Cricket 1897

398 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 2 , 1897. Saturday last he took ten wickets in the second innings of Devonshire Park v. Eastbourne for 19 runs, but there were twelve men on the side. O n Monday, Hirst, who had already scored a thousand runs during the season, brought his total of wickets to 99, but unlike Mr. Jessop, who had to wait for some days when in the same position, he managed to get another wicket—bowling a Yorkshireman at Scarborough—on the following afternoon. He thus joins Hayward and Mr. Jessop as one of the trio who have a little list all to themselves. A b e l ’s total up to date is 1,958, and the Prince’s 1,940, the race between them thus being of very great interest. With­ in measurable distance of these two totals are the 1,724 of Brown, the 1,589 of Mr. Brann, and the 1,612 of Wainwright. T h e Lancashire Committee have promised a benefit to Baker next year, giving him choice of a match. I n the match at Trowbridge between Dr. Grace’s team aud Mr. Long’s team, the young W. G. and the old W . G. equally divided the wickets of their opponents in the first innings, although the young W. G., who was not put on until late, did his share at about half the cost of his parent’s. There were some good cricketers on either side, the best known, besides the Graces, being the Rev. F. Meyrick-Jones, C. L. Townsend, L. G. Thomas, C. M. Wells, and the young Harrovian, E. M. Dowson. S c e n e : T h e S ca rb o ro u g h crick e t- g r o u n d o n T u esd a y a ftern oon . A g e n ­ tlem a n a n d a la d y , a n d o th er s p e c ta to rs ; also som e crick eters. She: “ What are they all clapping and getting so excited for ? ” He (in great glee): “ Hirst has just taken a hundred wickets, and made a thous------ ” She : “ Oh, how interesting it must have been to see him do that. Why would you put off coming until so late?” He (feebly): “ You see, dear, he didn’ t take them all this morning.” She: “ Oh ! Then I don’ t see anything to be excited about.” ONCE more the Hastings and St. Leonard’ s Cricket Week looms in the near future, and as usual, brings the season to a close. Just at present the weather does not look very promising for the success of the Festival, but it is greatly to be hoped that it w ill change in time to make the matches enjoy­ able, both to players and spectators (who always turn up in large numbers if the weather gives them half a chance). Needless to say, it will not be the fault of Mr. Carless, the popular honorary secretary, if the Week does not prove to be every whit as successful as its predecessors. T h e teams selected for the North and South match which opens the above Festival on Thurslay, September 9fch, are as follows :— N o r t h . —Mr. A. 0. Jones, Mr. F. W. Milligan, and Mr. C. W. Wright, with Attewell, Baker, Davidson, Gunn, Hallam, Lilley, Peel, and A. Ward. S outh . —Dr. W. G. Grace, Mr. G. Brann, Mr. X . F. Druce, Mr. W. L. Murdoch, Mr. C. L. Townsend, and Mr. S. M. J. Woods, with Abel, Brockwell, Butt, Hayward, and Richardson. T he sailing of Mr. Stoddart’s team for Australia on September 17th has some­ what affected the final selection, as certain members of that combination found it impossible to play at Hastings within so short a time of departure— notably Wainwright, Hirst, and J. T. Hearne—though Mr. Stoddart himself would have been representing the South, but that owing to the strain from which he has been suffering, he has thought it advisable not to play again before leaving England. He is, of course, a great loss to the side, and will be much missed at Hastings, where he is so deservedly popular. The formation of a team for America has also deprived the Committee of the assistance of Mr. G. L. Jessop, who would otherwise have been seen at Hastings. Mr. C. E. M. Wilson, under medical advice, has been obliged to give up his place in the North team, and Mold is also an absentee from that team, having been advised by his doctor not to play again this season. The teams for the Gentlemen and Players’ match are not yet quite decided upon, but they will include most of the amateurs and profes­ sionals appearing in the North and South match. A n unfortunate batsman, in a recent match iu Kent, hit a ball which re­ bounded off a pillar of one of the stands into a fieldsman’s hands; he was promptly given out. A correspondent asks if this was a good decision. One would suppose that arrangements had been made, as usual, that the stands were a boundary, and even if not, it was a curious thing for the fielding side to appeal. The following are some of the latest hundreds :— Aug. 1—E. H. D. Sewell, Nilgiri Blues y. Coimbatore .......................................... 