Minor Counties Championship 1908

162 BEDFORDSHIRE 1908 Championship matches: Played 8, won 4, lost 1, drawn 3 (won on first innings 1, lost on first innings 2, no decision on first innings none) Position: Joint second out of five in East Division Won: v Suffolk at Woodbridge, v Cambridgeshire at Luton, v Norfolk at Norwich, and v Suffolk at Luton Lost: v Hertfordshire at Bedford ES Drawn – won on first innings: v Norfolk at Bedford GS Drawn – lost on first innings: v Cambridgeshire at Cambridge, and v Hertfordshire at Watford Drawn – no decision on first innings: None Captain: H R Orr (8 matches) Wicket-keepers: E E Apthorp (7 matches), and C J Gooding (1 match) Debutants: 3 (W J Bird, N Keenan and H O Sutherland) Final season: 2 (C J Gooding and AC Smith) Joint Hon Secretaries: R W Allen and WW Marks Assistant Secretary: A D Piper Professionals: 3 (H F Holdstock, F E Pestell and G E Wharmby) Home grounds 3: The Grammar School Ground, Burnaby Road, Bedford (1 match); The Elstow School Ground, Ampthill Road, Elstow, Bedford (1 match); and The Luton Town Cricket Club Ground, Wardown Park, Luton (2 matches) Notes: Bedfordshire had a better season winning four matches and rising to joint second place with Suffolk in the East Division. The fixture list was unchanged from 1907. The batting of George Wharmby improved to the extent that he headed the batting averages with 616 runs at 56.00 compared with 313 at 26.08 in 1907. He also took 35 wwickets at 20.74 each. Batting support was mainly from Bert Holdstock with 393 runs at 49.12 and Bertram Peel with 346 at 43.25. The most successful of the bowlers was Alfred Morcom with 42 wickets at 17.90, a significant improvement on his 1907 figures of 17 wickets at 34.11. Career milestones passed during the season were three thousand runs by Herbie Orr, two thousand runs by George Wharmby, one thousand runs by Reginald Rice and one hundred wickets by Alfred Morcom. BEDFORDSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1908 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 3 players who made their debut in a championship match for Bedfordshire during the season. Name in bold denotes that 1908 was the last or only season that these 2 players appeared for Bedfordshire in a championship match. Player M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I E E Apthorp 7 11 4 32 116 16.57 - - - 18 4 - - - - - - - - W J Bird + 1 2 0 3 3 1.50 - - 1 - - 4 0 12 0 - - - - W Brown 2 2 1 15* 21 21.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - C J Gooding 1 1 0 2 2 2.00 - - - 2 - - - - - - - - - Holdstock, H F 8 12 4 110* 393 49.12 1 1 - 2 - 3 0 21 0 - - - - N Keenan + 4 5 2 36 127 42.33 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - W E King 3 4 0 5 11 2.75 - - - - - 8 1 26 0 - - - - A F Morcom 5 5 1 17 36 9.00 - - - 9 - 236.2 33 752 42 17.90 7-92 2 6 Rev R H Moss 6 8 0 45 151 18.87 - - 2 3 - 131 31 371 15 24.73 5-64 - 2 H R Orr 8 12 1 45 240 21.81 - - - 1 - 72.3 7 311 10 31.10 4-110 - - B L Peel 5 9 1 143 346 43.25 1 1 - 8 - 119 33 353 19 18.57 5-27 - 2 D H Peel 1 1 0 2 2 2.00 - - - - - 22 3 103 3 34.33 3-77 - - Pestell, F E 3 6 3 6* 21 7.00 - - 1 3 - 30 5 105 3 35.00 2-67 - - R W Rice 6 8 0 91 284 35.50 - 2 - 9 - - - - - - - - - A C Smith 3 5 1 15* 17 4.25 - - 2 1 - - - - - - - - - H Squire 6 9 0 67 231 25.66 - 2 - 1 - 6 0 33 0 - - - - H O Sutherland + 6 8 1 56 163 23.28 - 1 - 3 - - - - - - - - - L C R Thring 5 8 0 46 104 13.00 - - 1 2 - 2 0 26 0 - - - - Wharmby, G E 8 13 2 150 616 56.00 2 3 2 6 - 279.5 67 726 35 20.74 5-29 - 2 Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 159 - - - - - - - - 146 5 - - - - Total 88 129 21 150 3043 28.17 4 10 9 69 4 913.4 180 2985 132 22.61 7-92 2 12 (19 players) (6 ball overs) FINAL SEASON FOR COUNTY – CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER RECORDS These 2 players made their last appearance for Bedfordshire in the Championship in 1908. Player Debut M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Balls Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I C J Gooding 1904 4 4 2 5* 7 3.50 - - 1 5 3 - - - - - - - A C Smith 1907 6 9 1 15* 35 4.37 - - 3 2 - - - - - - - - (2 players)