Cricket 1899

430 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 21, 1899. In the sweet way in which Indian journalists sometimes go for one another, the “ Tice” in the Madras Times says: “ Did I not know what a printer’s devil can do when he tries I would sympathise with your ‘ Bewildered ’ Ganjam corres­ pondent who, however, in the particular case he quotes has every right to be bewildered, for the Indian Sporting Times P.D. evidently was ‘ off’ whenpublishing to the world suchaheterogeneouscombus- tification of unknown cricketers. S. JR. Jackson, J. A. Maclaren and S. P. Jones is a bit thick when one considers what world-famed names and initials these cricketers have. But there, it’s been very dry in Bombay, and the P.D. was doubtless only having an innings with his editor. A few ‘ head ’ balls, that’s all.” W h it in g in the Athletic News on foot­ ball, a well-known authority on the Association game says :—“ It occurred to me, when looking down the list of averages, that a splendid cricket eleven might be chosen from men who are, or have been, prominent footballers. Per- hips their bowling might be somewhat deficient, but I should like to see the team which would defeat the pick of the following:—C. M. Wells, C. B. Fry, Captain Wynyard, S. M. J. Woods, C. J. Burnup, W. Gunn, W. L. Foster, R. E. Foster, H. K. Foster, C. M’Gahey, J. Devey, S. H. Day, G. Brann, F. G. J. Ford, J. A. Dixon, R. N. Douglas, Heseltine and 0. M’Gregor. I have taken the names at random, and have probably overlooked SDme others who might strengthen the team or enlarge the choice.” “ A MATCH between footballers and the Rest of England would,” he continues, “ be a very attractive fixture in a football district—sayatLiverpool or Birmingham. I give the idea for what it is worth. The Blackheath F.C. have an annual match with the cricket club of the same name. The sides are usually very strong, and local interest in the game runs high. Perhaps one of the best performances of a football team in the cricket field was that of the Corinthians at Johannesburg, when on their South African tour. The local club had a very strong team— almost representative of South Africa— but the Corinthians, as much to their own surprise as that of their opponents, were the victors.” According to the Madras Times, an unpleasant and unlooked for incident brought amatch between an Eurasian and Anglo-Indian XI. against Combined Natives, at Madras, to a sudden con­ clusion. It seems that several boys who played in the E. and A.-I. XI. belonged to local institutions, and theirmasters and friends, who were naturally anxious to see the match, watched the play from the pavilion. Towards the end of the match, the authorities of the Madras United Club brought out and hung up a board, which announced that the pavilion was reserved for club members and the visiting team only. This the Eurasian spectators con­ sidered most unsocial, and they asked their boys to withdraw from the field, which they immediately did. TheUnited Club having been so kind as to lend their grounds for the match, and having tolerated the Eurasian spectators in tbe pavilion for the greater portion of the day, might have avoided such an unpleasant termination to an important match. T he following are the final positions in the second-class county championship:— Percentage of points ii finished P. W. L. D. Pts. games. Northamptonshire ...10.. . 3 . 0 .. 7... 3 .. 100 00 Buckinghamshire ... 8 .. 1 . . 0.... 7 .. 1... ico-oo Glamorganshire ... ... 8 .. 6 . 1 .. 1 .. 5... 71*4J Surrey (2nd)........... ...10 .. 6 .. 1 .. 3 .. 5... 71 42 Norf ilk .................. ... 8 .. 2 .. 1 .. 5 .. 1... 33-33 Hertfordshire ... 8 . . 1 . . 1 .. 6 .. 0 .. — Durham.................. ...10 . 2 .. 3 .. 5 .. —1 —20\'0 Northumberland... ..10 .. 1 .. 2. .. 7. .. —1 —3333 Wiltshire ............ .. 12 .. 3 . 7. .. 2 .. - 4 -4 0 0 0 Berkshire ......... ... 8 2... 5 .. 3 .. - 3 —42 85 Cambridgeshire ... ...10 .. 1.. . 4 .. 3. .. —3 -6 0 0 0 We understand that the verses which appeared last week on page 414 as from the Stamford Post were originally written by Mr. Bond for the Birmingham Argus, in which paper they first appeared. A l e t t e r will be found on page 427 from Mr. Edwin Ball, who adheres to his statement that Ben Griffiths hit four successive balls out of the Oval, aud that the incident did not take place at Hastings. Can any of our readers throw some light on the subject ? T he results of the inter-club champion­ ship competition at Paris are as follows. It will be seen that of ths 24 matches played, not one was drawn. It would, perhaps, be unkind to suggest that the batsmen were to blame for this. Played. Won. Lost. Dm. Pts. Albion C.C...................................6 ... 