Minor Counties Championship 1908

181 STAFFORDSHIRE 1908 Championship matches: Played 12, won 7, lost 1, drawn 4 (won on first innings 4, lost on first innings none, no decision on first innings none) Position: First out of six in North Division, Champion County on winning play-offs Won: v Lancashire 2nd XI at Blackburn, v Yorkshire 2nd XI at Rotherham, v Northumberland at Jesmond, v Northumberland at Stoke-on- Trent, v Lincolnshire at Stoke-on-Trent, v Hertfordshire at Stoke-on-Trent and v Glamorgan at Stoke-on-Trent Lost: v Durham at Sunderland Drawn – won on first innings: v Lincolnshire at Grantham, v Lancashire 2nd XI at at Stoke-on-Trent, v Yorkshire 2nd XI at Stoke-on-Trent and v Durham at Stoke-on-Trent Drawn – lost on first innings: None Drawn – no decision on first innings: None Captain: H D Stratton (12 matches) Wicket-keepers: C L Winser (6 matches), H Dearing (3 matches) and J Poole (3 matches) Debutants: 6 (E G Baxter, A Devey, F C Johnson, H Matthews, G H Smith and E Vorst) Final season: 4 (E G Baxter, A Devey, F C Johnson and H Matthews) Hon Secretary: W C Hancock Professionals: 8 (S F Barnes, W Brown, A Bucknell, J B Fereday, A Hollowood, R J Mee, J E Nichols and E Vost) Home ground 1 : The County Ground, Victoria Road, Stoke-on-Trent (5 matches) Notes: Staffordshire completed a very successful season when they defeated Glamorgan by nine wickets to become Champion County. Their opponents in the North Division were unchanged from 1907. Durham were the only team to defeat them. A major factor in their success was the bowling of Sydney Barnes who took 92 wickets at 8.88. He was supported by Jack Mee with 37 wickets at 14.54. The leading run scorer was Percival Briggs with 458 runs at 26.94. Harry Stratton, William Brown and Sydney Barnes each scored over 300 runs. Career milestones reached during the season were one thousand runs by Percival Briggs and four hundred wickets by Sydney Barnes. STAFFORDSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1908 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 6 players who made their Championship debut for Staffordshire during the season. Names in bold denotes that 1908 was the last or only season that these 4 players appeared for Staffordshire 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 Barnes, S F 12 16 0 79 336 21.00 - 1 1 10 - 397.4 139 817 92 8.88 8-35 2 11 E G Baxter + 2 2 1 21* 22 22.00 - - - 2 - - - - - - - - - P S Bayliss 1 1 0 1 1 1.00 - - - 1 - 2 0 3 0 - - - - E H Bourne 7 10 0 64 171 17.10 - 1 1 2 - 11 2 36 4 9.00 1-0 - - P Briggs 12 17 0 84 458 26.94 - 3 1 7 - - - - - - - - - Brown, W 12 17 2 62 350 23.33 - 1 - 7 - 24 7 49 3 16.33 1-4 - - Bucknell, A 9 14 7 46* 223 31.85 - - 1 9 - 117.4 36 285 24 11.87 6-14 1 2 H Dearing 3 2 1 4* 4 4.00 - - 1 7 - - - - - - - - - A Devey + 2 3 0 4 5 1.66 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - H Eardley 6 4 1 6 10 3.33 - - - 1 - 107.4 34 269 22 12.22 6-30 - 2 Fereday, J B 10 14 1 103 296 22.76 1 - - 1 - 19 10 32 1 32.00 1-16 - - Hollowood, A 5 8 0 19 62 7.75 - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - F C Johnson + 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - J W Johnson 5 9 1 30 74 9.25 - - 3 3 - - - - - - - - - H Matthews + 1 - - - - - - - - 1 - 12 3 36 1 36.00 1-36 - - Mee, R J 9 12 2 16 55 5.50 - - 1 1 - 248.4 82 538 37 14.54 8-26 1 1 Nichols, J E 2 3 0 0 0 0.00 - - 3 - - 16 4 28 2 14.00 2-16 - - E W Page 2 3 0 13 23 7.66 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - R C Page 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - J Poole 3 5 1 11 30 7.50 - - - 5 - - - - - - - - - G H Smith + 1 2 0 0 0 0.00 - - 2 1 - - - - - - - - - H D Stratton 12 16 1 90 356 23.73 - 3 2 4 - 1 0 5 0 - - - - Vost, E + 8 11 1 52 193 19.30 - 2 2 4 - 55.4 10 149 6 24.83 4-29 - - C L Winser 6 10 1 66 221 24.55 - 2 - 9 2 - - - - - - - - Extras/Sub/RO - - - - 205 - - - - - - - - 183 12 - - - - Total 132 181 20 103 3095 19.22 1 13 21 83 2 1012.2 327 2430 204 11.91 8-26 4 16 (24 players) (6 ball overs) FINAL SEASON FOR COUNTY – CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER AVERAGES These 4 players made their last appearance for Staffordshire 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 E G Baxter 1908 2 2 1 21* 22 22.00 - - - 2 - - - - - - - - A Devey 1908 2 3 0 4 5 1.66 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - F C Johnson 1908 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - H Matthews 1908 1 - - - - - - - - 1 - 72 36 1 36.00 1-36 - - (4 players)