Minor Counties Championship 1914

E S Phillips – Monmouthshire 1901-14 (born 18 January 1883; died 8 May 1915) Born in Newport, Monmouthshire Edward Stone Phillips was a fine early order right-hand batsman, playing 103 matches for Monmouthshire scoring 4,157 runs at 26.31, with 8 centuries, the highest being 162 versus Devon at Newport in 1905. He also made 18 fifties, secured 55 catches, and took 11 wickets at 30.45 with a best performance of 5 for 27 against Carmarthenshire at Abergavenny in 1911. He captained the county 58 times between 1907 and 1914 and played in every match for the county from the start of the 1905 season until the end of 1914. He also played for South Wales against the touring teams and his club cricket was for the Newport Athletic Club. He was educated at Marlborough School and Pembroke College, Cambridge where he gained his cricket blue in 1904. He played 10 first-class matches for the University in 1903- 04 scoring 422 runs at 23.44 with one century; 107 v G J V Weighall’s XI at Fenner’s in 1904. Commissioned into the Monmouthshire Territorials in August 1914 and promoted to Lieutenant in October that year, he served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from February 1915. He was killed in action at Ypres (Ieper), Flanders in Belgium on 8 May 1915 aged 32. He was given a battlefield burial where he fell near St Julian but the fighting continued and his grave was destroyed by shellfire. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing at Ypres. His younger brother, Captain Leslie Phillips also played for Monmouthshire and was killed in action three weeks later. A J Silverlock – Monmouthshire 1897-1914 (born December 1867; died 4 June 1949) Born in South Hackney, Middlesex, Arthur John Silverlock was an all- round cricketer who was the Monmouthshire professional. A right-hand opening batsman he played 128 matches for Monmouthshire scoring 7,750 runs at 39.94 with 16 centuries, including 2 doubles, with a highest score of 246 not out against Carmarthenshire at Newport in 1909. He also made 36 fifties and took 115 catches. He was the highest run scorer in Minor Counties cricket before the First World War. As a right-arm leg break and medium pace bowler, he took 414 wickets at 18.73 with best figures of 8 for 27 against Carmarthenshire at Llanelli in 1910. He took 5 wickets in an innings 27 times and 10 wickets in a match on 7 occasions. His best all- round season was in 1910 when he scored 567 runs and took 52 wickets. He was educated at Crouch End school in London, learning his cricket there and in Victoria Park, playing for a club called Ivanhoe in the latter, without achieving much success. Unexpectedly in 1892 he was appointed Newport’s professional and after a poor first season, had a successful career there. He played friendly matches for Monmouthshire before they joined the Minor Counties Championship in 1897. He also played for South Wales against the touring teams. Silverlock left Newport at the end of the 1914 season, moving to Ardleigh, a village in East Essex. In the 1920s and early 1930s he played for Dedham, a village club near Colchester. He died on 4 June 1949 in Ardleigh aged 81. C M Skinner – Northumberland 1903-1914 (born 19 February 1879; died 20 November 1918) Clifton MacLean Skinner was born in Penang, Singapore and played 79 matches for Northumberland taking 277 wickets at an average of 22.16 with best figures of 8-57 against Bedfordshire at Dunstable in 1905. He took 5 wickets in an innings on 15 occasions and 10 wickets in a match 3 times. A lower order right-hand batsman, he scored 1528 runs at an average of 13.64, including 7 fifties. He was the county captain in 1914. His club cricket was for Southill (1901-1903), Corbridge (1905-1906), and St George's, Newcastle (1907-1914). He was one of the fastest bowlers in Minor Counties cricket and took hat-tricks in successive seasons against Cheshire in 1912 and 1913. He had match bowling figures of 13-172 versus All 20