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
