Kent County Cricket Club in 1909

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Kent County Cricket Club
1909 season
CaptainEW Dillon
Ground(s)Canterbury
Catford
Dover
Gravesend
Tonbridge
Tunbridge Wells
Blackheath
County Championship1st
Most runsE Humphreys (1,390)
Most wicketsC Blythe (185)
Most catchesJ Seymour (38)
Most wicket-keeping dismissalsFH Huish (63)
← 1908 1910 →

Kent County Cricket Club's 1909 season was the twentieth season in which the county club competed in the County Championship. Kent played 30 first-class cricket matches during the season, losing only two matches overall, and won their second championship title. They finished clearly ahead of second place Lancashire in the 1909 County Championship with the previous year's winners, Yorkshire, in third place.

Two of the county's players, Arthur Day and Douglas Carr, were selected as Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1910 as a result of their performances during the season. Carr made his debut in first-class cricket during the season at the age of 37 and played in his only Test match in August.[1]

The championship title was the second of four by Kent during the Golden Age of cricket in the years leading up to the First World War. It followed their first title in 1906, with the nucleus of the side unchanged from then. It was followed by their third title in 1910 and fourth in 1913.

Background[edit]

After decades of underachievement, Kent won their first County Championship in 1906,[2][3] with "the best county side of the year" which "showed the most brilliant form".[4] The re-emergence of strong Kent sides was based on the development of a mix of "gifted"[5] amateurs playing alongside an increasingly strong core of professionals, most of whom were a product of the club's Tonbridge Nursery - its player development centre based at the Angel Ground at Tonbridge. By 1906 professionals were making around 60% of all appearances for Kent, a figure which had increased markedly since the establishment of the Nursery in 1897 and provided a much firmer foundation for the side to achieve success on the field.[6][7][8][9]

After the success of 1906, Kent finished eighth in the County Championship in 1907 and second in 1908, winning more games than the champions Yorkshire but losing three compared to Yorkshire's unbeaten season.[10] C. H. B. Marsham, who had captained the side in 1906, gave up the captaincy at the end of 1908 and Ted Dillon was appointed to lead the side.[11]

1909 season[edit]

Kent started the season with a match against the MCC at Lord's which they won by 97 runs before the County Championship got under way with six away matches. The series of games saw four wins and two draws, with the first three matches of the season won by an innings in each case. A match against Oxford University divided this series of Championship matches and was also won by the margin of an innings.

A draw against Essex in Kent's first home match of the season in June at Catford was followed by two losses to Worcestershire and Lancashire, both matches taking place at Tonbridge. These were to be the only two losses of the Championship season as Kent went unbeaten for the remainder of the season.[12]

Seven wins and a draw from the middle of June to the end of July saw Kent in a commanding position in the Championship. These included an innings victory against Gloucestershire at Catford which saw Kent score 593, the second highest total in the Championship in 1909.[13] They were to continue their good form in August, winning their first two matches of the month during Canterbury Cricket Week and going on to draw three and win three of the remaining Championship matches, including a rain affected draw against third placed Yorkshire at Dover. A match against the touring Australian side at Canterbury in the middle of the month was also a rain affected draw.[14]

A draw, despite being asked to follow-on in a rain shortened match, in the Champion County match in September at The Oval completed the season.

Players[edit]

Frank Woolley who made 29 appearances for Kent in 1909

The 1909 side was captained by Ted Dillon in his first year of captaincy and featured England international players Colin Blythe, Kenneth Hutchings and Arthur Fielder. All three had toured Australia over the 1907–08 winter.[15][16][17] Frank Woolley made his Test debut during the summer against the touring Australians, the first of his 64 Tests,[18] with Douglas Carr making his sole Test appearance in the same match.[19]

Carr, who bowled leg-spin and who was an early proponent of the relatively new googly delivery, made his first-class cricket debut against Oxford University in May at the age of 37.[19] He had not previously played any first-class cricket but, after developing his googly in 1908, he used it so well in club cricket that Kent offered him a trial. He had played only six first-class matches when he was selected for the fifth Test of the summer's Ashes series, taking five wickets in the first Australian innings and seven overall in the match.[20]

