THE
CENTENARY OF THE DURHAM SENIOR LEAGUE
2002
Ray Pallister
“Cricket comes to us modestly on spring’s rainy days, and like a plant it turns to the sun and is not happy when an east wind blows. But as the season passes, cricket begins to flower; by the time hot June is come it is roses, roses all the way from Old Trafford to Canterbury. Sit in the Mound Stand at Lord’s on midsummer morning at noon, and if the sun be ample and you close your eyes for a while you will see a vision of all the cricket fields in England at that very minute; it is a vision of the game’s rich seasonal yield; a vision of green spaces over our land, of flashing bats, of thudding, convulsive bowlers, and men in white alone in the deep or bent low in the slips.”
(“Cardus in the Covers” by Neville Cardus. p.40)
1744.The first code of laws was drawn up by noblemen and gentry primarily to settle disputes on the games of cricket that they played for huge wagers. Four balls to the over.
1751.One of the first games of cricket in Durham was played when the Duke of Cleveland’s team played the Earl of Northumberland’s team at Raby Castle.
1773.August 19th. West Auckland beat Scruton,(Yorkshire) for 25 guineas a side.
1787.The Marylebone Cricket Club was formed. Thomas Lord’s ground on the site of Dorset Square staged its first match-Middlesex versus Essex.
1801.July 25th. The Newcastle Chronicle reports a match between eleven gentlemen of Monkwearmouth and eleven gentlemen of Sunderland . There is no mention of the side-bet.
1805.Lord Byron,he of Seaham Hall fame, wrote the following…
‘We have played the Eton and were most confoundedly beat; however, it was some comfort to me that I got eleven notches in the first innings and seven in the second, which was more than any of our side, except Brockman and Ipswich could contrive to hit. After the match we dined together, and were extremely friendly; not a single discordant word was uttered by either party. To be sure, we were most of us rather drunk, and went home together to the Haymarket, where we kicked up a row… How I got home after the play, God knows.’
The scorecard for the game showed that Byron actually only got two runs in the second innings. This vulgar and unseemly behaviour indeed demonstrates patently that the chap was no more than a cad and a bounder! Definitely not cricket, M’Lud!
1808.June 14th. The Tyne Mercury reports a grand match of cricket, for 100 guineas a side, having been played on our Town Moor by sixteen gentlemen of the Sunderland Cricket Club. Mr. Sharp’s team scored 41 in the first innings followed by 17 in the second. Mr. Sharp was almost certainly the son of Sir Cuthbert Sharp. Mr. Hill’s team scored 31 in the first innings and 26 in the second. Mr. Hill may have been the well-known builder in the town. Among the other players could be found a shipowner, a shipbuilder, a lawyer … members of the gentry class.
1828.The gentlemen of the Yarm Club, having challenged nearly all the clubs in the neighbourhood, played Sunderland at Castle Eden for 40 sovereigns a side. Bets were laid six-to-one against Sunderland.
1829.August 29th. Bishopwearmouth v Durham City. (see below for the return match in 1979).
1850.Mowers only began to be used with any regularity from about 1850, though at Lord’s they continued for many years to keep the grass down with sheep, and the heavy roller was first used at Lord’s in 1870. (See “Cricket a Way of Life” by Christopher Martin- Jenkins).
1864.Overarm bowling was legalised.
1873.This was the first year of the County Championship, when Gloucester and Nottinghamshire finished on top with equal points.
1876.The first England versus Australia game.
1878.Newcastle and Gosforth Tramways and Carriage Company Ltd was
set up, working 17 miles of route with 44 horse-drawn trams and four steam
engines. Sunderland Tramways Company opened its horse tramways system in 1879 with
32 horse-drawn trams. Both systems, and others at Gateshead and South Shields,
were electrified at the turn of the century, and by this time there was a
good network of railways in the area enabling cricket teams to
travel more easily, an important factor
in the development of cricket leagues.
1882.May 23rd. At a meeting in the Three Tuns Hotel, Durham, it was decided to form a Durham County Cricket Club. The proposal to meet was made by the South Shields Club. The Minor Counties Championship began in 1895 with seven counties competing.
