Minor Counties Championship 1913

NORTH MIDLANDS SOUTH B Brown T Attewell C E Brown W H Caldow C Marshall A E Hoar S Doughty A C McArthur T H Holton J Gregory G Perkins C Hughes W H Harden G J Rye G L R Hutchings M Myers J P Whiteside F Johnson S Wrigley E Merrifield The only change was that G L R Hutchings (a reserve for first-class fixtures) replaced G A Burton. Hutchings had been on the panel from 1906 to 1910. Both umpires are known for just 46 of the 85 matches in which play took place in 1913. All of the twenty umpires are known to have stood in at least one match – the only umpire who was not on the list who was known to have officiated was Perrin (no initial given), who stood alongside W H Harden in Match 35 (between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire). THE 1913 MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP The Counties Involved The same 20 counties that contested the Championship in 1912 competed in the 1913 season. The Championship again consisted of a single table. The possibility of a Challenge Match was retained, with the team ending in second place being allowed to challenge the team finishing above them providing that the two teams had not met during the course of the season. The Championship The season of 1912 had seen Norfolk finish at the top of the Championship table by no less than ten percentage points. Second-placed Staffordshire ended the summer another eleven points ahead of Surrey 2nd XI, with the rest lagging behind. In 1913 the Championship was a much more closely contested affair. Norfolk and Glamorgan both finished the season with a percentage of 72.50 and were only marginally ahead of Hertfordshire (70.00%) and Staffordshire (68.88%). In terms of matches that reached an outright conclusion, Norfolk’s results were actually the poorest of the top four. They won four of their eight matches and lost one (being thrashed by an innings when playing Staffordshire at Stoke-on-Trent) whilst Glamorgan won five of their eight fixtures, also losing just the one. Like Norfolk, Hertfordshire won four of their eight matches but they went through the season unbeaten; although Staffordshire lost two matches outright, they won no fewer than six of the nine matches in which a conclusion on first innings was reached. Norfolk were able to finish level with Glamorgan due to the fact that they gained a first innings lead in all three of their drawn matches and so picked up nine points to add to those they secured from their four outright wins. The top of the Championship table was finalised on 16 August. Norfolk defeated Cambridgeshire by five wickets but Glamorgan could only take first innings points from Wiltshire, who finished on 80-8 after being set 217 to win. As Norfolk and Glamorgan had not met during the regular season, there was a Challenge Match, which was hosted by Norfolk. Cricket magazine reported that “For a consideration of £50 – which could not have done more than pay the team’s expenses – Glamorgan waived their right to play at home”. There was no doubting that Norfolk and Glamorgan were two of the 6