Cricket 1899

J an . 26, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. innings ; against Gloucestershire, 162 in fou r; against Essex, 190 in fo u r; against Middlesex, 149 in fo u r; while amongst his other innings were 85 v. Notts, at Manchester, and 63 v. the M .C.C. at Lord’s. Until the beginning of August he never made a three-figure; hut his total up to that time included no fewer than a dozen “ talent-money ” contribu­ tions, and he was the first batsman in the country to reach four figures, making his thousandth run on July 15, six days’ in advance of Mr. Jackson, who was runner- up in the race. Albert Ward, though he topped the century three time3 in the first half of the season, and totalled 1,365, was not at his very best. H e and Tyldesley were, undoubtedly, the main­ stays of the side; but Ward seemed to feel rather more than his share of the responsibility. Never a fast scorer, he tended to be somewhat slower than of old in 1898, and some of his displays were positively Scottonesque. But he is a very good man to have on one’s side, and as the general bent of the Lancashire team is certainly not towards the stone­ wall game, it may well be argued that a successor to Barlow is needed. Y et one likes Ward better when he scores a little faster. His biggest innings of the season was 135 v. Somerset, at Taunton, when he and Prank Sugg in a little over three hours added 278 foi the second wicket in in the second innings (Sugg made 169 of the 278, b y the w a y); but it was the Notts bow ling which provided him with his biggest harvest of runs. In two successive matches in the middle of the season he made 259 runs for twice out against the attack of Attewell and his somewhat ineffective helpers. Sugg started in terribly bad form , only making 66 runs in his first eleven innings, but the turn of the tide came with the Western tour in June, when he ran up 169 v. Somerset, and 76 v. Gloucestershire. For some time after that he was very consistent, making 82 and 37 v. Notts, at Nottingham ; a very valuable 70 v. Y ork­ shire, at Sheffield ; and a splendid double of 104 and 70 v. Essex, at Manchester, in the next match. In August, however, he had another series of failures, and it was only his 64 v. Derbyshire in his very last match of the season (which was nearly as many as he had made in his ten other innings during the month) which brought his total to four figures. Still, batsmen of Sugg’s type are so seldom consistent that his in-and-out running should scarcely be imputed to him for un­ righteousness. George Baker, handi­ capped b y ill-health, did not score so largely as in 1897, but he was always making useful contributions to the score, and, ill-health notwithstanding, was as free from nerves as ever, often doing best when most was needed. Witness, his 58 in a total of 122 v. Sussex, Manchester; his 70 v. Essex, at Leyton, when he and Charles Smith made a really splendid attempt to pull the game out o f the fire; and his 63 in the second innings against Sussex, at Brighton. Like Sugg, he just managed to secure a four-figure total. He did more bowling than usual, and was very effective on two or three occa­ sions, taking five wickets for 36 in the first innings of Somerset, at Taunton; six for 28 in the second of Sussex, at Manchester; and four for 28 in the first innings of Yorkshire, at Scarborough, when he was playing for the England Eleven. Cuttell was another man who just secured his thousand runs before the season ended, but he had also already secured a hundred wickets, and so man­ aged to add his name to the classic list of those to whom this great double per­ formance has been credited. Like Baker, he never once reached three figures in an innings during the season; but against Yorkshire, at Sheffield, he ran up 85 and 40, both not out, having just previously carried his bat for 57 v. Sussex, at Manchester. From the first he showed great improvement, beginning well, and, up to the end of July, being almost always good for a useful score. H e fell off a good deal in August, but it must be remembered that he was practically first bowler, and had altogether a very gruell­ ing season. N o one with a sense of the niceties of style would class Cuttell among the great batsmen of the d a y ; question­ less, he had a good deal of luck during the