Cricket 1895

4 4 6 CR ICKET : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME. O c t. 3 1 , 1895. “ T H E C O U N T Y C H A M P IO N S H IP .” B y “ H o v e r .” F rom Messrs. M entz, Kum er, & G elberg, o f 63-5, Charterhouse Street, E .C ., w e have received an advance cop y o f a b ook upon the “ C ounty Cricket Cham pionship,” b y “ R o v er,” o f the Morning Leader. This seems to us a very interesting volum e, and one w hich con­ tains a great deal o f inform ation and judicious reflection. I t embraces n ot on ly articles u p on the C ricket Champion­ ship from 1873 to 1894, and chapters on the M .C .C . scheme, and the fortunes o f the figh t this season, but also articles on such subjects as weather and wickets, short notices o f some o f the leading players, a chapter o f olla podrida, and an appendex o f an ideal E nglish eleven. A s a specimen o f M r. G ibson’s style in book -form as contrasted or com pared w ith new spaper article, w e give the follow in g extracts from his chapter on the “ System o f S corin g.” W e m ay say at once that the book should be in the possession o f every lover o f crick e t:— I have fou nd m any people interested in cricket, w h o this year are quite confused as to the principle on w hich the order of merit in the C ounty Championship is arranged under the new system. Y et the plan o f the M .C .C . is quite clear. W hether the system is equally fair is another question, and one w hich m ay adm it o f diverse conclusions. The principle is to ignore all games which are not brou gh t to a definite conclusion, and to arrange the counties in the order of those fractions which represent their wins w ith respect to the total num ber o f matches played, always p rovid in g that at least 16 matches shall be arranged, and, if possible, played w ith other first-class counties. It w ill b e at once seen that this ignores tw o very im portant points— (1) the m argin o f victory or defeat in the case o f the com pleted matches, and (2) the probable result o f the uncom pleted games. Thus tw o wins b y a run each tim e w ould far outw eigh a victory b y an innings and 300 runs, and a defeat staved off b y rain, even were a coun ty an innings and 100 runs behind, w ou ld in no w ay interfere w ith the positions on the list. I t m ay, of course, be said that each coun ty has to take the same chance of these m ishaps, and it is comm on in such cases to add that everything is thus fair all round. B u t a m oments’ reflection w ill show that such an argum ent is untenable. I f the same com petition w ere in p ro­ gress for a series o f years, there is no doubt that the doctrine o f averages w ould be proved in the adjustm ent o f such chances, b u t a season is quite too short for anything like an all-rou nd equality o f g ood and evil fortune. One m atch may, and does, alter conditions so greatly, both for the w inning and the losing side, that recovery is almost impossible for the losers (at any rate, at an advanced stage o f the com petition), n or can the winners easily again th row aw ay their advantage. This has, no doubt, been the weak point in the fairness o f the county championship, from the time of its initiation, and the M .C .C . had left matters sim ply were they were, in its legislation o f last year. The abolition of counting simply b y points is, o f course, due to the fact that it is not n ow the custom fo r each county to meet every other in the com petition. The old plan was certainly m ore simple. Drawn games were ignored, wins deducted from losses, and there y ou were. But this w ould be m anifestly unfair now , when it w ould be barely possible, with all other gam es excluded, to crow d into one season out and home matches between all the first-class counties— in all 182 games. This is leaving out ot the question matters o f expense, and o f raising teams, &c., so that w e can, perhaps, never expect to see all the counties meet in the same year. It w ould not be ju st to adju dge as cham pion a county w hich w on 12 matches out of 16 completed, whilst another w hich had gained 11 wins in 14 finished games, and so was behind on the old plan, was in the competition. * * * * * I f a plan is required w hich shall be perfect, I am afraid it w ill be lo n g before it is obtained. A ll the systems which have for their basis the numbers of runs obtained fo r and against any particular county, or the averages o f batting o t bow lin g, have one grave flaw, which, alm ost theoretically puts them out of court. A s all the counties do not play one another, there is a great advantage to those w h o meet the comparatively weak b ow lin g o f certain shires. Buns made against Sussex, fo r example, are n ot w orth so m uch intrinsically, though they are in a batting table, as those made against Surrey. W ickets obtained against Leicestershire are not o f equal value, in fact, w ith those which fall to a county m eeting Y orkshire. Y e t they count for as much in a list o f b