Cricket 1899

A u g . 24, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 365 runs. A t Brighton they again made a draw, which this time was in their favour. They beat the M .C.C. at Lord’s by nine wickets, but had the worst of the draw at Southampton against Hampshire. They easily beat Warwickshire, but were beaten by Kent at Canterbury, and had the worst of the draw against England at the Oval. A t Cheltenham they could claim no advantage, but at Lord’s against Middlesex they won very easily. Thus, since and including the match at Man­ chester on July 17th, 18th and 19th, their record is, matches played 11, won 3, lost 2, drawn 6, only one of which can be said to have been in their favour. A ll this seems to show that there is a great deal in winning the toss, even when an Austra­ lian team is concerned— Darling has lost it nine times in the above eleven matches. In connection with the latest feat of scoring two separate hundreds in a match as given in last week’s Cricket, I find that “ there are others ! ” Mr. H . H . Cobb (the well-known Middlesex cricketer) accomplished the feat in a match during the recent tour of the Nondescripts. The match was played, v. the Rev. R. W . Sealy’s X I ., at Westward H o ! on August 9th and 10th. Cobb carried his bat right through the Nondescripts first innings for 124, and followed this up by scoring 121 in the second. In the two innings he hit one 6, one 5, thirty-four 4’s and fourteen 3’s. His average for the four matches in which he played was 96'00, his scores being 81, 53, 11, 124 not out, 121, 23 and 67 not out. The players for the two matches as sent by Mr. Carless as follows : — September 4, 5, and 6. South of England y. Australians. Dr. W . G. Grace, K. S. Eanjitsinhji, C. B. Fry, 0. L. Townsend, G. Brann, A . E. Stoddart, A. J. Turner, W . M. Bradley, F. G. J. Ford, with J. T. Heame, Young, and Butt. September 7, 8, and 9. Home Counties v. Rest of England. Home Counties selected from: K . S. Eanjitsinhji, C. B. Fry, G. Brann, A . E. Stoddart, A. J. Turner, W . M. Bradley, i' . G. J. Ford, with Abel, Hayward, Heame (J. T.), Trott (A. E.), Young, and Butt. Rest of England: Dr. W . G. Grace, A . C. MacLaren, C. L. Townsend, A. 0. Jones, F. Mitchell, with J. T. Brown, W . G. Quaife, Hirst, Rhodes, Cuttell, and Board. His military duties prevented Major Poore from accepting the invitation of the committee to play. M b . W . Caeless, the hon. secretary of the Hastings and St. Leonard’s Week, has, as usual, got together the pick of English cricketers f^r the delightful cricket function known as the Hastings Week. The Warwickshire match will pre­ vent any of the Surrey Eleven from assist­ ing the South of England in the opening game with the Australians. As it is “ they never will be missed ” with such a plethora of talent, amateurs and pro­ fessionals, at the disposal of the Hastings Executive. Among the names of the prominent players is that of Mr. A . E . Stoddart. It would be, indeed, a feather in M r. Carless’s cap if that brilliant cricketer should choose the Hastings festival for his re-appearance in first- class cricket. The cares of his high estate as Governor of British Guiana do not prevent Sir Augustus Hemming from still devoting some little of his leisure to cricket’s manly to il; though he naturally gets little practice he is still able to make runs. A recent letter mentions the fact that he made 53 out of a total of 58 “ the other day.” “ Incogs ” will be glad to hear that their “ guide, philosopher and friend ” retains his active interest in the game. He is hopeful that he will be able to see a lot of English cricket next summer. W . P. H ow ell, the Australian bowler, will have a pleasant souvenir of his first match at Kennington Oval. It is now a matter of rather ancient history how he took all Surrey’s ten wickets in the county’s first innings against the Australian team, on May 16th. The Surrey Committee had the ball with which he performed the feat duly mounted, with a silver band bearing the following inscription:— “ Australian Team v. Surrey, Oval, May 16, 1899. Presented hy Surrey County Cricket Club To W . P. Howell. All ten wickets in first innings. The fathers of cricket in Philadelphia have been hoping that K . S. Ranjitsinhji might be able to personally conduct a team of English amateurs to the States next month. As far as one can judge there does not seem to be much chance that the project will take a definite shape. Just now, from what one hears from Philadelphian cricketers, the game wants a little fillip. Among other Americans, R. D . Brown, one of the bowlers of the second Philadelphian team which visited England in 1889, has been over here recently. He was present at the Oval during the whole of the test match. The general company witnessing that game at one time or the other included Prince Christian Victor, the Leader of the House of Commons, the Earl of Sheffield, and Sir Francis Jeune. Captain Gbeig, who occupies a high place among Indian cricketers, has been making some big scores just lately. His best performance recently was his 178 for Poona against Ahmednagar at Ahmednagar at the end of last month. I t is stated officially that the Com­ mittee of the Marylebone Club will select the next English team which is to visit Australia under the auspices of the Melbourne Club. By the middle of next month, the members of the Australian team now here will have left or be leaving England. They should be back in the colonies well by the commence­ ment of November. As yet, as far as one can hear, it is uncertain whether they will play any matches on their return to Australia. U n t il they beat Kent at Edgbaston on Saturday, Warwickshire had been trying in vain to win a match on their own ground ever since July, 1897, when they beat Gloucestershire. It was not a little remarkable that the date of the Kent match was originally fixed for May, but was altered to the present date on account of the disastrous effect which continuous rain had had on the wicket at Elgbaston. O n page 371 will be found a very interesting description of the Nonde­ scripts’ tour in the West of England, together with the scores of the matches. T e o t t ’ s bowling has been one of the features of the season, and his success against all sorts of batsmen makes it all the more remarkable that he has always failed, more or less, against the Australians. Notoriously he has his off days, but it is odd that one of these should invariably come when he is opposed to his own countrymen. He has once or twice begun well enough against them, but has never been able to keep it up for long. T e o t t ’ s bowling analyses against the Australians are as follows :— 0 . M. E. W . For an England X I. (Eastbourne) j *g| * For M.C.C. (First match).......... f 2| * 1 ’ 28 0 For M.C.C. (Second match) ..........43 13 109 3 For Middlesex ................................. 49 15 107 4 Total ..........170*4 46 490 ISt This gives him an average of about 38 runs a wicket. Contrast this with the 17 runs a wicket in this week’ s average table ! The admiration which we have always felt for the enterprise shown by special correspondents of the Daily Chronicle is not lessened by the latest feat performed by one of them. In the face of difficul­ ties which would have appalled an ordinary journalist he has succeeded in putting down on paper the chances pos­ sessed by various counties of winning the championship, and he has, moreover, put them down in such a way that all men may understand, even though they may in vain seek to find how it is done. As his notes appeared in Monday’s paper, the results of his labours only give the out­ look before this week’s matches began, but nothing would induce us to attempt to bring them up-to-date. This is what he says:— “ As to the chances of the leaders in the table, it can be worked out that Yorkshire can, by winning their two remaining matches— with Kent at Tonbridge to-day, and with Sussex at Brighton on Thursday— secure a final ‘ proportion ’ of 68 42. Surrey have five matches to play, and by winning the mall would get to 71-42. Should Middlesex also prove successful hence­ forth they would make 62'50, and as they have yet to visit Old Traffoid, it may be 1aken that neither Middlesex nor Lanca­ shire will finish first. Providing York