season, and a “ clum p” is more in his line than a “ sweetly pretty ” stroke; but he is a man with a stout heart and plenty of muscle, and when he hits the ball he puts both heart and muscle into the stroke. As a bowler, he did not make any advance on his fine form of 1897, but considering the very large amount of work he had to do, his 114 wickets for about twenty-one runs each was a dis­ tinctly good record. Twelve for 123 v. Gloucestershire, nine for 161 v. Essex, and five for 23 in the second innings of Notts, and ten for 109 v. Leicestershire, all on the Old Trafford ground, were among his best performances of the season. Of recent years, A. C. MacLaren has not been able to take his place in the Lancashire team until the season was two-thirds over, but he has generally done so well in the short period during which he has been able to play first-class cricket as to be well towards the top of the batting list for the season. But in 1898 he was much below his usual form— a fact to be accounted for in a great measure by his suffering severely from neuralgia. H e only played in six matches for his county, and iu only one of the six (that v. Kent, at Canterbury, when he batted in his own fine style for 39 and 76) did he make a great many runs, though his 47 in a total of 112 v. Yorkshire, at Manchester, was also a notable innings. Curiously enough, he did well in all the three extra matches in which he took part, scoring 50 and 10 in the great match of the season at Lord’s, and 51, 34, 72, and 28, in the two Hastings matches. A . Eocles, one of the most promising recruits any county had in 1898, made his name b y a splendid inn­ ings of 109 in the ’Varsity match. J.N.P. (To be continued.) ffoiTcgpcm&ience. THE FOREST HILL CRICKET CLUB. To the E ditor o f C r ic k e t. Dear Sir,—I enclose for your perusal pro­ spectus of the company we have floated in the neighbourhood for the purchase of a cricket ground, which is, I believe, unique among the London clubs, who in the course of time are bound to dissolve unless they do the same thing. We have made good progress in lay­ ing out the ground, and will shortly erect a commodious pavilion, with a large hall in it, where we can hold general meetings, concerts, etc. The membership of the club is now 200, and we can confidently expect a largely increased membership next year. We purpose letting the ground, which will have two full-sized Association football pitches, to some good club during the winter months. The ground is turfed with the turf off our old ground, which we occupied for fifteen years. I thought these particulars might be interesting to your readers. Yours faithfully, W . R. WILLIAMS, Hon. Sec. C R IC K E T IN P R E T O R IA . PRETORIA v. PIRATES. Played at Pretoria on December 17. PfiETOBIA. V. M. Tancred, lbw, b Kempis .................. W . A. Tindall, b Frank L. C. Braund, c 81a- tem, b Kempis F. N. Townsend, Frank ........... C. d’O. Mainon, Frank........................ 7 A .W . Seccull, b Frank 68 Joe Wallach, c Parkin, b K em pis.................. 12 P irates . ..100 G. C. MacArthur, b Frank .................. W . E. Niemeyer, lbw, b K em pis................. G. P. Kotze, not out W . C. Stevens, b Frank .................. B 3 t, lb 5 ........... Total .......... ^ J. J. Slatem, c Mac- Arthur, b Braund D. C. Parkin, lbw, b Braund .................. J. Doig, b Niemeyer .. G. Meyer, lbw, b Braund ................... G. Beves, b Braund ... G. S. Kempis, c Ste­ vens, b MacArthur R. F. Thome, c Mac­ Arthur, b Braund... E. Campbell, b Nie­ meyer .................. C. de Yilliers, c Braund, b Niemeyer J. D. Forbes, not out W . H. B. Frank, c Braund, b Mac­ Arthur .................. B 8, lb 1 ........... Total .......... 1 L O R D H A W K E 'S T E A M IN S O U TH A F R IC A . THE WESTERN PROVINCE MATCH (XIII). FIRST MATCH OF THE TOUli. Played at Newlands, Cape Town, on December 24, 26 and 27. Lord Hawke’s Team won by 25 runs. On a matting wicket, which helped the bowlers, the Englishmen, who won the toss, were not seen to any great advan­ tage, most of them being strangers to matting. Warner and M itchell put up 41 before lunch without being separated, but at 66 the partnership was broken. Both men played very slow cricket, and were batting for about a couple of hours for their runs. After they were parted,