Cricket 1897

Jun e 24, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GARlb!. 237 C ric k e t g ro u n d w a n te d (exclusive) for Season 1898, with or without pavilion, near London.— Address S e c r e t a r y , c/o J. W. Vickers, 5, Nicholas Lane, E.O. Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF TEE GAME, 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY , JUNE 24 th , 1897. $a\)tlton <§os« 2 itp. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. In common with all the rest of the English-speaking world, cricketers and Cricket “ kept Jubilee” with enthusiasm. In the London district married cricketers showed their loyalty by taking their wives and families to their seats to vie w the procession (and were somewhat as­ tonished to find that there was no crowd­ ing) and then proceeded to make their sevens and eights, or hmdreds, on the cricket field. Many of the re<t siw the procession in comfort and then played their matches, or watched with much complacency their companions fielding in the blazing sunlight. A t Gravesend and Leeds the cricketers formed a graceful group in the centre of the ground and sang the National Anthem, in which the thousands of spectators loudly joined. I t will be remembered that the match between the Philadelphians and Middle­ sex was originally announced to be played on Jane 21, 22 and 23, but that, on the invitation of Mr. Webbe, the Philadelphians gladly accepted the opportunity of seeing the Jubilee pro­ cession on the 22nd. When the Phila­ delphians ended their first innings on Monday, they were 117 runs behind, and the question arose whether they ought to follow on or not. It was argued that as the match was only to last for two days, they must follow o n ; on the other hand, it was pointed out that in former days, the M.C.C. v. Yorkshire match was always ended on a Tuesday, to enable Yorkshiremen to see the Derby, and that many other matches had been played under like conditions without the question being raised. Mr. Webbe, as might have been expected by those who know him, gener­ ously gave the Philadelphians the option of follow ing on. But the question need not have arisen at all, and certainly need not have been left to the Philadelphians or the Middlesex captain to decide. The match was marked on the official card as a “ Three-day match,” and the accident that in a “ three-day m atch” play may take place only on two days, or, for the matter of that, one day, owing to rain, or an earthquake, or, let us say, a Jubilee, has nothing whatever to do with it. E v e ry b o d y was glad to sea the success of the Philadelphians in the Sussex match, especially the success of the bowlers in getting rid of their opponents on a good wicket for 4(3. If this remark­ able performance had been done against any other team it would have been re­ ceived with the utmost astonishment, but Sussex is, as it were, a surprise picket— fortunately possessing the rare virtue of providing many more prizes than bl ink.. Nevertheless the Philtdelphians, by thr good all round play which gave them 1 victory, have clearly shewed that they arv a team which must be treate i with great respect. M r . J. A. D i x o n narrowly escaped adding his name to the short list of men who have m ide a hundred in each innings of a first-class match. His scores against Kent were 102 and 91. It will be remem­ bered that last year Chatterton was withiu a very little of accomplishing the feat, but that the innings was closed when he only wanted a few more runs. L ist year K. S. Ranjitsinhji and Storer were fortu­ nate enough to add their names to the list. T h e Middlesex men, or rather ten of the team, had an experience last week which can hardly have been equalled. They went into the field against Notts, on the Tuesday evening at half-past five and, with intervals for sleep and meals, continued to field until lunch time on Friday when the first innings of Y ork ­ shire closed. During this time 832 runs were scored against them. T h e re cannot be very much doubt that the oldest cricketer who plays regu­ larly in matches is Mr. G. Willmer, of Christchurch, N. Z . He is eighty-one years of age, and was recently presented by his club with a gold badge for his cap. Possibly some of the readers of Cricket may know of some still more aged cricketer who plays regularly, but it hardly seems likely. T h e scores of the match between the Hampstead Hockey Club and Hampstead on J une 7 would have appeared in Cricket before, but it was so remarkable for the eighth man in a team to make 206 when the next highest score was 46, that a mistake seemed possible. The players in the match were all Hampstead men, and although the bow ling against the Hockey Club was not very strong, it was good enough to dispose of most of the team, including some well-known men, for single figures. But when Mr. J. C. Toller, who made the 206, came in, he at once began to hit, scoring 32 off the first two overs, and treating the nine bowlers opposed to him during his innings in much the same way. No ball, however good its length might be, came amiss to him. His first hundred runs were made in about an hour and a quarter. During his innings he was let off three or four times, but the catches were all difficult, on account of the great force with which the ball came to the fielder. Mr. A. E. C o a t e s write the follow ing letter, which shews an interesting light on the apparent deoline of the game in Otlif') uit, fcjm Curui Cjlouy Club, Loomis, California:— ‘ I usually send you my annual note rather earlier in the year. The cricket outlook in California is fairly good, and the game is modifying the wildness and woolliness of the west surely, if slowly ; but it is not supported as it should be in San Francisco, in which city there are nearly 10,000 English, besides Irish and Scotch. Yet there are only four cricket clubs in San Francisco, one of which is in a moribund condition. This is not as it should bo ; but the apparent apathy may be partly explained by the fact that all games, save on public holidays, of which there are but three during the season, have to be played on Sundays, as the Californians are not educated up to the Saturday half-holiday yet, while the British are compelled to adopt the business methods of their environment, without baing able to lay aside their dislike of Sunday amusements. For example, on June 20th, there is to be a Jubilee match at San Francisco—Town v. Country—but the Jubilee Committee will not patronize it because it will bo played on a Sunday, the only day on which teams could possibly be got together. The natives play base ball, football, and other games on Sundays, and Sundays only, with rare exceptions.” Mr. Coates continues as follows : — “ Here, in Placer Co., we have a fair team, which would be better if it could practise more ; we have two useful bowlers in C. K. Turner (St. Paul’s School), and W. B. Paul (Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Cornwall), the former slow right, with good command of the ball, the latter, fast left, with a good deal of ‘ devil.’ We have a week arranged jn the fall, and hope to sustain our record—‘ unbeaten on our own ground.’ We all look forward to the arrival of Cricket eagerly, and the boys say it is so jolly when old chums write from home and say, ‘ So glad to see in Cricket that you keep up your game still.’ ” F o r “ Norwood Wednesday” C. C. against “ Sydenham Alexandra,” on Wednesday, June 16th, T. B. Cole took four wickets with successive balls in the same over, all bowled. E v e n in California uncommon experi­ ences occur at times. Iu a match between Placer and Nevada Co. on May 22nd, Butt, of the former team, bowled twenty balls for five wickets and no runs, and then went off “ to give them a chance.” On May 30th, at Loomis, the Pacific Club made 36 singles out of 44 runs from the bat: the balance was made b y two hits each for four. T h e cricket public will have its “ Ranji ” in some form or other. His popularity, indeed, is so general that it looks as if he would very nearly even if he does not quite rival the record of W .G . himself, of whom it is said that Messrs. Hawkins and Co., the great photographer s of Brighton, have alone some hundred, more or less, of course, negatives. The latest addition to the portrait-gallery of which “ R a n ji” is central, in fact sole figure, takes the form of a photogravure from a painting b y H . Jamyn Brooks taken from life. K . S. Ranjitsinhji is represented, his admirers will be concerned to know, bat in hand at the wicket.