The Minor Counties Championship 1905

140 BERKSHIRE 1905 Championship matches: Played 10, won none, lost 5, drawn 5 (won on first innings 2, lost on first innings 2, no decision on first innings 1) Position: Seventeenth equal with Cornwall and Oxfordshire out of nineteen Won: None Lost: v Monmouthshire at Reading, v Monmouthshire at Newport, v Glamorgan at Cardiff, v Devon at Exeter, and v Glamorgan at Reading Drawn – won on first innings: v Oxfordshire at Oxford, and v Oxfordshire at Reading Drawn – lost on first innings: v Buckinghamshire at Reading, and v Buckinghamshire at Slough Drawn – no decision on first innings: v Devon at Reading. Captain: Sir C E M Y Nepean (10 matches) Wicket-keeper: E Watts (10 matches) Debutants: 8 (H Brougham, - Brown, Rev F J Howard, P H Martineau, J E Mason, J C G Matthews, C W Turner and Capt W E M Tyndall) Final season: 12 (- Brown, Cmdr C J Collins, A C M Croome, J H Dowell, Capt C H Frith, WM Greenfield, P H Martineau, J E Mason, S V Shea, A S B Tull, C W Turner and Capt W E M Tyndall) Hon Secretary: Maj C Turner Professionals: 7 (W Barker, H Barrett, - Brown, W Cave, A B Croom, A Sansum and E Watts) Home ground 1: The County Ground, Elm Park, Kensington Road, Reading (5 matches). Notes: Berkshire lost their first four matches and failed to win a match all season. They finished bottom of the table, sharing this position with Cornwall and Oxfordshire. It was their worst position in the competition since the county qualified for the Championship in 1896. Ten matches were played compared with eight in 1904. Devon were the new opponents. There is some uncertainty about the professional Brown, who had previously been thought of as being Charles E, but is almost certainly another player. Of those players making their final appearance for the team, the most notable was Arthur Croome, captain between 1895 and 1900 whose career is considered earlier in the book. Career milestones reached during the season were two thousand runs by A C M Croome and E Watts, one thousand runs by G G M Bennett and F E Rowe, three hundred wickets by W Barker, one hundred wickets by W Cave and fifty catches by Sir C E M Y Nepean. BERKSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1905 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 8 players who made their Championship debut for Berkshire during the season. Names in bold denote that 1905 was the last or only season that these 12 players appeared for Berkshire in the Championship. Player M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I Barker, W 8 13 6 20 135 19.28 - - 1 3 - 256.3 51 810 20 40.50 4-126 - - Barrett, H 2 4 0 29 49 12.25 - - - - - 3 0 9 0 - - - - G G M Bennett 9 16 0 121 683 42.68 2 2 - 7 - 98 13 391 12 32.58 3-8 - - H Brougham + 3 5 0 108 133 26.60 1 - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - Brown, - + 4 8 1 28 91 13.00 - - - 1 - 6 1 27 0 - - - - Cave, W 7 7 0 11 22 3.14 - - 3 5 - 186.3 35 520 21 24.76 5-79 - 1 Cmdr C J Collins 2 3 0 15 21 7.00 - - - - - 8.2 1 28 1 28.00 1-10 - - Croom, A B 5 9 3 6* 18 3.00 - - 3 1 - 23.1 1 116 1 116.00 1-64 - - A C M Croome 5 8 4 72 227 56.75 - 2 - 8 - 79 17 229 7 32.71 3-55 - - J H Dowell 2 4 1 28 61 20.33 - - 1 4 - - - - - - - - - Capt C H Frith 1 2 0 7 7 3.50 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - WM Greenfield 9 17 2 45 297 19.80 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - Rev F J Howard + 5 10 1 19 56 6.22 - - 1 5 - 52 10 205 5 41.00 2-37 - - Capt H W Hutson 7 11 0 57 204 18.54 - 2 5 3 - 208.4 51 681 28 24.32 6-102 - 2 P H Martineau + 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 - - - - - 5 0 36 0 - - - - J E Mason + 1 2 0 17 29 14.50 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - J C G Matthews + 1 2 0 31 44 22.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - Sir C E M Y Nepean 10 19 0 53 308 16.21 - 2 3 18 - 6 0 29 0 - - - - Rev E Peake 1 1 1 25* 25 - - - - - - 14 2 59 0 - - - - F E Rowe 5 8 1 137 278 39.71 1 1 - 3 - 15 1 62 2 31.00 2-34 - - Sansum, A 3 2 1 7* 8 8.00 - - - 1 - 70 11 236 11 21.45 7-42 - 1 S V Shea 5 9 0 115 301 33.44 1 1 - - 1 - - - - - - - - A S B Tull 1 1 0 2 2 2.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - C W Turner + 2 3 1 45 65 32.50 - - 1 1 - 5 1 19 0 - - - - Capt W E M Tyndall + 1 2 0 8 8 4.00 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - Watts, E 10 19 1 130 467 25.94 1 2 1 9 - - - - - - - - - Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 204 - - - - - - - - 228 6 - - - - Total 110 186 23 137 3744 22.96 6 12 23 73 1 1036.1 195 3685 114 32.32 7-42 0 4 (26 players) (6 ball overs) Note: Runs bowling 1 run in excess in second innings of Match 43 against Oxfordshire at Oxford, and 1 run short in first innings of Match 71 against Buckinghamshire at Slough.