The Minor Counties Championship 1905

8 During the season Hertfordshire and Wiltshire became the first two counties to exceed one hundred matches in the Championship. These two events have been marked by including towards the end of this book a short statistical record of their achievements,. Leading Performances As has already been mentioned, Arthur Silverlock of Monmouthshire was the leading batsman of the season scoring 703 runs at an average of 78.11. It was the highest average obtained so far by the leading batsmen in the competition, and he scored just 24 runs short of the record made by Harry Hodgkins of Bedfordshire in 1904 of 727 runs at 42.76. Silverlock’s 206 not out was the only double century scored in 1905. It will be recalled that Silverlock had previously held the record for most runs in the season in 1902 with 676 at 48.28, before losing it to Harry Hodgkins. Batsmen scoring over five hundred runs in 1905 and averaging 40 or more were Edgar ‘Tegger’ Elliot of Durham with 720 runs at 60.00, Edward Phillip s of Monmouthshire with 579 at 57.90, and George Bennett of Berkshire with 683 at 42.68. [Arthur Silverlock’s career wa s reviewed in the 1902 book on page 9.] Turning to the bowlers, Richard Steeples of Monmouthshire topped the bowling averages with 68 wickets at 8.45. Others taking over forty wickets at 14 or less apiece were James Worman of Norfolk 42 at 11.11, George Turnbull of Durham 55 at 11.49, Sydney Barnes of Staffordshire 44 at 11.54, Bill Smith of Wiltshire 48 at 13.60, Horace Gray of Cambridgeshire 48 at 13.79, and Mat Wright of Buckinghamshire 49 at 14.46. Most wickets were taken by Harry Creber of Glamorgan with 89 at 15.67. [Richard Steeples career was reviewed in the 1897 book on pages 6 and 7.] The leading all-rounders were Harry White of Hertfordshire with 581 runs at 38.73 and 44 wickets at 19.47, Billy Light of Devon with 338 runs at 26.00 and 66 wickets at 16.13, and Bill Coleman of Hertfordshire with 417 runs at 27.80 and 49 wickets at 21.48. During the season, two players – George Turnbull of Durham and George Raikes of Norfolk – scored a hundred runs and took ten wickets in a match. Edmund Apthorp of Bedfordshire topped the wicket-keeper dismissals with 28, of which 22 were catches and 6 stumpings. ‘Kellett’ Kirtley of Durham and Tom Davies of Devon both made 21 dismissals, and T S Luce of Wiltshire and ‘Teddy’ Diver of Monmouthshire both made 17. The leading fielders in terms of catches held were Charles Nepean of Berkshire with 18, ‘Jack’ Nash of Glamorgan with 17, Billy Bancroft also of Glamorgan with 16, Arthur Newman of Wiltshire 13, and Legh Barratt of Norfolk and Bill Overton of Wiltshire, both with 12. Championship Career Milestones The following career milestones were reached during the season: 4,000 runs (1) 4,022 White, H E Hertfordshire 3,000 runs (4) 3,380 Golding, A J Hertfordshire 3,283 Wright, M W Buckinghamshire 3,190 Silverlock, A J Monmouthshire 3,071 E W Elliot Durham 2,000 runs (10) 2,304 Coleman, W E Hertfordshire