🧢 Captain's Log

Mon 07 Aug 1899 🧢 1st XIv RC Rochester CC · HomeformLWLWW

Rochester CC came to us on Monday last, the seventh of August, and the toss went against us, so that our visitors elected to take first use of the wicket. We took the field in fair heart, and though the leather was made to travel freely enough by L Cooper, whose 49 formed the backbone of their innings, and by R H Wakeley and F M Atkins with 33 and 31 apiece, our trundlers kept steadily at their work until the last of them was back in the pavilion. F C Boucher and G L Mitchell departed without troubling the scorers at all. I had the good fortune to lead our attack and came away with four wickets without a run scored against me, while the Hon J R Tufton bowled with rare discipline, six maidens paving the way to figures of four for twenty-six, and Arthur Cornwallis chipped in with a couple of wickets for nothing.

Our reply, sad to relate, could not quite match the tale of runs required. J N Tonge played a capital innings of 45, well supported by Tufton's 26, though P T Oyler was undone for a duck, and we too were dismissed in our turn.

The day was not without its small distinctions. Tonge's innings carried him past Ernest Cruttenden to fifth upon the club's roll of run-scorers, and Cornwallis's wickets lifted him above G Sedgwick to twenty-first among our bowlers, while I find myself, for the present, at the head of both the season's run and wicket charts.

We were beaten in the end by 63 runs, a margin our opponents earned fairly, and we return to the nets none the worse for the lesson.

Sat 05 Aug 1899 🧢 1st XIv SR 1st Innings The Royal Scots Regiment · HomeformLLWLW

We had the pleasure of hosting the Royal Scots Regiment upon our ground on Saturday last, the fifth of August, and the fortune of the coin fell to us. I elected, without much deliberation, that we should take first strike upon the turf.

Our men acquitted themselves handsomely at the wicket. George Champion was in capital form, his sixty-five the very backbone of the innings, while the Reverend J R Leigh played a fine hand of forty-eight and C N Watney added a useful forty-two, before we were at length dismissed.

Called upon to defend our total, our bowlers set about their work with great spirit. Captain Dick alone gave the regiment's innings any real solidity, his half-century of fifty a knock of genuine quality, but Major Young, Mr Teacher and Mr Hull were each sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. George Champion, sporting a length few could master, ran quite riot with figures of seven wickets for no runs, finding able support from the Reverend Thomas Burra, who claimed three wickets for none himself.

It was, besides, a day of some note in the club's annals. Champion's sixty-five carried him past one thousand runs in our colours, and his bowling that afternoon lifted him beyond a century of wickets and past Jack Fryer to the very head of our all-time list. Mr Leigh, too, climbed past W H Patterson into seventeenth place among our run-getters, and Champion now stands clear at the top of both this season's run and wicket charts. The match closed in a victory by one hundred and ninety-four runs, a margin as handsome as it was well earned, and our visitors withdrew with all the good grace that becomes true sportsmen.

Wed 12 Jul 1899 🧢 1st XIv RC Royal West Kent Regiment CC · HomeformWLLWL

On Wednesday last, the twelfth of July, we had the pleasure of receiving the Royal West Kent Regiment upon our own ground, and the toss falling kindly to me, I did not hesitate in choosing to take first use of the wicket, the weather appearing set fair for batting.

Our innings owed a good deal to a knock of my own, which ran to seventy-seven and passed the half-century with something to spare, and I confess to no small satisfaction in seeing it anchor the total while others came and went at the other end. In due course we took the field, and our trundlers gave the regiment's batsmen scant comfort, their innings closing in equally decisive fashion and leaving us victors by two-and-thirty runs, a margin the eleven may regard with quiet pride.

It was remarked afterwards, and I set it down here more in the way of record than of boasting, that the seventy-seven runs carried me past Mr G J V Weigall to thirteenth place upon the club's roll of all-time run-scorers, and left me fourth in the season's charts for the first eleven, with much cricket yet to be played.

Our visitors from the Royal West Kent Regiment conducted themselves throughout with the good humour and sporting spirit one always hopes to find in a fixture of this kind, and though the day's honours fell to us, the contest was hard fought and thoroughly enjoyed by all concerned.

