World Championship of Cricket 1911 | The closest Championship ever

[Aislabie]

Current season: 1911

In 1900, the Marylebone Cricket Club announced a first-class cricket match between English champions Surrey and Australian champions Victoria to crown the first ever World Champions of Cricket. It has since become a fixture in the 20th Century cricket calendar, and quickly grew to include more than just two teams.

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Spoiler: An explanation of sorts

This league is going to be very different to virtually anything which has ever run on this site before.

For starters, the seasons will be short and sharp, and will be racing through history - there could end up being over 100 of them. Secondly, despite managing domestic teams, you will be signing up to manage all teams from one particular country. Hopefully this will make sense. And thirdly, it's a first-class league. I've never really mastered the ratings for them the way some people (ahem, VC) have, so I might be muddling my way along with them for a bit.

Oh, and I'll be using pretty flags, even if they aren't historically accurate, simply because they're pretty.

If all that makes sense and doesn't seem too terrifying, then please sign up.

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[Aislabie]

World Championship of Cricket, 1911

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Champions of England

Kent County Cricket Club

Manager: @Iridium
Available players: LINK

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Champions of Australia

South Australia

Manager: @themusketeer
Available players: LINK

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Champions of South Africa

None qualified

Manager: @Aggz​

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Guest Team

Auckland

Manager: @VC the slogger
Available players: LINK and LINK

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South Australia v Auckland at Adelaide Oval
Auckland v Kent at Unley Oval
South Australia v Kent at Adelaide Oval
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[Aislabie]

Records Page

Spoiler: Titles

Most World Titles - 7: New South Wales
Longest Streak - 4: New South Wales (1903-1906)

Spoiler: Team Records

Highest team total - 402/7 dec, New South Wales, 1906
Lowest team total - 64, Transvaal, 1906

Biggest winning margin (innings) - Innings & 17 runs, Kent, 1910
Biggest winning margin (runs) - 295 runs, New South Wales, 1910
Biggest winning margin (wickets) - 8 wickets, Gentlemen of Philadelphia, 1903
Smallest winning margin (runs) - 6 runs, Kent, 1907
Smallest winning margin (wickets) - 1 wicket, New South Wales, 1901

Most extras (innings) - 25, New South Wales, 1903

Spoiler: Individual Records

Highest individual innings - 196*, Jim Mackay,1906
Most runs (competition) - 353 (at 117.7), Jim Mackay, 1906

Best innings bowling figures - 7-32 (12), Alister Howden, 1909
Best match bowling figures - 10-159 (34.5), Tibby Cotter, 1906
Most wickets (competition) - 16 (at 18.3), Tibby Cotter, 1906

Most dismissals in a match - 7 (7 ct), David Hunter, 1902

Spoiler: Partnership Records

1st wicket - 115, Reggie Duff & Victor Trumper, 1904
2nd wicket - 106, Charles Gregory & Victor Trumper, 1901
3rd wicket - 105, Austin Diamond & Jim Mackay, 1906
4th wicket - 111, Rupert Minnett & Charles Kelleway, 1910
5th wicket - 111, Frank Mitchell & Tom Taylor, 1901
6th wicket - 138, Gar Waddy & Charles Gregory 1907
7th wicket - 106, John Tunnicliffe & Wilfred Rhodes, 1901
8th wicket - 84, John Tunnicliffe & Irving Washington, 1902
9th wicket - 62, George Hirst & Lees Whitehead, 1903
10th wicket - 44, Reggie Schwarz & Frank Mitchell, 1905

