🧢 Captain's Log

Mon 16 Jul 1900 🧢 1st XIv TX T H Oyler's XI · HomeformDLLLL

Skipper's Log — Monday 16 July 1900. Linton Park v T H Oyler's XI.

We had the good fortune of the toss and elected to take the field first against T H Oyler's XI, our visitors for the day. Our attack found early encouragement, with G Kennard and T H Oyler himself both departing without troubling the scorer, and though A Smythe played the innings of his side with a top score of 21, our bowlers kept a steady rein throughout. I was glad to find some rhythm with the ball and led the attack with figures of four wickets, well supported by the Reverend Thomas Burra with three and F Reeves with two, and their innings closed with the whole side back in the pavilion.

Called upon to make the runs ourselves, we owed our success chiefly to F E Wallis, whose well-made fifty of 61 was the anchor of the innings and, we are told, carries him to sixteenth upon the club's all-time list of run-scorers, a distinction warmly deserved. F G Maxted gave him fine company with a well-made 54 of his own, and F Reeves chipped in usefully with 33, so that between them our principal batsmen did the greater share of the work.

It proved a tight finish, the issue in doubt until we crossed the line by two wickets, but cross it we did. Our visitors bowled and fielded with good spirit throughout, and I should record that it has been a fine season for the eleven besides, our efforts with bat and ball this summer standing us well in the club's affections. A thoroughly good day's cricket, and one played in the right spirit by both sides.

Sat 14 Jul 1900 🧢 1st XIv YC Yalding CC · HomeformLDLLL

Saturday last, the 14th of July, brought Yalding CC to our ground as visitors, and the toss falling kindly to me, I had no hesitation in sending our men in first.

Our innings, though it yielded no great total, was not without its distinctions. H G Smith gave us a watchful 42, and I was glad to see my own share of 37 not out carry me past Jack Fryer into third place upon the club's roll of run-getters, a circumstance of which I confess some quiet satisfaction. Jack Fryer himself played a useful 30, while poor H F Morris was undone for a duck, his luck deserting him entirely. Extras, generous to the tune of 30, did their honest work for the total.

When our visitors came to the wicket they showed themselves no mean batting side. F B Leney compiled a fine half-century of 52, well supported by G A T Salmon's 44 and H Leney's 38, though R G Henham fell to our bowling without troubling the scorers. George Champion bowled quite splendidly, returning figures of 5 for 0 and running through their order in style. Arthur Cornwallis, with 2 wickets, lent good support and in the same match passed 1,000 runs for the club, climbing to eighteenth upon our all-time wicket-takers' list besides. J A Chamberlain claimed a further wicket. Champion, I should note, now leads our first eleven's run and wicket charts for the season, with 352 runs and 11 wickets to his name.

For all our endeavour, fortune favoured Yalding, who got home by two wickets. A keenly fought affair throughout, and we return to the nets none the worse for a defeat honestly earned by worthy opponents.

Sat 07 Jul 1900 🧢 1st XIv Town Malling CC · AwayformLLDLL

Match report — Linton Park CC v Town Malling CC, Saturday 7th July 1900

We journeyed to Town Malling on Saturday last, and the coin falling kindly, I had no hesitation in asking our visitors to take the field first. My own innings prospered from the outset, and I was fortunate enough to bring off a score of 114, a knock I set down more to patience than to any particular brilliance. P T Oyler batted soundly for 29 in support, though L C Brown, I am sorry to relate, was sent back without troubling the scorers, and a generous 28 in extras did no small service to our total.

Town Malling's reply was built almost entirely around the bat of W H Cooper, who remained unconquered on 196, a truly superb innings that our trundlers, try as they might, could not shift. P Phillips made a useful 44 and L H Hardy 22, while X Hodge and J Durst were both dismissed without scoring. I had the satisfaction of taking four wickets without cost, and H G Smith's solitary wicket was, I am told, no small landmark, carrying him past Ernest Cruttenden into fifteenth place among the club's all-time wicket-takers.

I note too, though it weighs little against the day's result, that the season finds me at the head of the first eleven's run-getters with 336 and third among its wicket-takers with six. But cricket is a game of the day itself, and on this occasion our opponents proved the stronger, taking the match by five wickets. A capital contest, generously fought, and our fellows will be the better for it when next we meet them.

Wed 27 Jun 1900 🧢 1st XIv BC Brenchley CC · HomeformWLLDL

On a fair Wednesday, the twenty-seventh of June, I had the good fortune to call correctly at the toss and, the conditions seeming kindly disposed towards batting, elected without hesitation to take first use of the wicket against our visitors from Brenchley.

Our innings, it must be confessed, was not without its trials. Two of our fellows, Arthur Cornwallis and F E Wallis, were unlucky enough to be sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers, and but for one sound contribution the innings might have told a sorrier tale. That contribution, I am pleased to record, was my own, thirty-seven runs gathered as carefully as I could contrive, upon which the bulk of our total rested.

