🦆 The Duck Pond

A single fixture is recorded in the period under review, our eleven meeting Leeds Castle Cricket Club, and the willow yielded to the club's collection two further ducks' eggs of note. House Team Mr T Woollett, walking to the wicket at number eight for his very first innings in this eleven's colours, was caught by T Sparks off the bowling of R Startup, and thus took his introduction to the game's sterner disciplines in the most unceremonious fashion available to a debutant — dismissed for a cipher before he had properly taken his guard. It is his maiden innings and, by the same stroke, his maiden duck, a coincidence the honours board records rather less kindly than we do here. He enters the all-time列, or rather the all-time list, at 135th of 359, and in doing so draws level upon a tally of one with the venerable A Barker, whose own solitary duck was taken back in 1885 and earned that gentleman the Duck of the Year garland for his trouble — Mr Woollett may take some comfort in such distinguished, if modest, company. Mr G Pearce, sent in at number ten, was bowled by B Tillman without scoring, his third innings for the club and his first acquaintance with the duck's egg, a distinction he had until now been spared. He stands 93rd of 359 upon the all-time roll of dishonour, and he too finds himself level upon a single duck with the aforementioned A Barker of 1885 vintage — two gentlemen, nineteen years apart, united by the same modest arithmetic. The week in summary Two ducks from a single match, both falling to the lower order of the House Team's innings against Leeds Castle, suggests our tail found the leather rather more troublesome than the top order — no partnerships, no pairs, and mercifully no family misfortune to report this week, the ducks confining themselves to individual, rather than dynastic, disappointment. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard The season being yet young, five gentlemen stand together at the summit, each having faced the bowling once this season and each having been dismissed without score, for a season average of nought and a duck percentage of a full 100: - Mr Arthur Cornwallis — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Mr C H Style — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Mr C Reid — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Mr G Pearce — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Mr T Woollett — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% A crowded summit, and an early one, but the season is long and the willow fickle. Members are cordially invited to attend the next fixture, where no doubt further candidates shall present themselves for admission to this most exclusive and least sought-after of clubs.

A quiet week for the timbers, gentlemen, with but a single egg laid across two fixtures — the ducks, it would seem, took their ease this week and left the eleven largely untroubled. House Team - Jack Fryer, first wicket down against Leeds Castle Cricket Club on the 9th, in the away fixture, was bowled by W Thorndycraft for a cipher, and returned to the pavilion with the ledger unimproved. This being his first duck's egg of the 1904 season, and his eleventh in a career now standing at sixty-five innings, he remains ensconced at the very head of the club's all-time roll — first of some three hundred and fifty-five names who have known the particular ignominy of nought. Mr Fryer will further be remembered as a past holder of the Duck of the Year honour, claimed in both 1891 and 1900, proof, if proof were needed, that the art of not scoring may be practised at the very highest level, and practised more than once. A Week in Summary Two fixtures were played in the period under review, and but a single duck's egg was laid between them — a scarcity that will please the batting order rather more than it pleases this correspondent, whose columns are ever the poorer for a quiet week. Mr Fryer alone flew the club's sorry colours, and flew them, it must be said, rather briefly. Duck Hunting Season leaderboard - Arthur Cornwallis — 1 innings, 1 duck, a full 100 per cent - C H Style — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100 per cent - C Reid — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100 per cent - Allan Peach — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50 per cent - Jack Fryer — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50 per cent The season's leading three gentlemen have, it will be observed, achieved a perfect record of imperfection, having faced but the one innings apiece and failed on each occasion to trouble the scorer. Whether such consistency may be sustained, or whether the willow shall yet find its mark, remains a matter for the coming weeks to determine. We commend the eleven to their next fixture, in the confident expectation that the ducks, presently in hiding, shall shortly be flushed once more from cover. The correspondent remains, as ever, at the club's service in the faithful chronicling of such misfortunes as the season may provide.

