Kent County Cricket Club's 1909 season was the twentieth season in which the County competed in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

played 30

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches during the season, losing only two matches overall, and won their second Championship title. They finished clearly ahead of second place

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in the 1909 County Championship with the previous years winners

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in third place. Two of the County's players Arthur Day and

Douglas Carr Douglas Ward Carr (17 March 1872 – 23 March 1950) was an English amateur cricketer who played once for the England cricket team in 1909. Carr only began playing first-class cricket in 1909 aged 37 for Kent County Cricket Club. A leg-break bowl ...

were selected as

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1910 as a result of their performances during the season. Carr made his debut in

during the season at the age of 37 and played in his only

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in August.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. 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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It followed their first title in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, with the nucleus of the side unchanged from then. It was followed by their third title in

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

and fourth in 1913.

Background

After decades of underachievement, Kent won their first

,Kent County Cricket Club Timeline

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

. Retrieved 2017-11-23.1906: Kent's First Championship in ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2006'',

, p.56. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club. with "the best county side of the year" which "showed the most brilliant form".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. The re-emergence of strong Kent sides was based on the development of a mix of "gifted"Moseling M, Quarrington T (2013) ''A Half-Forgotten Triumph: The story of Kent's County Championship title of 1913'', p.3. Cheltenham: SportsBooks. . amateurs playing alongside an increasingly strong core of professionals, most of whom were a product of the club's

Tonbridge Nursery The Angel Ground was a sports ground at Tonbridge in the English county of Kent. It was used as a venue for first-class cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1869 and 1939 and then for association football by Tonbridge Angels F.C., until ...

- 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.Moseling & Quarrington ''op. cit.'', pp.2–3.Moseling & Quarrington ''op. cit.'', p.11.Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', p.33. Brighton: Reveille Press. . McCanlis W (1907) 1907 – Blythe blooms in Kentish nursery, in Stern & Williams ''op. cit.'', p.657. After the success of 1906, Kent finished eighth in the County Championship in 1907 and second in 1908, winning more games than the champions

but losing three compared to Yorkshire's unbeaten season.Moseling & Quarrington ''op. cit.'', p.6.

C. H. B. Marsham Cloudesley Henry Bullock Marsham (10 February 1879 – 19 July 1928), also known as Slug Marsham, was an English amateur cricketer. Primarily a batsman, he played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1900 and 1922 and is most notable for having ...

, who had captained the side in 1906, gave up the captaincy at the end of 1908 and

Ted Dillon Edward Wentworth Dillon (15 February 1881 – 20 April 1941) was an English amateur sportsman in the early years of the 20th century. He played over 200 first-class cricket matches, mainly for Kent County Cricket Club between 1900 and 1913. Dill ...

was appointed to lead the side.Lewis ''op. cit.'', pp.253–256.

1909 season

Kent started the season with a match against the MCC at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

which they won by 97 runs before the

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 Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

divided this series of Championship matches and was also won by the margin of an innings. A draw against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

in Kent's first home match of the season in June at

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdiv ...

was followed by two losses to

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and

, both matches taking place at

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

. These were to be the only two losses of the Championship season as Kent went unbeaten for the remainder of the season.Rice J, Renshaw A (2011
1910
''The Wisden Collector's Guide'', pp.98–99. London" A & C Black. Retrieved 2016-04-19. 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 Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

which saw Kent score 593, the second highest total in the Championship in 1909.County Championship 1909 - Highest team totals
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-19. They were to continue their good form in August, winning their first two matches of the month during

Canterbury Cricket Week Canterbury Cricket Week is the oldest cricket festival week in England and involves a series of consecutive Kent home matches, traditionally held in the first week in August. It was founded in 1842, although a similar festival week was first hel ...

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 Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. A match against the touring Australian side at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in the middle of the month was also a rain affected draw.Kent v Australia 1902–1926
,

, 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2016-06-02. A draw, despite being asked to

follow-on In the game of cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team ...

in a rain shortened match, in the

Champion County match The Champion County match is a cricket match, traditionally played between the winner of the previous season's County Championship, and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The match was played at Lord's Cricket Ground for many seasons, but from 201 ...

in September at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

completed the season.

Players

The 1909 side was captained by

in his first year of captaincy and featured England international players

Colin Blythe Colin Blythe (30 May 1879 – 8 November 1917), also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of ...

Kenneth Hutchings Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings (7 December 1882 – 3 September 1916) was an English amateur cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team between 1902 and 1912. He was primarily a batsman who played a major rol ...

and

Arthur Fielder Arthur Fielder (19 July 1877 – 30 August 1949) was an English professional cricketer who played as a fast bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team from 1900 to 1914. He played a major role in Kent's four County Champi ...

. All three had toured Australia over the 1907–08 winter.Obituary - Colin Blythe
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' 1918. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' 1949. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' 1917. Retrieved 2016-02-17.

