๐๏ธ 21 Aug โ 27 Aug 1886 ยท 1886 โ 2 matches
๐งข 1st XIv SC 1st Innings Royal West Kent Regiment CC ยท AwayformLWWLLOn Friday the 27th of August, in the year 1886, our eleven took the road to meet the Royal West Kent Regiment CC, a fixture approached, as ever, with good cheer and a becoming measure of caution. We elected to take the field first, and were not ill rewarded for it. Lieutenant Latter batted with no small skill, his 21 runs standing as the principal ornament of their innings, but it was Tom Peach Snr who claimed the honours of the day. His trundling proved altogether too searching for our visitors, and he came away with 6 wickets, a spell richly deserved and warmly applauded from the boundary.
Our own innings, alas, could not match such distinguished bowling as we found ourselves facing in return. I was fortunate enough to give a fair account of myself with 22, though support at the other end was not forthcoming in sufficient measure, and we were in the end overcome by 74 runs, a margin that leaves little room for equivocation.
There was, nonetheless, cause for quiet satisfaction amid the disappointment. Tom Peach Snr's 6 wickets carried him past Ernest Cruttenden and into 7th place upon the club's roll of wicket-takers, a distinction earned rather than given, and he stands presently at the head of the season's wicket charts. I find myself, somewhat to my own surprise, leading the run-scoring for 1886 with 128 to my name thus far. We were fairly and thoroughly beaten, and offer our visitors every credit for it, trusting that patience and practice shall serve our men better in the matches yet to come.
๐งข 1st XIv ? ยท HomeformLLWWLOn Wednesday last, the twenty-fifth of August, we welcomed our visitors to the ground in weather that promised, if not perfection, at least a fair contest between bat and ball. It fell to our men to take first strike, and I am bound to report that the innings proved a chastening affair for most concerned, saving one passage of play upon which I shall permit myself a moment's pride.
That passage was my own. I found myself at the wicket in tolerable form, and the bowling, though sporting a good length throughout, yielded runs more freely to my defence and drive than I had any right to expect. I went on to reach three figures, 106 in all, and it was gratifying indeed to carry so large a share of the innings upon my own bat. I am told, moreover, that this innings has carried me past the redoubtable C A Smith and into second place upon the club's all-time list of run-getters, and that it stands, for the present, at the head of our first eleven's tally for the season. Such distinctions are pleasant to record, though I set greater store by the good of the side than by any personal column of figures.
Our opponents, for their part, played with skill and no little determination, and pressed home their advantage to the very last, taking the match by a single wicket. It was as narrow and as sporting a finish as one could wish to witness, and defeat of that order carries no shame with it. We shall return to the field the wiser for the lesson, and better, I trust, for the next encounter.
๐๏ธ 31 Jul โ 06 Aug 1886 ยท 1886 โ 1 match
๐งข House Teamv ? ยท HomeformLWLWOn Saturday last, the thirty-first of July, we entertained our opponents upon our own ground, and though the issue of the day was not one to boast of, it was not wanting in incident, nor in one performance that will long be spoken of in the pavilion.
Sent in first, our men were all in due course despatched, but not before I had the good fortune to compile a score of three figures, one hundred and six runs, easily the mainstay of the innings. It was gratifying to lead from the front in such fashion, and gratifying too, on reflection, to learn that the innings carries me past Arthur Cornwallis into third place among the club's run-getters of all time, and into second place in the present season's list for 1886, a distinction I confess I had not looked for when I took guard.
For all that, the willow could not, on this occasion, carry the day alone. Our trundlers and fieldsmen, though they strove manfully, could not quite close the account, and our visitors got home by the narrowest of margins, a single wicket only standing between ourselves and victory. It was a match lost, if I may say so, more in the manner of a friend's ill fortune than an enemy's triumph, so keenly and so fairly was it contested throughout.
We take the lesson as we find it, heads up, and our thoughts already turning to the nets, in the hope that our fellows may return the sterner for the experience.
