The Minor Counties Championship 1903

144 WILTSHIRE 1903 Championship matches: Played 12, won 7; lost 1, drawn 4 (won on first innings 1, lost on first innings 1, no decision on first innings 2) Position: Third out of seventeen Won: v Dorset at Swindon GWR, v Dorset at Poole, v Devon at Exeter, v Monmouthshire at Newport, v Devon at Chippenham, v Buckinghamshire at Bletchley, and v Monmouthshire at Swindon CG Lost: v Glamorgan at Chippenham Drawn – won on first innings: v Surrey 2 nd XI at Swindon CG Drawn – lost on first innings: v Glamorgan at Cardiff Drawn - no decision on first innings: v Buckinghamshire at Trowbridge, and v Surrey 2 nd XI at The Oval. Captain: A M Miller (12 matches) Wicket-keepers: R Brooks-King (1 match), E S Ford (7 matches), C H Ransome (2 matches), and T Smart (2 matches) Debutants: 7 (R Brooks-King, Rev H R N Ellison, E Grant, J K Mathews, A W Newman, T T N Perkins and T S Usher) Final season for team: 5 (R F B Bowes, R Brooks-King, E S Ford, F Newman and Capt J R Wyndham) Hon Secretary: A M MIller Professionals: 6 (E S Ford, A W Newman, F Newman, W Overton, T Smart and W R R Smith) Home grounds 4: The Chippenham Cricket Club Ground, Hardenhuish Park, Chippenham (2 matches); The County Ground, County Road, Swindon (2 matches); The Great Western Railway Park Ground, Shrivenham Road, Swindon (1 match); and The County Ground, Timbrell Street, Trowbridge (1 match). Notes: Wiltshire, the champions of 1902, ended up in third place with seven wins in twelve matches and only one defeat. The same opponents were met as in 1902. Audley Miller, the captain, succeeded Trevor Wheeler as Honorary Secretary. The season saw the debut of Arthur Newman who was to become a leading player for the side, both before and after the First World War. Career milestones passed during the season were two thousand runs by A M Miller, one thousand runs by W R R Smith, three hundred wickets by W Overton and two hundred wickets by W R R Smith. WILTSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1903 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 7 players who made their Championship debut for Wiltshire during the season. Names in bold denote that 1903 was the last or only season that these 5 players 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 2 4 0 21 52 13.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - R W Awdry 2 2 1 0* 0 0.00 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - C G Bond 5 5 1 9 12 3.00 - - 2 2 - - - - - - - - - R F B Bowes 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - R Brooks-King + 2 3 2 5* 10 10.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - H W Cobb 2 2 0 1 1 0.50 - - 1 - - 3 0 8 0 - - - - Rev H R N Ellison + 8 12 5 31 122 17.42 - - 3 5 - - - - - - - - - Ford, E S 7 6 2 16* 42 10.50 - - 1 8 3 - - - - - - - - E Grant + 5 5 2 32* 51 17.00 - - - 4 - 89.3 36 117 15 7.80 6-9 - 1 J K Mathews + 2 3 2 32* 43 43.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - W S Medlicott 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - A M Miller 12 16 3 43* 136 10.46 - - 3 5 - 65.4 18 174 11+4 15.81 4-23 - - Newman, A W + 5 8 0 27 66 8.25 - - - 1 - 41.5 16 71 5 14.20 2-6 - - Newman, F 1 1 0 11 11 11.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - Overton, W 12 14 0 31 203 14.50 - - 1 6 - 332 139 560 69+1 8.11 8-25 2 6 T T N Perkins + 9 12 2 73 429 42.90 - 3 - 2 - 2 0 13 0 - - - - C H Ransome 5 4 0 78 148 37.00 - 1 - 5 1 - - - - - - - - E T Shorland 1 1 0 12 12 12.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Smart, T 12 13 1 70 172 14.33 - 1 3 2 1 169.2 24 487 34 14.32 6-46 - 2 Smith, W R R 12 13 1 115 268 22.33 1 - - 5 - 249.3 89 515 42 12.26 6-26 - 2 J E Stevens 11 15 2 99 544 41.84 - 6 - 3 - 8 3 15 0 - - - - H P Taunton 3 5 1 25 44 11.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - T S Usher + 3 3 0 8 15 5.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - E S Warrilow 4 5 0 27 52 10.40 - - 2 4 - 6 0 18 3 6.00 3-6 - - E S Whitaker 3 4 1 16* 23 7.66 - - - 3 - - - - - - - - - Capt J R Wyndham 2 3 0 2 3 1.00 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - Missing # # 62 5 Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 180 - - - - - - - - 176 10 - - - - Total 132 161 26 115 2641 19.56 1 11 21 60 5 966.5# 325# 2210 194 11.39 8-25 2 11 (26 players) (6 ball overs) Note: Bowling analysis not known in Match 54 for the Buckinghamshire innings where the score was 62 for 5 wickets. Miller took 4 wickets and Overton 1. Other possible Wiltshire bowlers in that innings were W R R Smith and T Smart. It has not been possible to derive the analysis for this match from the Wiltshire averages in Wisden or the Wiltshire newspapers as they also include the four friendly matches played by the county.