Sat 08 Jul 1899 🧢 1st XIv YC Yalding CC · AwayformDWLLW

Yalding CC, Saturday the 8th of July, 1899

The fortune of the coin was against us, and our opponents, upon winning the toss, elected to take first use of the willow, leaving our bowlers the earlier labours of the afternoon. Mr G. A. T. Salmon set himself the sternest of tasks and saw it through with real distinction, compiling a most handsome fifty and carrying his score to 72 before he was done, while Mr A. F. Gurney lent him sound and watchful support with a useful 35. Our trundlers, I confess, found the batsmen in determined mood, and the innings closed with our visitors very much the masters of the morning's exchanges.

Called to the wicket in reply, we could not quite match the authority of the home batting, though it was by no means a chapter without credit. Tom Peach Snr played the innings of the day, his 35 being the backbone of our reply, and I was glad to lend him what assistance I could, adding 30 of my own before being sent back to the pavilion. Beyond these two contributions, however, the runs did not flow as freely as we might have wished, and the visitors' bowling asked questions that were not always satisfactorily answered.

In the end we were beaten by 59 runs, a margin that speaks plainly enough of the difference between the sides on the day. Yet there was no disgrace in it, only much to ponder and, I trust, to improve upon before we next take the field.

Wed 05 Jul 1899 🧢 1st XIv BC Brenchley CC · HomeformLDWLL

On Wednesday, the fifth of July, in the year 1899, we welcomed Brenchley Cricket Club to our ground, and I lost the toss, our visitors electing to take first use of the wicket. My own view was that a fine morning offered a little swing for the bowler, and so it might have consoled us afterward to think it, though the honours in the middle told rather a different tale before the innings closed. Mr J A Perkins was the chief architect of their innings, compiling a well-made fifty and finishing sixty-five runs not out, a knock of real substance, with C Harris contributing thirty-eight and W Hodges twenty-two in support. For our part in the field, I was fortunate enough to take five wickets without conceding a run, a spell I confess pleased me a great deal, while S Mendel bowled with great patience for three wickets, sending down eight maidens in the process, and H Pile chipped in with two more.

When our turn came with the willow, Arthur Cornwallis played a superb and chanceless innings of one hundred and one, the outstanding effort of the day, and was well supported by H Pile with seventy-seven. We were not without our disappointments, Ernest Cruttenden and A G Oyler both departing without troubling the scorer, but the foundation laid by our leading batsmen carried us home. It was, in the end, a fine and hard-fought win by three wickets, and I should like to record our thanks to Brenchley for a thoroughly sporting contest.

Sat 17 Jun 1899 🧢 1st XIv SS Sutton Valence School · HomeformLLDWL

A capital fixture greeted us at home on Saturday last, the seventeenth of June, when Sutton Valence School came to try their fortunes against the club. The toss went against me, and our visitors, electing to bat, gave us first use of the ball upon a wicket that, by the day's end, had yielded them a most useful total.

Mr J B Shaw was the chief architect of their innings, striking handsomely past his fifty to make ninety-one, and finding able support in H W Hunting, whose seventy-four was a well-made fifty indeed, while the Rev R E Lewis also passed his half-century with sixty-five. Our bowling laboured manfully against such determined batting. F B Leney was easily the pick of the attack, his three wickets for ninety-three runs earned the harder by ten maidens bowled with real miserliness, and he found company among the wickets from the Rev Thomas Burra and Arthur Cornwallis, each claiming one.

In reply, our men could not quite match the visitors' industry, and several among us, F Smith, W L Meade and the Rev Thomas Burra, were dismissed without troubling the scorer. I was fortunate enough to find my form, and it fell to me to carry the innings through with sixty-nine not out, ably assisted by T J Dewe's twenty-five and a further twenty-four from Leney's willing bat. We were beaten in the end by one hundred and thirty-two runs, a margin that speaks plainly enough of the day. Yet I take some comfort that my own runs and Leney's bowling now head our season's figures, and I have every confidence we shall be the better for this outing when next we meet the foe.