Cricket 1899

“ Together joined In Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. wo. 525 . voxu x v i i i . THURSDAY, SEPTEMBEE 14, 1899. p r i c e aa. A CHAT ABOUT THE AUSTRAL IAN CAPTAIN . Without possessing the genial bon­ homie which was so marked a character­ istic of Harry Trott, or the urbanity of Mr, Murdoch, Darling has held his own with both of these famous captains as a judge of the game and a ruler of men. It was a most difficult task for any man to have to follow immediately after Trott, and when the team of 1899 was chosen it was prophesied by many cricketers in Australia that the captaincy would be the rock upon which it would split. But, as things turned out, a better man than Darling could not have been found. A captain of an Australian team has many things to do besides taking charge of his men on the field. He must possess some social qualifications, and be able to make some sort of a speech on important occa­ sions, and undertake multi­ farious duties which do not come under the notice of the general public. Darling is not a great speaker, but he can say the right thing at the right time, and there are many who consider that it is far better for a captain to content himself with this than to let himself go. For the longer the speech the more chances are there of picking holes in it. But it is as a captain of an eleven in matches that Darling has achieved such great fame. He had to follow a man who could put his finger on the pulse of the game, and he soon showed that he also could do this and much more. Australian captains have never followed any fixed system, and have always ignored text books and diagrams. Darling ignored them also. It is nothing to him if it is the fashion to have a point standing somewhere near the boundary — he places his man where he thinks that he will be most useful for the particular batsman who is at the wicket. He changes his field five times an over if he thinks that anything can be gained by it, and probably does not turn a hair when it is suggested by critics that much time is wasted by this, and that it is eminently adapted to spin out a game when a draw is in sight. He goes steadily on his way, and works and works until he has got his man out. Then he begins again anew with the next batsman. The moment he notices that an opponent has a favourite stroke, or even two or three favourite strokes, he makes his arrangements ac­ cordingly, and the batsman finds himself considerably hampered. In theory he could probably show how it would be possible to get out in two or three overs every man who was opposed to him, but in practice it often happens that the best-laid schemes go astray— hence the numerous hundreds made against the Australians. In the management of his bowling Darling is decidedly a genius. If there is a weak spot in the wicket, no matter where it may be, he finds it sooner or later, and if there is a bowler in his team who would be benefited by it, that bowler is likely to come out with a sur­ prisingly good analysis. Darling is an adept at making the very most of his bowlers, and he nursed Jones in as admirable a manner as Richardson in his best days used to be nursed by Mr. Key. Even in the order of going in Darling preserves his origi­ nality. When a man is un­ lucky, and can do nothing right he tries various experi­ ments ; he puts him in first rather than late, and not only does so, but does not despair if the experiment fails two or three times. There is not much doubt that the order of batting of the Australian team this year has been altered more frequently than has ever been known before. On the whole, Darling’s experiments with the order have met with con­ siderable success, and one of them— that of placing Trum­ ble in first— was nothing short of a triumph. On points of law Darling is an authority. He has given plenty of evi­ dence that he has studied the laws very carefully, and he acts up to them with such strict obedience that he has given a lesson to more than one English captain, who, being by nature a good sportsman, has not thought it necessary always to insist that his opponents shall not depart a hair’s breadth from what is ordained by the rules. Prom all this it is evident that Darling would be worth playing in the team if he never made a run. But despite the worries which attend a captain he made more runs than any other Australian has made in England since the tours began, and he had the happy gift of scoring when runs were most wanted. Over and over again in the course of the season he MB. J. DARLING. (From a Photo by the Fruhling Studio, Adelaide, Australia.)