July 1, 1911: Warwickshire won by an innings and 296 runs.
The match concluded less than an hour into the third day, Hampshire having been made to look like a minor county. Warwickshire are up to fourth in the county table again. The long-held aspiration to bring the county championship pennant to Edgbaston cannot be entirely discounted for this season.
Hampshire resumed on 112 for five and were all out for 126 but, though the portion of cricket was brief, it provided a little magic for the thousand or so of us whom attended. After Sprot lifted Santall to Stephens at mid-off (a fine, tumbling catch by the twin), Field came on with three wickets to take (Stone had a sore leg so was unable to bat).
Up to that point Big Frank had had a quiet game, perhaps conserving his energy for the bigger challenge of Surrey next. But now he had his say. First he sent Evans' stumps flying. From the next ball old Newman had his middle-stump taken out before he could say 'coronation chicken' - and our hero was on a hat-trick. In that circumstance, if you could nominate a batsman to come in, Eric Olivier would be high on the list and sure enough the South African might as well have carried a stick of roobob out to the crease as a bat. His off-stump landed halfway back to Tiger and Frank had finished off Warwickshire's biggest victory with a hat-trick. I put a bob in his collection.
Watch out Messrs Hobbs and Hayward...Mr Field is ready for you and, Sintard informs me, Mr Foster will be back.
Dilys rather enjoyed it, I think, though not quite in the way I expected. I made an effort to engage her and drew her attention to the nice curtains in the pavilion and the lovely cake-stall and the embroidery on the tablecloths but she didn't seem very interested.
Then in the carriage back she said: "Mr Field bowls very well doesn't he? His yorkers were splendid but I was a little surprised that Byrne didn't give him more than one short-leg. Two or three short-legs would have the batsman expecting short stuff, though I suppose he was only up against the tail."
It was almost as if she understood the game.
Older/Newer
« June 30, 1911: Warwickshire 554 for 7 dec. Hampshire 132 and 112 for 5. | July 5, 1911: Warwickshire drew with Surrey. »
3 Comments
Blogger profile
Algernon J Halford - proprietor of chimney-sweep firm, taking a summer sabbatical to follow Warwickshire's County Championship campaign around England.
About the lost blog of 1911
One hundred years ago Warwickshire County Cricket Club won the county championship for the first time. It remains one of the sport's most remarkable triumphs. They began the 1911 season as a leaderless rabble but, driven by inspirational all-rounder Frank Foster, ended it as champions.
Algernon J.Halford, great-great-grandfather of Mail cricket reporter Brian Halford, attended every day's play throughout that stunning season and, years ahead of his time, kept a blog. A century on, as Jim Troughton's Bears try to emulate Foster's side, throughout this summer the Birmingham Mail will reproduce Algernon's blog as it unfolded during that magical year in the Golden Age of Cricket.
That Olivier might not be able to bat but my God he can act.
Apropos Mr. Olivier, am I the only cricket-lover appalled by the influx of colonials into our beloved summer game?
Someone of noble birth such as His Highness Prince Ranjitsinhji is, I suppose, marginally acceptable. But the rest of these mercenaries should be sent back to the colonies where they belong.
Thank goodness that common fellow Trott has now been discarded by Middlesex. We shall no longer have to tolerate his vulgar accent, not to mention his tendency to show off by hitting balls over the pavilion at Lord's. Whatever happened to discretion and decorum?
Let us reserve our county game for those of true English stock, say I,
What do you think, Algernon?
I fulsomely agree, Mr Shedd. One wonders where it will all end.
It does work both ways, of course. What does one make of Mitchell who played rugby for England and fought on our side in the Boer War but is likely, Sintard informs me, to captain South Africa over here next year if this new-fangled "triangular Test tournament" comes to pass.