The Minor Counties Championship 1905

7 THE 1905 MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP The Counties Involved The number of teams participating in the Championship in 1905 was 19, a reduction of one following the elevation of Northamptonshire to first-class status. The number of matches played fell to 84 compared with 96 in 1904. The Championship Few would have predicted at the start of the season that Norfolk were to win the competition with Monmouthshire as runners-up. Durham, Glamorgan and Wiltshire were the favourites to take the title having all been in the top five places in 1904. Norfolk had returned to the competition in 1904 after two years of ‘voluntary exile’ while their new professionals – Gibson and Smith – qualified for the county. They had ended up in sixteenth place the previous year with just one victory in eight matches. The Rev George Raikes took over the captaincy from Legh Barratt and was widely credited in local sources for achieving the transformation in the team’s form. The improved bowling form was probably the main cause of their success, with James Worman taking 42 wickets at 11.11, compared with 9 at 27.77 the year before, and the captain 25 at 13.80 compared with 9 at 22.66. The leading batsmen were Arthur Watson with 319 runs at 53.16, George Raikes with 253 at 36.14 and Legh Barratt with 315 at 35.00. The first two matches played were drawn and lost respectively, but the next five were won and Norfolk began their final match against Cambridgeshire at Lakenham, Norwich needing to win the match to take the title. With seven wickets down in their second innings, they were only forty runs ahead and they looked almost certain to lose. George Pilch joined Arthur Watson, and they put on 152 runs for the eighth wicket in just 80 minutes. The stand changed the whole course of the match and Norfolk ended up winning by 124 runs after bowling their opponents out for 68. The stand for that wicket was a new record for the Championship. Monmouthshire exceeded all expectations in coming second, advancing from fifteenth place the year before. Their previous most successful place had been seventh in 1903. The highlight of their season was, in their opening fixture, defeating Glamorgan at Cardiff, which was achieved with Monmouthshire losing just one wicket. Four other matches were won and if they had beaten rather than lost to Devon at Devonport, they could well have won the title. Arthur Silverlock topped the Championship batting averages with 703 runs at 78.11, with Edward Phillips in fourth place with 579 runs at 57.90, whilst Richard Steeples headed the bowling with 68 wickets at 8.45. Devon occupied third place, their highest since entering the Championship, whist Wiltshire were fourth and Durham and Yorkshire 2nd XI fifth equal. Five full days of play were lost to the weather during the season, compared with seven in 1904. The average runs scored per wicket were 20.92 compared with 19.76 in 1904 and 16.15 in 1903. Reference has already been made to the important change in the scoring system with a lead on first innings in a drawn match gaining two points rather than one.