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut during the summer against the touring Australians, the first of his 64 Tests,Mukherjee A (2013
Frank Woolley: A giant among the great English all-rounders
''Cricket Country'', 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2016-06-02. with

making his sole Test appearance in the same match.Carr, Mr Douglass Ward – Obituaries in 1950
''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1951. Retrieved 2016-06-02. Carr, who bowled

leg-spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

and who was an early proponent of the relatively new

googly In the game of cricket, a googly refers to a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is different from the normal delivery for a leg-spin bowler in that it is turning the other way. The googly is ''not'' a variation of the ...

delivery, made his

debut against

in May at the age of 37. 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.Douglass Carr – Cricketer of the Year, 1910
''

'', 1910. Retrieved 2016-06-02. Carr capped his remarkable rise to fame by being selected as one of

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

's five

Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1910 alongside batsman Arthur Day.Arthur Day – Cricketer of the Year, 1910
''

'', 1910. Retrieved 2016-06-02. He played only one Test, although he made regular appearances for Kent until the end of the 1913 season. Dillon was unavailable from early August and

Jack Mason John Richard Mason (26 March 1874 – 15 October 1958), known as Jack Mason, was an English amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club between 1893 and 1914, captaining the team between 1898 and 1902. He play ...

, who had been club captain between 1897 and 1902, stepped in to captain the side in the last five Championship matches.Lewis P (2014) ''For Kent and Country'', pp.148–151. Brighton: Reveille Press.Obituary - Edward Dillon
'' Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack'', 1942. Retrieved 2016-03-21. The 1909 side also included Woolley, by now a well established all-rounder, and

James Seymour James Seymour (1702–1752) was an English painter, widely recognized for his equestrian art. Seymour was born in London. His father was an amateur artist and art dealer, whose other business dealings (as a banker, goldsmith, and diamond ...

who each played in 29 of the 30 matches in the season as well as

Punter Humphreys Edward Humphreys (24 August 1881 – 6 November 1949), known as Punter Humphreys, was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club between 1899 and 1920. He played nearly 400 first-class matche ...

, Bill Fairservice, Fred Huish and

Wally Hardinge Harold Thomas William Hardinge (25 February 1886 – 8 May 1965),

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

and was considered the senior professional, beginning a streak of 151 consecutive

appearances in 1909.Geraint Jones reaches impressive County Championship milestone

, 2012-09-03. Retrieved 2016-04-10. The reserve wicket-keeper was

Jack Hubble John Charlton Hubble (10 February 1881 – 26 February 1965), known as Jack Hubble, was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club in the first half of the 20th century. He was a right-handed ba ...

who, as a result of Huish's dominant position, played only two matches in 1909.Hubble, John Charlton - Obituaries in 1966
''

'', 1966. Retrieved 2016-04-08. As well as Carr, batsmen David Jennings and Harold Prest made their debuts for Kent in 1909, Jennings playing once and Prest four times.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).
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-22. Ages given as of the first day of Kent's 1909 County Championship season, 17 May 1909. Source: CricketArchive and

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

statistics

Statistics

Kenneth Hutchings Vanity Fair 14 August 1907

During 1909 Kent played 30

first-class matches First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

, including 26 in the

. They won 18, drew ten and lost only two matches, both during Tonbridge week in June.

led the county in run scoring with a total of 1,390 runs, including 1,207 in the County Championship, closely followed by

with 1,368 total runs. Hutchings led the Championship aggregate for Kent with 1,251 runs.Batting and fielding for Kent - County Championship 1909
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-17.

and Arthur Day also scored more than 1,000 runs for Kent during the season. Day and Hutchings both scored three centuries, as did

who

averaged In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean ( ) or arithmetic average, or just the ''mean'' or the ''average'' (when the context is clear), is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the count of numbers in the collection. The colle ...

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

shared a partnership of 235 for the tenth wicket against

Amblecote Amblecote is an urban village and one of the most affluent areas in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge, extending about one and a half miles from it, an ...

. As of April 2016 this remains the highest last-wicket partnership in the

.Highest partnership for each wicket in County Championship
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-20. 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 Edward George Arnold (7 November 1876 – 25 October 1942) was an English cricketer who played in ten Test Matches from 1903 to 1907, and most of his 343 first-class matches for Worcestershire between 1899 and 1913. His ''Wisden'' obituary ...

. Fielder contributed 112 not out to the partnership, the only first-class century of his career.

was Kent's leading wicket taker in 1909, taking 178 Championship wickets at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

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 In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bow ...

five times and

five wickets in an innings In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taki ...

18 times during the season with his left arm spin bowling.Bowling for Kent - County Championship 1909
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-02-17. Fast bowler Arthur Fielder took 95 wickets with spinners Woolley,

and Bill Fairservice all making significant contributions. Kent's best individual bowling figures for the season were Blythe's 9/42 taken against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in May, closely followed by the same bowler's 9/44 against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in the same month.County Championship in 1909 - 5 wickets in an innings
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-19. 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.
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-19. Fred Huish took 63 wicket-keeping dismissals for Kent during the season, including 35 catches and 22 stumpings in the County Championship. James Seymour took 35 catches in the Championship as part of Kent's well respected slip cordon. Seymour played in every Championship match for Kent during the season, with Blythe, Humphreys, Hutchings and Woolley all playing in 25.

Batting statistics

The table below includes all first-class batting for Kent during the 1909 season. Source: CricketArchive statistics and scorecards.

Bowling statistics

The table below includes all first-class bowling for Kent during the 1909 season. Source: CricketArchive statistics and scorecards.

References

External links

Kent County Cricket Club
{{Kent CCC

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

1909 in English cricket