Minor Counties Championship 1907

14 During his career he coached at Wellingborough Grammar School where he first came into contact with Lionel Thring, the master in charge of cricket at that time. He moved to Dunstable Grammar School when Mr Thring became their headmaster and also coached at Bedford Grammar School when county professional. Thomas Austin Brown was born at Podington, a small village in Bedfordshire close to the Northamptonshire border, and not at Wollaston as some reference books suggest. His birth certificate ‘misspells’ the village as ‘Puddington’! He was educated at the village school at Podington. He died at the family home 24 Winfield Street, Dunstable on 12 March 1930, his death being caused by a combination of pneumonia and multiple sclerosis. One or two newspaper reports had suggested he had suffered ‘fits’ both on and off the field when a player. C R H Gresson – Buckinghamshire 1896 to 1899 and 1902 to 1907 (born 4 September 1869; died 24 September 1920) Played 69 matches, scoring 2,978 runs at 27.57. A younger brother of Francis Gresson, an Oxford Blue who played for Sussex, Charles Richard Haygarth Gresson was a cousin once removed of Arthur Haygarth. Educated at Lancing, he had played a few matches for Northamptonshire in 1894 before making his Buckinghamshire debut in 1896. An opening bat, he played in every championship match in his first four seasons and was easily the county’s most prolific run-maker, having hit three centuries: 111 v Northamptonshire at Northampton in 1996; 122* v Hertfordshire at Watford in 1998; 103 v Berkshire at Aylesbury in 1999. He enjoyed an outstandingly successful summer in1899, when his 658 runs came at 65.80. Though he never played a first-class match, Gresson was chosen that year to open the batting for the Minor Counties representative side that beat MCC at Lord’s by nine wickets. Gresson missed the next two summers’ cricket as he was fighting in the Boer War. When he returned to the Bucks team in 1902, he never recaptured his earlier consistency, a career average of over 35 slipping back to 27.57 with just one more century, 100* against Hertfordshire in 1904. In what were difficult years for the county, Gresson was one of the more regular players and often led the side, though he was never the officially appointed captain. G Pollitt – Bedfordshire 1900 to 1907 (born 3 June 1874; died 19 May 1942) Played 75 matches for Bedfordshire between 1900 and 1907 scoring 2630 runs at 22.86 with a highest score of 175 against Staffordshire at Wolverhampton in 1904. A right-hand batsmen he scored 3 centuries for the county as well as holding 33 catches. He came to prominence when playing for Chickenley, his native team. George Pollitt was playing as professional for the Three Counties Asylum team at Arsley in 1898 when he was selected to play for the Yorkshire Colts against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in May. He scored 25 in his only innings. That season he also played for Yorkshire Second XI against Norfolk at Scarborough scoring 51, again in his only innings. The next year he played in May for Yorkshire 2nd XI against 14 of Hull and District scoring 0 and 8 and played his sole first-class match for Yorkshire against Hampshire at Park Avenue, Bradford in mid-August scoring 51 in his only innings and taking one catch. His final match for a Yorkshire County team was later in August for the Second XI against Durham at Headingley when opening the batting he scored 38 and 12. Though Yorkshire remained interested in him playing for the county, he had gained a residential qualification for Bedfordshire and he was persuaded by their captain Herbie Orr to throw in his lot with the newly resuscitated Bedfordshire County team. He played with them for eight seasons. His best season by far was 1904 when he scored 562 runs at 40.14. His 175 against a Staffordshire team without Sydney Barnes in 1904 was a new highest score for the County, which took him over 4 hours to compile. It was not exceeded until 32 years later when A B Poole in 1936 scored 234 against Oxfordshire at Banbury, an innings of 3¼ hours. Pollitt was described as a batsmen of the cautious sort. Looking at his record overall, he must have been disappointed not to have performed better for the County. In his last season he was back playing for Chickenley, as he did again in 1908. In 1909 he moved across to play for Ossett who were another local team in the Yorkshire Council. On 9 April 1910 the Ossett Observer