. Yorkshire had, in Wisden’s phrase, ‘a majority of 238’ and very possibly anticipated another innings win. Instead they were given one of the great shocks of their cricketing world, when in the Somerset second innings L.C.H.Palairet and L.C.Braund scored 222 for the first wicket, Palairet making 173 and Braund 107. F.A.Phillips, another who returned from the Boer War, followed up with 122. After Somerset were finally out on the third morning for 630, they had a lead of 392. Yorkshire should have been able to play easily enough for a draw, but collapsed, were all out for 113, Mitchell contributing one, and lost by 279 runs. Nothing like this had been seen on a county cricket field for a long time, and the Somerset journey home to the West Country must have been quite an occasion! If that Somerset match was a personal setback for Frank Mitchell, he more than made up for it in other fixtures. He scored seven centuries that season – including four in consecutive June matches, 100 against Hampshire at Bournemouth, 100 against Middlesex at Lord’s, 106 not out against Surrey at Bradford and then 162 not out against Warwickshire at Birmingham. Other centuries against Leicestershire, Warwickshire The Yorkshire team that won the County Championship in 1901.