Carr capped his remarkable rise to fame by being selected as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year in 1910 alongside batsman Arthur Day.[20][21] He played only one Test, although he made regular appearances for Kent until the end of the 1913 season.[19]

Dillon was unavailable from early August and Jack Mason, who had been club captain between 1897 and 1902, stepped in to captain the side in the last five Championship matches.[22][23] The 1909 side also included Woolley, by now a well established all-rounder, and James Seymour who each played in 29 of the 30 matches in the season as well as Punter Humphreys, Bill Fairservice, Fred Huish and Wally Hardinge, all six of whom were professionals and provided the core of the Kent team for the season. Huish was the main wicket-keeper and was considered the senior professional, beginning a streak of 151 consecutive County Championship appearances in 1909.[24] The reserve wicket-keeper was Jack Hubble who, as a result of Huish's dominant position, played only two matches in 1909.[25]

As well as Carr, batsmen David Jennings and Harold Prest made their debuts for Kent in 1909, Jennings playing once and Prest four times.[26][27]

List of players

Ages given as of the first day of Kent's 1909 County Championship season, 17 May 1909.

Name Birth date Batting style Bowling style Apps Notes
C Blythe (1879-05-30)30 May 1879 (aged 29) Right Slow left arm 28
DW Carr (1872-03-17)17 March 1872 (aged 37) Right Right arm leg-break 11
AP Day (1885-04-10)10 April 1885 (aged 24) Right Right arm leg-break
Right arm fast-medium		 20
SH Day (1878-12-29)29 December 1878 (aged 30) Right Right arm fast 11
EW Dillon (1881-02-15)15 February 1881 (aged 28) Right Right arm leg-break 24 Club captain
WJ Fairservice (1881-05-16)16 May 1881 (aged 28) Right Right arm off-break 24
A Fielder (1877-07-19)19 July 1877 (aged 31) Right Right arm fast 23
HTW Hardinge (1886-02-25)25 February 1886 (aged 23) Right Slow left arm 17
JC Hubble (1881-02-10)10 February 1881 (aged 28) Right – 2 Wicket-keeper
FH Huish (1869-11-15)15 November 1869 (aged 39) Right – 28 Wicket-keeper
E Humphreys (1881-08-24)24 August 1881 (aged 27) Right Slow left arm 28
KL Hutchings (1882-12-07)7 December 1882 (aged 26) Right Right arm fast 29
DW Jennings (1889-06-14)14 June 1889 (aged 19) Right – 1
CHB Marsham (1879-02-10)10 February 1879 (aged 30) Right – 2
JR Mason (1874-03-26)26 March 1874 (aged 35) Right Right arm fast-medium 14 Acted as captain for much of August
HEW Prest (1890-01-09)9 January 1890 (aged 19) Right – 4
HJB Preston (1883-10-25)25 October 1883 (aged 25) Right Right arm medium 4
J Seymour (1879-10-25)25 October 1879 (aged 29) Right Right arm off-break 29
LHW Troughton (1879-05-17)17 May 1879 (aged 30) Right Right arm medium 3
FE Woolley (1887-05-27)27 May 1887 (aged 21) Left Slow left arm
Left arm medium		 29

Source: CricketArchive and CricInfo statistics

Statistics[edit]

Kenneth Hutchings who led Kent in County Championship run scoring in 1909

During 1909 Kent played 30 first-class matches, including 26 in the County Championship. They won 18, drew ten and lost only two matches, both during Tonbridge week in June.[12]

Match type P W L D Tie Ab Pts Pos
County Championship 26 16 2 8 0 0 14 1st
Other first-class matches 4 2 0 2 0 0 – –

Punter Humphreys led the county in run scoring with a total of 1,390 runs, including 1,207 in the County Championship, closely followed by Kenneth Hutchings with 1,368 total runs. Hutchings led the Championship aggregate for Kent with 1,251 runs.[28] Frank Woolley, James Seymour and Arthur Day also scored more than 1,000 runs for Kent during the season. Day and Hutchings both scored three centuries, as did Jack Mason who averaged 65.25 with the bat in 14 innings. Humphreys scored the County's highest score of the season with 208, at the time a record highest individual score for Kent.

