At this period, and much later, the first-class matches of “M.C.C. and ground” (i.e. ground-staff, or professionals attached to the club) occupied a far greater amount of importance than is at present the case. In recent years over 150 minor matches of the utmost value in propagating the best interests of cricket are annually played by the leading club. League cricket has of late become exceedingly popular, especially in the North of England, a number of clubs—about twelve to sixteen—combining to form a “League” and playing home-and-home matches, each one with each of the others in turn; points are scored according as each club wins, loses, or draws matches, the championship of the “League” being thus decided.
English County Cricket.—The first English inter-county match which is recorded was played on Richmond Green in 1730 between Surrey and Middlesex; but for very many years, though counties played counties, there was no systematic organization, matches often being played at odds or with “given” players, who had no county connexion with the side they represented. This was the natural outcome of the custom of playing for stakes. It was not till 1872 that any real effort was made to organize county cricket. In that year the M.C.C. took the initiative by offering a cup for competition between the counties, six of which were to be selected by the M.C.C., the matches to be played at Lord’s, but the scheme fell through owing to the coolness of the counties themselves. It was only in 1890 that the counties were formally and officially classified, Notts (the county club dating from 1859), Lancashire (1864), Surrey (1845), Kent (1842), Middlesex (1864), Gloucestershire (1869), Yorkshire (1862), and Sussex (1839), being regarded as “first-class,” as indeed had been the case from the time of their existence; and by degrees other counties were promoted to this class; Somerset in 1893; Derbyshire, Essex, Leicestershire, Warwickshire in 1894; Hampshire in 1895; Worcestershire in 1899; Northamptonshire in 1905.
In 1887 the County Cricket Council had been formed, working with and not against the Marylebone Club, for the management of county cricket, but the council dissolved itself in 1890, and it was then arranged that the county secretaries and delegates should meet and discuss such matters, and request the M.C.C. to consider the result of their deliberations, and practically to act as patron and arbitrator. In 1905 an Advisory Cricket Committee was formed “with the co-operation of the counties, with a view to improve the procedure in dealing with important matters arising out of the development of cricket, the effect of which will be” (the quotation is from the annual report of M.C.C. in 1905) “to bring the counties into closer touch with the M.C.C.” Various methods have been tried as to the assignment of points or marks, the following being the list of champion counties up to 1909:—
| 1864 | Surrey | 1873 | Surrey | ||
| 1865 | Notts | 1874 | Gloucestershire | ||
| 1866 | Middlesex | 1875 | Notts | ||
| 1867 | Yorkshire | 1876 | Gloucestershire | ||
| 1868 | Yorkshire | 1877 | Gloucestershire | ||
| 1869 | Notts | 1878 | Notts | ||
| 1870 | Yorkshire | 1879 | Lancashire | }equal | |
| 1871 | Notts | Notts | |||
| 1872 | Surrey | }equal | 1880 | Notts | |
| Gloucestershire | 1881 | Lancashire | |||
| 1882 | Lancashire | }equal | 1895 | Surrey | |
| Notts | 1896 | Yorkshire | |||
| 1883 | Yorkshire | 1897 | Lancashire | ||
| 1884 | Notts | 1898 | Yorkshire | ||
| 1885 | Notts | 1899 | Surrey | ||
| 1886 | Notts | 1900 | Yorkshire | ||
| 1887 | Surrey | 1901 | Yorkshire | ||
| 1888 | Surrey | }equal | 1902 | Yorkshire | |
| Notts | 1903 | Middlesex | |||
| 1889 | Lancashire | }equal | 1904 | Lancashire | |
| Surrey | 1905 | Yorkshire | |||
| 1890 | Surrey | 1906 | Kent | ||
| 1891 | Surrey | 1907 | Notts | ||
| 1892 | Surrey | 1908 | Yorkshire | ||
| 1893 | Yorkshire | 1909 | Kent | ||
| 1894 | Surrey | ||||
English county cricket is now the most firmly established cricketing institution in the world, but in its earlier stages it owed much in different counties to enthusiastic individuals and famous cricketing families whose energies were devoted to its The Graces and Gloucestershire. encouragement and support. To Gloucestershire belongs the honour of the greatest name in the history of the game. Dr W. G. Grace (q.v.) was not only the most brilliant all-round cricketer in the world, but he remained supreme after reaching an age when most cricketers have long abandoned the game. He and his two famous brothers, E. M. Grace (b. 1841) and G. F. Grace (1850-1880), rendered invaluable service to their county for many years; and not to their county alone, for the great part they played for a generation in first-class cricket did much to increase the growing popularity of the county fixtures. A separate article is devoted to Dr W. G. Grace, whose name as the champion of the game will always be associated with its history. And of Dr E. M. Grace it may be mentioned that, besides being the most daring field at “point” ever seen, he altogether took 11,092 wickets and scored 75,625 runs. In more recent years some excellent cricketers have been associated with Gloucestershire, such as F. Townsend, and the professional Board; but foremost stands G. L. Jessop, a somewhat “unorthodox” batsman famous for his powers of hitting.
