Cricket 1895

Nov. 28, 1895. CR ICK E T : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME. 459 KENT COUNTY C.C. The autumn m eeting o f the Comm ittee was held at the G olden Cross H otel, Charing Cross, on N ovem ber 4, M a jo r- Gen. D enne, R .H .A ., the president o f the club, occupied the chair. The accounts for the year ending O ctober 19 were presented and passed, and it w as decided to transfer £80 from the B all F und A ccount to the current account o f the club, and to invest in Consols the sum o f £700, part o f the balance remaining in hand. The follow in g report was adopted : The comm ittee report w ith m uch regret that the C ounty has been unable to retain the satisfactory position which it held last year. W hile M r. M archant put the best eleven in the field that he was able on each occasion to collect, the loss of W alter H earne, added to the unsuitability o f our bow lin g to very fast wickets, and the w ant o f a regular w icket-keeper at the beginn ing of the season, so handi­ capped the batting as to throw a heavier burden on that department than it could bear. N o fewer than 30 cricketers have been tried, and each one has played in at least tw o coun ty matches. The com ­ m ittee are still unable to find new professional talent, w h ich is absolutely essential if the county is to uphold the success o f form er years. The comm ittee consider that special thanks are due to M r. M archant fo r his untiring services to the county. R e co g ­ nising that his captaincy has been carried on under extrem ely depressing and tryin g circumstances they feel sure that all m embers o f the club m ore than appre­ ciate his un fU ggin g interest in his duties. Thanks are also due to M r. M ason, who played in every match, and was so useful with the bat and brilliant in the field. The comm ittee also notice w ith satis­ faction and pleasure, the excellent per­ formances in batting o f A lec Hearne, and their thanks are due to him , as w ell as to his brother professionals w ho, n otw ith ­ standing the uphill gam es they have taken part in, have always played with keenness and g ood temper. Individual members are often casually inform ed that there is a g o o d professional bow ler at such and such a place, bu t that no one has troubled to give him a trial. I f members o f the Club having such inform ation w ou ld send the name and address o f any such player to M r. L an ­ caster, steps w ou ld at once be taken to give him a trial in some club match where he m igh t have first-class cricketers to contend against. F inancially the past year has been a successful o n e ; the receipts under every heading in the account are greater than those fo r 1894, the total being £3,332 5s. as against £3,047 7s. 2d., for the previous y e a r ; the in o m e fr m subscriptions, which has steadily increased for the last ten years, stands at £1,164 as against £778 in 1890, an 1 £475 in 1885; the new subscriptions, how ever, show a slight fallin g off, bein g £150 from 213 members, as ag«in st £192 from 282 members in 1894. The receipts from the Canterbury Week scarcely reach the average o f the last three years, notw ithstanding the fact that the attendance on the Thursday was greater than on any form er occasion ; 12,329 were registered on that day, as against 11,827 on the Thursday in the Canterbury W eek, 1892, the previous best on re co rd ; The larger crow d was due to the increased number o f privi­ leges distributed am ongst the members o f the Club (o f whom there are 382 m ore than there were in 1892), and the gate m oney was £15 less than on the Thursday, 1892, bein g £423 as against £438. The attendances at hom e coun ty matches played elsewhere than at Canterbury wore m ore uniform than in 1894, in which year one third of the aggregate receipts o f seven matches was taken at one o f th em ; this year the highest amount, £222, was taken fo r the match w ith L an ­ cashire at T onbridge, and it represents one fifth o f the incom e irom hom e county matches. A s it has not been necessary to spend m oney on improvements or alterations o f any kind, the payments comprise merely the ordinary expenses o f the C lub, the only new item bein g £1 0 9s. 4d for Incom e T ax. The general account closes w ith a balance o f £H78 Is. 5d., bein g £613 6s. 4d m ore than the sum in hand at the beginn ing of the year. I t is p ro­ posed to transfer £80 