The Minor Counties Championship 1902

66 MATCH NUMBER 43 : BERKSHIRE V OXFORDSHIRE At The County Ground, Elm Park, Kensington Road, Reading on Friday 1, Saturday 2 August 1902 Result: Match drawn – Berkshire won on first innings Points: Berkshire 1 Toss: Berkshire Umpires: A Luff and G T Rye Debutants: Berkshire none; Oxfordshire 3 (W T Brooks, H F Fox, H Smith) First day score: Berkshire 303; Oxfordshire 158-9 wickets (M Molloy 33*, W T Brooks 8*) Berkshire K I Nicholl c J W Marsh b A Rogers 26 (1) b P Rogers 5 Relf, R R c Brownrigg b A Rogers 35 (2) c P Rogers b Brooks 15 * J A Gibb b A Rogers 103 (3) not out 122 F E Rowe b Smith 20 (4) b Brooks 6 Barrett, H c Compton b A Rogers 17 (5) b A Rogers 38 H F M Morres c A Rogers b Case 4 (6) not out 13 + A Henderson c J W Marsh b A Rogers 0 J C Hunter b A Rogers 5 Lt C J Collins b A Rogers 12 G G M Bennett c Smith b A Rogers 39 Barker, W not out 26 Extras w 1 16 w 4 10 Total 303 (4 wickets declared) 209 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 39 78 134 175 180 183 199 223 246 303 Second innings 6 49 59 170 - - - - - - Rogers, A 29 0 117 8 - - (1) 15 0 82 1 - - Rogers, P 19 2 65 0 - - (2) 18 1 63 1 3 - Brooks 5 0 30 0 - - (3) 6 2 32 2 - - Smith 4 0 7 1 1 - (4) 1 0 10 0 1 - Case 8 1 35 1 - - Molloy 5 0 16 0 - - (5) 2 0 12 0 - - Fox 4 0 17 0 - - Extras - - 16 0 - - - - 10 0 - - Total 74 3 303 10 1 0 42 3 209 4 4 0 Oxfordshire + J WMarsh c Gibb b Barker 4 (1) b Hunter 6 * C E Brownrigg b Morres 31 (2) b Barker 8 H F Fox lbw b Hunter 19 (3) not out 115 J F Marsh c Henderson b Relf 18 (4) c and b Morres 78 Rogers, P st Henderson b Morres 4 E D Compton c Barrett b Hunter 18 W S Case b Morres 0 (5) not out 43 Rogers, A c Henderson b Hunter 10 M Molloy b Morres 53 H Smith c and b Barker 3 W T Brooks not out 31 Extras nb 2 14 w 2, nb 1 16 Total 205 (3 wickets) 266 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 13 48 54 76 82 85 112 123 142 205 Second innings 20 20 173 - - - - - - - Barker 23 5 53 2 - 2 (1) 15 2 53 1 - 1 Relf 18 1 53 1 - - (3) 15 2 44 0 - - Hunter 10 0 61 3 - - (2) 23 4 70 1 2 - Morres 7.1 0 24 4 - - (5) 14 2 49 1 - - Barrett (4) 2 0 11 0 - - Collins (6) 4 0 20 0 - - Bennett (7) 1 0 3 0 - - Extras - - 14 0 - - - - 16 0 - - Total 58.1 6 205 10 0 2 74 10 266 3 2 1 Notes: This match was drawn after the Berkshire declaration set Oxfordshire a victory target of 308 in 3½ hours. Rain stopped play 25 minutes early with the visitors 42 runs short of victory. The match aggregate of 983 runs was the highest of the season and 3 short of establishing a new Championship record. The main feature of the match was Gibb’s scoring two centuries for Berkshire, the first time this feat had been achieved in a championship game. In the first innings he scored 103 with 12 fours and in the second 122 not out with 10 fours. His run aggregate for the match of 225 was the highest of the season. In the Berkshire first innings, Bennett and Barker added 57 runs for the last wicket. In the second innings, Gibb and Barrett put on 111 for the fourth wicket. For the visitors, the debutant Fox scored 115 not out, J F Marsh 78 and Molloy 53. In the Oxfordshire second innings, Fox and J F Marsh put on 153 for the third wicket, which was the highest partnership of that wicket during the season, and Molloy and Brooks 63 for the last. A Rogers took 8 wickets for 117 in the Berkshire first innings. The 199 runs he conceded were the highest of the season in a championship match. The Oxfordshire second innings total of 266-3 wickets was the highest fourth innings total of the season. Fox’s 115 not out was the highest score by a batsman in the fourth innings of a match during the season and a new record for the Championship, exceeding the 113 scored by G H Watts for Cambridgeshire against Northumberland at Jesmond in 1898. [An alternative version of this score based on Berkshire sources for the Berkshire first innings gives Smith conceding 16 runs, Molloy 17 and Fox 7.] [Missing: Extras breakdown; in Berkshire 1 st inns threes and twos and duration of Gibb’s 103; in Berkshire 2 nd inns three and twos and duration of Gibb’s 122 not out; in Oxfordshire 1 st inns boundaries in Molloy’s 53; in Oxfordshire 2 nd inns breakdown and duration of Fox’s 115 not out, and boundaries in J F Marsh’s 78.] Sources: Berkshire Chronicle 8 August; Reading Mercury 8 August; Reading Standard 8 August; Jackson’s Oxford Journal 9 August; Oxford Chronicle 8 August; Oxford Times 9 August; The Sportsman 2,4 August.