ow lin g averages. B efore bein g able to estimate the exact value o f a county’s form , it w ould be necessary to appraise that of each o f its opponents, a b y no means easy task. Then conditions of weather, o f um piring, o f choice o f innings, and the other hundred and one chances o f the game, com e in to com plicate matters, and per­ p lexity ends in further perplexity. Y e t, practically, if the average per w icket in batting were divided by the average cost o f each w icket obtained from the enemy, a fair result w ould probably be obtained. Suppose w e apply this test to this year’s contestants in the county cham pionship and see how the results tally w ith the positions o f the counties as calculated on the M .C .C . p la n :— B attin g B ow lin g Figure o f Surrey ............. A verage. A verage. M erit. ... 26*2 .. 16-87 ... 1-55 L ancashire ... ... 23377 ... 164 ... 1-42 Y ork shire ... 23-256 . 17-4 ... 1*33 G loucestershire ... 20V7 ... 18-83 ... 1-066 D erbyshire ... ... 2176 ... 2036 ... 1-068 M id d lesex ... 22-51 ... 22-76 •945 W arw icksh ire ... 22-31 ... 23-75 •939 S om erset............. ... 20-97 . . 25-17 •833 E ssex ............. ... 18-05 ... 18'56 •967 H am pshire ... ... 1856 ... 19-96 •93 S ussex ............. ... 2104 . .. 27-36 •76 N otts ............. ... 18-61 ... 23*85 *78 Leicestershire ... 14-25 ... 2387 *59 K en t...................... ... 2033 ... 2 6 4 •77 * * * # # I t w ill be seen that this m ethod of scoring w ould, after the first three places, quite have upset the order o f merit for the past season. N or, d o I think, will cricketers be u nw illing to adm it that the altered order is m ore in consonance with the facts. A s to the first three on the list— Surrey, Lancashire, Y orkshire— few can raise an y cavil, and it w ill be found that their figures o f m erit as given above agree fairly w ith those o f the M .C . C . scheme Derbyshire have shown themselves a very good all-rou n d team, and have more reliable m en than Gloucestershire, who may b e a m ore brilliant, b u t certainly are a m ore erratic eleven. E ssex and Kent are both undoubtedly too low in the table to represent their merits, and this also is corrected b y the above figures. M iddle­ sex have had to give m ore runs for a fixed num ber o f wickets than they have been able to make fo r the same number, and it is on ly fair that th ey should stand below D erbyshire, whose b a ttin g is worth about a run and a half p er w icket more than that o f their opponents. Leicester­ shire w ould take bottom place, and this most people w ill think fairly represents the p osition o f this w eak-battin g and average bow lin g county eleven. * * # # * But if the drawn gam es were not ignored, bu t were treated upon the principle I have suggested, the new elaborate plan ju st detailed m ight w ell be allow ed to wait for consideration until such time as the m odified plan failed. It is these drawn gam es which, if played out, w ould undoubtedly have resulted in favour o f one o f the parties which tends to give false positions in the table. This will o f course at once be seen when bearing in m ind D erbyshire’s ill-lu ck in the matter o f drawn gam es. W ere these adjudicated upon, and the w ins and losses taken into account, there w ould be little to com plain o f in the M .C .C . scheme of scoring. E x act form m igh t be left to the researches o f the purist, bu t the ordinary, average, every-day sort o f m an w ould be well satisfied w ith the general result. SHREWSBURY SCHOOL. M atches played, 12 ; w on 4 ; draw n 7 ; lost 1. B A T T IN G .A V E R A G E S. N o. Tim es M ost of n ot T otal in an inns. ou t. runs. inns. A ver. A . F . V ern on ........... ... 13 ... 1 ..., 377 .. . 89 ... 3 1 4 C. V . B eresford .. . ... 15 ... 2 .. . 350 . . 64*. . 26 9 H . D . B an n in g .. . ... 11 ... 3 .. . 177 ... 47 .. . 221 C. K enrick ........... . ... 11 ... 0 .. . 212 ... 70 .... 19 2 F. H . L . O ldham .. . ... 16 ... 1 .. . 247 .. 78 .. . 16-5 H . S tubbs ............., ... 17 ... 3 .. . 215 ... 89*.. . 15*3 C. E . F in n y ............. ... 14 ... 0 .... 209 ... 80 .. . 14*9 F . H . H um phrys.. . ... 16 ... 2 .. . 199 ... 33 .. . 14-3 R . L e N eve F oster ... 11 ... 6 .. . 67 ... 18*.. . 13-4 J . H . T h om as . ... 7 ... 0 .. . 92 ... 30 .. . 13*1 G . M oser ... . . 13 ... 1 .. . 142 ... 46 .. . 11*8 H . L loy d -J on es .. . ... 10 ... 1 .. . 62 ... 34 .. . 6-9 # Signifies n ot ou t. B O W L IN G A V E R A G E S . O vers. M d n s. R u n s W k ts. A ver. H . L loy d -J on es .. . 13.2 .. . 4 .. . 29 ... 6 .. . 4*83 J. H . T h om as .. . 79.2 .. . 22 .. . 169 ... 17 .... 9 94 C. K en rick ............ . 115.1 .. . 40 .. . 246 ... 20 ... . 12-30 C. E . F in n y ...........,. 129.0 ... 31 .. . 342 ... 25 .. . 13-68 G . M oser..................... . 153.2 .... 48 .. . 376 ... 25 .. . 1540 F . H . H u m ph rys. . 141.1 . .. 26 .. . 399 ... 20 .. . 19-95 H . Stubbs ......... . 82.2 .. . 13 .. . 247 ... 11 .. . 22*45