Cricket 1899

i m /r 13, 1899. CRICKET : A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E . 269 E x t r a c t from a private letter:— “ I made a first appearance for our team last week, and gave a masterly display in the umpiring department of the game. I took three wickets for no runs—all l.b.w .— but the other side beat us pretty easily.” To the list of scorers of a thousand runs, which appeared in Cricket a week or two ago— it was a very short one, inclu­ ding only the names of three men, Abel, Brown, and Ranjitsinhji, must now be added the names of Hayward, C. B. Fry, M. A. Noble, and 0 . L . Townsend. The only other men who may be expected to follow shortly are C. H ill, 803; Alec Hearne, 895. A t the Oval on Saturday. Am ong the crowd. Three mechanics. First M . : “ This Major, now, I wonder whether he pronounces ’isself ‘ Poor ’ or ‘ Poory P’ ” Second M .: “ I should say as its ‘ P oory.’ I t’s ‘ Droory Lane,’ aint it ? ” First M . : “ So ’ tis, but perhaps this is different. Let’s arsk.” (Appeals to third M .) Third M . : “ Well, I don’t know the gentleman m ’self, but a friend of mine in the army Bays as it’s *P oor,’ an’ you may take it that ’e knows what’s what.” (They take it.) R h o d e s and Mead have now taken a hundred wickets and thus join Trott, who is, however, still far ahead of them. J . T. H eam e has taken 88, W . M. Bradley, 8 3 ; and Y oun g, 85. I t is noteworthy that Abel, who has captained the Players’ team in each of the Gentlemen v. Players’ matches this year, was not originally chosen to appear at L ord’s. He found a place because another man was unable to play. W h it in g in the Australasian about his experiences with the Australian team at Oxford, T. Horan says:— “ One of the aesthetic men was introduced by me to the ‘ demon’ bowler. Old Spoff had urchased a very nice pair of buckskin cricket oots, and wore them for the first time in this the opening match of our tour. The aesthetic student shook hands with Spoff, looked at his face, and, letting his gaze gradually go down, finally fixed his eyes on the new buckskins. Then he spoke, and these were the memorable words that he uttered, ‘ What an awfully jolly pair of boots.’ ” W h i l e Whitehead was batting last week for Yorkshire against Sussex he made a big drive, the ball pitching outside the boundary on to one of the arms of a bath chair, in which an invalid was seated watching the cricket. O n e of the bowlers of the Sheffield Royal Grammar School team stands many yards wide of the wicket before he begins to take his run. He also holds the ball behind his back. Unaware of this pecu­ liarity, a Sheffield United batsman, who went in first to represent his team against the school in a recent match, stood at ease for some time while he waited for a bowler to put in an appsarauce. Seeing everybody looking at him he became embarrassed, and finally explained that he was quite ready to take his part iu the game if the school would only give him a bowler to contend with. A hearty laugh followed and the game proceeded. In the Sydney M ail, “ Short S lip ” w rites:— “ Excuse me, are you the cricket editor ? ” I replied that I notched the runs made in this quarter. “ Well,” replied my visitor, “ I was noticing the crowd of people looking at the Herald Office scoriDg board, and I had an inspiration, and the following is the result ” :— THE TOPIC OF THE HOUR. Let China rip, and Russia, too, Let Samoa quite alone, Let Kruger run his head anew Against a wall of stone. Let federation go and hide Its much diminished head, Let Beauchamp come with pomp and pride, Let Reid remain unread; In fact, let a'l things slide. Good Lord I We want to watch the scoring hoard. In a match played on Saturday last, at Surbiton, between Surbiton and Chiswick Park, H . A. Sherriff for the home team took all ten wickets for twenty runs iu t welve overs, five of which were maidens. E ight wickets were clean bowled, one stumped, and one l.b.w . The same young bowler, when playing against the “ Western ” club on May 22 and 23, took five wickets for eight runs in seven overs. T h e Igures which appear below were to be seen on the scoring board at the Oval on Friday during the first innings of the Gentlemen. The number 27 is very much in evidence :— 3 6 27 108 27 Wickets 4 Last Player 0 3 11 A Y o r k s h ir e newspaper, referring to the 81 made by Rhodes against Sussex, says :— “ He was caught from a no-ball when 72, but gave no other chance.” Query, where does the chance come in ? T here is something very mysterious in the scores of two matches as given iu this week’s Sunday Chronicle. The doings of four men are thus recorded : — Kershaw, c Hallows, b Huddleston £3 Lyon, b K ershaw .......................................... £1 Steel, b H. E ccles................. ..................£23 K. Stoddart, c Johnson, b Moss ........... £0 A t a first glance, one might think that these were the amounts paid for the services ai the batsmen, but ‘ Steel” (who was playing for Liverpool), is evidently one of the Steels, which instantly disposes of such an idea. Accordingly, one can only suppose that the ubiquitous com­ positor has taken a hand in the game. W i t h reference to the article on W illiam Lambert, which appeared in last week’s Cricket, Mr. A. C. Coxhead w rite s: — “ As for ten years my windows looked upon the house where Lambert lived and died, will you permit me to state that it is in the parish of Burstow, in the portion now called Outwood, and not in the adjoining parish of Nutfield. A picture of the house appeared in an early number of the Badminton Magazine.’ ’ O n Friday night the members of the Yorkshire County Team presented David Denton with a marble clock as a wedding present. A t the annual meeting of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society at L ord’s, on Monday night, the honorary secretary, Mr. Henry Luff, was able to announce that a small adverse balance had been turned into a favourable one of £57. Captain W . E. Denison, who was in the chair, announced that they were endeavouring to. arrange a match with the Australians at the end of the season, which would considerably augment their funds for the future. The Australians, he said, had agreed to the suggestion of the share of the “ gate,” which would otherwise have gone to them, being devoted to Harry Trott, and the balance to the Cricketers’ Fund. A t the above meeting Lord Harris and Captain Denison both referred to the proposed new rule which would authorise both umpires in a match to “ n o -b a li” a bowler for unfair delivery. The um­ pire at the batsman’s end, Captain Denison said, was undoubtedly in a good position to judge on the fairness of a bow ler’s delivery, and consequently it was proposed that either umpire should be empowered to “ n o -b a ll” a bowler who offended against Rule 48, which, in effect, said if the umpire was not satisfied with the fairness of the bow ler’s delivery, he must call “ n o-ball.” The bow ler’s umpire was not relieved from any responsibility, but under the proposed rule both umpires would be judges of the bow ler’ s delivery. Lord Harris said that the proposed new rule had not been framed without very careful consideration, and those who were responsible for it had been guided very largely by the opinions of the most experienced umpires, and he felt that the Marylebone Club was justified in making this drastic and remarkable change in the laws of the game. T h e excitement could be felt, says the Scottish Athletic Record, when Perthshire were playing for a draw on Saturday against Forfarshire, and the agitation of a section of the home shire’s supporters, who were perched on the eight-foot pailing, proved too much for the said erection, and the last seen of the enthusiasts was a score of heels outlined against the cerulean blue. They were deposited in the ditch behind, but were not damped.