The Minor Counties Championship 1903

128 CAMBRIDGESHIRE 1903 Championship matches: Played 8, won 2, lost 5, drawn 1 (no decision on first innings) Position: Tenth equal with Buckinghamshire and Yorkshire 2 nd XI out of seventeen Won: v Staffordshire at Cambridge, and v Bedfordshire at Cambridge Lost: v Northumberland at Cambridge, v Bedfordshire at Dunstable, v Northumberland at Jesmond, v Durham at West Hartlepool, and v Durham at Cambridge Drawn – no decision on first innings: v Staffordshire at Stoke-on-Trent. Captain: Rev H Gray (4 matches), R S Hicks (2 matches) and J H Widdicombe (2 matches). Wicket-keepers: J Richardson (1 match) and G H Watts (7 matches) Debutants: 13 (G W Clark, W Coote, W E Gardner, E D Gilbert, L A Gilbert, F P C Pemberton, C Pigg, H E H Pratt, J Richardson, A J Robertson, G B Robins, O W Smoothy and J Widdicombe) Final season for team: 10 (J P Allix, W Bryan, G W Clark, W E Gardner, H E H Pratt, A J Robertson, G B Robins, F K Robinson, O W Smoothy and J Widdicombe) Hon Secretary: Maj O Papworth Professionals: 4 (J Bacon, W Bryan, D M Hayward and G H Watts) Home ground 1: Fenner’s University Cricket Ground, Mortimer Road, Cambridge (4 matches.) Notes: Cambridgeshire rejoined the Championship after a year’s absence, which had been largely due to the Cambridgeshire Secretary, Major Papworth, not attending the annual fixtures’ meeting at Lord’s in December 1901. He subsequently wrote without success to the Secretary of each of the Counties that Cambridgeshire had played in 1901 to seek fixtures for 1902. Compared with 1901, only Bedfordshire were met, with Durham, Northumberland and Staffordshire replacing Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Oxfordshire. The first five matches played were lost, but wins were then achieved at home against Staffordshire and Bedfordshire. During the season George Watts passed the career milestone of fifty dismissals. MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH AVERAGES 1903 In the averages below, + after the name denotes the 13 players who made their Championship debut for Cambridgeshire during the season. Names in bold denote that 1903 was the last or only season that these 10 players appeared for Cambridgeshire in the Championship. Player M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I J P Allix 2 4 2 27 55 27.50 - - 1 2 - - - - - - - - - Bacon, J 4 7 0 29 92 13.14 - - 1 - - 11 0 54 2 27.00 2-54 - - A E Bellars 2 4 0 6 7 1.75 - - 2 1 - 28 4 98 3 32.66 3-15 - - E Briggs 1 2 0 30 54 27.00 - - - - - 11 1 34 1 34.00 1-18 - - Bryan, W 4 8 1 12 43 6.14 - - 2 1 - 85.4 14 234 11 21.27 7-115 - 1 G W Clark + 1 2 1 9 9 9.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - W Coote + 1 - - - - - - - - - - 15 3 29 4 7.25 4-29 - - J C Falkner 2 4 0 14 20 5.00 - - 1 1 - 5 1 18 0 - - - - P A French 2 4 1 21 29 9.66 - - 1 1 - 14.5 1 52 3 17.33 3-29 - - W E Gardner + 3 6 0 18 25 4.16 - - 2 - - - - - - - - - - E D Gilbert + 6 11 0 30 105 9.54 - - 1 1 - 7 0 51 0 - - - - L A Gilbert + 4 6 1 26* 64 12.80 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - Rev H Gray 4 6 1 31 43 8.60 - - 3 2 - 115.5 33 286 28 10.21 8-39 - 2 Hayward, D M 7 13 1 53 218 18.16 - 1 - 6 - 191 46 481 47 10.23 9-33 3 5 R S Hicks 2 4 0 5 7 1.75 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - F E Morgan 6 11 1 39* 86 8.60 - - 2 1 - 23.3 7 68 2 34.00 2-12 - - F P C Pemberton + 2 4 0 3 4 1.00 - - 2 - - - - - - - - - - C Pigg + 2 4 0 26 53 13.25 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - H E H Pratt + 1 2 0 5 10 5.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - W Prest 2 4 0 31 55 13.75 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - J Richardson + 1 2 0 9 17 8.50 - - - - 3 - - - - - - - - A J Robertson + 1 2 1 3 5 5.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - G B Robins + 1 2 1 3* 3 3.00 - - 1 - - 4 0 35 1 35.00 1-35 - - G P M Robins 1 2 0 23 23 11.50 - - 1 - - 6 0 25 0 - - - - F K Robinson 2 4 1 17* 28 9.33 - - - - - - - - - - - - - O W Smoothy + 1 2 0 5 5 2.50 - - 1 - - 10 2 33 1 33.00 1-33 - - Rev R S Swann-Mason 4 7 0 30 98 14.00 - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - H C Tebbutt 5 9 2 16 50 7.14 - - 2 1 - 12 2 56 1 56.00 1-56 - - T S W Thomas 4 7 1 10 16 2.66 - - 3 - - 3 1 12 0 - - - - Watts, G H 7 13 1 61 168 14.00 - 1 1 4 1 6 1 24 1 24.00 1-0 - - J Widdicombe + 1 2 0 3 4 2.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - J H Widdicombe 2 4 0 6 6 1.50 - - 3 1 - 6 0 37 0 - - - - Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 102 - - - - 2 - - - 115 1 - - - - Total 88 162 16 61 1504 10.30 0 2 32 33 4 554.5 116 1742 106 16.43 9-33 3 8 (32 players) (6 ball overs) Note: It is uncertain in Match 25 v Bedfordshire at Dunstable which Robins caught H R Orr in the Bedfordshire innings. The catch is treated as a substitute catch in the averages above.