5 ... 1 ... 0 ...10 Standard A.C..............................6 ... 4 ... 2 ... 0 .. 8 Compie^ne C.C. ..................6 .. 3 ... 3 ... 0 ... 6 Union Sportive Parisienne ... 6 ... 0 ... 6 ... 0 ... 0 Surrey men are aware that although Mr. John Shuter has given up first-class cricket, he still takes an intense interest in the doings of his county. One can therefore imagine with what feelings he read the following paragraph in the Daily Chronicle on May 18th, and with what pleasure he has now sent it to me, with a note that such a prophetic utter­ ance might perhaps be considered worthy of a place in Cricket’s list of curiosities. It is a curiosity, and one which is very amusing; but it is quite certain that nobody will laugh more heartily over it than the writer of the prophecy himself. We all make mistakes at times. _‘ ‘ VVho will win the county cricket cham­ pionship P One can partially answer the question in a negative way by saying “ Not Surrey.” Yesterday’s performance against the Australians robs one of any confidence that might have been felt in the chance of the Oval brigade. One match, it is true, does not make ‘ form, ’ but it is impossible on paper tomake out Surrey the equals of York­ shire or Essex, or Middlesex, or even Lancashire. At best Surrey are a fair- weather side; otherwise as well as in a meteorological sense. They lack the variety of Yorkshire. They are wanting in the courage that goes far towards success.” V. F. S. C r a w fo r d , the young Surrey amateur, whose knee gave way early in June, iu the match between Surrey and Derbyshire at Chesterfield, just as he was getting thoroughly at home in first-class cricket, to judge by the amount of work he has been doing during the last fort­ night, seems to have got right, or pretty well right again. If no very big scores were credited to his name in the Sussex tour of the Kensington Club, he has not lost any of his taste for run getting, to judge by the big innings, one of 213, he made for Mr. Graburn’s Young Surrey Amateur Team against Guildford on the 7th inst. Everyone will hope next sea­ son to see him at his very best in Surrey cricket. It was the hardest of luck indeed for him to lose the great opportunities of such a run-getting year as that of 1899. T he elaborate tables compiled by Mr. F. S. Ashley-Cooper, which appear in another part of the paper, furnish some interesting comparisons relative to the scoring, individual and collective, in first- class matches. Considering the amount of cricket played by the M.C.C. and Mid­ dlesex it was only to be expected that the largest number of runs should have been registered at Lord’s. The Oval comes a good second in the matter of aggregate, but has amuch better average per wicket. Brighton is the only other ground on which over ten thousandruns were scored during the season. Taunton, too, more than upholds its reputation as one of the easiest pitches in the country. Besides these, Bournemouth, Bradford, the Crystal Palace, Derby, Edgbaston, Leicester, and Portsmouth come out well. Bur, all round, for the excellence of its wickets, the Oval may fairly claim the pride of place All credit to its ground superintendent, S. Apted. On eight dif­ ferent occasions over a thousand runs were scored in a match, and on a ninth the total, if I remember rightly, reached 991. In five consecutive games the aggre­ gate exceeded a thousand, which I should take to be a record, or very near it. None the less, the credit of the largest number scored in a first-class match in 1899 belongs to the Somerset­ shire ground at Taunton. This was 1,296 for twenty-six wickets in the match between Somersetshire and Sussex on August 10 and two following days. Somersetshire is associated with another record for the season in first-class cricket. It was against Somerset that Surrey scored 811, the highest innings of the year, at the Oval on May 29 and 30. O ur readersmay be reminded that this is the last of the summer numbers for the season. The first of the winter numbers will appear on October 26th.