Spoiler: Honours Board

Honours Board
Warwick Armstrong, 151 v Surrey, 1900
Schofeld Haigh, 5-66 v New South Wales, 1901
John Lester, 5-40 v Yorkshire, 1903
Arthur McBeath, 5-66 v Yorkshire, 1903
Victor Trumper, 109 v Yorkshire, 1903
Monty Noble, 5-50 v Transvaal, 1904
Gordon White, 5-29 v New South Wales, 1904
Gordon Shepstone, 5-51 v Middlesex, 1904
Tibby Cotter, 5-45 v Lancashire, 1905
Tommy Burton, 5-39 v New South Wales, 1906
Jim Mackay, 196* v West Indians, 1906
Wilfred Rhodes, 109 v New South Wales, 1906
Schofield Haigh, 6-85 v New South Wales, 1906
Tibby Cotter, 6-88 v Yorkshire, 1906
Ranji Hordern, 5-57 v Nottinghamshire, 1908
Tibby Cotter, 5-41 v Transvaal, 1908
Tibby Cotter, 5-30 v Nottinghamshire, 1908
Lancelot Hemus, 111 v Victoria, 1909
Warwick Armstrong,127 v Auckland, 1909
Albert Self, 5-57 v Victoria, 1909
Alister Howden, 7-32 v Yorkshire, 1909
Hubert Myers, 5-34 v Victoria, 1909

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[Aislabie]

The Archive

Spoiler: Season-by-Season Summary

Tournament||World Champions||Runners Up||Player of the Tournament||Teams
1900 |-| Surrey CCC |-| Victoria |-| Warwick Armstrong |-|2
1901 |-| New South Wales |-| Yorkshire CCC |-| Monty Noble |-|2
1902 |-| Yorkshire CCC |-| Victoria |-| Tom Taylor |-|3
1903 |-| New South Wales |-| Gentlemen of Philadelphia |-| John Lester |-|3
1904 |-| New South Wales |-| Transvaal |-| Albert Bowden |-|3
1905 |-| New South Wales |-| Lancashire CCC |-| Johnny Tyldesley |-|3
1906 |-| New South Wales |-| Yorkshire CCC |-| Jim Mackay |-|4
1907 |-| Kent CCC |-| New South Wales |-| Punter Humphreys |-|3
1908 |-| New South Wales |-| Nottinghamshire CCC |-| Tibby Cotter |-|4
1909 |-| Yorkshire CCC |-| Victoria |-| David Denton |-|3
1910 |-| New South Wales |-| Kent CCC |-| Charles Kelleway |-|3
1911 |-| Kent CCC |-| South Australia |-| Arthur Fielder |-|3

Spoiler: Team-by-Team Summary

Complete to 1911

||Apps|First|Last||Mat.|Won|Drawn|Lost|Pts.|PPG||Titles|Best
Auckland |-|2| 1909 | 1911 |-|4|1|1|2|13|3.3|-|0|3rd ( 1911 )
Gentlemen of Philadelphia |-|3| 1903 | 1908 |-|5|1|0|4|11.5|2.3|-|0|2nd ( 1903 )
Ireland |-|1| 1902 | 1902 |-|2|0|0|2|1|0.5|-|0|3rd ( 1902 )
Kent CCC |-|3| 1907 | 1911 |-|6|4|1|1|46|7.7|-|2|1st (x2)
Lancashire CCC |-|1| 1905 | 1905 |-|2|1|0|1|11|5.5|-|0|2nd ( 1905 )
Middlesex CCC |-|1| 1904 | 1904 |-|2|0|0|2|1|0.5|-|0|3rd ( 1904 )
New South Wales |-|8| 1901 | 1910 |-|15|12|2|1|134.5|9.0|-|7|1st (x7)
Nottinghamshire CCC |-|1| 1908 | 1908 |-|2|1|0|1|11|5.5|-|0|2nd ( 1908 )
South Australia |-|1| 1911 | 1911 |-|2|1|0|1|11|5.5|-|0|2nd ( 1911 )
Surrey CCC |-|1| 1900 | 1900 |-|1|1|0|0|11|11.0|-|1|1st ( 1900 )
Transvaal |-|4| 1904 | 1908 |-|6|1|0|5|11|1.8|-|0|2nd ( 1904 )
Victoria |-|2| 1900 | 1909 |-|5|1|2|2|15|3.0|-|0|2nd (x3)
West Indians |-|1| 1906 | 1906 |-|1|0|0|1|1|1.0|-|0|SF ( 1906 )
Western Province |-|1| 1910 | 1910 |-|2|0|0|2|0|0.0|-|0|3rd ( 1910 )
Yorkshire CCC |-|5| 1901 | 1909 |-|9|4|2|3|50|5.6|-|2|1st (x2)

