Cricket 1898

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. no. 47o. vox., xvxi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1898. pb ice 2 a. HCIIOFIELD IIAIGII. (From a Photo by Hawkins & Co., Brighton.) who plays against the best clubs has often to be very clever if he wishes to equal the remarkable averages which are the rule rather than the exception. Haigh came out of the ordeal with great credit to him­ self. His first experiences in Scotland were with the Aberdeenshire Cricket Club, who secure 1 his services through the recom­ mendation of LouisHall. This was in 1891. For three seasons he revelled in wickets, for although at that time he was content to bowl at a great pace without bothering much about anything else, he met so few really good bats­ men that bis task was easy. But bis undoubted talents had been noticed by Perth­ shire, and he was invited to play for the county, not that this was a great honour, since at present there is nothing like an English county team in Scotland, and, moreover, any man who happens to be living in the county at the time can play, withoutregaid to qualification. But it was a distinct advantage to the young Torkshireman, for he now was sometimes opposed to men who were not bowled out before they went to the wickets. Under these altered circumstances, Haigh began to see that something more was needed than mere pice, and he very soon learned to put in a good yorker, to vary his pace a little, and to bowl an occasional slow. His success for the new club was great; in his first season he took 128 wickets for 615 runs in 433 overs, of which 166 were maidens—average 4 80 runs per wicket. In addition to this ho scored 583 runs, with a highest total of 110 not out, in 22 innings (five times not ou t); this gave him ati average of 34 29. In the following season he made 467 runs, with a highest score of 125 not out in 16 completed innings—average 2918—and took 93 wickets for 426 runs — average 4 58 runs per wicket. It wasduiingthis season that he was offered a position on the staff of the Leeds C.C. ; this was bi ought about by his doings for Scotland against a Lancashire team, under the captaincy of Mr. A. N. SCHOF IELD .H A IG H . Three years ago the name of Schofield Haigh was quite unknown in England, except to a few people of an enquiring turn of mind, such as mem­ bers of the Yorkshire county committee, for example. But in the far-away country of Scotland, where cricket is played under very consider­ able difficulties, Haigh had been for three seasons a terror to the batsmen, who could make nothing of him on the curious wickets on which it is their misfortune to play. In Scotland, Haigh might have remained for ever, had it not been for Louis Hall and the enquiring people mentioned above, for however finely a man may bowl or bat in that country, the record of his doings never comes over the border, unless it be to appear in a short paragraph in a local paper, where again it is buried in oblivion. It is true that now and then a Scotch cricketer comes to England and causes exclamations of astonishment by his perfor­ mance, as when Mr. J. S. Carrick, of the West of Scot­ land Club, scored 415 against Priory Park, Chichester, for a touring team. But even in such a case, the batsman’s scores in Scotland are to the average Englishman as if they had never been; There is a prevalent idea that cricket 111 Scotland is invariably played on the slowest of slow wickets, that the batsmen are not up to ordinary English dub form, and that a bowler cannot possibly help taking wickets if he is not an abso­ lute duffer. But this is true oi:ly in the main. There are good wickets in Scotland — in a few places when the weather holds up for a time ; there are a few quite first- class batsmen; and a bowler