What W. G. Grace did for Gloucestershire, Lord Harris (b. 1851) did for Kent, and his services are not to be estimated by his performances in the field alone, great as they were. His influence was always exerted to impart a spirit of sportsmanship Kent. and honourable distinction to the national game. Kent had been a home of cricket since the first half of the 18th century, but it was Lord Harris more than any other individual who made it a first-class county, celebrated for the number of distinguished amateurs who have taken part in its matches. The Hon. Ivo Bligh, afterwards Lord Darnley (b. 1859), and F. Marchant (b. 1864), both Etonians like Lord Harris himself; the two Harrovians, W. H. Patterson (b. 1859) and M. C. Kemp (b. 1862), and the Wykehamist J. R. Mason (b. 1874) are names that show the place taken by public school men in the annals of Kent cricket, while the family of Hearnes supplied the county with some famous professionals. Amateur batsmen like W. Rashleigh, C. J. Burnup, E. W. Dillon and A. P. Day have been prominent in the Kent eleven; and in Fielder and Blythe they have had two first-class professional bowlers. The “Kent nursery” at Tonbridge has proved a valuable institution for training young professional players, and contributed not a little to the rising reputation of Kent, which justified itself when the county won the championship in 1906, largely owing to the admirable batting of the amateur K. L. Hutchings.
Middlesex and Lancashire, not less than Kent, have been indebted to the great public schools, and especially to Harrow, which provided both counties with famous captains who directed their fortunes for an uninterrupted period of over twenty years. Middlesex and Lancashire. I. D. Walker, the most celebrated of seven cricketing brothers, all Harrovians, who founded the Middlesex County Club, handed on the captaincy, after a personal record of astonishing brilliancy, to a younger Harrow and Oxford cricketer, A. J. Webbe, who was one of the finest leg-hitters and one of the safest out-fielders of his day, and a captain of consummate judgment and knowledge of the game. A. N. Hornby, a contemporary at Harrow of I. D. Walker, was for many years the soul of Lancashire cricket, and was succeeded in the captaincy of the county by the still more famous Harrovian, A. C. MacLaren, one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket, whose record for England in test matches against Australia was almost unrivalled. In 1895, when he headed the batting averages, MacLaren made the highest individual score in a first-class match, viz. 424 against Somersetshire. Middlesex has also the distinction of having produced the two greatest amateur wicket-keepers in the history of English cricket, namely, the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton (b. 1857) and Gregor MacGregor, both of whom, after playing for Cambridge University, gave their services to the Metropolitan county; while Lancashire can boast of the greatest professional wicket-keeper in Richard Pilling (1855-1891), whose reputation has not been eclipsed by that of the most proficient of more recent years. Another famous Cambridge University cricketer, a contemporary of Lyttelton, who was invaluable to Lancashire for some years when he was one of the very finest all-round cricketers in the country, was A. G. Steel (b. 1858), equally brilliant as a batsman and as a slow bowler; and other names memorable in Lancashire cricket were R. G. Barlow (b. 1859), whose stubborn batting was a striking contrast to the rapid run-getting of Hornby and the perfect style of Steel; John Briggs (1862-1902), whose slow left-hand bowling placed him at the head of the bowling averages in 1890; John Crossland (1853-1903) and A. Mold (b. 1865), both of whom were destructive fast bowlers; J. T. Tyldesley and R. H. Spooner, both among the most brilliant batsmen of a later generation; and W. Brearley, the amateur fast bowler.
Middlesex, like Kent, has been better served by amateurs than professionals. Indeed, with the notable exceptions of J. T. Hearne, who headed the bowling averages in 1891, 1896 and 1898, and of the imported Australian A. E. Trott, few professionals of high merit are conspicuously associated with the history of the county cricket. Trott, in 1899 and again in 1900, performed the previously unprecedented feat of taking over two hundred wickets and scoring over one thousand runs in the same season. And in his “benefit match” in May 1907 at Lord’s he achieved the “hat trick” twice in one innings, taking first four and then three wickets with successive balls. But if there has been a dearth of professionals in Middlesex cricket, the county has produced an abundance of celebrated amateurs. In addition to the Walkers and A. J. Webbe, the metropolitan county was the home of the celebrated hitter, C. I. Thornton, and of the Studd family, who learnt their cricket at Eton and Cambridge University. C. T. Studd, one of the most polished batsmen who ever played cricket, was at the same time an excellent medium-paced bowler, and his brother G. B. Studd is remembered especially for his fielding, though like his elder brother, J. E. K. Studd, he was an all-round cricketer of the greatest value to a county team. Sir T. C. O’Brien, who made his reputation by a fine innings for Oxford University against the Australian team of 1882, sustained it in the following years by many brilliant performances for Middlesex. A. E. Stoddart for several years was the best run-getter in the Middlesex eleven; and W. J. Ford and his younger brother, F. G. J. Ford, were conspicuous among many prominent Middlesex batsmen. In more recent times the Oxonian P. F. Warner (b. 1873), both as captain and as batsman, did splendid work; and B. J. T. Bosanquet, besides assisting powerfully with the bat, became famous for inaugurating a new style of curly bowling (“googlies”) of a very effective type.
