The MInor Counties Championship 1900

7 The proportion of drawn matches also rose slightly from 48% to 52%. Whereas in 1899 not a single dayís play had been lost to the weather, in 1900 in all the matches 10 days of cricket were lost to the rain. For the first time no play was possible in a match ñ Yorkshire 2nd XI v Surrey 2nd XI at Barnsley in August which had to be abandoned. Several counties were unable to select players serving with the Army in the Boer War in South Africa. Rule Changes 1900 saw the introduction of two important rule changes. The first was the introduction of six- ball overs in place of five-ball ones. This change makes it difficult to compare overs and maidens between seasons of five- and six-ball overs. For the purpose of compiling career averages, it would have been very satisfactory to have been able to have separate lines for five- ball overs and maidens and 6-ball ones, but the demands of space deter this approach. The one followed is to resort to the standard ACS practice for career records of giving balls bowled and ignoring maidens. The second rule change related to the mandatory follow-on if the team batting first had a lead of 80 runs or more. From 1900, it became voluntary and the limit was raised for two-day matches to 100 runs. Leading Performances The batsman of the year was Jack Hansell of Northumberland who in 10 matches scored 503 runs at an average of 50.30. Hansell had played for the county in the pre-Minor Counties Championship days from 1886 and was captain in 1893. A left-handed batsman, during his career in the Championship between 1896 and 1905 he was to score close to 2,900 runs at an average of around 25. 1900 was to be by far his most successful season for the club. He had been born at North Shields in 1864 and died at Parkstone, Dorset on 18th February 1947. He was a timber merchant by trade. He served on the Northumberland Committee between 1907 and 1911, and was a vice-president from 1911 to 1947. Other leading batsmen scoring over 400 runs and with an average over 40 were Charlie Smith the Northamptonshire wicket-keeper (402 runs at an average of 50.25), Mat Wright of Buckinghamshire (433 at 48.11), Albert Baker of Surrey 2nd XI (536 at 44.66) and Charles Pool of Northamptonshire (418 at 41.80). Arguably, the leading bowler of the year was Peter Rogers of Oxfordshire taking 50 wickets at 11.06. Peter Rogers was an ever-present in the Oxfordshire team from 1895 to 1905. He bowled right-arm slow, with the ability to make the ball break both ways. His elder brother Alfred, known universally as ëBrusherí, was an ever-present until 1906, after which the club disbanded until after the First World War. He bowled right-arm fast medium, and he was the better batsman, considered by some to be a class all-rounder. Both brothers passed the career milestone of two hundred wickets during the season, while Brusher also passed one thousand runs batting. They were both professional cricketers. Peter Rogers, who was the groundsman at St Johnís College, was born at Cowley, Oxford on 7 November 1865 and died at Churt, Surrey on 3 August 1923. Brusher Rogers was also born at Cowley, Oxford on 26 August 1863, and died there on 15 July 1938. He was groundsman at Exeter College. Other bowlers challenging Peter Rogers for his title by taking over 30 wickets at an average of 12 or less were Bill Russell of Glamorgan (36 wickets at 9.75), William Whitwell of Durham (35 at 11.25) and Mat Wright of Buckinghamshire (53 at 11.52). In addition, the achievement