Woolley and Arthur Fielder shared a partnership of 235 for the tenth wicket against Worcestershire at Amblecote.[16] As of April 2016 this remains the highest last-wicket partnership in the County Championship.[29] The pair came together when Kent were still 40 behind Worcestershire's first innings of 360 and raised Kent's total to 555 before Kent went on to win by an innings. Woolley, who scored 185, had retired hurt earlier in the innings after being hit in the mouth by a ball from Ted Arnold. Fielder contributed 112 not out to the partnership, the only first-class century of his career.[16]

Colin Blythe was Kent's leading wicket taker in 1909, taking 178 Championship wickets at an average of 14.07, a total which led all bowlers in the Championship. He took 185 wickets in total during the season for Kent, including taking 10 wickets in a match five times and five wickets in an innings 18 times during the season with his left arm spin bowling.[30] Fast bowler Arthur Fielder took 95 wickets with spinners Woolley, Douglas Carr and Bill Fairservice all making significant contributions.

Kent's best individual bowling figures for the season were Blythe's 9/42 taken against Leicestershire in May, closely followed by the same bowler's 9/44 against Northamptonshire in the same month.[31] His 16/102 in the match against Leicestershire were the season's best bowling figures in the County Championship, followed by his 14/75 in the match against Northamptonshire.[32]

Fred Huish took 63 wicket-keeping dismissals for Kent during the season, including 35 catches and 22 stumpings in the County Championship.[28] James Seymour took 35 catches in the Championship as part of Kent's well respected slip cordon.[28] Seymour played in every Championship match for Kent during the season, with Blythe, Humphreys, Hutchings and Woolley all playing in 25.[28]

Batting statistics[edit]

The table below includes all first-class batting for Kent during the 1909 season.

First-class batting
Player Matches Innings NO Runs HS Ave 100 50
C Blythe 28 33 5 237 38 8.46 0 0
DW Carr 11 10 1 66 20 7.33 0 0
AP Day 20 24 1 1,014 177 44.09 3 5
SH Day 11 14 2 471 86 39.25 0 3
EW Dillon 24 33 2 823 89 26.55 0 4
WJ Fairservice 23 30 6 457 49* 19.04 0 0
A Fielder 23 27 14 278 112* 21.38 1 0
HTW Hardinge 17 24 1 429 62 18.65 0 3
JC Hubble 2 2 0 30 17 15.00 0 0
FH Huish 28 35 8 537 65 19.89 0 1
E Humphreys 28 39 4 1,390 208 39.71 2 7
KL Hutchings 29 36 1 1,368 155 39.09 3 8
DW Jennings 1 1 0 4 4 4.00 0 0
CHB Marsham 2 3 0 37 29 12.33 0 0
JR Mason 14 14 2 783 179* 65.25 3 2
HEW Prest 4 5 0 125 57 25.00 0 1
HJB Preston 4 4 2 20 6 10.00 0 0
J Seymour 29 38 1 1,041 88 28.14 0 10
LHW Troughton 3 4 0 74 46 18.50 0 0
FE Woolley 29 34 0 1,146 185 33.71 2 6

Source: CricketArchive statistics and scorecards.

Bowling statistics[edit]

The table below includes all first-class bowling for Kent during the 1909 season.