Linton Park v Sutton Valence School The First Eleven Opening the innings, Arthur Cornwallis was caught H W Hunting, bowled N Strickland, without troubling the scorers — his first duck of the present season and the third of a career now spanning six-and-forty innings, a record that places him nineteenth of the three hundred and fifty-three names upon the club's roll of dubious distinction. He is no stranger to such company, having been proclaimed Duck of the Year in 1888 and, it now appears, again in this very season of 1904. Members with long memories will recall that upon this same date in 1891, one Jack Fryer — first of all our three hundred and fifty-three, with ten ducks to his name — likewise returned to the pavilion without score against these same opponents from Sutton Valence. History, it seems, keeps a diary. At number six, Mr C H Style was caught S E Kay, bowled the Reverend R E Lewis, and thus departed for nought on his very first appearance in senior colours — a maiden innings yielding, alas, a maiden duck, and a modest nineteenth-place... rather, sixty-fifth place, entry upon the honours board. He shares, too, the curious coincidence of the calendar, his duck falling on the very anniversary of Jack Fryer's own against Sutton Valence School in 1891. The school's bowlers would seem to keep a long-standing appointment with the fourth of July. Last man in, Allan Peach was caught N Strickland, bowled Rev R E Lewis, for a third career duck taken in but four innings — an economy of effort that carries him to eighteenth of 353 upon the club's register. He too fell upon the same fateful date as Mr Fryer thirteen summers past. The Week in Brief A single fixture, three ducks, and the Reverend R E Lewis doing a fair portion of the damage, claiming two of the three wickets while N Strickland turned his hand to both bowling and catching. That all three should fall on the very day the calendar once favoured Jack Fryer against these same school opponents is the sort of coincidence upon which correspondents are obliged to remark, and members are invited to draw their own conclusions as to the omen. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard - Allan Peach — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Arthur Cornwallis — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - C H Style — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - C Reid — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Tom Peach Jnr — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50% The season is yet young, and the table stands wide open to fresh candidates. Members are cordially reminded that the next fixture offers every opportunity for further additions to this most exclusive of registers, and the correspondent awaits the outcome with his customary anticipation.

A single fixture, a single visit to the exclusive zero club, but distinction, as ever, was not wanting. 1st XI, away to Leeds Castle CC Mr Tom Peach Jnr, coming in at number seven, was bowled by W Betts and returned to the pavilion without so much as unsettling the scorer's pencil. This being his third career duck in eight completed innings, he takes his place at 26th of 352 in the club's roll of honour, a position held with the consistency of a man determined to earn it properly. It is his first duck's egg of the current season. Readers with long memories will recall he was named Duck of the Year in 1902, so this latest cipher is no stranger's work but that of a seasoned practitioner in the art of not scoring. By a curious coincidence of the calendar, it was on this very day in 1898 that Mr B W Haynes suffered an identical fate against Yalding CC, a fellow traveller in nought whose career, 1891 to 1903, closed with but a single duck to his name, and who sits at 62nd of 352 in the same roll. Proof, if proof were needed, that the 18th of June has long had a fondness for claiming good men cheaply. The Week in Brief One match, one duck, and the eleven otherwise spared the ignominy, a quiet week by the club's usual standards, though Mr Peach Jnr has done his duty in keeping the ledger from gathering dust. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard - C Reid — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Tom Peach Jnr — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50% Members are respectfully reminded that the season is yet young and the timbers ever patient. The next fixture will doubtless furnish further candidates for these pages, and the correspondent awaits their arrival with his usual mixture of sympathy and delight.

A single fixture furnished the eleven's ledger this week, and a single name is entered upon it — modest fare, but the exclusive zero club never turns away a new subscriber. 1st XI Away at Town Malling, C Reid came to the wicket at number six and departed shortly after, bowled by F B Leney, without troubling the scorer. It was his maiden appearance in the eleven's colours, and cricket being the courteous game it is, the club has seen fit to mark the occasion with its own peculiar honour rather than the one he might have preferred. A debut duck is a rite few forget and fewer choose to repeat, and Mr Reid may now consider himself formally admitted to a fellowship of dubious distinction. It stands as his first duck in a career of one innings, and he takes his place at seventieth of the three hundred and fifty-one names presently inscribed upon the club's roll — respectable company for an opening entry, and ground enough to build upon, in either direction. By a pleasant trick of the calendar, this very date in 1887 saw Jack Fryer — twice Duck of the Year, in 1891 and again in 1900, and no less than the club's leading exponent of the art with ten to his name — likewise sent back for nought, against East Peckham. Mr Reid may take what comfort he can in such distinguished if accidental fellowship. The Week in Brief One match played, one wicket surrendered without score, and no further casualties reported. A quiet week for the timbers, all told, though the season is young and the leather has claimed finer men than these before now. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard 1. C Reid — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100 per cent The season's register stands thin as yet, with but a single name upon it, and no cause for alarm among the eleven's more established batsmen. The correspondent trusts the coming fixtures will furnish further material, as they reliably do, and looks forward to reporting whichever gentleman next elects to walk out and walk straight back again.