The Minor Counties Championship 1902

137 WILTSHIRE 1902 Championship matches: Played 12, won 9, lost 2, drawn 1 (won on first innings none, lost on first innings 1, no decision on first innings none) Position: First out of sixteen Won: v Dorset at Chippenham, v Glamorgan at Trowbridge, v Buckinghamshire at Bletchley, v Dorset at Bridport, v Buckinghamshire at Trowbridge, v Monmouthshire at Newport, v Devon at Swindon, v Devon at Exeter, and v Monmouthshire at Swindon Lost: v Glamorgan at Cardiff, and v Surrey 2nd XI at The Oval Drawn – won on first innings: none Drawn – lost on first innings: v Surrey 2 nd XI at Swindon Drawn – no decision on first innings. Captain: A M Miller (12 matches) Wicket-keepers: E S Ford (11 matches) and T S Luce (1 match) Debutants: 1 (T S Luce) Final season: 1 (R Reynolds) Hon Secretary: T Wheeler Professionals: 4 (E S Ford, W Overton, T Smart and W R R Smith) Home grounds 3: Chippenham Cricket Club, Hardenhuish Park, Chippenham (1 match); The County Ground, County Road, Swindon (3 matches), and The County Ground, Timbrell Street, Trowbridge (2 matches). Notes: Wiltshire won the Championship for the first time. After losing their first match with Glamorgan, there was a run of five consecutive victories, and in all nine out of twelve matches were won. Audley Miller had led the campaign within the Minor Counties Cricket Association to revise the points’ system, and Wiltshire were the first to benefit from the change. Under the points’ sytem that had existed in 1901 and earlier years, the title would have gone to Surrey 2 nd XI, who incurred no losses, with Northamptonshire in second place. Apart from Dorset replacing Oxfordshire, the same opponents were met as in 1901. E S Ford reappeared as a professional having played as an amateur in 1899 and 1901. Winning the Championship did not prevent Wiltshire from running into financial difficulties, and there were reports in the autumn that the Club may have to wind itself up. Fortunately, these came to nothing, and Wiltshire were to play again and end up in third place in 1903. Career milestones passed during the season were two thousand runs by J E Stevens, one thousand runs by W Overton, and two hundred wickets by both A M Miller and T Smart. WILTSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1902 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 1 player who made his Championship debut for Wiltshire during the season. Name in bold denote that 1902 was the last or only season that this player appeared for Wiltshire in the Championship. Player M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I C S Awdry 5 8 1 38* 115 16.42 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - R W Awdry 7 10 1 35* 127 14.11 - - 2 3 - - - - - - - - - C G Bond 2 3 0 13 19 6.33 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - R F B Bowes 3 5 1 36 98 24.50 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - H W Cobb 1 2 0 9 10 5.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - A G Dibsdall 1 1 0 9 9 9.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - E Fawcett 2 2 0 76 91 45.50 - 1 - 2 - - - - - - - - - Ford, E S 11 15 2 18 105 8.07 - - 3 14 5 4 0 25 0 - - - - T S Luce + 1 1 0 17 17 17.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - W S Medlicott 7 14 2 136 297 24.75 1 - 1 7 - - - - - - - - - A M Miller 12 18 1 76 289 17.00 - 2 3 9 - 203.3 50 593 42 14.11 7-23 - 2 Overton, W 12 19 7 51 318 26.50 - 1 - 18 - 332.3 90 838 64 13.09 8-27 2 6 C H Ransome 2 4 0 14 33 8.25 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - R Reynolds 1 2 0 10 16 8.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Smart, T 12 15 2 71 145 11.15 - 1 3 8 - 231.4 46 695 47 14.78 6-23 - 3 Smith, W R R 12 18 2 102 345 21.56 1 1 3 6 - 404.3 132 813 59 13.77 9-65 1 3 H S Snell 12 18 2 61 228 14.25 - 1 4 9 - - - - - - - - - J E Stevens 11 19 3 102 482 30.12 1 1 1 8 - 21 4 84 3 28.00 2-40 - - H P Taunton 9 15 0 61 188 12.53 - 1 2 3 - - - - - - - - - E S Warrilow 4 6 1 67 92 18.40 - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - E S Whitaker 5 7 1 36* 77 12.83 - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 145 - - - - - - - - 143 6 - - - - Total 132 202 26 136 3246 18.44 3 10 24 95 5 1197.1 322 3191 221 14.43 9-65 3 14 (21 players) (6 ball overs) FINAL SEASON FOR COUNTY – CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER AVERAGES This player made his last appearance for Wiltshire in the Championship in 1902. Player Debut M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Balls Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I R Reynolds 1900 3 5 0 55 100 20.00 - 1 - 1 - - - - - - - - (1 player)