from the B all Fund A ccount, and to increase the Investm ents b y £700. The num ber o f members on the register stands at 1.261, as against 1,187 twelve months ago. It was proposed b y L ord Harris and seconded b y Capt. L am bert and carried unanim ously, that M r. F . W . F u rley be invited to bc-cjme hon. treasurer to the Club in the room o f Col. Hartnell, who has resigned. COUNTY MATCHES, 189S. I t was decided to play the same matches as in the season ju st ended— nam ely, out and hom e matches w ith Lancashire, Yorkshire,G loucestershire, N otts, M iddle­ sex, Warwickshire, Somersetshire, Surrey, and Suscex, and also one m atch with the A ustralians; and to continue the second- eleven matches. GROUNDS FOR HOME MATCHES. F or the Canterbury W eek, it was decided to invito Lancashire to play on Bank H oliday, and the Australians on the Thursday, F riday, and Saturday, and to divide the other matches as fo llo w s : Tw o at Tonbridge, tw o at Catford, tw o at Gravesend, one at Beckenham , one at Maidstone, and one at Blackheath. ST. LAWRENCE GROUND, CANTERBURY. L ord Harris proposed, and Capt. Austin seconded, that the Club hire the cricket ground at Canterbury for another twelve m onths on the same terms as last year, w hich was carried. KENT CLUB AND GROUND. M r. M cA lpine proposed, and M ajor Spens seconded, that it is desirable iu tee interests o f K ent cricket that a club and ground should be form ed in the county. L ord Harris spoke in support o f this m otion, and, after some discussion, an amendm ent was m oved b y the R ev. R . T. Thornton, seconded by Mr. Patterson, and carried, that consideration o f this p roject be deferred until the next m eeting. BENEFIT MATCH. An application was received from W alter W right that, a benefit m atch m ight be granted him in 1896; no decision was arrived at, and the applica­ tion w ill be considered at the next meeting. D o n ation to h u is h . It was proposed b y Mr. M archant, seconded b y Mr. Patterson, and carried, that a donation o f £10 be made to Huish, the w icket-keeper, to recompense him for the loss o f time caused b y his accident at Manchester. GROUND BOWLER, W alter Hearne was re-appointed ground bow ler at Canterbury. W iig h t was not re-appointed to M aiJstone as he has accepted an engagem ent in the north for next cricket season, which w ill, prevent his bein g availible for the county the last three days o f the week. GRACE TESTIMONIAL FUND. On the m otion o f L ord Harris, seconded by M r. Patterson it was decided to make a donation o f thirty guineas to the Grace Testim onial Fund. se c r e t a r ie s ’ m e e tin g a t l o r d ’ s . M r. Patterson and M r. M archant were appointed delegates to represent K en t at the Secretaries’ m eeting. A cordial vote o f thanks to the Chair­ man fo r presiding closed the proceedings. THE VICTORIA PARK ASSOCIATION. L o rd Harris presented the prizes to the w inning teams o f the above association, at the annual concert held at the Stratford T ow n H all, on M onday the 11th inst. A lthough hisplayiug- da) s were practically over, L ord Harris said he still took the greatest interest in one o f E nglan d’s great pastimes. D u rin g the few years that he was in India, cricket and athletics had been taken up w ith a remarkable am ount o f enthusiasm. The Parsee cricketers had been extrem ely succes-ful, whilst the B om bay Presidency eleven in fou r years had quite held their own, having w on just a b „u t as many games as they had lost. (H ear, hear). It was a m ost remarkable sight to see a m atch on the B om bay ground. They had in tha first place a very tine field, surrounded b y deligh tful trees and banked up by some o f the finest public buildings in the w orld. The crow d, too, was a m ost orderly one who kept a ring w ithout ropes and cheered every side m ost im partially. Perhaps on an im portant occasion the crow d w ould number betw een fifteen and tw enty thousand, and when it was taken into consideration that m ore than half were natives their excellent conduct was all the m ore appreciated, whilst he (the speaker) th ou gh t n o greater compliment could be paid to the British Empire. The magnificent buildings were the result o f the place that E ngland had given to India. A great deal of adverse criticism had been made ow in g to the fact that lie took part in cricket in India. It was entirely a novelty for the G overnor