🦆 The Duck Pond

A modest bag from the fixture against Town Malling CC, yet a bag all the same: two of our number were obliged to make the long walk back to the pavilion without troubling the scorer. The First Eleven - Mr Ernest Cruttenden, at number six, was bowled by W Hickmott and returned for a duck's egg — his first cipher of the present season, and the tenth of a long and distinguished career now numbering seven and sixty innings, a return that places him second of all 383 gentlemen ever to have graced the club's roll of dubious distinction. He remains, and has long remained, a Duck of the Year laureate of 1895, an honour undimmed by the passing of a dozen summers. It may interest the curious that upon this very date in the year 1896, one G M Style was likewise dismissed without score, against the eleven of Mr H Wilson-Smith. - Mr F E Wallis, batting at number eight, was taken by G H Adam off the bowling of W R Stratton, recording the fourth duck of a career spanning six and twenty innings, and standing eleventh in the club's ancient order of nought. He tops this season's table already, and presently holds the club's Duck of the Year honour for 1907 — a distinction the season yet has time to snatch from him. By a curious coincidence, this too was the anniversary of G M Style's duck of 1896, against that same Wilson-Smith eleven — the date would appear to have something of a talent for producing ciphers. The Week in Summary One fixture, two ducks, both from the First Eleven's middle and lower order. No great surprise, perhaps, but a fitting demonstration of the club's founding principle — that failure, properly and repeatedly borne, is itself a kind of distinction. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard - F E Wallis — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100 per cent - Ernest Cruttenden — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50 per cent - Allan Peach — 3 innings, 1 duck, 33.3 per cent The club awaits, with its accustomed patience, the next fixture and whatever fresh additions to the roll it may furnish. Members are reminded that the willow spares no reputation, and the timbers least of all.

A quiet week at Linton Park, the eleven engaged in but a single fixture, and the exclusive zero club obliged with only one new member. Modest fare, but not without its dignity. 1st XI — v Town Malling CC (home) Mr Allan Peach, sent in at first wicket down, was undone by the bowling of W R Stratton and returned to the pavilion, the timbers rearranged behind him, though he had at least troubled the crease for a ball or two before his dismissal — no golden duck to record here, merely the ordinary variety, of which he is now a most practised collector. This stands as his fifth indiscretion of a distinguished career spanning ten innings, and lodges him at the respectable position of seventh in the club's all-time roll of dishonour, a table of some three hundred and eighty names. He carries no honours-board memberships as yet, though on the present showing the committee may wish to keep a place warm. Of interest to the statistically minded: Mr Peach's tally of five now sits precisely alongside that long amassed by Mr F S W Cornwallis, who plied his trade between 1885 and 1906 across four-and-fifty innings before settling on the very same figure — a coincidence of the ledger that the correspondent is only too pleased to record, the two gentlemen now drawing level upon the honours board of nought, separated by but a single place in the all-time reckoning. The Week in Summary A single duck from a single fixture — the willow, on this occasion, proved rather more obliging than usual, and the art of not scoring was practised but the once. Whether this reflects a temporary want of application among the bowling fraternity, or merely good fortune among the batting order, the correspondent declines to speculate. Suffice it to say the ducks proved elusive this week, and the hunting was thin. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard - Mr Allan Peach — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50.0 per cent A leaderboard of one is, admittedly, scant sport, but the season is young and the correspondent has every confidence the ranks will swell before long. In Closing The eleven take the field again shortly, and the committee trusts further candidates for the zero club shall present themselves in due course, as they invariably do. Members are cordially reminded that a duck's egg, however unwelcome to the batsman, is always warmly received by this correspondent. Until the next fixture, then — may your bat find the middle, and may Mr Peach find some company at the foot of the table.