A HISTORY OF KENT 



justified his being regarded as an English 

 Trumper. Though he did not take his 

 place in the county team until the middle 

 of June he thoroughly deserved the honour 

 of being chosen for the Gentlemen at Lord' . 

 In 1900, 56 runs were hit off Walter Hum- 

 phreys, then aged fifty, on his first appearance 

 for Hampshire. 0\\ ing to rain at Canterbury, 

 Mr. C. J. Burnup was at the wicket for part 

 of each of the three days for his score of 49. 

 Against Hampshire 513 was scored in 219 

 minutes. Next year, Mr. C. J. Burnup and 

 E. Humphreys made 108 and 100 for first 

 wicket against the South Africans. Not 

 one of the last five batsmen scored in the 

 Somerset match. In two consecutive innings, 

 against Somerset and Hampshire, three Kent 

 batsmen exceeded a century in each match. 

 At Canterbury in 1902 the last nine Surrey 

 wickets fell for four runs. 



In 1903 Kent played four matches in 

 America and won them all. The finest per- 

 formance of the tour was Mr. Mason's five 

 wickets for six runs at Philadelphia. Against 

 Sussex in 1904 only one run was scored off 

 Blythe in an hour. The out match against 

 Yorkshire at Harrogate was declared void 

 as the wicket had been tampered with. 

 Against Gloucestershire, Mr. Dillon and 

 Humphreys added 100 for the third wicket 

 in each innings. With only 45 minutes in 

 which to make 81 at Worcester, Messrs. 

 Mason, S. H. Day and Blaker made the runs in 

 less than half an hour and won the match. 

 In 1905 at Gravesend Humphreys took the 

 four last Notts wickets in seven balls without 

 a run being scored. A tie was played with 

 Surrey at the Oval. 



In 1906 for the first time Kent achieved 

 championship honours, exhibiting cricket 

 of such exceptional attractiveness that the 

 enthusiasm aroused was commemorated by 

 presentations and banquets. Two defeats 

 were sustained — from Yorkshire and Lanca- 

 shire — before the county embarked on eleven 

 successive victories, subsequently increased 

 to sixteen. Mr. Marsham at one period 

 had lost the toss for nineteen consecutive 

 matches. A remarkable game was that 

 against Surrey at the Oval which Kent won 

 by a single wicket. The colt, Woolley, who 

 played with phenomenal success at a first 

 appearance, took 3 wickets for 37 and 5 for 

 82, and scored 72 out of loi after six wickets 

 had fallen for 61, carrying out his bat for a 

 cool 23 at the crisis. Against Middlesex 

 Mr. K. L. Hutchings obtained 125 and 97 

 not out, and helped to stave off defeat in a 

 critical stand of twelve agonizing minutes 

 with Huish, the last man. Woolley scored 



20 off an over by Mr. Morrison when the 

 latter was bowling for the West Indians and 

 Mr. Blaker 24 off an over from Bailey at 

 Taunton. Against Sussex at Canterbury, 

 Kent amassed 568, Messrs. Burnup, Blaker and 

 Marsham getting centuries ; the last 232 runs 

 were actually made in ninety minutes, five 

 overs producing 50 runs. Against Somerset, 

 a fine score of 358 for 5 wickets was rattled 

 up in two hours and a quarter. When Kent 

 met the Rest of England, the county, handi- 

 capped by bad fielding and the absence of 

 Mr. Mason, failed completely in the second 

 half of the match. The figures for the season 

 were phenomenal ; Mr. Burnup averaged 

 69 for 1,116 and Mr. Hutchings 64 for 1,358, 

 Messrs. Dillon, Mason and Blaker all exceeded 

 40 for over 500 runs and Seymour averaged 

 32 for 1,096. Fielder, who took 158 wickets, 

 and Blythe, who captured 90, each with an 

 average of 19, bore the brunt of the bowling, 

 no one else taking 45, and all the rest of 

 the attack only gaining 156 between them. 

 The all-round promise of Fairservice demands 

 note, whilst Huish disposed of sixty opponents 

 at the wicket. The season of 1907 wit- 

 nessed a sad falling-off which was due to 

 uncertain fielding and over-confident batting 

 on wickets too slow for forcing tactics. 



Since 1719 Kent has won 377 matches, 

 lost 422, played 3 ties and 161 unfinished 

 games. Nine batsmen have scored a thou- 

 sand runs for a season for the county ; 

 namely Lord Harris in 1884, and since 

 189s Mr. J. R. Mason (7 times), Mr. C.J. 

 Burnup (6), Seymour (4), Alec Hearne (3), 

 Mr. A. P. Day, Mr. E. W. Dillon, Mr. K. L. 

 Hutchings.Woolley and Humphreys once each. 

 Nine bowlers have captured a hundred wickets 

 in a single season, namely G. G. Hearne in 

 1877, J. Wootton in 1884 and 1886, and since 

 1890 C. Blythe (7 times), Mr. W. M. Bradley, 

 Fielder and F. Martin (twice),W. Wright and 

 W. Hearne (once each). Summarizing the 

 averages, the following are the chief per- 

 formers : — 



Batting 



completed 



innings runs average 

 C. J. Burnup . . 257 9,727 37-87 

 J. R. Mason . . 415 13,835 33-33 



E. W. Dillon . . 167 5,267 31-53 

 Lord Harris . . 260 7,806 30-02 



Bowling 



VVillsher . . . 9,469 755 12-54 



Hearne, G. G. . . 9,518 577 16-49 



Wootton . . . 10,619 628 16-90 



Martin . . . 17,579 979 17-95 



Blythe . . . 18,910 1,044 iS-ii 



Hearne, A. . . , 20,543 1,036 19-82 



Wright . . . 14,308 725 19-73 



