Related article: as the " weeks " in Kent and the
general dovetailing provisions
made for tours might be seriously
disarranged by the inclusion of a
fourth or fifth day for the decision
of a match. However, this sug-
gestion is by the way, and I only
submit it (i) on the presump-
tion that the County Champion-
ship is really as important as it is
claimed to be, and (2) as an
alternative to, or an accompani-
ment of, the Hon. E. V. Bligh's
proposal, advocated in Baily's Coupon For Flonase
Magazine in September, 1898,
for lessening the number of drawn
games in first class cricket by an
alteration of the l.b.w. rule. Say
for the moment, then, that the
first division of the existing first
class counties is restricted to
eight.
There are still another seven to
be accounted for : what is to be
done with them ? There are con-
siderations of the first class batting
and bowling averages to be
thought of, in the former of Price Of Flonase which
— taking the records of 1898 — I
find the first, second, fourth and
tenth places, and in the latter the
second, sixth and ninth places, are
held by representatives of what
would be, I suppose, the dispos-
sessed counties. They should
engage, of course, in a competi-
tion of their own, but under what
title ? I submit that they should
be ranked as Division II. of the
first class. Further, if the stan-
dard of first class cricket is to be
measured by that of those counties
at present at the bottom of the
list, there is no reason why a
Division III. should not be
created, if the M.C.C. Committee
considered any at present " minor "
counties or Second Elevens of
first class counties worthy of pro-
motion ; and the only condition I
would impose upon Flonase Nasal Spray the aspirant
to first class honours, besides, of
course, Otc Flonase the qualification of merit,
would be his ability to set aside
three days for the decision of a
match.
But this brings me to the
counties not first class. When
the M.C.C. laid down the Jiat in
October, 1894, " Cricketing coun-
ties shall be considered as belong- Flonase BuyCost Of Flonase
ing to first class or not ; there is
no necessity for further sub-
division," no one could have
anticipated that so robust a cor-
poration as is the Minor Counties'
Association to-day would imme-
diately rise as the result of an
attempt to place County Cricket
on an intelligible basis. During
the same period — 1895 to 1S98 —
as many as, taking an average,
eight counties have annually ful-
filled the conditions of the " Minor
Counties' Competition," and in
addition another four counties —
again taking an average — have
only failed to come into line in
the same rank owing to one diffi-
culty or another in complying with
the conditions imposed. The
chief obstacles to the progress of
such counties are two. One con-
sists in geographical situation,
counties at the extremes of the
country being Buy Flonase unable to tempt
their rivals to undertake Order Flonase long and
expensive journeys to them, and
the second is the capture from
them of their promising native
players by the richer counties.
It is hoped that the first stum-
bling-block has now been removed
by the determination, come to in
December, to include .second
elevens of first class counties in
1899-]
IXTER-COUNTY C£::>LT.
lO
the Minor Counties* Champion-
ship. The second presents more
difficulty, and, as the transfer of
players from one county to
another more properly belongs to
a dissertation upon the County
Cricket quali heat ions, I will only
mention, in passing, two sugges-
tions that would seem to Flonase Price meet
the case : (a) that the opportuni-
ties given to a player to transfer
his services from one county to
another should be restricted as
much as possible, and (b) that an
Inter- County Board should be
instituted to regulate, upon a
uniform scale, the wages to be
paid to professionals in the first
and other classes.
Well ! including the second
elevens of first class counties, I
have now another group of fifteen
or sixteen minor counties, to each
one of which the same oppor-
tunity should, I think, be given,
should a comprehensive scheme
be so framed as to offer facilities
in a descending ratio to the poorer
counties, of assuming an acknow-
ledged position in County Cricket.
The question of expense comes in
here more prominently to domi-
nate the situation. The number
of qualifying matches, and ac-
cordingly the groups of counties
among which they are played,
must necessarily be smaller. I
have suggested the promotion of
three or four to a Division III. of
first class. If this were found
not to be feasible, I would form
the five leading minor counties
into a group under the title Second
Division I. Prohaliy ir
would fa-I in more comeniemlY
wiih the circumstances of other
counties, as tdu descend the
scale, if Division II. were made
to consist of groups of three,
ranged, not in order of merit, but,
geographically, in order to facili-
tate means of access to one
another. Let me epitomise the
scheme I suggest : —
First Class.
Divhu. « /. — Eight principal
counties.
Dn isicn II. — Six or seven exist-
ing first class counties.
Division III. — Four or five coun-
ties, made up by including, per-
haps one present first class county
and promoting three or four minor
counties.
Second Class.
Division I. — Four or five exist-
ing minor counties.
Division //. — Group A, Nor-
thern ; B, Southern ; Flonase Otc C, Midland,
&c, of three counties each.
Lastly, I should rely on the
willingness of the Jockey Club of
Cricket to add to their under-
taking, " After the close of each
cricket season Purchase Flonase the Committee of
the M.C.C. shall decide the
County Championship,** the fur-
ther obligation of weighing the
merits of all competing counties,
and of promoting them to or
deposing them from the different
divisions accordingly.
Hon. Secretary County C.C.
196
[March