The Minor Counties Championship 1903

9 (1,037) Marshall, J (Northumberland) (1,021) F M Ingram (Berkshire) (1,002) Rudston, H (Yorkshire 2 nd XI) (1,000) C Y Adamson (Durham) 500 wickets – (1) (567) Thompson, G J (Northamptonshire) 400 wickets – (1) (421) Wright, M W (Buckinghamshire) 300 wickets – (3) (359+2) Overton, W (Wiltshire) (309) Creber, H (Glamorgan) (306) Rogers, P (Oxfordshire) 200 wickets – (4) (230) Smith, W R R (Wiltshire) (224) Brown, T A (Bedfordshire) (202) Coleman, W E (Hertfordshire) (200) Turnbull, G (Durham) 100 wickets – (1) (104) H Bassett (Oxfordshire) 150 dismissals – (1) (154) W H Brain (Glamorgan) 50 dismissals – (3) (59) Higgins, J (Yorkshire 2 nd XI) (57) J Kirtley (Durham) (53) Watts, G H (Cambridgeshire) 50 catches – (1) (55) W H Kingston (Northamptonshire) The 1902 book failed to note the career milestone of one hundred dismissals by B C Smith, the Northamptonshire wicket-keeper. Final Season A number of leading players played their final championship match in 1903. F M Ingram – Berkshire (b 6 November 1864; d 10 June 1933) Played 33 matches as an amateur right-hand batsman between 1896 and 1903 scoring 1,021 runs at an average of 22.68 with one century of 105 not out against Oxfordshire at Oxford in 1899. Francis Ingram was educated at Winchester College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He did not play first-class cricket for the University, but he gained one Blue at football in 1885- 1886, and also played 3 times for England in amateur international matches. C E Cobb – Buckinghamshire (b 24 May 1863; d 6 July 1922) Played 44 matches as an amateur between 1895 and 1903, making 127 dismissals keeping wicket – 78 caught and 49 stumped – and scored 1,419 runs at 24.46, including one century of 111 against Berkshire at Aylesbury in 1898. He was the first in a long list of able wicket- keepers who were to play for the county. He was regarded by many critics as the best wicket- keeper playing in the Minor Counties Championship at that time. Charles Cobb was in the cricket eleven at Rugby. He did not captain Buckinghamshire as some reports have suggested. He played in one first-class match for A J Webbe’s XI against Oxford University at Oxford in 1900.