102 Aug. 25—B. J. T. Bosanquet, Incogniti v. United Service .................................................. 130 Aug. 28—G. Brann, Surbiton v. Streatham ... *165 FIN AL POSITIONS OF THE COUNTIES. Fin- Per- Pts. islied cent- P. W . L. D. in. games. age. Lancashire 26 ... 16 .. . 3 .. . 7 ...13 ... 19 ... 68*42 Surrey ... 26 ... 17 .. . 4 ... 5 ...13 ... 21 ... 61-90 Essex 16 .,.. 7 .. . 2 .. . 7 ... 5 ... 9... 5555 Yorkshire. 26 .. . 13 .. . 5 .. . 8 .,.. 8 ... 18 ... 44-44 Gloucester 18 ... 7 .. . 5 ... 6. .. 2 ... 12 ... 16 66 Sussex ... 20 ... 5 .. . 6 ... 9 ... —1 ... 11 ... — 9-99 W ’wicksh 18 ... 3 .. 4 ... 11 ...—1 ... 7 .... —14 28 Middlesex 16 ..,. 3 ... 4 ... 9 ... —1 ... 7 ... —14-28 Hampshire 18 4 .. . 7 .. . 7 ... —3 ... 11 ... —2727 Notts 16 ..,. 2 ... 5 .. . 9 ... —3 ... 7 ..., —42-85 Somerset.. 16 ..,. 3 ... 9 .. . 4 ... —6 ... 12 ... —50-00 Kent 18 ... 2 .. . 10 .. . 6 , ... —8 ... 12 ..., —63*66 L ’cestersh. 14 .,.. 1 .. . 10 ... 3 ... —9 ... 11 ... —81-81 Derbyshire 16 ... 0 .. . 9 .. . 7 . .. —9 ... 9 ... —100-00 N .B.—The rule is to deduct the losses from the wins, and calculate the positions by the proportion of points in finished games. THE COUNTY SEASON . It is one of the disadvantages of the present system of deciding the Cham­ pionship that ordinary people, who have probably forgotten their lessons in mathematics, are quite unable at any period of the season to form an opinion as to what any county must do to be able to retain its position or to improve it. If it were not for the exertions of a few gentlemen of. the Press, to whom decimals and percentages offer no terrors whatever, they would not even know the position held by any county after any match without an amount of “ figuring ” which would be discouraging, to say the least of it. Thanks, however, to the daily newspapers, Englishmen, at all events, knew for some time that Surrey and Lancashire were left in to fight out the battle between them, and that there was a reasonable chance that the issue would not be decided until perhaps the very last day—-even the very last minute —of the county season. Thus everyone was happy, and watched the last throes of the great struggle with the deepest interest. Unfortunately for the dramatic situation, Surrey had to abandon the fight after the match against Somerset, and everybody knew last Saturday even­ ing that the honour of being champions for the ensuing year had fallen upon Lanca­ shire, despite the fact that they had twice been decisively beaten by Surrey. It is very seldom that the interest in the competition has been kept up for so long, and at no time in the season did any county seem to be likely to distance all competitors with ease. List year’s champions began the season well enough, and continued for some time to give a good account of themselves (although they were defeated by Essex), thanks partly to the way in which the tail often got the side out of a hole. For a time it seemed that there was very little in the defeat by Essex, but when the tail—the fam ju s Yorkshire tail—utterly failed in the match against Cambridge University an uneasy suspicion began to gain ground that the team was not as strong as last year. But after several brilliant victories these defeats were forgotten. About the middle of July Yorkshire began to show in and out form, and the bowling was not quite as deadly as usual, but it was not until late in the season that they were quite placed out of the running by defeats by Essex (in the return match), Sussex and Lancashire. At a critical time they were very unfortunate, especially in losing the services of some of their best men owing to accidents, but it must be admitted that when things went badly with them they showed wonderful nerve, and fought desperately till the last. The Essex match at Huddersfield was a case in point. Lancashire, the new champions, were very rarely caught napping, but they had a tremendous outing at the hands of Sussex at Manchester. All along they were very high up in the list of counties, and on the whole could be depended on to play a sound game all round, while their bowling was better than that of any