Minor Counties Championship 1909

15 residence’. One of those was off-spinner Edgar William (“Billy”) Smith, who duly made his debut in competitive cricket at the start of the 1904 season and immediately started to repay his County by leading the attack; he took 44 wickets that year at an economical 13.38 runs each. Two seasons later came the statistical high point of his career when, in 1907, he claimed no fewer than 60 victims at just 14.36 apiece. His decline thereafter was rapid; his ‘bag’ dropped by almost half in 1908 and, whilst he had 29 wickets in 1909, too many of those were taken in his career-best return of 9-63 against Lincolnshire at Lakenham; he would not have been surprised to have been ‘let go’ at this point. Smith habitually ‘whipped in’ (was usually no.11) but appears to have been obdurate with the bat and certainly no ‘pushover’. Billy was the youngest of five children of Richard, an engine driver, and Joanna. Following the end of his cricket career, he became a miner and a publican (surprise, surprise!). He fathered nine children by his wife, Alice, before she tragically died during her ninth childbirth. In his old age his favourite memory would surely have been of representing Norfolk in their 84 run defeat of London County at Lakenham in 1904. In London’s second knock Smith ran through the visitors like the proverbial dose of salts, returning figures of 11.2-3-28-9 as the innings closed at 97. His victims including W.G.Grace, who lost his middle stump. This earned him a collection of £8.15s from an enthusiastic crowd. H Thompson – Surrey II 1899-1909 (born 6 December 1869; died 22 October 1947) Played 23 matches for Surrey 2nd XI in the Minor Counties Championship. He scored 963 runs at the excellent average of 34.39 and took 19 wickets at 18.74. Herbert Thompson was born on 6th December 1869 at West Norwood, London. He enjoyed a strange life as a cricketer as there were significant gaps between his first and last matches for Surrey. He was taken on the playing staff at the age of 21 having played for Streatham United CC. Once on the Surrey staff he played for the 2nd XI before the days of the Minor Counties Championship. His first appearance for the county in first-class cricket was in 1894 against Essex at Leyton. The following year he played against Leicestershire at the Oval and scored 44 not out, the highest of his career. In 1896 he played in 4 matches and then followed a long gap when he played regularly for the second XI including 8 championship matches in 1899, 3 in 1900, and 11 in 1901. It was not until 1909 that he played again in first-class cricket for the county. After a second XI match he played against Somerset at Taunton taking 5 wickets. Cricket reported that this was because E Hayes was playing for England and that at the time he was head of the ground staff. He played in the next match at Bristol, against Gloucestershire and took 5 for 59 in the first innings and 5 for 112 in the second. Cricket stated that he had also recently developed the art of “googlie” bowling. The following year he played in only one match, against Worcestershire at Stourbridge, who recorded their first ever victory against Surrey. Once again there followed a large gap and in 1919 he played his final match for the county. He remained on the list of professionals until 1924 having been the county coach from 1914 until 1923. His final contact with the game came in 1928 when for 2 seasons he umpired first-class cricket. He died in October 1947 at Caterham in Surrey. In a career of only 12 first-class matches he scored 138 runs but took 31 wickets, including 5 wickets in an innings twice and ten in a match once. Not many players have done so well as a bowler in such a short career. H E White – Hertfordshire 1895-1909 (born 1869; died 19 December 1943) Played 138 matches in the Minor Counties Championship for Hertfordshire. Henry (Harry) Edmund White has the record of being Hertfordshire’s greatest all rounder. In a career spanning the first fifteen years of the Minor County Championship up to 1909 Harry took 751 wickets and scored 5,658 runs and is now the third highest wicket taker and sixth highest run scorer in the history of Hertfordshire cricket. His record is unlikely ever to be surpassed. Born in Stoke Poges in 1869, his cricket was entirely self taught; he did not even come from a cricketing family. He was engaged by West Herts CC when that club was formed in 1890 and performed prodigious feats for them including taking 270 wickets in 1902 and 312 in 1903. On four occasions he took all ten wickets and he did the hat-trick six times. In 1902, he scored well