Cricket 1895

D ec . 26, 1895. CR ICKET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF T IIE GAME. 473 THE PROGRAMM E FOR 1896. A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF COU N T Y SE C R E T A R IE S . The annual m eeting o f county secre­ taries fo r the arrangement of the fixtures fo r n ext season and other business was held in the members’ d in in g-room at L ord ’ s Cricket G round on Tuesday, D ecem ber 10th. M r. H en ry Perkins, Secretary of M arylebone Club, occupied the chair, and am ong those present were L ord Harris (president o f the M arylebone Club), Messrs. C. W . A lcock, W . W . Read, K . J. K ey (Surrey), S. H . Swire, E . B. R ow ley, and J . M ’Laren (Lancashire), J. B . W ostinholm , M ichael Ellison, jun., and F . S. Jackson (Y orkshire), W . G. Grace, (Gloucestershire), W alter B oden and W . B arclay-D elacom be (D erbyshire), A . J. W ebbe aud A . E . Stoddart (M iddle­ sex), W . Ansell (W arw ickshire), A . E. Somerset, W . L . M urdoch and W . N ew ­ ham , (Sussex), H . M urray-A nderton and Gerald F ow ler (Somerset), W . W right, W . E . D enison and H . Turner (N otts), Frank Marchant, W . H . Patterson, and A . J . Lancaster (K en t), Captain E . G. W ynyard and D r. Russell Bencraft (H ampshire), C. E . Green, C. M . Tebbut, H . G . Ow en and O. R . Borradaile (Essex), T. Burdett, Sir A . R . Palmer, and J. Perkins (Leicestershire), F . M itchell (C am bridge University), H . D . G. L eve­ son -G ow er and P . F . W arner (O xford U niversity), E . R oper (L iverpool and D istrict), P . H . F oley and H . K . Foster (W orcestershire), C. P ig g (H ertfordshire), P . J . de Paravicini (Bucks), W . O. Snares (Berkshire),J. H . B rain (Glamorganshire), H .M . Turner (O xfordshire), R . H .M allett (Durham ), T. H . Vialls, J. Gaudern and T . H orton (N ortham ptonshire), Rev. S. W . R . W alters (N orthum berland), J. H orner (Cheshire), Captain G. N . A . H arris (United Services C lub), W . Carless (hon. sec. H astings Cricket W eek), A . W orsley (N orth and East R idin g of Y orkshire), E . G. B uxton (N orfolk), T. W heeler (W iltshire), P . C olville Smith (C ornw all), and L . F . Steadman (M on­ m outhshire). T h e A u s t r a l ia n V is it . I n opening the proceedings, the Chair­ m an said he had received a letter from M r. Portus, secretary o f the Australasian C ricket C ouncil, asking whether the A us­ tralians w ould be w elcom ed next season, an d suggesting that five test matches should be played betw een E nglan d and Australia. H e (the chairman) had sent a circular to the counties asking fo r their view s on the subject, and had received an unanimous assurance that the Austra­ lians w ould receive a hearty welcome, bu t only one cou n ty was in favour of five test matches. The m ajority were of opinion that in the interests o f county cricket three test games w ould be suffi­ cient. H e hoped the counties w ould be loyal, and give up their m en fo r these im portant matches. M r. A lcock explained that the delay that had occurred in sending out notice o f the dates o f the test matches was due to the fact he had n ot heard sooner from Australia. I f the counties could possibly agree to the dates it w ou ld sim plify matters very m aterially. The dates of the E ngland and Australia matches were Ju ne 22 at L ord ’s, J u ly 16 at Manchester, and A ugust 10 at the Oval. M r. W ostinholm (Yorkshii'e) com ­ m ented on the fact that the test matches are always played on the same grounds. The same bodies thus always obtained the profits, and he th ou gh t the arrange­ m ent was hard upon the poor counties. H e asked w ho w ou ld take the profits this tim e o f the test matches. M r. A lcock said he could only speak for one county. The Surrey comm ittee proposed to do what had been done before, and he supposed Lancashire and the M .C .C . w ould d o the same. M The su bject then dropped, bu t later in the m eeting Mr. A lcock rose and remarked he did n ot know w hat fixtures had been arranged on the dates o f the test matches, but he thought the counties should give a general undertaking to let their men off. The Australians had been offered a hearty w elcome, b u t it was perfectly useless fo r them to com e unless the dates o f the test matches were kept quite clear. Surrey w ou ld let their men off as they always had done. D r. W . G. Grace (Gloucestershire) sup­ ported M r. A lcock’s suggestion. I t w ould be an insult to the Australians to ask them to p lay a w eak team. I f E ngland were beaten, it w ou ld be unfair to the Australians to turn round and say “ Y ou didn’t beat our best team, so and so were n ot p layin