A glance at the table given above shows the high place occupied by Surrey in the past. Surrey county cricket can be traced as far back as 1730. Pycroft observes that “the name of Surrey as one united county club is quite lost in the annals of Surrey. cricket from 1817 to 1845.” But before that date two of the most celebrated cricketers, William Lillywhite and Fuller Pilch, had occasionally played for the county, and so also had James Broadbridge (1796-1843) and W. Lambert (1779-1851). Kennington Oval became the Surrey county ground in 1845, the property being leased from the duchy of Cornwall; and in the years immediately following the county team included H. H. Stephenson (1833-1896), Caffyn (b. 1828), N. Felix, and Lockyer (1826-1869); among a later generation appeared such well-remembered names as Jupp, Southerton, Pooley and R. Humphrey. After being champion county in 1873, Surrey did not again attain the same position for fourteen years, but for the next ten years maintained an almost uninterrupted supremacy. The greatest credit was due to the energetic direction of J. Shuter (b. 1855), who kept together a remarkable combination of cricketers, such as W. W. Read (1855-1906), Maurice Read (b. 1859), George Lohmann (1865-1901), and Robert Abel (b. 1859), all of whom were among the greatest players of their period. Lohmann in 1885-1890 would alone have made any side famous; and in the same years when he was heading the bowling averages and proving himself the most deadly bowler in the country, W. W. Read was performing prodigies of batting. No sooner did the latter begin to decline in power than Abel took his place at the head of the batting averages, scoring with astonishing consistency in 1897-1900. In 1899 he made 357 not out in an innings against Somersetshire, and in 1901 his aggregate of 3309 was the largest then compiled. The Oxonian K. J. Key was another famous batsman whose services as captain were also exceedingly valuable to the county. An almost inexhaustible supply of professionals of the very highest class has been at Surrey’s service. W. Lockwood (b. 1868) became almost as deadly a bowler as Lohmann, and Tom Richardson (b. 1870) was the terror of all Surrey’s opponents for several seasons after 1893. Richardson took in all no less than 1340 wickets at the cost of 20,000 runs. Tom Hayward (b. 1867), nephew of the renowned Cambridge professional of the same name, succeeded Abel as the leading Surrey batsman, his play in the test matches of 1899, when he averaged 65, being superb. During the following years his reputation was fully maintained, and in 1906 he had a particularly successful season. Key was followed in the captaincy by D. L. A. Jephson, but the county did not in the opening years of the 20th century maintain the high place it occupied during the last quarter of the 19th. It possessed some excellent professionals, however, in Hayes, Hobbs and Lees, and the season of 1906, under the captaincy of Lord Dalmeny, showed a revival, a new fast bowler being found in N. A. Knox, and a fine batsman and bowler in J. N. Crawford.
Several of the celebrated cricketers of early times already mentioned as having played for the Surrey club were more closely associated with the adjoining county of Sussex, whose records go back as far as 1734, in which year a match was Sussex. played against Kent, the chief promoters of which were the duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage. One of the earliest famous cricketers, Richard Newland (d. 1791), was a Sussex man; and James Broadbridge, W. Lambert, Tom Box, and the great Lillywhite family were all members of the Sussex county team. Lambert, in a match against Epsom, played at Lord’s in 1817, made a “century” (one hundred runs) in each innings, a feat not repeated in first-class cricket for fifty years; and the occasion was the first when the aggregate of a thousand runs was scored in a match. Broadbridge played for Sussex in five reigns, while Box (1808-1876) kept wicket for the county for twenty-four years without missing a match. Notwithstanding this distinguished history, Sussex never attained the highest place in the county rivalry, and for a number of years towards the end of the 19th century the left-handed batting of F. M. Lucas (1860-1887) alone saved the county from complete insignificance. A revival came when W. L. Murdoch (b. 1855), of Australian celebrity, qualified for Sussex; and at a still later date the fortunes of the county were raised by the inclusion in its eleven of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, afterwards H.H. the Jam of Nawanagar (b. 1872), the Indian prince, who had played for Cambridge University. Ranjitsinhji’s dexterity, grace and style were unrivalled. He scored 2780 runs in 1896, averaging 57, while in county matches in 1899 his aggregate was 2555, with an average of 75. Even this performance was beaten in 1900 when he scored a total of 2563 runs, giving an average for the season of 83. In all matches his aggregates were 3159 in 1899, and 3065 in 1900. Not less remarkable was the cricket of C. B. Fry (b. 1872), who came from Oxford University to become a mainstay of Sussex cricket, and who in 1901 performed the unparalleled feat of scoring in successive innings 106, 209, 149, 105, 140 and 105, his aggregate for the season being 3147 with an average of 78. In 1905 his average for Sussex was 86, but in the following year an accident kept him out of the cricket field throughout the season; and in 1909 he transferred his services to Hampshire.