The Minor Counties Championship 1905

12 H Strudwick – Surrey 2nd XI 1899-1905 (born 28 January 1880; died 14 February 1970) Played 34 matches for Surrey 2nd XI making 69 dismissals of which 58 were caught and 11 stumped, and scoring 170 runs at 8.09. Herbert Strudwick, who was born at Mitcham, had an outstanding career with Surrey in 554 first-class matches between 1902 and 1927 taking 1,035 catches and 186 stumpings. He was generally recognised as being the best wicket-keeper of the day, but his batting was not as strong as some of his contemporaries. He made his Test debut aged 29 on tour in South Africa at Johannesburg. His home Test debut was ‘delayed’ until he was 41 years old. He played in 28 Tests making 72 dismissals. In all first-class matches he played 675 matches and took 1,242 catches and made 255 stumpings. He was renowned for his consistency and famed for standing up to all but the fastest bowlers. Bertie Oldfield, the famous Australian wicket-keeper is reported to have said he was the wicket-keeper he admired the most. Strudwick died at Shoreham shortly after his ninetieth birthday. W Ringrose – Yorkshire 2nd XI 1901-1905 (born 2 September 1871; died 14 September 1941) Played 17 matches for Yorkshire 2nd XI, taking 80 wickets at 17.00, and scoring 74 runs at 3.89. William Ringrose bowled fast right-arm, and batted left-handed. His best innings bowling performance was 6 wickets for 18 runs against Durham at Ripon in 1903 when the visitors were bowled out in their first innings for 45 runs. He took more wickets than he scored runs. He made his first- class debut for Yorkshire in 1901 and played his final match in 1906 ‘when his health broke down’. In 57 first -class matches for the county, he took 155 wickets at 20.80. His best innings bowling performance was 9-76 against the 1905 Australians. He played for Forfarshire between 1907 and 1913, playing a further 4 first-class matches for Scotland in that period. In all first-class cricket he took 175 wickets at 20.38. He was born at Ganton, near Scarborough and died at Crossgates, Leeds. THE BOOK The Match Scores The scores are presented in the same format as in previous seasons. For the 1905 season full scorebooks exist for five counties – Devon, Durham, Glamorgan, Staffordshire and Yorkshire 2nd XI. The Glamorgan scorebook is a copy. Newspapers have remained the main source of information, and once more over one hundred have been consulted in researching the scores for this book. When an obvious newspaper has not been listed among the sources at the foot of the match scores, this is likely to be because it has not been possible to gain access to the volume at the British Newspaper Library at Colindale, North London due to its fragile condition, or because it is not held there or at the relevant county library or record office. The competition received limited attention from Cricket , the leading cricket magazine of the period, with only two full scores included. Missing Details For the 1905 season, there is only one innings in one match where the bowling analysis is not known – the Dorset bowling in the Cornwall second innings of Match 81 at Poole. The runs conceded have been derived from the Dorset averages, but it has not been possible to make sense of the overs and maidens.