Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/190

  another shall be free to choose at the beginning of each season for which of those counties he will play, and shall, during that season, play for that county only.

3.—"A cricketer shall be qualified to play for any county in which he is residing and has resided for the previous two years, or a cricketer may elect to play for the county in which his family home is, so long as it remains open to him as an occasional residence.

4.—"That should any question arise as to the residential qualification, the same shall be left to the decision of the Marylebone Club."

A further discussion of those rules arose at a meeting of County Secretaries held at Lord's in December, 1881, when Lord Harris moved, "That the Committee of the M.C.C. be requested to consider whether the two years' residential qualification might not be safely reduced to one year;" but the motion was rejected by. 14 votes to 3.

At a largely-attended meeting of County Delegates, held at Lord's on the 12th July, 1887, Lord Harris in the Chair, it was moved and carried:

1.—"That a County Cricket Council be formed.

2.—"That the Council consist of one representative each from the counties of Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Surrey, Kent, Lancashire, Sussex, Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Derbyshire, Essex, Warwickshire, Norfolk, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Somersetshire, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Durham, Hertfordshire, and Cheshire.

3.—"That it shall be competent for the Council to alter or amend the rules of County Cricket Qualification.

4.—"That upon all questions raised under the rules of County Cricket Qualification the Committee of the M.C.C. shall adjudicate."

That was undoubtedly a step in the right direction; for the birth and residential qualifications had agitated the minds of County Club Committees for many years.