The Minor Counties Championship 1905

160 WILTSHIRE 1905 Championship matches: Played 10, won 6, lost 1, drawn 3 (won on first innings 2, lost on first innings 1, no decision on first innings none) Position: Fourth out of nineteen Won: v Glamorgan at Chippenham, v Dorset at Poole, v Hertfordshire at Salisbury, v Buckinghamshire at Chippenham, v Dorset at Swindon CG, and v Surrey 2 nd XI at Chippenham Lost: v Buckinghamshire at Bletchley Drawn – won on first innings: v Surrey 2 nd XI at The Oval, and v Hertfordshire at Watford Drawn – lost on first innings: v Glamorgan at Cardiff Drawn – no decision on first innings: None. Captain: A M Miller (10 matches) Wicket-keepers: T S Luce (6 matches), Capt R H Oliver (2 matches) and F W Stancomb (2 matches) Debutant: 1 (Capt R H Oliver) Final season: 3 (Rev H R N Ellison, JK Mathews and T S Usher) Hon Secretary: A M Miller Professionals: 4 (A W Newman, W Overton, T Smart and W R R Smith) Home grounds 3: The Chippenham Cricket Club Ground, Hardenhuish Park, Chippenham (3 matches); The South Wilts Cricket Club Ground, Wilton Road, Bemerton, Salisbury – new ground (1 match); and The County Ground, County Road, Swindon (1 match). Notes: Placed second in 1904, Wiltshire ended up in fourth place in 1905. After winning five of their first seven matches, the County were regarded at that stage as probable championship winners. A defeat by Buckinghamshire in the eighth mach, their only loss, and a failure to defeat Hertfordshire in their ninth, were sufficient setbacks to prevent them winning the title. Ten matches were played compared with twelve the previous season, with the ‘promoted’ Northamptonshire no longer being met. Of the batsmen, no regular player averaged ove r thirty, the leading batsman being Thomas Perkins with 299 runs at 27.18. Bill Smith was the leading bowler with 48 wickets at 13.60 apiece. Off the field, Audley Miller took over as Hon Secretary from Rev Henry Ellison. Career milestones reached during the season were one thousand runs by Thomas Perkins and three hundred wickets by both Tom Smart and Bill Smith. WILTSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1905 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 1 player who made his Championship debut for Wiltshire during the season. Names in bold denote that 1905 was the last or only season that these 3 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 4 7 0 71 165 23.57 - 1 - 3 - - - - - - - - - R W Awdry 1 2 0 11 13 6.50 - - - - - - - - - - - - - H M Butterworth 9 14 0 122 350 25.00 1 1 - 2 - - - - - - - - - A G Dibsdall 1 2 0 5 7 3.50 - - - 2 - - - - - - - - - Rev H R N Ellison 1 1 0 6 6 6.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - E Grant 4 7 3 24* 68 17.00 - - - 6 - 122.2 43 241 25 9.64 6-37 1 2 T S Luce 6 10 1 67 144 16.00 - 1 1 13 4 - - - - - - - - J K Mathews 2 3 1 25* 33 16.50 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - W S Medlicott 1 2 1 14* 24 24.00 - - - 3 - - - - - - - - - A M Miller 10 14 3 55* 283 25.72 - 2 2 6 - 99 13 355 21 16.90 7-26 1 2 Newman, A W 10 16 0 101 302 18.87 1 1 1 13 - 36.4 14 90 6 15.00 4-15 - - Capt R H Oliver + 2 2 1 1* 1 1.00 - - 1 1 3 - - - - - - - - Overton, W 9 14 5 45 168 18.66 - - 1 12 - 189.1 51 454 27 16.81 6-48 1 2 T T N Perkins 7 11 0 135 299 27.18 1 1 1 6 - 8 3 10 1 10.00 1-10 - - C A H Ransome 1 1 0 35 35 35.00 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - Smart, T 9 11 4 17* 55 7.85 - - 1 2 - 157.1 25 509 25 20.36 7-40 1 2 Smith, W R R 10 15 2 55 299 23.00 - 1 2 10 - 310.1 111 653 48 13.60 7-29 2 4 H S Snell 5 8 1 50 82 11.71 - 1 2 3 - - - - - - - - - F W Stancomb 2 2 0 18 18 9.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - H P Taunton 6 10 1 59 135 15.00 - 1 - 1 - 14 5 46 2 23.00 1-13 - - T S Usher 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 - - 1 2 - - - - - - - - - E S Warrilow 8 12 0 146 230 19.16 1 - 3 1 - 67.4 11 232 17 13.64 5-33 - 1 E S Whitaker 1 1 1 10* 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 156 - - - - 1 - - - 169 3 - - - - Total 110 166 24 146 2883 20.30 4 10 18 90 7 1004.1 276 2759 175 15.76 7-26 6 13 (23 players) (6 ball overs) FINAL SEASON FOR COUNTY – CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER AVERAGES These 3 players made their last appearance for Wiltshire in the Championship in 1905. Player Debut M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Balls Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I Rev H R N Ellison 1903 15 22 5 87 371 21.82 - 2 4 7 - - - - - - - - J K Mathews 1903 6 8 3 32* 104 20.80 - - 1 5 - - - - - - - - T S Usher 1903 4 4 0 8 15 3.75 - - 2 3 - - - - - - - - (3 players)