Minor Counties Championship 1907

157 BERKSHIRE 1907 Championship matches: Played 8, won 2, lost 3, drawn 3 (won on first innings 3, lost on first innings none, no decision on first innings none) Position: Third out of five in Midlands Division Won: v Worcestershire 2nd XI at Worcester and v Worcestershire 2nd XI at Reading Lost: v Surrey 2nd XI at Reigate, v Wiltshire at Trowbridge and v Buckinghamshire at Aylesbury Drawn – won on first innings: v Buckinghamshire at Reading, v Surrey 2nd XI at Reading and v Wiltshire at Reading Drawn – lost on first innings: None Drawn – no decision on first innings: None Captain: Sir C E M Y Nepean (7 matches) – Capt E F Rowe (1 match) led the side in the match in which Sir C E M Y Nepean did not play. Wicket-keeper: Capt E F Rowe (8 matches) Debutants: 6 (Rev F D Browne, A E Fernie, E Garnett, Rev H C B Gibson, Capt E F Rowe and H W Shoosmith) Final season: 6 (Rev F D Browne, A E Fernie, Rev H C B Gibson, G V Goodliffe, E D Matthews and Capt J C G Matthews) Hon Secretary: Maj C Turner Professionals: 6 (W Barker, H Barrett, W Cave, H W Shoosmith, - Spencer and E Watts) Home ground 1: The County Ground, Kensington Road, Reading (4 matches) Notes: Berkshire did not have a good season recording two wins as against five in 1906. The fixture list was reduced to eight matches as Surrey 2nd XI, Wiltshire and Worcestershire 2nd XI replaced Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Oxfordshire as opponents. Lionel Collins, who last played in 1899 reappeared and headed the batting averages with 490 runs at 37.69. He was supported by the captain, Sir Charles Nepean, with 250 runs at 31.25 but the batting of Guy Bennett fell away as his average dropped from 44.89 in 1906 to 21.09. The bowling relied upon the professionals Billy Barker, 47 wickets at 17.63 and Bill Cave 35 wickets although at a cost of 18.40 each as opposed to 12.69 in 1906. Career milestones reached during the season were two thousand runs by Sir Charles Nepean and one thousand runs by Lionel Collins. BERKSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1907 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 6 players who made their Championship debut for Berkshire during the season. Names in bold denote that 1907 was the last or only season that these 6 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 2 7 28 2.54 - - 3 2 - 277.4 52 829 47 17.63 6-55 - 3 Barrett, H 3 6 0 18 41 6.83 - - - 2 - 14 3 62 4 15.50 2-11 - - G G M Bennett 6 11 0 57 232 21.09 - 1 - 3 - 6 2 16 0 - - - - J H Bennett 1 2 0 36 52 26.00 - - - 3 - - - - - - - - - H Brougham 1 2 0 42 48 24.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rev F D Browne + 1 2 0 14 14 7.00 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - Cave, W 7 12 4 37 107 13.37 - - 1 7 - 232.5 41 644 35 18.40 5-38 - 3 L P Collins 7 13 0 92 490 37.69 - 3 - 5 - - - - - - - - - A E Fernie + 2 4 0 24 47 11.75 - - - 1 - 8 1 23 1 23.00 1-23 - - E Garnett + 2 3 0 47 71 23.66 - - - 1 - 7 2 34 0 - - - - Rev H C B Gibson + 1 2 0 0 0 0.00 - - 2 - - 2 0 20 0 - - - - G V Goodliffe 4 7 0 30 75 10.71 - - 1 1 - 49.5 11 150 8 18.75 3-9 - - T M C Hunt 2 3 1 31* 37 18.50 - - 1 2 - 37.4 6 102 5 20.40 4-38 - - E D Matthews 1 2 0 7 7 3.50 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - Capt J C G Matthews 1 2 0 18 18 9.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - Sir C E M Y Nepean 7 11 3 49* 250 31.25 - - 1 10 - 15 3 56 1 56.00 1-36 - - Capt E F Rowe + 8 15 3 56* 182 15.16 - 1 2 11 5 - - - - - - - - F E Rowe 4 7 0 68 156 22.28 - 1 2 8 - 4 0 14 0 - - - - K J Seth-Smith 1 2 1 29 32 32.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Shoosmith, H W + 8 15 1 41* 203 14.50 - - 3 12 - 185.3 43 515 17 30.29 6-34 - 1 Spencer, - 2 4 2 4 6 3.00 - - - - - 19 1 88 3 29.33 2-71 - - A P Strange 3 6 0 72 111 18.50 - 1 - 2 - - - - - - - - - Watts, E 8 15 0 74 208 13.86 - 1 2 4 - - - - - - - - - Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 132 - - - - - - - - 94 4 - - - - Total 88 159 17 92 2547 17.93 0 8 21 75 5 858.3 165 2647 125 21.17 6-34 0 7 (23 players) (6 ball overs) Note: Runs bowling adds four short in the first innings of Match 89 against Wiltshire at Reading. FINAL SEASON FOR COUNTY – CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER AVERAGES These 6 players made their last appearance for Berkshire in the Championship in 1907. Player Debut M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Balls Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I Rev F D Browne 1907 1 2 0 14 14 7.00 - - 1 - - - - - - - - - A E Fernie 1907 2 4 0 24 47 11.75 - - - 1 - 48 23 1 23.00 1-23 - - Rev H C B Gibson 1907 1 2 0 0 0 0.00 - - 2 - - 12 20 0 - - - - G V Goodliffe 1901 10 18 2 30 163 10.18 - - 1 6 - 767 397 16 24.81 3-9 - - E D Matthews 1904 9 16 0 54 189 11.81 - 1 4 3 - 12 17 0 - - - - Capt J C G Matthews 1905 2 4 0 31 62 15.50 - - 1 2 - - - - - - - - (6 players)