First-class bowling
Player Overs Maidens Runs Wickets BBI Ave 5w 10w
C Blythe 1,135.3 314 2,760 185 9/42 14.92 18 5
DW Carr 378.5 77 1,007 61 8/36 16.51 5 1
AP Day 27 3 74 0 – – – –
SH Day 9 0 48 1 1/18 48.00 0 0
EW Dillon 14 2 55 0 – – – –
WJ Fairservice 472.3 139 1,171 45 5/28 26.02 2 1
A Fielder 590 117 1,938 95 8/64 20.40 9 3
HTW Hardinge 356 2 39 1 1/15 39.00 0 0
E Humphreys 133 36 356 10 3/29 35.60 0 0
KL Hutchings 11 3 29 0 – – – –
CHB Marsham 5.5 0 48 0 – – – –
JR Mason 204.1 50 545 21 3/41 25.95 0 0
HJB Preston 36 12 95 4 2/39 23.75 0 0
J Seymour 22 1 98 2 1/13 49.00 0 0
FE Woolley 523.2 130 1,336 70 7/42 19.09 2 0

Source: CricketArchive statistics and scorecards.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Wilde S (2013) "1910 Five cricketers of the year" in Wisden Cricketers of the Year: A Celebration of Cricket's Greatest Players, A&C Black, pp.67–69.
  2. ^ Kent County Cricket Club Timeline, Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  3. ^ 1906: Kent's First Championship in Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2006, Kent County Cricket Club, p.56. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club.
  4. ^ 1906 – Surprise surrounds first Championship, in Stern J & Williams M (eds) (2013) The Essential Wisden: An Anthology of 150 Years of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, p.657. London: A & C Black. Republished from Wisden Cricketer's Almanack, 1907.
  5. ^ Moseling M, Quarrington T (2013) A Half-Forgotten Triumph: The story of Kent's County Championship title of 1913, p.3. Cheltenham: SportsBooks. ISBN 978-1-907524-40-0.
  6. ^ Moseling & Quarrington op. cit., pp.2–3.
  7. ^ Moseling & Quarrington op. cit., p.11.
  8. ^ Lewis P (2013) For Kent and Country, p.33. Brighton: Reveille Press. ISBN 978-1-908336-63-7.
  9. ^ McCanlis W (1907) 1907 – Blythe blooms in Kentish nursery, in Stern & Williams op. cit., p.657.
  10. ^ Moseling & Quarrington op. cit., p.6.
  11. ^ Lewis op. cit., pp.253–256.
  12. ^ a b Rice J, Renshaw A (2011) 1910, The Wisden Collector's Guide, pp.98–99. London" A & C Black. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  13. ^ County Championship 1909 - Highest team totals, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  14. ^ Kent v Australia 1902–1926 Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  15. ^ Obituary - Colin Blythe, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1918. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  16. ^ a b c Obituary - Arthur Fielder, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1949. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  17. ^ Lieut K L Hutchings - Deaths in the war 1916, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1917. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  18. ^ Mukherjee A (2013) Frank Woolley: A giant among the great English all-rounders, Cricket Country, 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  19. ^ a b c Carr, Mr Douglass Ward – Obituaries in 1950, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1951. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  20. ^ a b Douglass Carr – Cricketer of the Year, 1910, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1910. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  21. ^ Arthur Day – Cricketer of the Year, 1910, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1910. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  22. ^ Lewis P (2014) For Kent and Country, pp.148–151. Brighton: Reveille Press.
  23. ^ Obituary - Edward Dillon, Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, 1942. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  24. ^ Geraint Jones reaches impressive County Championship milestone, Kent County Cricket Club, 2012-09-03. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  25. ^ Hubble, John Charlton - Obituaries in 1966, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1966. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  26. ^ McCrery N (2015) Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War Pen and Sword, pp.432–433. (Available online, retrieved 2016-04-23).
  27. ^ Harold Prest, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  28. ^ a b c d Batting and fielding for Kent - County Championship 1909, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  29. ^ Highest partnership for each wicket in County Championship, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  30. ^ Bowling for Kent - County Championship 1909, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  31. ^ County Championship in 1909 - 5 wickets in an innings, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  32. ^ County Championship in 1909 - 10 wickets in a match, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-19.

External links[edit]

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