🧢 Captain's Log

Sat 10 Aug 1895 🧢 1st XIv MC Maidstone CC · AwayformLWDLD

Saturday last took us to Maidstone, where the fortune of the coin fell to us, and I had no hesitation in sending our men in first upon a pitch that promised well for batsmen prepared to graft for their runs.

It must be confessed our innings did not do full justice to the occasion. H G Smith gave a capital display, top-scoring with 47 and carrying the fight to the Maidstone bowlers almost single-handed, but he found little lasting company. J Lampard, D A Kenward and F Smith were each dismissed without troubling the scorer, a blot upon the card that our opponents were not slow to exploit, and our innings closed with rather less upon the board than we should have wished.

In the field we gave a good account of ourselves without quite closing out the contest. Jack Fryer bowled with fine control and sporting a good length throughout to lead the attack with three wickets, while J Lampard and I each accounted for a batsman apiece. Yet E Barton, unbeaten on 33, was ably supported by H A Hughes with 29 and H Waghorn with 28, and Maidstone saw the innings home for the loss of five wickets.

Not our day, then, though no discredit attaches to the eleven for it. Smith's fine knock leaves him second in our season's run-getting, and I find myself, somewhat to my own surprise, at the head of the wicket-takers with five to my name. We return to the nets with heads up and spirits undimmed, and our thanks to Maidstone for a thoroughly sporting encounter.

Mon 05 Aug 1895 🧢 1st XIv RC Rochester CC · HomeformLLWDL

The coin came down in our favour, and having no great mistrust of the wicket I elected to take first strike against Rochester, who were our visitors on Monday last.

I fear the innings will not live long in the memory of our members, for we were dismissed for want of any great foundation, saving the admirable exertions of J N Tonge, whose fifty carried handsomely onward to a capital ninety-four before he too was sent back to the pavilion. It was, in truth, something of a lone stand, for at the other end fortune was less kind, Ernest Cruttenden and J Edmonds each departing without troubling the scorer. That we reached the total we did owes not a little to the extras column, which contributed a useful six-and-twenty to the ledger.

In the field our bowlers set about their work with good heart, and Rochester, finding the light already fading upon so short an afternoon, could add but nought for the loss of no wicket in their two overs at the crease. I permitted myself a small contribution with the bat earlier in the day, eighteen runs that I am told carried me past L Friend and into fifteenth place upon the club's roll of run-scorers, a distinction I record with more pleasure than pride.

The hour proving the stronger adversary, neither side could press home an advantage, and honours were shared. A draw of this character, honestly fought and cordially concluded, leaves no cause for complaint on either side of the ropes.

Wed 31 Jul 1895 🧢 1st XIv Headcorn CC · HomeformLLLWD

I first turn to matches begun and finished within a season now well advanced, and the tale of Wednesday last, when Headcorn came to us at Linton Park, is one I set down with more candour than delight.

The toss went against us, and our visitors, electing to take first use of the willow, settled in for what proved a considerable occupation of the crease. G Knight played a fine half-century of seventy-seven, the mainstay of their innings, and found able support from W Hubble with thirty-two and the Reverend A C Scott with twenty-eight, before their innings closed. I was fortunate enough to take four wickets without cost, and was well seconded by Tom Peach Snr with three and H G Smith with one, though the total against us, once complete, told its own sober story.

Our reply, alas, brought little comfort, and two of our number, Ernest Cruttenden and H G Smith, departed without troubling the scorer, a disappointment shared by the whole eleven. There was, however, cause for quiet pride amid the gloom: Jack Fryer's eight runs carried him past A M Streatfield into eleventh place among the club's run-getters of all time, while Tom Peach Snr's three wickets lifted him past Walter Wright into ninth on our bowling roll of honour, and I find myself, for what it is worth, at the head of both run and wicket charts for our first eleven this season.

In the end we were beaten by one hundred and twenty-eight runs, a defeat as complete as it was instructive, and Headcorn have every right to their satisfaction. We shall look to sterner and more disciplined cricket next week.