The Minor Counties Championship 1901

80 MATCH NUMBER 57 : OXFORDSHIRE V BEDFORDSHIRE At The New College Ground, St Cross Road, Oxford on Wednesday 14, Thursday 15 August 1901 Result: Oxfordshire won by eight wickets Points: Oxfordshire +1; Bedfordshire -1 Toss: Bedfordshire Umpires: R Barber and W Hearne Debutants: Oxfordshire 1 (P Harper); Bedfordshire 1 (H F Holdstock) First day score: Bedfordshire 94-5 wickets (T A Brown 4*, L G Stileman-Gibbard 3*) Bedfordshire F G Brooks c Moulder b Twiss 30 ( ) b A Rogers 2 Pollitt, G c Moulder b Twiss 27 ( ) b P Rogers 0 * H R Orr b A Rogers 17 ( ) b A Rogers 1 Taylor, F b Harper 1 ( ) b P Rogers 0 R F A Orr run out 6 ( ) c Twiss b A Rogers 1 Brown, T A not out 68 ( ) c and b P Rogers 3 L G Stileman-Gibbard b A Rogers 19 ( ) b P Rogers 1 F B Brooks run out 0 ( ) b P Rogers 0 H F Holdstock not out 8 ( ) b P Rogers 0 L Parbury ( ) b A Rogers 8 + W R Jeakings ( ) not out 0 Extras b 4, lb 4, w 1, nb 1 10 b 6 6 Total (7 wickets declared) 186 22 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 60 - - - Second innings 3 22 Rogers, P 25 5 55 0 - - (1) 11.4 5 9 6 - - Rogers, A 27 5 54 2 - - (2) 11 8 7 4 - - Twiss 10 1 33 2 1 1 Harper 12 2 34 1 - - Extras - - 10 2 - - - - 6 0 - - Total 74 13 186 7 1 1 22.4 13 22 10 0 0 Oxfordshire + J WMarsh lbw b Parbury 8 G Holloway b Brown 34 W Smith b Brown 77 (1) not out 17 J F Marsh lbw b Brown 20 (2) b Brown 7 Rogers, P c and b Parbury 8 C E Ponsonby c Holdstock b Parbury 6 T H K Moulder c Taylor b Parbury 7 (3) b Brown 11 Rogers, A b Brown 2 (4) not out 2 * C C Bradford c and b Brown 0 Harper, P not out 1 E K Twiss b Brown 3 Extras b 2, lb 1 3 3 Total 169 (2 wickets) 40 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 134 169 Second innings 20 - - - - - - - - Brown 26.3 2 72 6 - - (1) 2.3 0 24 2 - - Parbury 17 1 61 4 - - Holdstock 4 0 15 0 - - (2) 2 0 13 0 - - Stileman-Gibbard 5 0 18 0 - - Extras - - 3 0 - - - - 3 0 - - Total 52.3 3 169 10 - - 4.3 0 40 2 - - Notes: Oxfordshire won by eight wickets with 3 minutes to spare, an outcome which appeared unlikely two hours previously. Rain on the first day prevented a start before 3.30 pm and limited play to an hour. When the Oxfordshire first innings was completed only an hour and a half was left for play and the captains discussed whether stumps should be drawn. It was decided to continue and Bedfordshire were bowled out in under an hour for 22, the lowest ever score since the Championship was launched in 1895. The previous lowest was 23 by Staffordshire v Worcestershire at Stourbridge in 1895. Oxfordshire needed 40 runs to win in just under half an hour, and got them for the loss of two wickets. For the winners, Smith scored 77. For Bedfordshire, Brown’s 68 not out contained 7 fours. When he had scored 17 in the Oxfordshire first innings, J F Marsh reached the career milestone of one thousand runs in championship matches. [ An alternative version of this score based on Bedfordshire sources has for the Bedfordshire first innings F G Brooks caught Holloway not Moulder.] [Missing: Fall of wickets; in Bedfordshire 2 nd inns batting order; in Oxfordshire 1 st inns boundaries in Smith’s 77; in Oxfordshire 2nd inns extras breakdown; precise time completed.] Sources: Jackson’s Oxford Journal 17 August; Oxford Chronicle 23 August; Oxford Times 17 August; Bedfordshire Standard 16 August; Luton News 15 August; The Sportsman 15,17 March.