Cricket 1899

A ug . 10, 1899. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 3§S I t is becoming quite fashionable for debutants to make a big innings in their first appearance in county cricket. A week or two ago Mr. Miller scored a hundred for Surrey against Sussex; Mr. Llewellyn made 72 and 21 for Hampshire against the Australians at the end of last week, and now Mr. H . C. Pretty has put up 124 in his first innings for Surrey against Notts. M r . E. H . S p o o n e r , the Marlborough captain, who made 198 for his school against Rugby last week, scored 158 for Lancashire second against Surrey second on Monday and Tuesday. A writer in the Madras Times is responsible for the following “ really straight tips to native cricketers — and others ! ” :— 1. Don’t fancy you’ll ever get runs with bare feet; it’s better to use a bat and boots. 2. The imbibation of kilderkins of tunni during an innings of ten runs isunnecessarily hard on the waterman, and never helps you to make runs. 3. Always before a match go to the nets, even if only the ground boys are there to bowl or throw. This settles your breakfast and loosens your muscles. 4. Never fool about at a net without pads on. 5. If you are a round-the-wicket bowler, never appeal for l.b.w. You will be called several names which are not yours if you do, and the umpire will always answer not out. 6. Take guard middle stump. It is worse than bad toothache to see men taking guard middie-aml-leg or leg-siuuipand then making their block clear of the wicket altogether and making no runs, which leads to homilies from “ the G—i—e.” 7. If you can, hold your bat straight; if you can’ t, send a substitute who can, and go for a sail on a catamaran yourself. 8. When bowling recollect that there are eight or nine ways of getting a man out besides bowling him. There are ten other Johnnies in the field, some of whom might hold a catch, besides a hard working pair of umpires, either of whom might at any moment prevaricate. 9. Prevarication is first cousin to a lie. 10. In the Combined Natives match remember that if you have got the best bats­ man out cheaply the worst will invariably make lots of runs. Wherefore bowl and field all you know after 4th W .D .—and luorethan you know before that. 11. Whatever you do don’t attempt any new or Esplanade-patented plan of placing your field. The English is really the best. 12. Above all play cricket in boots. I t is said that Mr. W . W . Read has lately taken to playing Cupolo, a new game of the variety which does not demand much running about from its devotees, and that he has expressed his approval of it. This is very sad, for we are afraid it is likely to lead to other things in the way of quiet games, and one day we may wake up to find that the famous old cricketer has become the champion of croquet. As, however, he still plays cricket we must hope for the best. T he following extracts from an Austra­ lian newspaper which has been sent to us from Sydney by an indignant English­ man must be left to speak for themselves. In the first innings Ranji was out l.b.w., bowled Trumble. He got in front of his wicket to glance a ball, which kept a bit low and hit him below the knee. He stated in the pavilion that the ball hit his glove. As a matter of fact, his glove was more than two feet away from tbe ball, so it can easily be imagined that he isstill a 1 ‘great sportsman.’’ Iredale was given out to an atrocious decision by one of tbe umpires. Ttie fields­ man took the ball in the slips on the bounce, and in a manly way threw the ball on the ground to the bo.wler, but, notwithstanding “ the office,” he was given out. Only one man asked for a decision. To commence with the wicket at Leyton had an overdose of water on Tuesday, and was in favour of the county bowlers right through. The turf was absolutely rotten— eaten away by worms. It was a strange sight to see the pitch riddled by holes, with a little mound of earth beside each one. It caused the wicket to play treacherously. In some places a dozen or so worms had worked their way to the surface on a spot the size of a man’s hand, and the ball, when hitting on one of these soft spots, would perform all manner of queer gyrations. It was not merely a “ two-pace” wicket; it had about fifteen paces when Kelly was keeping the wickets. A worm fully a foot in length crawled over his boots. The worms are the same species that boys fish with in Victoria. Howell’s performance is without parallel, and not on a sticky wicket either. The ball never once bumped, nor was the wicket patted down with the bat during the whole course of the match. But Howell kept a perfect length, and broke back tremendously. He also came with his arm in a disconcerting fashion, andbowledsome splendid ‘ ‘yorkers.’ ’ Notwithstanding all the rot that is printed in the sporting press, thewicket was a batsman’s one, slow and easy, and, with the exception of Hayes, none of the Surrey batsmen adopted forcing tactics. M r . H . C . J e f f e r ie s writes from Cirencester:— “ Would you kindly settle the following little matter that occurred between two local teams recently ? A batsman hit the ball to long leg and it stopped within a yard of the boundary (which counts four); the fieldsman in pursuit, either by accident or design, kicked the ball over the line; meanwhile, the batsmen had run five. How many ought to be scored for that hit F Pour or five ? As it happened, a single run made no difference in the result of the match, but it might have done.” Once more we have to state that the laws do not deal with the question of boundaries—although it is pretty nearly time that they did. But in equity, if a man runs five before a fieldsman helps the ball over the boundary line, whether accidentally or otherwise, five runs ought to be counted. We should say that five ought to counted if the fifth run was being made when the ball crossed the boundary. T he following query comes from an officer in the Mediterranean fleet:— “ Would you very kindly give a decision on the following points: (1) A fielder leaning back against the boundary ropes makes a fair catch. Is the batsman out ? (2) Would the batsman be out if the catch is made by a fielder standing out­ side the boundary ropes ? ” [To this then can only be the usual answer, viz., the laws do not take boundaries into consideration. All that can be done is to go by precedent, which varies with different umpires and different circumstances. Taking all things into consideration, however, we should rule that a batsman ought to be out if the ball itself has not passed the boundary.] P r o m an Indian newspaper:— Dar wunst vos oun holer corl Jones Wot sermashed all de batsmen’s bones, De result of his tour Vos vickets eight scoor Also buschels of groans an moans. A f t e r Webb and Sharp had sent down several overs at Canterbury on Monday against Mr. Bumup and Alec Hearne a lady was heard to remark :— “ How very tiresome of these Lancashire people. I do wish they would begin.” On Bank Holiday second elevens were put in the field by Surrey, Lancashire, Sussex, Hampshire, Middlesex and Essex. G. W . Beldam scored 123 andL. S. Wells 88 for Middlesex ; R. H . Spooner 158 for Lancashire; B. F. Beard 115 for Sussex; while for Hampshire, C. B. Llewellyn, who made such a successful debut against the Australians, made 89 for Hampshire. But in these second eleven matches the bowling is of much more importance than batting, for each of the counties could do with more bowling, and the Lancashire committee must have been pleased to see the success of Huddleston, who took nine wickets in the first innings against Surrey second for 50 runs. L a s t year a Notts Castle team paid a visit to Paris to play a match against the city. A return visit was paid this year and the match came off at Nottingham on Priday last; A. O. Jones, C. W. Wright and Oates being included in the Castle team. Most of the players on the Paris side had names which do not strike one as being exactly Parisian, but there was at least one undoubted Prench name. It belonged to Monsieur Roques, who, alas, that it should be said, made an ignoble nought. Monsieur McEvoy took a lot of wickets for Paris. I t is intended by the members of the Band of Brothers, the well-known Kent cricket club, to make a presentation to Lord and Lady Harris on Friday during the Canterbury Week, in celebration of their silver wedding. Lord Harris has for many years been a member of the club. A c c o r d in g to the Sportsman it is possible that Sussex may next year arrange matches with Warwickshire.