Minor Counties Championship 1907

7 thought that their pay was satisfactory; he was sure that many of the umpires felt insufficiently rewarded. Earl Norman spoke against the motion, stating that it would badly inconvenience the poorer counties, who had spoken against the employment of neutral umpires when they were first introduced. He suggested that it would be preferable to reduce the number of umpires and so give the remaining officials more games. After debate, the motion was carried by eleven votes to five, with a note that the umpires officiating in three-day games should be paid £5. Earl Norman's proposal to reduce the number of umpires was, however, acted upon when it came to appoint the officials for the 1907 season (see Page 8). Wickets Falling Close To Time – A M Miller (Wiltshire) brought up the point of a wicket falling within five minutes of time. The majority opinion was that the rules of cricket should be observed, unless there was an agreement to the contrary, and that if two minutes remained another batsman should go in, though this was not customary on all grounds. Close Of Meeting – A hearty vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the proceedings. Next Season's Contestants – Although not explicitly stated in the report of the Annual Meeting, it was decided that, for the 1907 season, the counties would be divided as follows:- NORTH (6) – Durham, Lancashire 2nd XI, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Staffordshire and Yorkshire 2nd XI. WEST (5) – Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. MIDLANDS (5) – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey 2nd XI, Wiltshire and Worcestershire 2nd XI. EAST (5) – Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The Advisory County Cricket Committee Since the formation of the Minor Counties Championship, two of its teams (Worcestershire and Northamptonshire), had been “elected” or “promoted” into the first -class County Championship. Both had dominated the Minor Counties game to an extent that a move up to the three day format seemed amply justified. However, the officials of the MCCA were keen to press matters further and to persuade the first-class counties to agree to a system whereby promotion for the county finishing top of the Minor Counties table would be automatic, providing always that they wished to be promoted. Tony Webb has described in considerable detail in the previous three Books covering the years from 1904 to1906 how the proposals from the MCCA found little favour with the first-class counties, summing things up succinctly: “The main stumbling block t o the proposal was the reluctance of the existing first-class counties to contemplate a system which not only involved promotion, but also relegation.” The MCCA officials were, however, nothing if not persistent and, only a day after the Minor Counties Annual Meeting on 18 December, they made another attempt to secure automatic promotion for the winners of the Minor Counties Championship. At a meeting of the Advisory County Cricket Committee held at Lord's, Harry Mallett moved that: “a sub -committee, consisting of one representative from each of the following counties, viz., Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Middlesex, Surrey, Yorkshire, and two representatives from the Minor Counties, should meet in January and consider the question of classification and promotion of the counties engaged in the County Competition.” Lord Harris supported the motion, which was carried, but The Sportsman , reporting on the meeting, described the subject of promotion as “vexed” and hinted, a little obliquely (but entire ly correctly as it turned out) that the MCC would vote to uphold the status quo .