England, Australia
1908-02-27
Australia, captained by Monty Noble, regained the Ashes from Plum Warner's England side 4-1 in the 1907-08 series. Charlie Macartney made his Test debut as a left-arm spinner (and earned the nickname 'Governor General'); Trumper and Noble batted superbly; the series featured two thrilling close finishes at Sydney and Melbourne.
Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, English counties
1908-09-01
Lord Hawke's Yorkshire went through the 1908 County Championship season unbeaten, winning the title for the eighth time under his captaincy. The season was capped by their dismissal of Northamptonshire for 27 and 15 — an aggregate of 42, the lowest in English first-class cricket — at Northampton in May, with Hirst taking 12 for 19 in the match.
Yorkshire, England
1908-08-31
Schofield Haigh, the Yorkshire medium-pacer with a sharp off-break, took 158 wickets at 12.51 in the 1902 county season — a strike rate matched in modern English cricket only by Colin Blythe (1912) and Harold Larwood (1931). Often the third bowler behind Hirst and Rhodes in published accounts, Haigh played 11 Tests for England and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901.
Gentlemen of England, Surrey
1908-04-22
William Gilbert Grace played his last first-class match between 20 and 22 April 1908, opening the innings for the Gentlemen of England against Surrey at The Oval. Aged a few months short of 60, Grace made 15 in the first innings and 25 in the second. It was his 870th first-class appearance, ending a career that began in 1865.
Yorkshire CCC
1908-08-31
Under Lord Hawke's captaincy, Yorkshire won the County Championship in 1900, 1901, 1902, 1905 and 1908 — five titles in nine seasons. They went unbeaten in 1900 (their first such season) and again in 1908 ('the clean sheet championship'). Hirst, Rhodes and Haigh were the bowling backbone; Tunnicliffe, Brown and Denton scored the runs.
Hampshire CCC
1908-08-31
Hampshire were promoted to first-class status in 1895, when Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire joined the County Championship. Their early years were grim — last or equal-last in 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905 — with a brief 1901 rally led by Charlie Llewellyn, the Natal-born all-rounder who later played five Tests for South Africa.