Minor Counties Championship 1909

4 THE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP 1909 INTRODUCTION This book contains the match scores, a statistical survey and the full averages, both by county and by player in alphabetical order, for 1909, which was the fifteenth season of the Minor Counties Championship. It follows the same format as the previous ACS publications which covered the first fourteen seasons of the competition. MINOR COUNTIES ASSOCIATION: PREAMBLE Two paragraphs appeared in The Sportsman on 8 December 1908, which were of considerable importance to the follower of the Minor Counties Championship. The first stated that, should the competition continue to employ the format of four divisions, the reorganisation of the counties would be as follows: the two teams joining the Championship, Cheshire and Nottinghamshire 2nd XI, would be entered in the North Division, replacing Lancashire 2nd XI, who had withdrawn from the Championship, and Lincolnshire, who were transferred to the East Division. This left the groupings as follows: NORTH (6) – Cheshire, Durham, Northumberland, Notts 2nd XI, Staffordshire and Yorkshire 2nd XI. EAST (6) – Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. SOUTH (5) – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Surrey 2nd XI and Wiltshire. . WEST (5) – Carmarthenshire, Cornwall, Devon, Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. (It will be noted that the South and West Divisions remained unchanged from the previous year.) The paragraph continued with the directive that the divisional matches should be completed by August 19, the semi-finals by August 28 and the final by September 4. The second paragraph gave notice that the annual meeting of the Minor Counties Association would be held in the pavilion at Lord’s on that morning. It was due to commence at 10.15 a.m. with the following motions being reported as scheduled for consideration:- By Suffolk – That, in the constitution of the committee, each division shall have the option of having a representative on the committee. By Glamorgan – That the current division of the Minor Counties Championship into sections should be abandoned and the competition be decided on the same lines as that of the First-class Counties (in which the playing of five out-and-home matches would be the minimum required to qualify a county for the competition). [Although not stated, the First-class Championship was decided by giving each county one point for every win and deducting one for each loss, unfinished matches being ignored. The title was awarded to the county having the greatest proportionate number of points obtained in finished games. This was known as the ‘percentage’ for short.]. By Wiltshire – That the dates of the semi-finals and final be fixed and the choice of grounds be drawn for at the annual meeting. It was also stated that the committee would recommend that the following addition be made to the rules of the association:- “Should any matter arise not provided for in these rules the committee shall have power to deal with it.”