Cricket 1887

70 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. APRIL 21,1887. E S SE X CO U N T Y CLUB . T h e annual general meeting of this Club was held at the Great Eastern Hotel, Liverpool Street, on Tuesday last, Mr. C. E. Green, the Captain of the County Eleven, was in the chair, supported by a good attendance of members. The annual report follows. Your committee have pleasure in submitting to you the report and balance-sheet for the past season of 1886, which is the fourth season of the county club under its present adminis­ tration. You will observe from the balance- sheet that your committee may be congratu­ lated on having succeeded in working the club expenses at a small profit; this result may be considered satisfactory, considering he necessary heavy expenses attendant on he change to the new County Ground at Leyton, at the beginning of 1886. The club is, in a great measure, indebted for this result to the nett takings, £264 12s. Od., realised at the match Past and Present Cambridge v. Australians, August 23, 24 and 25. Your committee regret that there is still an amount of about £1,600 owing on the Building Fund Account, and that the appeal issued last December has not, as yet, been responded to as liberally as anticipated, and your committee trust that every member of the club will use his best endeavours to enable them to be re­ lieved from this responsibility. The arrange­ ments made with the Insurance Cricket and Athletic Club have worked very satisfactorily in 1886, and your committee have much plea­ sure in stating that the same arrangements have been entered into for 1887. The match results for 1886 may be considered fairly satis­ factory. Out of a total of 12 county matches, 6 were won, 6 lost, and 1 drawn. The club and ground matches show 4 won and 1 drawn. The county match programme for 1887 is again a most attractive one, particulars of which will be found inside your members’ pass for 1887. Six hundred and fifty names are now on the list of club members, 461 having joined in 1886. The fee for member­ ship is now one guinea entrance fee, and one guinea subscription, and considering the ad­ vantages enjoyed by members, a large number of fresh names should be added in 1887. The Groundwill be opened to members on Monday, April 25, and the following ground bowlers have been engaged from that date until the end of the season:—F. Silcock (head bowler), W. Bryan, G. W. Littlewood, W. B. Clarke, J. Burns, and F. C. Almond (for August). A large number of lawn-tennis courts will be marked out, and nets erected, and members will be permitted to play on all occasions except when county and important matches are being played on the Ground. RECEIPTS. £. s. d. Mr. C. E. Green’s Eleven v. Pickett’s Eleven ... 40 9 0 Gentlem en v. Players of Essex............................... 8 15 6 Eleven v. Twenty-Two of Essex.................................. 4 14 6 Essex v Surrey.................. 58 11 0 Essex v. H e r ts .................. 63 4 0 Essex v. N orfolk .......... 11 0 0 Essex v. Derbyshire 22 17 6 Essex v. Lancashire 36 15 3 Essex v. M.O.C and G. ... 46 5 0 Epsex v Staffordshire ... 9 7 0 Essex Club and Ground v The Parsees .......... 39 14 6 Cambridge Past and Present v. The Aus­ tralians ........... ... ... 700 9 10 E sspx Clnh and Ground Minor Matohes ........... 31 5 1 Royalty on Card Belling ior tue Season ........... 12 1 11 £ s. d. E X PEN D ITU RE . £ s. d. £ b . d. Mr. C. E. Green’s Eleven v. Pickett’s Eleven, H om e.................................. Gentlem en v. Players of Essex, H om e .......... ... Eleven v. TweDty-Two of Essex v. Surrey. H om e ... 53 13 8 » „ Out ... 23 3 0 Essex v.Herts, Home ... 44 14 0 » „ Out ... 37 17 2 Essex v. Norfolk. H om e 44 10 6 •> O ut... 40 12 5 Essex v. Derbyshire, Home 64 2 11 Essex v. Derbyshire Out ... 32 14 3 Essex v. Lancashire, Home... 83 3 5 Essex v. Lancashire, Out 32 14 0 19 17 0 31 10 1 38 13 0 Essex v. M.C.C. and Ground, H om e ........... Essex v. Staffordshire, H om e.................................. Essex Cluh and Ground v. The Parsees, H om e Cambridge Past and Present v. The Aus­ tralians, H om e ........... Essex Club and Ground Minor M atches, Home and out ... ................... 