Cricket 1897

S e pt . 2, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 397 shire had been out of the running, the same remark would have applied to Surrey, who were twice beaten by Somer­ setshire. Indeed, the only county which has not been beaten twice by another county this year is Essex. In the Underground :—Yery solemn- looking gentleman, wearing spectacles, enters smoking carriage, and discovers friend. “ Hallo, Johnson, where do you come from ? ” Johnson: “ Just been having a look at Middlesex and Kent.” Solemn Gentleman: “ Well, there’s no accounting for tastes. For my part, I always prefer to go abroad for my holidays.” Johnson explains that his holidays have not yet begun; he has only been to Lord’s. T h e following letter appeared in “ Wanderer’s ” notes in the Sportsman yesterday. It is quite as much to the point as most of the letters which are published all over England on the county championship, while it has the merit of being humorous. THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP. S ir . —As the time for the annual ■wrangle over the County Cricket Championship has now arrived, I hasten to forestall all other aspirants for newspaper notoriety hy sending you my views on the subject. I am a Surrey man, and, while I was quite satisfied with the method of calculating the positions, so long as Surrey remained at the head of affairs, I now think that the whole system is radically wrong. I am, in fact, convinced that the only satisfactory solution of the difficulty will be to devise some plan by which Surrey will invariably come out at the top of the list, no matter how many matches they win or lose.—Yours, &c., O n e of th e O val C r o w d .” “ Kennington, August 30.” M b . B r a n n has just proved conclu­ sively that, although for the sake of his county he now plays a strictly defensive game, he can still hit as hard and as often as ever. For Surbiton against Streatham on Saturday, he made not out 165, out of a total of 255 for one wicket. His first 120 runs were put together in 35 minutes. According to the Sydney Mail, Mr. A. 0. MacLaren has accepted an appoint­ ment in one of the Sydney Schools. T h e Badminton Magazine for Septem­ ber, contains a cricket story, entitled “ A Cricket Tragedy,” of which the finish is original and unexpected. It is well illustrated by Ernest Prater, the artist wisely confining himself to incidents which do not give opportunities for technical mistakes like those which are so often found in cricket pictures. The story itself contains many amusing touches, and the description of the boats­ wain and his batting, which we reproduce here, will give a good idea of the enter­ tainment to be found in “ A Cricket Tragedy.” “ After this the boatswain entered, amid much laughter from the ship’s men and giggling among the girls, with whom he had become already a great favourite. Truly I could scarcely keep from smiling myself when he rolled up his sleeve as far as it would go, baring a brawny arm that would have served for the leg of a horse, all tattooed with ships and anchors. It was said he had laid many a Frenchman low before with a marlinspike and had little doubt but what he could handle a wooden club as well. ‘ Come on, mounseer,’ he shouted to the ball, as I gave him a quiet one on the leg-side to see him smite. 1Got him on the port bow! ” he added, catching it full on his knuckles, and sending it flying away into the grass for three. But so much did the people cheer to see him make a point that he would not stop at three, thinking only of running up a great score, and continued to run as many as eight times up and down the pitch, even after his wicket had been put down. Then he stood up to bat again, and refused to move for all the men on the coast until I had given him another, which bowled him out. The remainder of the men played more or less in the same way, though they made no runs at all, only staying in j ust so long as I was not able to give them a straight ball. Great fuss was made over the boatswain that day because of the eight runs which he had scored against our ninety-one, but very dreadful were the oaths he swore when he found that if he had continued to run ninety- two they might have won the match.” O f the 3.59 wickets taken by the Essex bowlers during the season, no less than 336 fell to Mr. Bull, Mr. Kortright, and Mead. There is food for reflection here. S in c e the last issue of Cricket a serious epidemic of l.b.w. has taken the place of “ run out,” and the ^following batsmen have been sufferers: Mr. MacLaren, Wass, Mr. Milligan, Moorhouse, Lord Hawke, Storer, Mr. Newton, Baldwin, Braund (twice in the same match), Geeson, Capt. Wynyard, Mr. Brann, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, Mr. Newham, Tate, Webb, Mr. Byrne, Alec Heame, Board, and Mr. Vernon. U n t i l this year the batting of the Middlesex team, whatever the success, or want of success, of the county, was of a nature which must always give delight to onlookers. There were two or three stickers, but they only served to give relief to the brilliancy of their companions. This year the monotony of most of the batting was for a time relieved by the dashing play of one or two men, but recently nearly every man seems to have settled down to play a more or less defensive game. This was strikingly exemplified in the first innings of Middle­ sex against Kent last week, and a visitor to Lord’s who happened not to have seen Middlesex at the wicket for a year or two would have thought that he had dropped upon a Notts or Warwickshire match by mistake ; in fact, Mr, Webbe, who has never professed to be a rapid run-getter, was the only man on the side who kept up the old traditions of Middle­ sex batting. M b . A. O. J o n e s will not be able to go to America with Mr. Warner’s team. His place will be taken by Mr. H. H. Marriott. “ C r ic k e t in g counties shall be consi­ dered as belonging to first-class or not. There is no necessity for further sub­ division.” Such is the rule, which, while it irresistibly reminds one of the “ damnation ” clauses of the Athanasian Creed, has so far admirably served its purpose. According to this rule, Mon­ mouthshire, which is certainly not a first class cricketing county, has apparently no existence, and so may play anybody in its eleven, as was pointed out a month or so ago in these columns by Mr. Arthur Wilson, when a question arose about the eligibility of Steeples to play for Derby­ shire as well as Monmouthshire. But an appeal has been made to the M.C.O. Committee by the Honorary Secretary of the Wiltshire C.C.C., to back up his county in its refusal to allow Steeples to play in the match against Monmouthshire, and the answer of the M.C.C. committee will be awaited with interest. It is odd that nobody has appealed before, for everybody knew of the case months ago. V e r t slowly the lists of scorers of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets are increasing, the latest names to be added to them being W. G. Quaife (1,000 runs), and Tate, Haigh and Hirst, 100 wickets. Thus Sussex has the distinction of having two men in its team who have taken 100 wickets, which must be “ tidings of comfort and joy ” to the committee. Other men who, if they play, have the chance of placing their names on one or other of these lists are Shrewsbury,944 runs; Mr. Perrin, 964; Bean, 970; Mr. Bainbridge, 998 ; Davidson, 932; Chat­ terton, 897: Hallam, 94 wickets; Attewell, 91 wickets; Mr. Townsend, 92 wickets ; Wainwright, 95 wickets. Richardson has now brought his total of wickets to over 250. I t is to be feared that the testimonial to K. S. Ranjitsinhji will not be of such proportions as had been hoped, for unlike Dr. Grace, who, when his testimonial was in process of manufacture, was able to continually arouse enthusiasm by making big scores, the Prince has not been at his best for a long time. He nearly always makes runs, but by com­ parison with his doings last season, his innings are but small. This is greatly to be regretted, for he has done a very great deal for Sussex cricket since he began to play in the team. W h a t e v e r Albert Trott may be able to do when he comes to be regularly opposed by first-class batsmen—and in the opinion of those who have played against him, he will do a lot—there is not the slightest doubt of his ability to bowl out club teams and minor counties. His latest performance was to take all ten wickets at Lord’s on Tuesday, in the first innings of Oxfordshire, for 49 runs. Since he had to retire from playing in first-class cricket, because there were no more fields in which he was eligible to conquer, he has, in nearly every innings in which he has bowled., taken six or seven wickets for about 40 rims. On