Somerset County Cricket Club in 1891

Somerset County Cricket Club
1891 season
Captain Herbie Hewett
County Championship 5th (joint)
Most runs Lionel Palairet (560)[1]
Most wickets Sammy Woods (72)[2]
Most catches Sammy Woods (10)[1]
Most wicket-keeping dismissals Archie Wickham (15)[1]
← 1890 1892 →

In the 1891 season, Somerset County Cricket Club returned to first-class cricket after a five-year absence. They played in the official County Championship, which had been founded the previous year, for the first time, finishing in joint fifth place.

During the season, Somerset played thirteen first-class matches, twelve against other county sides, and one against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). They finished with an equal number of wins and losses (six) and drew once. The county's two matches against Surrey were notable for antithetical reasons. When the two sides met in early June, Somerset suffered a heavy defeat, recording two of their lowest ever first-class totals. Just over two months later, when they faced each other again, Somerset won in the dying moments of the game, prompting a 133-line poem to be written in celebration of the victory.

Background

Having played what is generally considered their debut first-class match against Lancashire in 1882, Somerset were stripped of their first-class status following the 1885 season, after a string of heavy losses and matches in which they could not field eleven men.[3][4] Meetings were held at Somerset, and Henry Murray-Anderdon took over as secretary of the club. Under his leadership, the club acquired a ground in Taunton, variously known as the 'Athletic Ground' and 'Rack Field'. The land was extensively worked on until Murray-Anderdon announced that "opponents will want to come here and play".[5] In addition to improving the ground, the secretary targeted the universities to add talent to the team, and added two professional bowlers, George Nichols and Ted Tyler.[6]

In 1890, Somerset played thirteen fixtures against other county sides, winning twelve and tying the remaining one, against Middlesex. Tyler and Nichols claimed over 200 wickets between them, and Somerset won the 'Second-class' County Championship. In December 1890, a meeting of the county secretaries at Lord's unanimously voted for Somerset to be admitted to the first-class County Championship.[7]

Squad

Somerset were captained in 1891 by Herbie Hewett.

Murray-Anderdon's targeting of the universities for players yielded three players who finished near the top of Somerset’s batting and bowling averages in 1891. Brothers Lionel and Richard Palairet both appeared for Oxford University during the season,[8][9] while Sammy Woods played for Cambridge University.[10] Woods and the two professionals, Nichols and Tyler, bowled the majority of overs for Somerset, and between them claimed 169 of the county’s 179 wickets.[2]

Three of Somerset's players were chosen to play representative cricket during the season. Woods played two matches for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture, and also represented the South of England cricket team. Herbie Hewett and Woods also played for the Gentlemen of England and toured North America as part of Lord Hawke's XI at the end of the season.[10] Hewett and Gerald Fowler both appeared for the Marylebone Cricket Club.[11][12]

The following players made at least one appearance for Somerset in the County Championship. Age given is at the start of Somerset's first match of the season (18 May 1891).

Name Nationality Birth date Batting Style Bowling Style
Batsmen
John Challen  England 26 March 1863 (aged 28) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
Albert Clapp  England 3 May 1867 (aged 24) Right-handed Right arm medium pace
Herbie Hewett (Captain)  England 25 May 1864 (aged 26) Left-handed Unknown arm medium pace
Lionel Palairet  England 27 May 1870 (aged 20) Right-handed Right arm medium pace / slow (underarm)
Richard Palairet  England 25 June 1871 (aged 19) Right-handed —
Crescens Robinson  England 21 May 1864 (aged 26) Right-handed —
Bill Roe  England 21 March 1861 (aged 30) Right-handed Right arm off break / medium pace
Lower-order Batsmen
Ernest Evans  England 21 August 1861 (aged 29) Unknown —
Herbert Fox  England 1 August 1858 (aged 32) Right-handed Left arm (unknown style)
Joseph Gibbs  England 25 November 1867 (aged 23) Right-handed —
Vernon Hill  England 30 January 1871 (aged 20) Left-handed Right arm fast-medium
Edward Lock  England 21 November 1868 (aged 22) Unknown —
Frederick Poynton  England 26 June 1869 (aged 21) Right-handed —
Hamilton Ross  England 26 August 1849 (aged 41) Right-handed —
Thomas Spencer  England 10 June 1850 (aged 40) Unknown-handed —
Wilfrid Young  England 05 October 1867 (aged 23) Right-handed Right arm slow
All-rounders
Gerald Fowler  England 27 July 1866 (aged 24) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
Wicket-keepers
Arthur Newton  England 12 September 1862 (aged 28) Right-handed —
Archie Wickham  England 9 November 1855 (aged 35) Right-handed —
Bowlers
George Nichols  England 14 June 1862 (aged 28) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
Ted Tyler  England 13 October 1864 (aged 26) Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox
Sammy Woods  Australia/ England 13 April 1867 (aged 24) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium

County Championship

Lionel Palairet led Somerset's batting averages in the County Championship, scoring 560 runs at 31.11.

