The Minor Counties Championship 1905

83 MATCH NUMBER 57 : BERKSHIRE V OXFORDSHIRE At The County Ground, Elm Park, Kensington Road, Reading on Friday 11, Saturday 12 August 1905 Result: Match drawn – Berkshire won on first innings Points: Berkshire 2 Toss: Berkshire Umpires: Not known Debutants: Berkshire 1 (C W Turner); Oxfordshire none First day score: Berkshire 453; Oxfordshire 103-2 wickets (H Bassett 35*, J F Marsh 10*) Berkshire G G M Bennett c Hartley b A Rogers 121 (1) b P Rogers 49 H Brougham c J F Marsh b A Rogers 108 F E Rowe c A Rogers b Follett 137 Capt H W Hutson c Hartley b Price 9 + Watts, E c J W Marsh b A Rogers 19 (2) c J W Marsh b Hartley 130 W M Greenfield c J W Marsh b A Rogers 2 (4) c Arnett b P Rogers 32 A C M Croome lbw b Price 10 (5) not out 6 * Sir C E M Y Nepean c Price b A Rogers 0 (6) c and b Hartley 1 Barker, W b Bassett 17 Cave, W b Price 0 C W Turner not out 20 (3) c and b Hartley 45 Extras 10 8 Total 453 (5 wickets) 271 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 174 370 376 407 408 420 453 Second innings 98 215 236 271 - - - - - Rogers, A 25 1 115 5 - - Price 13 0 70 3 - - (3) 8 0 54 0 - - Bassett 14 0 73 1 - - Arnett 10 0 86 0 - - (1) 5 0 48 0 - - Rogers, P 13 0 58 0 - - (4) 12 1 53 2 - - Follett 9 1 42 1 - - (2) 4 0 30 0 - - Hartley (5) 8 2 39 3 - - Roberts (6) 4 0 40 0 - - Extras - - 10 0 - - - - 8 0 - - Total 84 2 454x 10 - - 41 3 272x 5 - - 453 271 Oxfordshire + Rev J W Marsh c Croome b Barker 31 H Bassett c Cave b Hutson 79 R Hartley b Barker 18 * J F Marsh c Nepean b Barker 40 Rogers, P c Croome b Barker 5 W H Follett run out 55 G A Roberts not out 53 P Bancalari c Nepean b Hutson 2 B H E Price c Turner b Hutson 1 M G Arnett c Watts b Cave 4 Rogers, A c Barker b Cave 0 Extras w 1 37 Total 325 Fall of wickets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 First innings 61 89 143 248 293 295 325 Second innings - - - - - - - - - - Cave 23 7 44 2 - - Hutson 39 13 80 3 - - Barker 45 10 126 4 1 - Croome 8 5 4 0 - - Bennett 5 0 22 0 - - Turner 2 1 5 0 - - Rowe 1 0 7 0 - - Extras - - 37 1 - - Total 123 36 325 10 1 0 Notes: This high-scoring return match was drawn with Berkshire winning on first innings. The match between the two sides at Oxford in the previous week had also been drawn. A number of records were broken. The match aggregate of 1049 runs was the first time a thousand had been scored in a championship match. The three Berkshire centuries in an innings and the four in the match were also firsts for one team in a match. Berkshire were 241-1 wicket at lunch on the first day. For the home side, in the first innings Rowe scored 137, Bennett 121 and Brougham 108, an innings of 190 minutes, and in the second innings Watts scored 130. In the Berkshire first innings, Bennett and Brougham put on 174 runs for the first wicket, which was the highest partnership for that wicket during the season, and Brougham and Rowe 196 for the second. Bennett reached his century in 45 minutes and Rowe in 65 minutes. In the Berkshire second innings, Watts and Turner put on 117 runs for the second wicket. For the visitors, Bassett scored 79, Follett 55 and Roberts 53 not out. In the Oxfordshire innings, J F Marsh and Follett added 105 runs for the fifth wicket. The 45 overs bowled by Barker in the Oxfordshire innings were the second most in an innings during the season. During the match 15 players bowled. The 37 extras conceded in the Oxfordshire innings were the second highest of the season. When he had scored 12 in the Berkshire first innings, Watts reached the career milestone of two thousand runs in championship matches. [Missing: Umpires; extras breakdown; part fall of wickets; in Berkshire first innings breakdown and duration of Rowe’s 137 and Bennett’s 121, breakdown of Brougham’s 108, and runs bowling 1 in excess; in Berkshire second innings break down and duration of Watts’s 130, and runs bowling 1 in excess; in Oxfordshire innings boundaries in Bassett’s 79, Follett’s 55 and Roberts’s 53 not out] Sources: Berkshire Chronicle 19 August; Reading Mercury 19 August; Reading Observer 12 August; Reading Standard 19 August; Jackson’s Oxford Journal 19 August; Oxford Chronicle 18 August; Oxford Times 19 August; Sporting Life 12,14 August; The Sportsman 12,14 August.