1888.This year marked the start of competitive cricket in the North East. The County Cricket Club convened a meeting on November 28th 1887 to launch the Durham County Challenge Cup Competition. This began in season 1888, initially with two divisions (North and South): clubs involved were Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Consett, Coundon, Crook, Darlington, Durham City, Hendon, Hetton Lyons, Jarrow, Medomsley, Norton, North Durham, Philadelphia, Ryhope, Sedgefield, Shildon, Stockton, Sunderland, Ushaw Moor, West Hartlepool and Whitburn.
The competition was aimed at encouraging cricket in the county, but it led to endless disputes and protests. The differences in the strength of the club sides led to some farcical games, and meetings of the committee organising the competition were held every week and sometimes twice a week in order to resolve the many disputes. Travel itself was a large problem, despite the network of railways. To get to Coundon or Consett from Norton or South Shields could, in those times, require a day’s journey.
1888.Net cricket gate receipts at Sunderland were £6. For the season! In the same season the Rugby games raised £102.
1889.May. The MCC decided upon 5 balls per over instead of the more customary 4 balls per over as in County matches, and they introduced the declaration rule which permitted a captain to declare his innings closed and put the opposition in.
1891.No league cricket was played in the County until the formation of the Durham County Senior League in 1891 under the auspices of the County Cricket Club. The clubs involved were left to arrange their own ‘friendly matches’ - and those that were not so friendly when side-stakes were raised. Most workers had to work Saturday mornings, and many all day Saturday, so cricket was not available to all. Moreover any match with a club outside a radius of five miles would have been regarded as a considerable adventure and involve much travelling time in the late nineteenth century. Improved transport facilities were crucial to any promotion of the game of cricket. South Shields, Sunderland, Durham City, Whitburn, Philadelphia and North Durham formed the northern division of the new Durham County Senior League.
1893.The Independent Labour Party was formed by Keir Hardie. The Women’s Social and Political Union was founded in Manchester by Mrs. Pankhurst.
1894.August 25th. Eppleton Church beat Spennymoor for the Durham County Challenge Cup.
1895.Arthur Newsome from Hunslet near Leeds arrived to take a school teaching post at Eppleton, and became a prominent member of the cricket club which was then known as Eppleton Church Cricket Club. He played for the club and was secretary for almost thirty years.
1899.The School Leaving Age was raised to 12.
1900.
August 15th. Sunderland Corporation Tramways began with 18 open-top
trams (electric). It closed down on
October 1st 1954.
The tram route south from Sunderland followed the coast to Ryhope, where it turned abruptly inland and proceeded west through a succession of mining villages—New Silksworth and the three Herringtons. From Herrington Burn a short branch diverted to Shiney Row and New Penshaw, whilst the main line turned sharply southward through Philadelphia where the company kept its 33 double-deck cars in a large depot, and Newbottle to Houghton-le-Spring, whence further routes ran to Fencehouses, and through Hetton-le-Hole to Easington Lane.
1900.November
5th. Horden Collieries Ltd began sinking its North Pit Shaft to a
depth of 417 yards. It was completed in July 1904. Four good workable seams
were sunk, the last one being the Hutton seam of 5 feet 5 inches thickness.
1900.By 1900 the rear chain-driven ‘safety bicycle’ with pneumatic tyres was being mass-produced. This was a very important means of travel particularly for the working classes.
1900.The six-ball over was adopted by the M.C.C. And this became the standard in English cricket.
1902.The Sunderland batsman R.P.Moorson had scored 81 in the game with Durham City when he blocked a ball, picked it up and threw it to the bowler. On an appeal from the City team he was given out ‘Handled the ball.’