Season standings

Note: Pld = Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, D = Draws, T = Ties, A = Abandonments, Pts = Points.

Team Pld W L D T A Pts
Surrey (C) 1612220010
Lancashire 16843014
Middlesex 16853003
Nottinghamshire 14545001
Kent 1645601–1
Somerset 1256100–1
Sussex 1447300–3
Yorkshire 16510100–5
Gloucestershire 16210400–8
Source: CricketArchive[13]

Match log

No. Date Opponents Venue Result Ref
1 18–20 May Middlesex Lord's, London Drawn [14]
2 1–2 June Surrey The Oval, London Lost by an innings and 375 runs [15]
3 9–10 July Lancashire County Ground, Taunton Lost by 9 wickets [16]
4 13–14 July Kent Mote Park, Maidstone Won by 5 wickets [17]
5 20–22 July Gloucestershire County Ground, Taunton Won by 10 wickets [18]
6 23–25 July Yorkshire County Ground, Taunton Lost by 262 runs [19]
7 30–31 July Kent County Ground, Taunton Lost by 4 wickets [20]
8 6–7 August Yorkshire Park Avenue, Bradford Won by 6 wickets [21]
9 10–12 August Lancashire Old Trafford, Manchester Lost by 8 wickets [22]
10 13–15 August Surrey County Ground, Taunton Won by 130 runs [23]
11 17–18 August Gloucestershire College Ground, Cheltenham Won by an innings and 130 runs [24]
12 24–26 August Middlesex County Ground, Taunton Lost by 9 wickets [25]

Batting averages

Player Matches Innings Runs Average Highest Score 100s 50s
Palairet, LionelLionel Palairet 10 19 560 31.11 100 1 5
Challen, JohnJohn Challen 9 16 354 25.28 89 0 2
Palairet, RichardRichard Palairet 10 17 266 19.00 74 0 1
Hewett, HerbieHerbie Hewett 12 22 388 18.47 65 0 2
Woods, SammySammy Woods 11 19 330 18.33 50 0 1
Roe, BillBill Roe 7 12 168 15.27 36 0 0
Robinson, CrescensCrescens Robinson 11 17 196 14.00 55 0 1
Hill, VernonVernon Hill 9 15 184 12.26 31 0 0
Nichols, GeorgeGeorge Nichols 12 21 216 10.28 37 0 0
Tyler, TedTed Tyler 12 20 168 9.88 62 0 1
Qualification: 150 runs. Source: CricketArchive[1]

Bowling averages

Player Matches Balls Wickets Average BBI 5wi 10wi
Woods, SammySammy Woods 11 2329 72 17.08 6/49 7 1
Nichols, GeorgeGeorge Nichols 12 2614 49 18.16 5/33 1 0
Palairet, LionelLionel Palairet 10 282 7 21.57 3/13 0 0
Tyler, TedTed Tyler 12 2182 48 22.31 5/10 4 1
Qualification: 5 wickets. Source: CricketArchive[2]

Other first-class

Match log

No. Date Opponents Venue Result Ref
1 21–22 August Marylebone Cricket Club County Ground, Taunton Won by 6 wickets [26]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Batting and Fielding for Somerset: County Championship 1891". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bowling for Somerset: County Championship 1891". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  3. ↑ Foot (1986), p23.
  4. ↑ Roebuck (1991), pp29–32.
  5. ↑ Foot (1986), p26.
  6. ↑ Roebuck (1991), pp45–46.
  7. ↑ Foot (1986), pp27–28.
  8. ↑ "First-Class Matches played by Lionel Palairet (267)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  9. ↑ "First-Class Matches played by Richard Palairet (112)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  10. 1 2 "First-Class Matches played by Sammy Woods (401)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  11. ↑ "First-Class Matches played by Herbie Hewett (106)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  12. ↑ "First-Class Matches played by Gerald Fowler (132)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  13. ↑ "County Championship 1891 Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  14. ↑ "Middlesex v Somerset". CricketArchive. 1891-05-18. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  15. ↑ "Surrey v Somerset". CricketArchive. 1891-06-01. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  16. ↑ "Somerset v Lancashire". CricketArchive. 1891-07-09. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  17. ↑ "Kent v Somerset". CricketArchive. 1891-07-13. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  18. ↑ "Somerset v Gloucestershire". CricketArchive. 1891-07-20. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  19. ↑ "Somerset v Yorkshire". CricketArchive. 1891-07-23. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  20. ↑ "Somerset v Kent". CricketArchive. 1891-07-30. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  21. ↑ "Yorkshire v Somerset". CricketArchive. 1891-08-06. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  22. ↑ "Lancashire v Somerset". CricketArchive. 1891-08-10. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  23. ↑ "Somerset v Surrey". CricketArchive. 1891-08-13. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  24. ↑ "Gloucestershire v Somerset". CricketArchive. 1891-08-17. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  25. ↑ "Somerset v Middlesex". CricketArchive. 1891-08-24. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  26. ↑ "Somerset v Marylebone Cricket Club". CricketArchive. 1891-08-21. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
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