Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 2 July 1904

The Downfall of Denaby.

Wath 147  Denaby & Cadeby 70

The outlook at Wath, on Saturday, about an hour before cricket commenced, was anything but promising. It was dull and threatening, and the clouds portended rain. The chance of the match between Wath Athletic and Denaby ever beginning was rather remote, and the chance of the game being finished was quite an outside one. But suddenly it brightened, the sun came out gloriously, the clouds rolled away, and the Wath team rolled the wicket. Cricket had not only become possible, it had become imperative. Not to have played cricket at Wath on Saturday would have been a sin and a shame.

The Denaby team and their supporters were very confident of winning, for had not they demolished Wath at Denaby with ridiculous ease? They overlooked the fact that, dating from that match, Wath had steadily progressed and become one of the most dangerous combinations in the League, as Mitchell Main, Hoyland Silkstone, Monk Bretton, and Rawmarsh are able to testify. They forgot these things, and consequently they suffered the usual fate of those who prophesy before they know, and arrive at conclusions without considering the other side of the question.

Shaw and Darley made a capital start for the “Queen of Villages.” Shaw hit out fearlessly, while Darley’s programme was clearly to play steady for the first half-hour. Shaw was ultimately run out when he had made 25, and the total was 33 for one wicket. Darley did not long survive him, and neither Allan nor Jackson stayed long. Then came Woodruffe, who played the best innings of the day. He hit with delightful freedom, scoring all round the wicket, but playing some particularly pretty strokes on the off side. Several times he placed the ball through the slips in a style which even Jacky Brown, of Driffield, could not but surprise.

He almost monopolised the bowling for a considerable portion of his innings, so that his partners came and went, and although each stayed with him for a spell, none of them made many runs. At 25 he gave a hard chance to P. Bury at point, but that was the only mistake in his innings. Jack Ellis, whose damaged finger has about got right again, was very anxious to get his own back against the Denaby bowlers, but he only made eight, while Reggie Thompson and Bowers failed to score. Wraith, however, got into double figures, but Woodruffe, who carried out his bat for 66, was the hero of the innings.

Denaby made a disastrous start, for with only a couple of runs to their credit, Arthur Robinson was smartly caught by Wraith, off Green. Smith, however, stayed with Stott until ten were up, when Green bowled the wicket-keeper with a ball he never saw. P. Bury, the newcomer, had a very brief career, for Allan, who by now had found his length and was bowling splendidly, clean bowled him when he had scored a couple, and Denaby had three wickets down for less than 20.

A. Ellis, with Smith, made a bit of a stand, but at 33 Allan bowled Smith, and at 40 Green got Ellis’s wicket. Denaby now had another bad time, for Bowers bowled Hardy, who had gone in with the intention of adopting desperate methods, and two runs later Allan bowled Scott. C. Bury and Luther Robinson made a valiant effort to save the game, the Denaby captain stone-walling with grim determination. But Allan was irresistible, and with the score at 64 he bowled Robinson all over his wicket. Palmer contributed nothing, but Baker, the last man, raised the score to round figures, when he was out to a fine running catch by Bowers.

There was a good bowling performance on each side. “Jud” Hardy bowled, off and on, throughout the Wath innings, and took seven wickets for 23, while for Wath the professional, Allan, took six wickets for 33.