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[HawkAussie]

I'm intersted in taking one of the spots

 

[themusketeer]

Champions of Australia ! H Graham

 

[Asham]

Any team

 

[joejoe018]

Champions of England

 

[SixerBoy11]

Any Team would do

 

[Aislabie]

Well, there's not an enormous need for co-managers (the first three seasons will be just one match each, after all) but as there are only two teams at the moment, I'll let you share.

@themusketeer and @Matt121

@Yonga and @joejoe018

Between you, your first job will be to decide on your XIs for the game at The Oval. I'll try to spice things up with a write-up to go with the scorecards when I post them.

 

[themusketeer]

WW Armstrong
H Graham
D Sutherland
JH Stuckey
CH Ross
H Trumble
FJ Laver
FB Collins
W Bruce
JV Saunders
RW McLeod

@Matt121

 

[Aislabie]

Excellent. Just waiting for @Yonga or @joejoe018 to post their eleven, and we can play the first ever World Championship of Cricket.

 

[joejoe018]

R Abel
TW Hayward
FC Holland
DLA Jephson
WH Lockwood
WS Lees
F Stedman
T Richardson
WH Lockwood
WC Smith
H Wood

 

[Aislabie]

World Championship of Cricket, 1900

Surrey v Victoria at Kennington Oval
Surrey won by 7 wickets
[Preview] • [Scorecard]

World Champions: Surrey CCC (1st Title)
Man of the match: Warwick Armstrong (Victoria)​

 

[Aislabie]

Inaugural Championship set to be a thriller
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Today is the day of the first ever World Championship of Cricket. The home side, and obvious favourites to win the match, is Surrey County Cricket Club. The 1899 County Champions are packed full of players who have represented the full England Test team, and will be looking to confirm England's place as the pre-eminent cricket team in the empire.

Team News

Surrey XI:
Abel, Hayward, Holland, Jephson, Lockwood, Lees, Stedman, Richardson, Leveson-Gower, Smith, Wood

Surrey have, as expected, picked what they believe to be their strongest possible eleven for this match. They are blessed with countless batting and bowling options who have dominated the county championship in recent years, and will be hoping to dominate on their home ground. There originally appeared to be a plan to play two Bill Lockwoods, but Shrimp Leveson-Gower was called in to replace the second.

Victoria XI:
Armstrong, Graham, Sutherland, Stuckey, Ross, Trumble, Laver, Collins, Bruce, Saunders, MacLeod

The Victorian team travelled half way around the world for this fixture, and has performed adequately in their friendly matches against other opposition. However, this was always the highlight of their tour, and they will be hoping to play to the best of their respective abilities.

Context

In this year's County Championship, Surrey have struggled to make the impact they would have liked, despite senior batsman Bobby Abel having a record-breaking season, and six other batsmen in the side looking likely to post 1000 first-class runs for the season; they do not look like they will challenge for this year's title. Meanwhile, Victoria failed to win the most recent Sheffield Shield, losing out in the final round to New South Wales. The MCC defended Victoria's invitation to tour ahead of New South Wales as "something for which arrangements had to be made well in advance.

Watch out for
Batsman Bobby Abel is having a spectacular season with the bat this year, while Warwick Armstrong has been in dominant form for Victoria so far this tour.

Prediction
Surrey are expected to win this match, because it's positively unthinkable that the champion county could lose to an Australian domestic team.​