Minor Counties Championship 1914

HERTFORDSHIRE 1914 Championship matches: Played 8, won 4, lost none, drawn 4 (won on first innings 2, lost on first innings 1, no decision on first innings 1) Position: Second out of twenty one Won: v Suffolk at Hertford, v Suffolk at Felixstowe, v Cambridgeshire at Hitchin and v Bedfordshire at Luton WP Lost: None Drawn - won on first innings: v Norfolk at Bushey, and v Cambridgeshire at Cambridge F Drawn - lost on first innings: v Norfolk at Norwich Drawn - no decision on first innings: v Bedfordshire at St Albans Abandoned due to war: None Captain: Rev C G Ward (3 matches); W H Marsh (5 matches) led the side in the matches in which Rev C G Ward did not play. Wicket-keepers: C H Titchmarsh (7 matches) and S G Etheridge (1 match) Debutants: 5 (B E Baker, D L Cox, C H Rabone, J W Simon and J H Thorpe) Final Season: 11 (B E Baker, W E Coleman, D L Cox, G Cox, N J Cox, A J Golding, E S Household, J W Simon, C H Tait, J H Thorpe and E L Wright) Hon Secretary: J H Thorpe Professionals: 4 (F A Burton, W E Coleman, A J Golding and W Shelford) Home Grounds 4: Bushey Cricket Club Ground, Manor House, Bushey (1 match); Hertford Cricket Club Ground, Balls Park, Mangrove Road, Hertford (1 match); Hitchin Cricket Club Ground, Hitchin Hill, London Road, Hitchin (1 match) and The County Ground, Clarence Park, St Albans (1 match) Notes: Hertfordshire had another good season finishing second in the Table. But for the war causing them to waive their right to a Challenge Match with Staffordshire, they might have been Champion County. Cambridgeshire replaced Buckinghamshire as opponents. The leading run scorers were Charles Titchmarsh with 547 runs at 78.14, Sydney Etheridge 520 runs at 52.00 and Ernest Household 365 runs at 52.14. The two professionals, Fred Burton and Walter Shelford, took most wickets – 32 at 21.90 and 38 at 15.18 respectively. During the season career milestones reached were 7000 runs and 150 matches by Jack Golding, 4000 runs by Charles Titchmarsh, 1000 runs by Ernest Household, 1000 runs by Sydney Etheridge, 200 wickets and 50 catches by Walter Shelford. HERTFORDSHIRE MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP AVERAGES 1914 In the averages below, + after name denotes the 5 players who made their Championship debut for Hertfordshire during the season. Names in bold denote that 1914 was the last or only season that these 11 players appeared for Hertfordshire in the Championship. Player M I NO HS Runs Ave 100 50 0 Ct St Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Ave BB-I 10M 5I B E Baker + 2 2 0 21 21 10.50 - - 1 1 - - - - - - - - - Burton, F A 8 9 3 38 124 20.66 - - - 6 - 198.3 37 709 32 22.35 6-38 1 2 Coleman, W E 6 6 1 71* 130 26.00 - 1 2 7 - 100.2 18 255 12 21.25 6-30 - 1 D L Cox + 1 1 0 28 28 28.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - G Cox 2 3 0 25 35 11.66 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - N J Cox 4 5 0 28 56 11.20 - - - 5 - 82.2 8 327 21 15.57 7-86 - 1 S G Etheridge 8 12 2 136 520 52.00 1 2 - 10 1 - - - - - - - - Golding, A J 8 11 2 34* 80 8.88 - - 3 6 - - - - - - - - - L G Hosier 3 4 0 14 31 7.75 - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - E S Household 8 10 3 116* 365 52.14 1 3 1 9 - 6.5 1 20 4 5.00 4-18 - - W H Marsh 8 8 1 29* 58 8.28 - - 2 4 - 124.2 22 379 18 21.05 5-74 - 1 C H Rabone + 2 1 0 21 21 21.00 - - - - - 5 2 14 0 - - - - Shelford, W 8 7 4 10* 22 7.33 - - 2 5 - 175.1 36 577 38 15.18 6-72 - 4 Dr J W Simon + 2 2 0 1 1 0.50 - - 1 - - 42 14 97 7 13.85 5-25 - 1 C H Tait 3 3 0 22 50 16.66 - - - - - - - - - - - - - J H Thorpe + 3 3 0 61 142 47.33 - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - C H Titchmarsh 7 8 1 127* 547 78.14 2 3 - 9 4 - - - - - - - - Rev C G Ward 3 3 0 39 90 30.00 - - - 3 - - - - - - - - - E L Wright 2 2 0 93 99 49.50 - 1 - 5 - - - - - - - - - Extras/Sub/RO/R - - - - 188 - - - - - - - - 165 5 - - - - Total 88 100 17 136 2608 31.42 4 12 12 72 5 734.3 138 2543 137 18.56 7-86 1 10 (19 players) (6 ball overs) In match 6 v Suffolk overs and maidens for the Hertfordshire bowlers in the first innings are unknown. In the second innings overs and maidens for two bowlers are unknown and runs conceded are 3 short. In match 15 v Bedfordshire the runs conceded by the Hertfordshire bowlers are 2 runs over. In match 87 v Bedfordshire the runs conceded by the Hertfordshire bowlers in the second innings are 3 runs over. 156