Cricket 1897

360 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 19, 1897. BUSSEY’S < C C B « BATS. H IGHEST GRADE . BUSSEY’S BALLS. H IGHEST GRADE . BUSSEY’S GUARDS. HIGHEST GRADE. BUSSEY’S GLOVES. H IGHEST GRADE BUSSEY’S <cc& « BAGS. H IGHEST GRADE. CRICKETERS’ DIARY I S A G E M FOR , 6 d . CATALOGUES ON APPLICATION TO CITY DEPOT— 36 & 38, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, OR DEALERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. MANUFACTORY— PECKHAM, LONDON. TIMBER MILLS— ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. BETWEEN THE INNINGS. One is very glad to note the introduction into the Kentish team of so promising a player as the young Malvernian, Mr. S. H. Day, if only as some relief to the mediocrity which seems a characteristic of Kent cricket just now. In their last four matches Mr. Mar- chant’s men have been four times beaten—by an innings and 19, by ten wickets, by 63 runs, and by 80 runs—and the totals of their innings in these four matches have been 199, 181, 170, 202, 190, 201, 179 and 186. That is to say they have never actually collapsed, but have never made enough runs to even look like winning, a sure sign of mediocrity. One cannot call the Kent team a weak one on paper; it is true that the bowling is not what it might be, but with Mr. Bradley, Mr. Shine, Martin, Walter Wright, Alec Hearne and Mr. Mason, they have six useful bowlers, which is a larger number than most county teams can boast; and the batting, though there is a decided tail, is as strong as that of several of the other shires. Yet they have only managed to win two county matches up to date ; and one of those (the Somerset game at Blackheath) Mr. J. II. Mason may almost be said to have \yon single-handed. What they will accomplish in their remaining matches remains to be seen. It should not be forgotten, that Kent, like Somerset and Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Middlesex, suffers greatly in not being able to command the regular services of some of her very best men. Mr. Burnup is being sorely missed just now ; and the garden county would have won many more matches during recent years, had sueh men as the Bev.W. Rashleigh, Messrs.W. H. Patterson, H. C. Stewart, J. Le Fleming, W . L. Knowles, Captain Hamilton and Lord Harris been regular -instead of occasional players. Malvern may well feel proud of the many fine players she has sent out of late years— P. H. Latham, C. J. Burnup, the Poster brotherhood, and now young Day. I believe a good deal of the credit for this is due to Willoughby, the old Hampshire pro. who is coach at the Worcestershire school. The old days, when nearly all prominent amateurs w7ho were public school men owed allegiance to Eton, Harrow, or Winchester, have evi­ dently passed away. Repton, Tonbridge, Dulwich, Wellington, Uppingham, Charter­ house and Marlborough are all prominently represented in first-class cricket to-day, as well as Malvern. Mr. Day's achievement in making a century on his first appearance for a leading county is one that has been equalled only by Ranjit­ sinhji, MacLaren, Ricketts, of Lancashire, Marlow and L. Winslow. In Ranji’s case, however, it was not his debut in first-class cricket nor was it so in that of Marlow, who played once or twice against the Australian team of 1890 before becoming identified with Sussex. Mr. A. Lorrimer made 109 in his first match for Leicestershire (then second- class) in 1889 or 1890. “ Down under,” J. Mcllwraith, C. W. Rock and L. W . Pye were all credited with centuries in their first intercolonial matches. Mr. W . Andrew’s play for Hampshire against Warwickshire on Saturday last stamps him as one of the best new men of the year, and, like Mr. Heseltine, a very wel­ come addition to the strength of the count)'’s cricket, which suffered a great blow when Mr. H. F. Ward died. Granted, that the Warwickshire bowlers are not Richardsons or Briggs, the achievement of the Hampshire men in saving the game as they did was distinctly creditable. It looked at one time as though they were twice within the week to suffer defeat by an innings and ever-so-much, but Messrs. Andrew and A. J. L. Hill saved them from a repetition of the terrible experience at the Oval, and though they had not quite got on terms when the end came it might well have needed another full day’s play to have given Warwickshire victory, for Mr. Lacey is likely at any time to run up a long score, and one of Mr. D. A. Steele’ s peculiarities is making runs when they are not expected of him. The result of this match is another lesson of what has often been pointed out before: that, however strong a side may be in batting, it cannot win many matches unless it has at least two good bowlers, with two or three good changes. Perhaps Forestor is the only man in the Warwickshire team who is roally anything better than a change bowler just now. Since I wrote last week, three more bats- (Brockwell and Gunn on the 9th August, Mr. J. A. Dixon on the 12th) have achieved the 1,000 runs; and probably a dozen or fifteen others, will, before the end of the season find a place on the list, which now has twenty names. This is the first season in which the Notts captain has reached four figures. Tom Richardson took his 200th wicket on Friday ; but Jack Hearne will scarcely reach that number this season, Abel is going strongly for the 2,000 runs ; and Ranji, though he is having a bad spell at present (it would be strange, indeed, if, with the claims to a kingdom and the honours of authorship disputing with cricket, the empire of his thoughts, he should be quite at his best), will not unlikely get into the third thousand also. Brown’s accident at a time when he was in fine form has spoiled his chance. Though Bedfordshire has dropped out of the running there appears to be more county cricket outside the first-class circle this year than ever. I was struck the other day by the number of men formerly well-known in first-class cricket who are now playing for minor counties. Nash, Crossland’s old comrade in the Lancashire team, gets a lot of wickets for Buckinghamshire; .Jesse Hide, though not yet properly qualified, has been playing for Cornwall (I wonder why the idea of a county team for Cornwall recalls the man who was “ the best cover-point in Europe—south of the Pyrenees,” for there is really no reason why good cricket should not be played in Cornwall), and among others may be mentioned Messrs. O. G. Radcliffe, A. C. M. Croome, J. H. Brain, W. H. Brain, W. G. Heasman, A. Daffen, P. J. De Para- vicini, C. H. Allcock, G. B. Raikes, L. C. V. Bathurst, F. G. H. Clayton, H. K. Foster, M. G. Dauglish, H. Bassett, and Watts. Was there ever such a season as this for accidents to players P A list was given in “ Pavilion Gossip ” last week, but since then several other casualities have taken place. The most serious is, perhaps, that of Charles Smith, the Lancashire stumper, who will not be able to play again this season (a fact which may well cost his county the championship); but I question whether Soar’s injury may not be really worse. The Hampshire pro. has been incapacitated in the same way two or three times before, I fancy, and when one remembers Walter Hearne, one fears for the man whose leg is liable to give way in the middle of an over. Hampshire can ill afford to lose Soar’s services, even tempo­ rarily.