🧢 Captain's Log

Fri 22 Jul 1887 🧢 House Teamv The Mote CC · HomeformLWLWL

Friday last, the twenty-second of July, saw The Mote CC our guests upon the home ground, and winning the toss I had no hesitation in sending our men to the wicket first, a decision that pleased me well before the day was out.

A M Streatfield gave us the truest of foundations with a capital innings of 73, sailing handsomely past his fifty, and found a willing partner in W N Cobbold, whose 34 did much to swell the total. Not every man among us prospered, C Pocock departing for a golden duck, while I contributed a modest 15 of my own before joining my fellows in the pavilion.

Called upon to defend our score, our bowlers wanted for little. K McAlpine and C W Stratford were both sent back without troubling the scorers, and it was Walter Wright who claimed the honours of the day, his figures of six wickets for not a run being as fine a piece of trundling as one could wish to see. C Pocock, denied with the bat, made handsome amends with four wickets for none.

The day was not without its milestones. Arthur Cornwallis's 16 runs carried him past W H Fryer to the top of the club's run-scorers, while Wright's tally lifted him past Tom Peach Snr into seventh among our wicket-takers, fitting reward for a spell that also leaves him at the head of this season's bowling, as Streatfield now leads the summer's run-getters. A victory, in the end, by an innings and 26 runs, and a thoroughly sporting contest with our visitors from The Mote.

Wed 22 Jun 1887 🧢 1st XIv SC 1st Innings Boxley CC · HomeformWLLLW

It fell to us to take first use of the ball on Wednesday the twenty-second of June, when Boxley Cricket Club did us the honour of a visit to Linton Park. Our trundlers set about their work with a will, and our visitors, for all their endeavour, could not withstand the examination and were sent back to the pavilion in their entirety, the innings closing all out.

When our turn came at the wicket, I was fortunate enough to find my form and to lead from the front, compiling a superb hundred of 124 that formed the very backbone of our total, while the extras column, swelled to a handy 43, lent no small assistance to the cause. It is not for me to dwell overlong upon my own contribution, save to record it here once, with due gratitude to fortune and to the bowling I was set.

I am told, and record with some pride on behalf of the club rather than myself, that this innings carried me past Mr W Goad to fifth place upon the club's roll of all-time run-scorers, and that it stands, for the present, at the head of the season's run-getters for 1887.

The match concluded in a victory by an innings and 59 runs, a margin greater than we had any right to anticipate, and one owed as much to the generous spirit in which Boxley contested every ball as to any excellence of our own. Two points go down to Linton Park, earned, I think, without undue boast, and I thank our visitors for a thoroughly sporting afternoon's cricket.

Wed 15 Jun 1887 🧢 1st XIv SC 1st Innings East Peckham CC · HomeformWWLLL

Skipper's Log — Wednesday 15 June 1887

We welcomed 1st Innings East Peckham CC to Linton Park under fair skies, and I won the toss and elected to field, a decision that our men vindicated handsomely as the day wore on. Our visitors' innings owed what substance it possessed chiefly to W F Best, who compiled a watchful 24 and carried the burden of the batting almost alone, for the remainder of the order found little comfort against our attack. F Killick, in particular, was sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. It was Walter Wright who claimed the lion's share of the wickets, his figures of five for none a spell of the finest quality and richly deserved, while the Reverend Thomas Burra lent able support with four for none. Between them our trundlers had the visitors dismissed, and I confess I permitted myself a measure of satisfaction at the manner in which the ball was made to do its work that morning.

Our reply, when it came, was conducted in altogether brighter spirit. G Knight played a capital knock of 57, the innings of the day, and found willing company in F M Atkins with 29 and George Champion with 28, the three between them building a total that placed the issue beyond doubt. Jack Fryer alone fell without scoring, a small blemish upon an otherwise handsome card. For my own part I was content to add 22 to the total, runs that I am told carried me past F F Crawford on the club's list of run-scorers, while Wright's fine bowling lifted him past F Garrett among our wicket-takers, a double distinction for a memorable afternoon.

We prevailed by an innings and 43 runs, a margin as clear as it was unlooked-for, and our visitors bore their reverse with the good grace one has come to expect of them. A thoroughly satisfying day for the club.