MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JUNE 1871
The Metropolitan League season has reached the half-way point and it is the Old Westminsters who now lead the way in the standings. With the teams having played two of the four weeks of scheduled double games, the Westminsters defeated Greenwich twice on the final Saturday in June to open up a lead at the top. Those losses dropped Greenwich out of first place and the Royal Artillery Barracks won two against Kensington to move level in second place. The Regent’s Park have had a mixed month but ended it with two wins over Angel to join Greenwich and the Artillery, dropping Angel back to an even record. Newcomers Peckham are only a game behind that tie for second, but Hackney’s first season in being ruined by postponed games. With eighteen rounds of fixtures played, Hackney have only managed twelve games and have a lot to make up in the second half of the season. Champions the City of London Club are enduring an awful season, losing four of five in June to share eighth place with improving Clapham.
The Liverpool and District League is shaping up for an exciting three-way battle for the inaugural title as Liverpool St Patrick’s lead by a fraction from both St Helens and Toxteth as the season approaches half-way. They moved ahead by beating neighbours Toxteth, only for defeat to St Helens the following week to keep them close to the two chasers. That win was an important one for early season pace-setters St Helens, who had lost their previous two games without scoring a run. A four-game winning run has moved Linacre up to an even record, while Great Float endured a poor month but remain two games ahead of struggling Sankey.
In the Manchester and District League, Rochdale’s undefeated run ended in their eleventh game as second placed Oldham earned a narrow 3-2 success. Oldham were undefeated themselves in June but still sit three games back, one ahead of champions Salford whose impressive month was spoiled slightly when it ended in defeat against Irwell. Irwell are fourth with an even record, while among the strugglers Stockport lost every game in June and ended the month with a 12-0 humiliation at the hands of Rochdale. They now sit in a tie for last place with Belle Vue.
Leeds Central won all three games in June to extend their winning run to seven and sit fractionally ahead at the top of the Leeds and Bradford League. A 1-0 loss to Wakefield at the beginning of the month dropped Bowling into second place, while Bradford are now two games back after ending June with an extra innings defeat against Leeds. Wakefield also have a winning record but are three games back, while Halifax have slipped back down the standings after their undefeated May was followed by a winless June. Huddersfield managed only their second win this month, 3-1 over Wakefield, but remain a game adrift in last place.
The university season is over for another year and it turned out to be a reversal of last year, when Trinity won the Oxford title easily but there was a tie at the top of the standings in Cambridge. This year, it was in Cambridge where the league turned out to be no contest as one of the teams who lost out in the tiebreakers last year, Queens’ College, went undefeated in June to extend their winning run to ten games and finish six clear of St Catharine’s at the top of the standings. The excitement came in Oxford, where Brasenose led going into June but opened up with a defeat to Balliol which made the race much closer. Unfortunately for Balliol, they proceeded to lose their next two to hand the initiative back to Brasenose, who had only to win their final game to take the title for the second time. That final game was against reigning champions Trinity, who were finishing strongly having won five out of six leading into that game. Trinity took the win 5-0, and Brasenose found themselves facing a tiebreaker, where the only uncertainty was the opposition.
Balliol and Trinity were tied on seventeen wins and ten defeats with a meeting between them to come in their final game, and the winner would tie for first place and meet Brasenose to decide the championship. Balliol took an early 4-0 lead and Trinity’s reign as champions looked to be over, but a four-run fifth tied it and Balliol fell apart late on, handing Trinity a 9-4 victory and a place in the tiebreaker. With the head-to-head meetings tied at two wins each, a coin toss was needed to determine home advantage and as reigning champions, Trinity were allowed to call. Their call was correct so they played the extra game at home, and took control early on with a three-run second. Brasenose couldn’t find a way back and indeed the game ended in a repeat of the previous meeting, a 5-0 success for Trinity. They completed a successful title defence having been three games back at the start of June.
Attention in Oxford and Cambridge now turns to the third annual Varsity Series, with Cambridge defending the title they won a year ago. It is their turn to host the first game on the opening day of July, with Oxford hosting the second four days later.