DURHAM COUNTY SENIOR LEAGUE TABLE. 1902
|
Club |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
Points |
%won |
|
South Moor |
17 |
10 |
2 |
5 |
8 |
66% |
|
Philadelphia |
17 |
9 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
50% |
|
Craghead |
14 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
40% |
|
Eppleton Ch. |
18 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
38% |
|
Durham City |
11 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
33% |
|
Sunderland |
20 |
8 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
33% |
|
Chester-le-St. |
19 |
9 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
28% |
|
South Shields |
20 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
3 |
23% |
|
Whitburn |
16 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
23% |
|
Medomsley |
11 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
11% |
|
Burnmoor |
14 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
9% |
|
North Durham |
16 |
6 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
0% |
|
Burnhope |
14 |
6 |
7 |
3 |
-1 |
-7% |
|
West Stanley |
16 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
-1 |
-9% |
|
Consett |
12 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
-3 |
-33% |
|
Hendon |
20 |
4 |
9 |
7 |
-5 |
-38% |
|
Seaham Harbour |
14 |
3 |
11 |
0 |
-8 |
-57% |
|
Wearmouth |
17 |
1 |
9 |
7 |
-8 |
-80% |
|
Burnopfield |
11 |
0 |
9 |
2 |
-9 |
-100% |
In studying this League Table, one can readily understand how chaotic and unwieldy the competition had become. I leave the reader to make an attempt to understand the figures! Because of inadequate means of transport at that time, it was virtually impossible for the east coast teams to have matches with such places as Burnopfield and Medomsley. Reorganisation was necessary, and so the new Eastern Division was established comprising Burnmoor, Durham City, Eppleton, Hendon, North Durham, Philadelphia, Seaham Harbour, South Shields, Sunderland, Wearmouth and Whitburn. The Western Division thus consisted of Burnhope, Burnopfield, Chester-le-Street, Consett, Craghead, Medomsley, South Moor and West Stanley.
THE FOUNDING OF THE DURHAM SENIOR LEAGUE
(Taken from the original Durham Senior League Minute Book kept in the Durham County Record Office).
1902.When the representatives of the Burnmoor, Hendon, Philadelphia, Seaham Harbour, Sunderland, Wearmouth Colliery and Whitburn Clubs were returning from Durham by train after attending a League meeting on Thursday September 25th, general dissatisfaction was expressed concerning the arrangements of the Durham County Senior League, and a discussion arose on the possibility of forming a league of the clubs then present with one or two additions. The representatives of the Hendon, Sunderland, Wearmouth Colliery and Whitburn Clubs were asked to call a meeting to consider the suggestion. The meeting at Durham on September 25th had appointed a Sub-Committee to suggest a scheme for the working of the County League in divisions and their recommendation – received by the clubs on October 4th – was as follows:- ( Division 1) Seaham Harbour, Sunderland, South Shields, Whitburn, Hendon, Wearmouth Colliery, Stanley, Medomsley or Consett, and Burnopfield. (Division 2) Durham City, Eppleton, Burnmoor, Chester-le-Street, North Durham, South Moor, Craghead, Phildelphia and Burnhope. And a full League meeting was called for the 16th at Durham to consider it. On October 6th a notice was sent by officials of Wearmouth, Sunderland, Hendon and Whitburn to the officials of Burnmoor, North Durham, Philadelphia, Seaham Harbour and South Shields suggesting that the proposed two divisions be rejected. A meeting of these clubs was called for October 9th to be held in the Queen’s Hotel, Sunderland, and the outcome was unanimous disapproval of the County’s proposal. On October 23rd a letter was sent to the County Club from the above meeting to state that the above clubs were resigning from the Durham County Senior League, which was under the auspices of the County Club, and declaring the formation of this new league to be known as the North Eastern Durham Cricket League.
Durham City applied to join immediately and was accepted at the meeting of the new league on November 6th 1902.
The league then began its life as the Durham County Senior League (Eastern Division).
A copy of the original handbooks are in the Durham County Record Office in County Hall Durham.
Rule 9 in the 1902 handbook is almost identical with Rule 5 in the 2001 year handbook……….
‘A club shall not be allowed to play more than one professional. Such professional must be engaged for not less than 3 months of the season, and must be registered with the League Secretary five clear days before the date of the first match in which he is required to play…’ A replacement professional was permitted.
Rule 14 states ‘ The penalties for infringing League Rules shall be (1) a fine not to exceed £2 2s and (2) a deduction of points from the club’s score.’
