County Championship 8th (6W, 7D, 7L)
Captain Arthur Owen Jones
The Committee Report for 1908 put it very succinctly – ‘After the performance of the Team in 1907 the result was most disappointing’.
To slip from champions to eighth in the table was a reflection on the drop in performances across all disciplines. Only five centuries were scored in First-Class cricket in this season, shared among three players, Joe Hardstaff and the two Gunns, George and John. John Gunn’s 144no was the season’s highest innings and his brother’s average of 34.24 the best in the Championship.
It all started more promisingly with just one defeat in the first eight First-Class games.
The now traditional season opener against MCC at Lord’s was a draw with the final day lost to rain. Remarkably, in the play that was possible, just 60 overs – shared between Wass and Hallam for Notts and Hearne and Tarrant for MCC – were bowled for two completed innings and a very brief Notts second knock (six overs).
At Northampton, it was the second day that was lost in another low-scoring draw. At home against Leicestershire, Notts claimed their first victory of the season, and made the first decent score with a second innings of 396-7 declared.
John Gunn made the 144 referred to above and Joe Hardstaff 104, this one innings therefore accounting for almost half the centuries of the year. Jimmy Iremonger claimed 6-64, at the point a career-best, in Leicester’s second innings as Notts won by 217 runs.
An even more emphatic win – by six wickets – was secured against Gloucestershire at Bristol, despite a typically belligerent 106 in 80 balls by Gilbert Jessop.
The first loss came at home to Lancashire when Notts made just 111 and 79, leaving the red rose county just 64 to win which they achieved for the loss of just one wicket.
There were two centurions in the draw against Surrey, George Gunn just shading ‘The Master’ Jack Hobbs (129 and 117); Ben Taylor, who played 31 First-Class games for Notts, took his career-best figures of 6-109 including Hibbs and his opening partner Tom Hayward.
There followed a thrashing of visitors Essex with Topsy Wass taking 16 wickets in the match – eight in each innings – including a first inning hat-trick of Claude Buckenham, Bill Reeves and Charles Benham. Notts score of 373 was more than enough as Essex subsided to 50 and 104 to give the home side a win by an innings and 219 runs.
The next First-Class game was against Scotland at Edinburgh when the Scots briefly threatened an upset by taking a slender first innings lead (215 to 194); Scotland could only manage 133 second time round and Notts saw off the 155 required for the loss of four wickets.
For the rest of June and the whole of July – nine matches – they managed only one victory. That was also against Essex who fared much better, scoring 230 and 149; Notts limped to 155 in the first innings but rallied, thanks to an unbroken 144 partnership between George Gunn and Wilf Payton to register an eight wicket win.
Back at Lord’s to face Middlesex, Notts lost by 269 runs, Edward Mignon taking five wickets in each innings for the hosts. Melbourne-born Frank Tarrant, who had bowling success in the MCC game, opened the Middlesex innings with ‘Plum’ Warner and made 35 and 103.
Yorkshire drew with Notts at Trent Bridge in a slow game that, despite no recorded interruptions, saw the home side’s second innings at 66-4 when stumps were drawn.
Lancashire completed the double over Notts at Old Trafford in a match in which Notts conceded a big first innings deficit – 177 to 352 – but recovered to make 373 in the second innings. This came after they were 46-4 and then ‘Jonah’ Jones, Arthur Hallam and Ben Taylor each contributed a half-century. Lancashire chased down their target of 202 for seven wickets.
Rain again intervened in the match against Derbyshire with no play possible on day three. Cecil; Clifton and Tom Turner made their championship debuts for Notts in this match.
Clifton was primarily a bowler, taking fifty wickets across the three season he featured for Notts. Turner was a batter who had made his First-Class debut two seasons earlier against the touring West Indians whilst still a schoolboy at Repton. He played seven games in 1908; after a lapse of 13 years, he reappeared v Essex at Trent Bridge in 1922, captaining the side instead of the absent Carr and played two useful innings of 39 not out and 29.
A loss to Yorkshire at Headingly turned into something of a ‘shoot out’ between Wass and George Hirst; Wass took 7-93 and 5-72, Hirst responded with 7-51 and 4-32. With Wilfred Rhodes taking six second innings wickets, it is unsurprising that Wilf Payton’s 54 was the highest score of a match that the Tykes took by 140 runs.
Topsy Wass took his 100th wicket for the season against Gloucestershire but he could not prevent the visitors from closing out a 59-run victory. Arthur Hallam, who had matched Wass in the title winning attack of the previous season, took his 50th wicket in the same second innings.
Leicestershire racked up a big first innings of 432 at Aylestone Road but the innings went deep into day two. Notts made 282 and were 218-4 in their second innings, following on, when the match ended in a draw.
The match against Sussex at Trent Bridge was also drawn – Sussex 247 and 277-3, Notts 380, George Gunn 111.
A third successive draw was played out at The Oval. Notts made 177 and 239, Surrey replying with 251. In his first innings of 62, Joe Hardstaff passed 1000 runs for the season.
Notts returned to Trent Bridge and to winning ways against Northamptonshire, Joe Hardstaff’s 113 being the significant factor in a ten wicket win.
The return against Derbyshire was played at Chesterfield where Notts succumbed to a 36-run defeat. It was a low-scoring affair with the home side making 150 and 160 and Notts failing to make the 153 required.
By far the biggest defeat of 1908 came in the penultimate county match, at home to Middlesex.
Notts were skittled for 133 and Middlesex piled up 534 in reply; Frank Tarrant, who seems to have taken a particular liking to Notts in this year, made 144 and chipped in as Notts made a much improved, but still inadequate 308 to lose by an innings and 93 runs.
The Gentlemen of Philadelphia – with the great John Barton King still among their ranks – were the last visitors to Trent Bridge for the season. Despite another bowling master class from King, 7-76 and 7-54, the visitors were despatched in the second innings for just 75, Hallam 7-32, to lose by 130 runs.
A disappointing season ended with something of a consolation victory at Hastings. Notts made 233 and ran through the home side who made just 76, Jimmy Iremonger taking 6-19. When Notts batted again, Iremonger clocked up his 1000th run for the season as the visitors made 195. Sussex recovered a little but 159 – including a further four wickets for Iremonger – left Notts a comfortable margin of 183 runs.
The Notts Committee set up a new fund – the Professionals’ Benefit Fund Account – to manage monies for players’ benefits. The first beneficiaries were George and John Gunn, Topsy Wass, Jimmy Iremonger5, Arthur Hallam and Tom Oates.
January 2024
Scorecards and stats can be seen here