๐๏ธ 10 Jul โ 16 Jul 1886 ยท 1886 โ 1 match
๐งข House Teamv 
The Mote CC ยท AwayformLWLOn Wednesday last, the 14th of July, 1886, our road took us to the ground of The Mote Cricket Club, and fortune smiled upon us at the toss, which I won and elected, without hesitation, that we should take first use of the wicket.
Our men acquitted themselves handsomely at the crease. Walter Wright played a capital knock of 55, a well-made fifty that anchored the innings, and found willing company in X Attewell, who contributed 43, and W N Cobbold, who added a useful 35. Not all fared so well, it must be said, for both L Friend and the Reverend Thomas Burra were sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers, and I confess I fared no better myself, falling for a golden blob, a captain's lot on an unkind afternoon.
When our opponents came to the wicket, they found the bowling too much for them. C Lake batted soundly for 23, the bulk of their scoring, but the day belonged to X Attewell, whose trundling brought him seven wickets, a five-for richly deserved, with Walter Wright chipping in three of his own. We carried the day by the handsome margin of 100 runs.
It was, besides, a day of milestones, Arthur Cornwallis's 29 runs carrying him past W Goad into third place among the club's all-time run-scorers, and Attewell's seven wickets lifting him past N T Nickolls into nineteenth on the wicket-takers' list, while both now stand well placed in this season's House Team charts. A thoroughly satisfactory day for Linton Park, and one I record with no small pleasure, my own duck notwithstanding.
๐๏ธ 29 May โ 04 Jun 1886 ยท 1886 โ 2 matches
๐งข House Teamv The Mote CC ยท HomeformLWOur men were beaten by 22 runs at the hands of the Mote CC on Friday last, the fourth of June, upon what proved a fair sporting wicket, though the run of play told rather in favour of our visitors from the outset.
Losing the toss, I saw our opponents elect to take first use of the wicket, and it was a decision that served them well enough, F M Atkins compiling a well-made fifty of sixty runs and A J Thornton following with a fine half-century of his own, fifty-four to his name, while the Reverend H Trower remained undefeated with thirty-six. Yet our bowling was by no means overshadowed, for H Timins spun through their order in quite unplayable fashion to return five wickets, with H Hearne and Tom Peach Snr each chipping in with a couple apiece, and J Noakes was sent back without troubling the scorers.
In reply, H Timins again did us proud with the willow, top-scoring with thirty-four, and was well supported by Arthur Cornwallis with a capital twenty-two, an innings that carried him past T Gandy into fifth place upon the club's list of run-getters, a distinction he thoroughly deserves. I must confess to a blot of my own upon the card, falling for a duck alongside Tom Peach Snr and J F Cornish, and of my own contribution the less said the better. Tom Peach Snr's bowling figures, meanwhile, lifted him past R Morris into twelfth place among the club's wicket-takers, a fitting consolation.
Though the runs eluded us in the end, there was much in the performance to encourage, and I have every confidence we shall give a better account of ourselves when next we take the field.
๐งข House Teamv ? ยท HomeformLThursday last, the third of June, saw us at home to our visitors, and the toss fell kindly in our favour. I had no hesitation in sending our men in to bat first, the pitch appearing true and likely to lose nothing of its goodness as the day wore on.
It fell to my own bat to make the most of the opportunity, and I am glad to record a score of 144, an innings that carried us to a total upon which we could rest secure. Three figures came rather more readily than I had any right to expect, and though a captain ought to speak modestly of his own doings, I confess to no small satisfaction in the manner of its making.
I am told, moreover, that this innings carries some significance beyond the day's play, having advanced me past Mr W Goad into second place upon the club's roll of run-getters, a distinction I receive with more surprise than pride, and owed as much to those who have gone before as to any merit of my own. It leaves me, for the present season, at the head of our run-scoring for 1886.
Our visitors, set a considerable task, could not overhaul it, and we had the satisfaction of a victory by 144 runs. A pleasant day's cricket, and one I shall be glad to set down in the club's book.