Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/207

Rh :future years, and that this order be determined by the same method as that by which the Championship for the first-class counties is at present decided; viz., by subtracting wins from losses, and not counting drawn games.


 * IV. That in 1892 the lowest county in the first-class and the highest county in the second-class play each other homeand-home matches, these constituting a series which shall be termed the qualifying series. The same arrangement to apply to the lowest of the second-class and the highest of the thirdclass counties.


 * V. That if a county be, by these means, reduced in class, it shall, for the following season, be considered the highest in the class to which it has descended, and shall follow the course of procedure set forth in No. 4.
 * That, on the other hand, if a county, after playing in a qualifying series as the highest best of an inferior class, shall have to remain in the same class, it shall not be considered the highest for the next season unless it shall obtain such a position by virtue of its performances in that season.

The scheme of classification did not give general satisfaction, and a newspaper warfare was kept up for sometime afterwards. Later in the year delegates from the second-class counties Hampshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Essex, Cheshire and Derbyshire met in the pavilion at Lord's, and passed a resolution to be submitted as an amendment by Warwickshire at the annual meeting of the County Cricket Council to be held in December.

The annual meeting was held in the pavilion at Lord's, on the 8th December, Mr. M. J. Ellison presiding. It was evident that special interest was taken in the points to be considered, for there was a large attendance of delegates from the first, second, and thirdclass counties. After the minutes of the previous general meeting and the special meeting in August were read, and a statement of accounts and balancesheet were passed, Mr. Ansell, of Warwickshire, moved,