Cricket 1903 to 1909
1903 to 1925. The Points System gave 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw.
1903.May 4th Philadelphia beat Eppleton by 5 runs… Eppleton 43; Philadelphia 48.
Eppleton Seconds v Philadelphia Seconds. Eppleton 38 all out.;Philadelphia 41 for 4.
1903.The Eppleton batsman, J.Dolphin, who was batting number three in their first game in the League, was renowned for his big hitting. He was reputed to have fitted a piece of lead in the back of his bat to make it heavier.
1903.Mr.
Peter Lee was elected to the Parish Council at Wheatley Hill. This marked the
beginning of a great political career in local government, from Parish Council
to Rural District Council then County Council. He gave his name to the New Town
of Peterlee.
1903.Darlington
prepares to lay its first tram-lines.
1903.C.B.Fry was playing for Sussex. Ranjitsinhji was playing for M.C.C. and Ground. Wilfred Rhodes, Schofield Haigh, and George Hirst were playing for Yorkshire. During the 1904 season Hirst scored 2501 runs and took 132 wickets; Haigh scored 1055 runs and took 111 wickets; Rhodes scored 1537 runs and took 131 wickets. Rhodes did the double sixteen times between 1903 and 1926 (excluding the 4 war years). Hirst, in 1906 scored 2385 runs and took 208 wickets. Both Rhodes and Hirst were born in the village of Kirkheaton, just outside Huddersfield. This period was one of Yorkshire pre-eminence. Twenty times they won the championship between 1896 and the beginning of the Second World War.
1903.May 22nd.The League Executive Committee discussed the appeal of a North Durham Umpire who had gone to Burnmoor and found that the match had been cancelled because of bad weather. He claimed 6 shillings and 6 pence for loss of work, train fare and fee, because he had not been informed. Burnmoor said that they had telegraphed to the secretary of North Durham Club in good time not to send the umpire. The committee decided that the umpire be paid train fare and fee … but not loss of earnings. Note that at this time clubs provided their own umpires.
1903.Harry Clode comes from the Surrey 1st XI to Carley Hill, Wearmouth. Right throughout his career he gave great service to the club with some outstanding performances with both bat and ball. He served the club as professional, coach, and secretary ,as well as giving long and valuable service to the League for which he was made an Honorary Life Member.
1903.May 25th
An advertisement for teachers at Tudhoe School appeared in the Northern
Echo. Salary £45 per year for a woman;
£65 for a man. The Northern Echo cost
one penny. (old money)
1903.May 25th
Advert in the Northern Echo…. ‘Darlington Fire
Brigade. Wanted. Handyman on permanent staff of the Darlington Fire
Brigade. Preference given to one who can drive a team of horses. Wage 25 shillings
a week.’
1903.June 20th. Durham City 2nds 88 Burnmoor 2nds 169 for 8.
N.B. The team batting second continued its innings after passing the total of the team batting first.
1903.July 7th ‘The Secretary of the League again complained about clubs not having sent in returns of matches according to Rule 18 and thus preventing him making up tables in time to suit the newspapers’. How little things have changed!
1903.The balance sheet for the League shows that the cost of administration was £7 16s 7d for the year.
1903.The Durham Advertiser reported the following incident… “Found in the stomach of a steer slaughtered at Chester-le-Street… one cricket ball.”
THE DURHAM SENIOR LEAGUE TABLE 1903
|
Club |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
Points |
|
Sunderland |
20 |
12 |
2 |
6 |
30 |
|
Philadelphia |
20 |
12 |
3 |
5 |
29 |
|
Durham |
20 |
9 |
3 |
8 |
26 |
|
Hendon |
20 |
10 |
5 |
5 |
25 |
|
N Durham |
20 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
|
Burnmoor |
20 |
6 |
5 |
9 |
21 |
|
South Shields |
20 |
5 |
8 |
7 |
17 |
|
Whitburn |
20 |
6 |
9 |
5 |
17 |
|
Eppleton |
20 |
4 |
8 |
8 |
16 |
|
Seaham Harbour |
20 |
4 |
13 |
3 |
11 |
|
Wearmouth |
20 |
0 |
15 |
5 |
5 |
The first champions of the League, Sunderland, twice surpassed 300 runs in an innings…. 307 for 1 versus North Durham; and 305 for 2 versus Philadelphia.
