The Minor Counties Championship 1902

9 11 October 1938 at Maidstone, Kent. A surgeon at the Kent County Opthalmic Hospital at Maidstone from 1917 until his retirement at December 1937, his obituary in the Kent Messenger reports he had undertaken around 30,000 operations during his career. Arthur John Silverlock was born in South Hackney in December 1867, and was educated at the Crouch End School. He played club cricket locally for Ivanhoe and South West Ham, before joining Newport in 1892 as their professional, and playing regularly for the club and Monmouthshire until the advent of the First World War. He was a right-hand batsman who often opened the innings. His batting has been described as of the cautious type, but he could score quickly when the need arose. His bowling style was right-arm slightly above medium pace, but he slowed down in later years and was known to bowl leg breaks. He often opened the bowling as well as the batting for Monmouthshire. He made his championship debut in 1897, and played his last match in 1914. In all he played in 128 championship matches for the county. As well as scoring two double centuries – 206 not out v Berkshire at Newport in 1905, and 246 not out v Carmarthenshire at Newport in 1909, he became the second player, after John Gibb, to score a century in both innings of a championship match – 102 and 113 not out – against Buckinghamshire at Slough in 1911. His all-round prowess was demonstrated in 1902 by his ranking as the second most successful all-rounder of the season. He had a disagreement with the Newport Club at the end of 1908 and returned to London, but he came back to play for the county in 1909, and resumed as professional for Newport in 1910. He lived in London after the war and played for Dedham in East Essex, where he had a smallholding, until he was over sixty. He was also renowned as a skilful angler with a particularly good knowledge of the Suffolk Stour. He died at Ardleigh, near Colchester on 4 June 1949. Other leading batsmen scoring over 400 runs were Edgar Wiltshire of Surrey 2 nd XI with 454 at 37.83, Albert Baker also of Surrey 2 nd XI with 547 at 36.46 , John Stevens of Wiltshire with 482 at 30.12, and Joseph Brain of Glamorgan with 470 at 26.11. Apart from Gibb, two batsmen averaged over fifty with William Burns of Staffordshire scoring 286 runs at 57.20 and Hugh Francis of Devon 275 at 55.00. The leading bowler of the season was once again George Thompson of Northamptonshire. For the second year running he took a hundred wickets in the Championship – exactly 100 at 11.14 apiece. An assessment of Thompson’s career was included in the book for the 1901 season. During the 1902 season, he became the first cricketer to score three thousand runs in the Championship, and take four hundred wickets. He also became only the seventh fielder to hold 50 catches. The three other players who took over fifty wickets were Bill Overton of Wiltshire with 64 at 13.09, Bill Smith also of Wiltshire with 59 at 13.77, and Harry White of Hertfordshire with 55 at 13.89. Other performances worthy of note are W C ‘Razor’ Smith of Surrey 2 nd XI with 31 wickets at 9.12, James Bourne of Staffordshire 41 at 9.92, John Butler of Durham with 46 at 11.10, Mat Wright of Buckinghamshire with 49 at 12.06, Bill East of Northamptonshire with 44 at 12.38, and Sam Lowe of Glamorgan with 42 at 13.42. The leading all-rounder of the season for the third time in four seasons was George Thompson of Northamptonshire with 360 runs at 36.00 and 100 wickets at 11.14. He was followed by Arthur Silverlock of Monmouthshire with 676 runs at 48.28 and 36 wickets at 15.91, Bill Overton of Wiltshire with 318 runs at 26.50 and 64 wickets at 13.09, Bill Smith of Wiltshire with 345 runs at 21.56 and 59 wickets at 13.77, and Harry White of Hertfordshire with 341 runs at 24.35 and 55 wickets at 13.89.