The Minor Counties Championship 1901

7 Durham, Northumberland and Yorkshire 2nd XI. He was a right-arm fast medium bowler and right-hand batsman, and a safe slip or short leg. He was to take another hundred wickets in 1902 and over ninety in both 1903 and 1904, the last year the county played in the Championship. He was born at Northampton on 27 October 1877, the son of a local bookmaker and sometime publican. The family were living at Wellingborough in 1881, and subsequently moved to the village of Cogenhoe outside Northampton in 1884, and some reference books mistakenly give this as his place of birth. He went to Wellingborough School and was in the Eleven in 1892 and 1893. He left school before he was sixteen. He first played for Northamptonshire in a minor counties championship match in 1895 as an amateur, becoming the paid assistant secretary in December 1895 with an annual salary of £75, before turning professional in 1897 and also joining the MCC ground staff that year. He made his first-class debut in 1897 for the MCC v Essex, followed by 3 further matches for MCC in 1898. His next first-class matches were in 1900 when he played 9 matches – 6 for the MCC and 3 at the Scarborough Festival. In 1901 he played a further 11 first-class matches, including 8 for the MCC and 3 at the Scarborough Festival. James Coldham, in his history of the county, described him as being “a rather tall, dark, thick- set man with an impressive black moustache and piercing eyes, and his bowling action was full of grace and power. He would complete a double-circle of the right arm, ... and in common with most bowlers of a high-over action, his length was not easy to judge. Moreover, he could bring the ball off the ground with plenty of life and spin and commanded an excellent yorker for good measure ... . As a batsman ... he was of the steady, lighthouse type ... he tended to be over-cautious.” He decided to remain with Northamptonshire, despite rumours of his services being sought by Kent and one or two other first-class counties, and he played the lead role in his County achieving first-class status in 1905. In minor counties championship matches for Northamptonshire between 1895 and 1904, he was to take over 650 wickets at under 13 runs apiece, and to score more than 4,000 runs with an average of over 34 and a highest score of 167 not out against Surrey 2nd XI at Northampton in 1904. He was one of the all-round giants of the Minor Counties Championship. He played 222 matches for Northamptonshire after they became first-class between 1905 and 1922. He was chosen for England in 6 Test Matches, one in 1909 against Australia and 5 versus South Africa in 1909/10, scoring 273 runs at 30.30 and taking 23 wickets at 27.73. In all, he played 352 first-class matches, scoring 12,018 runs at 22.01, holding 251 catches, and taking 1,591 wickets at 18.89. His highest first-class score was 131 not out for Northamptonshire against Somerset at the Recreation Ground, Bath in 1913, and his best innings bowling performance statistically was 9 wickets for 64 runs against Derbyshire at Northampton in 1906. Had he played for a first-class county from the start, and had his career not been disrupted by the First World War, it is possible that he would have taken 2,500 wickets and scored 20,000 runs. He went on three tours, firstly with Lord Hawke to New Zealand and Australia in 1902/03, secondly with Lord Brackley to West Indies in 1904/05, and finally with MCC to South Africa in 1909/10, as well as playing for Auckland in 1911/12 when coaching in New Zealand. He umpired the second and third Tests in South Africa when the MCC toured under F T Mann in 1922/23. He was one of the 1906 Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He suffered from pneumonia in the war and when he returned to the County in 1921 at the age of 43 as player/coach, he had a permanent limp and his bowling was relatively ineffective. He subsequently coached as Head