Minor Counties Championship 1895

5 the new competition should begin without delay in 1895. Paul Foley was asked to act as secretary for the competition and to draw up, for consideration at a meeting in the new year, a list of matters governing the championship that needed to be resolved. The follow-up meeting was held at the Queen’s Hotel, Birmingham on Saturday 2 March 1895. T C Slaney (Staffordshire) presided, and other delegates present were Messrs P H Foley (Worcestershire), J Gaudern (Northamptonshire), R H Mallett (Durham), E J Sanders (Devon), L C R Thring (Bedfordshire), T Williams (Wiltshire) and H M Turner (Oxfordshire). The meeting considered a paper prepared by Paul Foley that sought views on a number of issues relating to the conduct of the competition. At the start of the meeting it was reported that five counties had agreed to take part in the competition – Bedfordshire, Durham, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. It was also considered probable that Cheshire and Hertfordshire, who were not represented at the gathering, would also compete. At the meeting the Minor Counties Cricket Association was formally established, and it was agreed that: 1) A committee of management, consisting of one member from each participating county, should be appointed that would meet at least annually and would be responsible for running the competition. 2) A draft set of rules should be drawn up by Mr Foley and circulated to all the county secretaries for comment. The replies should then be submitted to a sub-committee that would be responsible for revising the rules for approval at the meeting of the management committee in December 1895. 3) The sub-committee was also authorised to act and deal with any emergencies arising during the coming month. The membership was agreed as T C Slaney (Chairman), P H Foley (Secretary), R H Mallett and L C R Thring. 4) It was confirmed that to qualify for the competition counties would have to play eight matches – four at home and four away. 5) As it was not possible at this relatively late stage to have a major rearrangement of fixtures, it was decided that matches played in 1895 by teams qualifying for the competition against teams that did not, should count as championship matches for the former if the latter agreed. 6) Any disputes in relation to matters of qualifications or arising from the laws of the game should be referred to the MCC. 7) On the question of the appointment of umpires, it was resolved that each county involved in a championship match should be responsible for providing one umpire, as the expense of paying for neutral umpires was judged to be beyond the resources of many teams. 8) The system of scoring was confirmed as being the same that applied to the first-class counties championship, with one point being awarded for a win, one point being deducted for a loss, and no points being awarded for a draw. 9) An application from the North and East Ridings Cricket Club for membership of the new Association was rejected.