🧢 Captain's Log

Wed 04 Aug 1869 🧢 1st XIv HC Horsmonden CC · AwayformLWWLW

Wednesday last we journeyed to Horsmonden, where the toss went against us and we were sent into the field. Our opponents' innings proved a brief and unhappy affair, T Lambert and Captain Bayley both returning to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. W H Fryer bowled quite beautifully, his figures of six wickets without cost being as fine a piece of trundling as I have witnessed this season, and I was glad to lend a hand with a wicket of my own, my brother J C Crawford claiming another.

When our turn came to the wicket I was fortunate enough to find my form, and remained not out at the close having made 41, the runs that mattered most to our cause. J C Crawford gave excellent support with a well-made 29. It must be recorded, in fairness, that W H Fryer, W Goad and X Plomley were each dismissed without scoring, proof if any were needed that even the finest bowler may find the willow less obliging than the ball.

Two milestones of note attended the day: young Amies's ten runs carried him past me to fourth place among the club's run-scorers, while Fryer's ten wickets lifted him past T Gandy to the very top of our bowling records.

We prevailed by an innings and 9 runs, a margin thoroughly earned, and I trust a satisfying account for our supporters at home.

Tue 20 Jul 1869 🧢 1st XIv HC Horsmonden CC · HomeformLLWWL

Tuesday last, the twentieth of July, brought Horsmonden to us at Linton Park in a sporting spirit, though the toss went against us and we were bid to take the field before our turn came to chase. G Sawyer, T Lambert and W Sawyer were each sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers, and E M Owens bowled with such fire as to run quite riot, taking five wickets without a run scored off him. I own to some quiet satisfaction in adding two more to the reckoning myself, on the same generous terms, and our visitors' innings closed a deal sooner than they would have wished.

With the willow our task proved less straightforward than the bowling had promised. X Bowles played a capital knock of 27, well supported by W H Fryer's 21, though the rest of us found the going harder, and I must own that my own turn at the wicket yielded nothing but a golden blob, no fitting example for a captain to set. Owens and Hodsoll fared no better, yet it mattered little in the end.

The day carried its milestones too. Fryer's runs carried him past T Gandy to second upon the club's all-time scorers, while my own wickets lifted me past Fryer into third among the bowlers. In the season's reckoning, A Startup leads the batting with 36 runs, and I the bowling with sixteen wickets. We close with a fine win by an innings and ten runs, and my thanks to Horsmonden for a keenly fought and gentlemanly contest.

Sat 10 Jul 1869 🧢 1st XIv SC 1st Innings Hayle Place CC · AwayformLLLWW

On Saturday, the tenth of July 1869, we took the road to Hayle Place, and calling correctly at the toss, I had no hesitation in choosing to bat, the wicket having a promising look about it.

Our innings did not run entirely to plan, three of our number, J Amies, A Startup and H Kemp, being sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. There was ample compensation, however, in a capital knock from W Goad, whose twenty-one runs were the more notable for carrying him past T Gandy to the head of the club's all-time run-scorers, a distinction he wears most deservedly.

Turning to the leather, our men gave an excellent account of themselves. L Barker, D Wood and H Tyrell were each dismissed for a duck, and T Gandy bowled quite beautifully to claim six wickets without cost, a performance which, taken with his season's work, has lifted him past J Woollett to the top of the club's all-time wicket-takers, a fine and fitting honour. I was fortunate enough to add four wickets of my own for no runs, which I mention with more pride than modesty strictly allows, and which carries my tally for the year to eight, leading the 1869 first eleven's bowling charts.

For all that, our visitors proved equal to the task and got home by five wickets in the end. We shall take our lessons from the day and trust to better fortune, and a truer length, next Saturday.