Called then to defend what we had made, our bowlers acquitted themselves with credit. J G Philpott batted soundly for the visitors and carried much of their innings with a score of twenty-three, while our attack had the satisfaction of sending J A Perkins back without a run to his name. For all that, Brenchley CC's batsmen proved equal to the task, and the match went to our visitors by five wickets.

It was not, then, our day, though the season gives little cause for complaint. F E Wallis may reflect that his tally of twenty-five runs has carried him past L Friend into twenty-third place upon the club's all-time list of run-scorers, a fine landmark, while I find myself, somewhat to my own surprise, at the head of the eleven's run-getters for the year with two hundred and twenty-two to my name. Brenchley CC are to be warmly congratulated on a well-earned victory, and we shall look forward keenly to renewing the contest another day.

Sat 16 Jun 1900 🧢 1st XIv YC Yalding CC · AwayformWWLLD

We journeyed down to Yalding on Saturday last, the sixteenth of June, and having called correctly at the toss I did not hesitate to send our men in first, judging the wicket fit for batting.

It must be confessed we did not do full justice to that decision. H G Smith gave us the soundest foundation with a well-made 32, and I was glad to lend him some support with 27 of my own, but thereafter the innings fell away sadly, Jack Fryer, J F Coles and C S Smith each returning to the pavilion without troubling the scorer.

Yalding's reply asked rather more of us in the field than we could answer. G T Tomkin batted finely for 49, well supported by the Reverend J R Leigh with 38 and C Reid with 36, and between them they carried the total beyond our reach. Yet our bowling was not without its honours, for we sent back H Reeves, W L Hubble and R G Henham each for a duck, and the Reverend Thomas Burra bowled quite splendidly to finish with seven for 56, a performance which brought him past the fifty-wicket mark for the club and beyond H Freed into third place on our all-time list. Jack Fryer took two wickets without cost, and I was fortunate enough to claim one myself.

We were beaten in the end by an innings and 7 runs, a margin that flatters our opponents' superiority not at all in my estimation, for the fight was game throughout. Smith's runs, I am told, have carried him past F Marchant on the club's historic list, and with 185 runs this season I find myself, somewhat to my surprise, at the head of the run-scoring table, with Fryer leading the wickets on eight. We shall return the sterner for it.

Wed 13 Jun 1900 🧢 1st XIv RC Royal Engineers CC · HomeformLWWLL

We entertained Royal Engineers CC at Linton Park on Wednesday the thirteenth of June, and winning the toss I had no hesitation in sending our men to the wicket first, the pitch appearing true and likely to ease as the day wore on. George Champion gave us the foundation of the innings with a capital fifty-two, striking the ball with great certainty throughout, while I was glad to contribute thirty-eight of my own and J R Head added a useful twenty-three before we were all out.

Our opponents replied in fine style, A J Woodroffe playing a handsome innings of eighty-four that carried their total a long way, with M G Pollock lending sound support in making twenty. Yet our trundlers were not to be denied their share of the honours. A H Du Boulay was sent back to the pavilion by our attack, and A W Reid departed without troubling the scorer, while X Fielder bowled magnificently for five wickets, well backed by X Pike and S Christopherson, each claiming a brace, before the visitors too were dismissed.

It was a satisfying afternoon on a personal note besides, my sixty-four runs on the season carrying me past Jack Fryer into third place among the club's run-scorers, and S Christopherson's five wickets lifting him past J N Tonge into seventh among our wicket-takers. George Champion continues to lead the season's run-getters most handsomely, with X Fielder well placed among the bowlers.

Honours were shared in the end, and I daresay neither side much minded it, for it had been a contest fought in the best of spirits and deserved nothing less than a draw.

Sat 02 Jun 1900 🧢 1st XIv SS Sutton Valence School · HomeformWLWWL

Saturday last, the second of June, saw Sutton Valence School as our guests upon the ground, and I confess the toss went against us, our visitors electing to take first use of the willow while we were left the consolation of the ball. They acquitted themselves capably at the wicket, H W Hunting leading their innings with a most creditable 39, well supported by J B Shaw's 33, and for a time it seemed they might build a total beyond our reach. Yet Jack Fryer was in irresistible form with the ball, spinning through their order to return figures of six wickets without cost, a spell as fine as any seen on our ground this season, and it was that bowling alone which kept the visitors' total within bounds.

Our reply, sad to relate, fell short. Fryer, having done such execution with the ball, showed the way again with the bat, his 28 the mainstay of our innings, and H G Smith lent good support with 24. For my own part, I must own to a golden duck, and a captain who cannot set an example with the bat must be content to have set one, less happily, in its absence. We were dismissed in our turn, and the match went to our visitors by 24 runs.

There was, however, cause for quiet satisfaction amid the disappointment, for Fryer passed the milestone of a hundred wickets in his career, a fine achievement handsomely earned. We offer Sutton Valence School our sincere congratulations upon a well-fought contest, and our own eleven nothing more than the resolve to return to the nets and better fortune next time out.