g.” M r. Swire (Lancashire) remarked that his coun ty w ould be glad to fall in with the suggestion. Tne Chairman said he could put the matter even m ore strongly. The A us­ tralians had been invited as the under­ standing they could play their test matches. I f these matches could not be arranged for the best elevens g ot to ­ gether, he w ould advise M r. A lcock to cancel the tour altogether, and state that certain o f the counties had failed to keep their prom ise. M r. W . H . Patterson (K en t), M r. W . E . Denison (N otts), and M r. W alter B oden (Derbyshire), undertook that their men should be let off, and M r. W ostinholm said he had no d ou bt that after the e x ­ pression of opinion the Y orkshire com ­ m ittee w ould agree to set their players at liberty. The Chairman then put a m otion p led gin g the first class counties to give up any players w h o were required to represent E nglan d in the three test matches, and this was unanim ously agreed to. A fter lunch, L ord Harris, the president of the M arylebone Club, said he had been instructed b y the comm ittee o f that body to offer a few remarks on tw o subjects. The first was w ith reference to repre­ sentative elevens in the test matches betw een E nglan d and Australia. The M arylebone Club had some little claim upon the counties in various ways, and he was sure that the oounties w ou ld accomm odate them selves as far as possible to the wishes o f the M arylebone C lub. The M .C .C . C omm ittee felt very stron gly that as regards those games the counties should do their best to set free such m en as were wanted to represent E ngland. N o reasonable consideration should stand in the w ay o f the m en who were chosen by the selecting comm ittees. The second point he was asked to brin g before them was w ith regard to the construction that was p u t on the rule relating to county residential qualification. I t seemed to the Comm ittee that this rule was constructed in a somewhat la x manner. As at present w orded the rule was clear, and the in ten ­ tion o f the origin al drafters o f the rule was also p erfectly clear. T hey under­ stood there were instances of gentlem en, and possibly o f players also, w h o were recognised as bein g qualified to p lay for certain counties, and as a matter o f fact their residential qualification was o f a superficial character. H e believed he was justified in saying that persons p layin g for the counties m erely had lod gin gs in that coun ty in which th ey scarcely slept. The comm ittee were o f opinion that this was a lax construction o f the rule as w orded, and n ot carrying out the origin al intention of the drafters. The fact, how ever, was patent that this was recognised as a sufficient qualification, and he was perfectly certain there was no one in cricket circles w ho wanted the rule to be so strict to keep any good cricketers from playin g for the county they wished to p lay w ith. W hat the M .C .C . com ­ m ittee had authorised him to suggest to the counties was that in the course of next year they should give consideration to the subject, to decide whether under the circum stances it m ight not be wise to w ord the rule in a somewhat more elastic manner. It had occurred to him (the speaker) that the qualification which entitled a man to vote for a county should be sufficient to enable him to p lay for that county. The m eeting w ou ld see the direction in w hich his ideas ran. It was n ot desired to keep any cricketers out o f county cricket. The present rule w hich demanded a tw o years’ residence w ould ensure that cricketers w ould not oscillate from one coun ty to another. H e did n ot anticipate any danger in that direction, fo r a cricketer’s interest was generally centred in one, and perhaps in the course o f a career, w ith tw o counties. H e became enthusiastic over one county, and did not wish to leave it. Therefore he thought the tw o years’ residence would be a sufficient safeguard against any oscillation, and the w ordin g o f the rule m igh t be so altered as to recognise what he understood was the present practice of regarding the possession of a lod gin g as a sufficient qualification without actual occupation o f that lod gin g. W ith regard to the tw o subjects he had brough t be­ fore their notice the first required im ­ m ediate attention, bu t the second did not need any treatment until the secretaries m et again. H e trusted that in b iin g in g forw ard these matters it w ould be recog ­ nised that the M arylebone Club had only done so in the proper interests o f cricket. NEXT ISSUE, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30th.