"Mine's a large one..."
When Warwickshire played Derbyshire at Blackwell in 1910 the home side were rescued from defeat by a ninth-wicket stand of 283 in less than three hours by John Chapman (165) and Arnold Warren (123).
It was a remarkable, world-record achievement by the batsmen but Warwickshire all-rounder Frank Foster later revealed that it benefited from the presence of Bears players in the taverns the previous evening.
"I think we will just say," recalled Foster, "that the captain Joe Phillips and myself were instrumental in throwing the game away when, if we had gone to bed early, the match had been won."
Chapman and Warren ended their careers with a combined first-class century tally of three - all against Warwickshire.
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Brian Halford - Brian Halford’s look at Edgbaston.
Just been reading John Shawcroft's excellent book "The Cricket Grounds of Derbyshire" (from the ACS series). It includes a chapter on Blackwell and the Warren/ Chapman record. During the partnership Arnold Warren was "worked over" by Frank Foster (maybe he was literally a "Bear with a sore head"!) When Derbyshire were out and Warwicks went in to play out the remaining time, Warren was itching for revenge but was prevented by a sore knee.
Anyway, the Blackwell Miners' Welfare ground is still in existence, being used mainly for football by Blackwell MW FC, members of the East Midlands Counties League.
Some nice pictures of the record-breaking venue can be found here:
[url]http://www.blackwellmwfc.org.uk/page4.html[/url]
Your story about the record partnership at Blackwell prompted me to look up Joe Phillips, who captained Warwickshire in four matches in 1910, standing in for the official captain, Harold Goodwin. Phillips played only six times for Warwickshire and died in 1951 following "a domestic accident." Posthumously, he became great-grandfather to the showjumper and SPOTY winner Zara Phillips. Small world!
Yes the captaincy was passed about a bit in the Edwardian era. My personal favourite is Alf Glover (skipper 1908,1909) who, in his formative sporting years was a leading figure at Leamington Football Club down here in leafy south Warks.
You have to admire a man whose third christian name is 'Stirrup.'