The Minor Counties Championship 1903

97 MATCH NUMBER 74 : BERKSHIRE V MONMOUTHSHIRE At The County Ground, Elm Park, Kensington Road, Reading on Wednesday 26, Thursday 27 August 1903 Result: Match drawn – Monmouthshire won on first innings Points: Monmouthshire 1 Toss: Monmouthshire Umpires: Not known Debutants: Berkshire 1 (J Simonds); Monmouthshire none. First day score: Monmouthshire 165; Berkshire 124-9 wickets (G F Strange 4*, R R Relf 0*) Monmouthshire E S Phillips b Relf 7 (3) c Croom b Barrett 26 Silverlock, A J c Cave b Hunter 29 (2) c Hunter b Barrett 74 A J Gould b Relf 0 Dr A L Tatham c Nepean b Relf 12 (4) c and b Nepean 14 N C Phillips c Watts b Hunter 31 (5) b Relf 18 F G Phillips c Relf b Hunter 2 G Ll Lloyd c Watts b Bennett 22 (7) not out 42 S H Williams st Watts b Relf 30 (6) c Barrett b Hunter 6 * L F Stedman c Relf b Bennett 6 (8) not out 12 W E C Hudden c and b Relf 5 (1) b Relf 20 Steeples, R not out 7 Extras w 1, nb 2 14 19 Total 165 (6 wickets declared) 231 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 29 42 66 70 86 140 150 151 165 Second innings 38 130 134 - - - - Cave 26 16 29 0 - - Hunter 12 2 50 3 - 2 (2) 10 1 49 1 - - Relf 21.5 7 47 5 - - (1) 30 6 70 2 - - Bennett 7 0 29 2 1 - (3) 10 3 38 0 - - Croom (4) 3 1 4 0 - - Barrett (5) 10 1 31 2 - - Nepean (6) 5 0 22 1 - - Extras - - 14 0 - - - - 19 0 - - Total 66.5 25 169x 10 1 2 68 12 233x 6 - - 165 231 Berkshire G G M Bennett c Tatham b Stedman 32 (1) c E S Phillips b Steeples 8 + Watts, E c Williams b Silverlock 5 (2) c Tatham b Stedman 48 J H Dowell c Tatham b Silverlock 4 (5) b Silverlock 3 Cave, W run out 36 (4) c Hudden b Stedman 2 Barrett, H c Williams b F G Phillips 14 (6) not out 0 * Sir C E M Y Nepean b Steeples 14 J C Hunter c F G Phillips b Stedman 0 Croom, A B run out 1 G F Strange not out 4 (3) not out 14 J Simonds b Steeples 6 Relf, R R c Stedman b Silverlock 3 Extras 8 18 Total 127 (4 wickets) 93 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 10 30 75 107 115 124 127 Second innings 10 24 73 92 - - - - - - Steeples 17 6 38 2 - - (1) 12 2 25 1 - - Silverlock 13 3 40 3 - - (2) 12 4 29 1 - - Stedman 12 3 26 2 - - (4) 7 4 8 2 - - F G Phillips 8 3 15 1 - - (3) 7 4 13 0 - - Extras - - 8 2 - - - - 18 0 - - Total 50 15 127 10 - - 38 14 93 4 - - Notes: This rain-interrupted return match was drawn, after the Monmouthshire declaration set Berkshire a victory target of 270 runs in three hours. Monmouthshire had won the match at Newport in July. On the first day bad light ended play early at 6.00 pm. On the second day rain halted play briefly just before 5.00 pm and then at again at 5.10 pm when a heavy rainstorm led to the match being abandoned at 5.45 pm. For the visitors, Silverlock scored 74. In the Monmouthshire first innings, Lloyd and Williams added 54 runs for the seventh wicket. Cave injured a leg while batting in the Berkshire first innings and could not bowl in the Monmouthshire second innings. [Missing: Umpires; extras breakdown; part fall of wickets; Monmouthshire wicket-keeper; in Monmouthshire first innings runs conceded bowling 4 in excess; in Monmouthshire second innings boundaries in Silverlock’s 74 and runs conceded bowling 2 in excess.] Sources: Berkshire Chronicle 29 August; Reading Mercury 29 August; Reading Observer 29 August; Reading Standard 29 August; South Wales Argus 26,27 August; South Wales Daily News 27,28 August; Western Mail 27,28 August; The Sportsman 27,29 August.