1903.North Durham resign from the League at the end of the first season.
1903.The Chairman of the League, Mr. Alf Grundy, spoke thus at the first Annual General Meeting ---‘It must be a source of pleasure to all that this our First Season has passed off so happily. It is true that we were all old friends, or shall I say old opponents, but we were working under new rules – stringent rules – and we knew that the eyes of many critics were upon us. The clubs with one exception have been actuated by a perfect spirit of loyalty and though the shoe sometimes pinched when fines had to be imposed, yet that spirit of loyalty and the desire to give the League a fair trial carried us over all difficulties and kept us shoulder to shoulder in the determination to carry out Rules in their entirety.’ Mr. Grundy pointed out that relationships with the County Cricket Club were excellent despite the secession from the league run by the County.
1903.December
17th.The first aeroplane
flight was made by Wilbur and
Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk and a distance of 284 yards was covered.
1904.C.Y.Adamson (Durham City) had 117 not out and 9 for 43 against South Shields in 1904. This was a splendid season for him and he headed both batting and bowling averages for the City and the batting averages for the County.
1905.Sept.20th. Boldon Cricket Club was accepted into the League.
1905.Jack Hobbs played his first game for Surrey against the Gentlemen of England who were captained by Dr. W.G.Grace. Jack Singleton in his book entitled “The Masters of Cricket” recounts that the young Hobbs was rather nervous against the renowned doctor. Noted for his speed between the wickets, Hobbs sensed there was a run to be ‘stolen’ by playing the ball a few yards up the pitch, but just as he set off the quavering voice of the doctor came down the pitch. ‘Thank you, youngster,’ said the voice, ‘just tap it back here and save my poor old legs.’ And Hobbs, suitably in awe of the Old Man, who was a terror to the game’s newcomers, duly tapped the ball back to him.
1906.The Labour Representation Committee put up 51 candidates at
the 1906 parliamentary election and got
29 into the House of Commons.
1906.At the match between Sunderland and Wearmouth 4000 people were present. Entry 3d.
1907.Gateshead Fell’s application for membership was rejected at the AGM.
1907.The three-mile rule applied … players must live within three miles of the Club ground. The case of A.P.Ashley was raised. He played for Durham City but lived at Hetton. The League Executive Committee accepted his right to play for Durham as he had started playing for Durham City when at Bede College as a student teacher. Ray Pallister traced the son of A.P.Ashley in the early 1990s at the request of Durham County Cricket scorer, Mr. Brian Hunt, who was collecting information on those who had played for the county in the past, and particularly Ashley, on whom there was little information. The information gathered was that A.P.Ashley – and Adolph Hitler, apparently - had been at the first day of the battle of the Somme in 1916 and both had survived.
It was a bright and sunny morning
that day of July 1st, with a little mist over the German
trenches.The entrenched soldiers awoke to the sound of the British heavy guns
blasting away at the Germans on an 18 mile front. Then 120,000 individuals, each
hunched under a load of 60 pounds of ammunition, kit and rations, climbed out
of their trenches and walked forward to meet the Germans. The Newcastle
Commercials were told, ‘You will be able to go over the top with a walking
stick; you will need no rifles. When you get to Thiepval the Germans will all
be dead’…... It so happened that over 60,000 British soldiers were hit on that
morning of July 1st 1916, and 20,000 of those were killed. Colin
Orr’s father, who was born in 1894, was a survivor of the First Day of the
Somme. He was fighting at Serre with
the Ist Battalion of the Somerset Light
Infantry when he received a bayonet wound in the upper left arm. He was evacuated the next day,
the 2nd of July. A lucky man, indeed!
.Ashley, at a match against Whitburn, immediately after the war, was approached by the Rector and invited to leave Durham City and come and play for the village club….. and also take on the headmastership of the village school!……. Some of the old folks at Whitburn will no doubt