87 16 8 82 11 2 85 2 11 96 17 2 115 17 5 44 18 5 43 9 10 41 18 5 435 17 11 16 13 4 1,141 3 10 The Chairman, after referring with regret to the loss the members had sustained by the death of Mr. O. E. Coope, one of the Vice-Presidents, urged the im­ portance, in order to secure the deve­ lopment of the Club, of renewed efforts to increase the roll of members. They had incurred great expense over the ground, which was as well arranged as any in England, and had provided a good staff of bowlers. Their subscription, too, was very low, lower than other clubs of the same class. In a large county like Essex, there ought to be a very much larger number of members. Until they played better cricket they could not expect much in the way of gate receipts, but better cricket was only a matter of time. As Essex improved, the cricket would become sufficiently attractive to draw large numbers of people. Until then they must rely to a great extent upon sub­ scriptions. He did not think they played as good cricket as they ought, but improve­ ment in this respect must come. He was against the system of importing cricketers, but as other counties did it, they were bound to do so as well. The report and balance sheet were adopted. Lord Car- lingford was re-elected president, the vice- presidents were re-elected, and Messrs. A. Capel-Cure, J. Conquest, H. Fowler, and C. E. Green, the retiring members of the committee, were re-elected. Mr. Giller asked if it was not possible to curtail the heavy expenses of professionals in county matches, and ground bowlers. The Chair­ man said there was a regular tarifffor the professionals, and he did not think it was possible to reduce the expenses in this respect. Mr. Giller also said it would be a great thing if better facilities were afforded by the railway company for reaching the ground. Sir W. MacGregor, in proposing a vote of thanks to the Chair­ man which was carried unanimously, bore testimony to the exertions Mr; Green had made on behalf of county cricket in Essex and expressed his conviction that Essex would beaome one of the foremost counties in England. CO U N T Y CR ICKET . W e have received the following report of the committee appointed last December, to consider the advisability of appointing a council to settle affairs connected with county cricket. It has been forwarded to the secretaries of the various county cricket clubs, for the consideration of their respective com­ mittees :— S ir , —We beg you will inform your com­ mittee that in accordance with the following resolution, passed at the meeting of county secretaries, at Lords’, on December 7, 1886, viz., “ That a Provisional Committee, consist­ ing of representatives of Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, Kent, and Gloucestershire, be appointed to consider the laws of county cricket, and the desirability of forming a council for the regulation of all matters con­ cerning county cricket,” we have met and agreed to the following report:— We do not wish in any way to interfere with the prerogative of the Marylebone Club in its capacity of arbiter of the Laws of Cricket, and we are prepared to contemplate the institution of a County Cricket Council only if it be laid down as a fundamental rule that such body have no executive powers whatever as regards those laws. It would undoubtedly be as competent for the council at any time to raise a discussion on the laws as for any other body connected with cricket, and any representation made on the subject by the council would bear great weight with the M.C.C., but we are of opinion that to confer any further powers would be inimical to the best interests of the game, and opposed to the views of cricketers generally. We also think that it would be inconvenient to substitute the council for the Committee of the M.C.C. in adjudicating on questions raised under the rules of county cricket qualification as at present existing. The committee of the M.C.C. sits weekly at Lord’s throughout the cricket season, and deals summarily with all cases referred to it. It is, also, beyond suspicion, impartial, whereas the county council, however composed, could not be easily convened at a place equally accessible to all the members, and there would be a possibility of only those more immediately interested in the case attending, and of the impartiality of the decision coming in question. We, therefore, recommend that if a County Cricket Council be formed it shall have as regards the laws of cricket or the rules of county cricket qualification as at present existing no executive powers. There are, however, other matters of great or growing interest connected with county cricket, but in no way affecting the laws of cricket or the rules of county cricket qualifica­ tion, over which the M.C.C. has never exercised any control. The first of these, and one of great interest, is the question of county status. A justifiable anxiety has shown itself of late amongst those counties in which the formation of a county eleven has been of somewhatrecentdate,ofhaving the opportunity of challenging the strongest county elevens. We think it might be possible to make such arrangements as would eventually render this desire attainable, but a really satisfactory arrangement will only be arrived at after careful consideration by the representatives of the counties interested, and its settlement will, in our opinion, be greatly facilitated by the formation of a County Cricket Council. Those of growing interest are the nomina­ tion of reliable umpires, andthe unsatisfactory prevalence of drawn matches. As regards the first, the M,C.C. with its usual public spirit