Cricket 1899

438 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. O ct. 26, 1899. 1895 v. Worcestershire Gentlemen,including Messrs. H. K. Foster, C. J. Burnup, P. H. Latham, seven wickets for 50 and 1896 1899 wickets for 43, v. Yorkshire Wanderers, six wickets for 37. v. Bedminster C.C., seven wickets for 29. V. Clingendaal E ’even (English Guests of Baron van Brienen, the Hague) includingMessrs. O. P. Foley, H. Foley, Hon. J. W . Mans­ field, and V. Yorke, six wickets for 87 and seven wickets for 22. V. Yorkshire Wanderers, in two matches, four wickets for 25, seven wickets for 20, five wickets for 34. v. Castle Cary C.C., in different matches, eight wickets for 56. four wickets for 39, six wickets for 18, five wickets for 17. v. Clingendaal Eleven, including Messrs. C. P. Foley, H. Foley, D. Forhes, Hon. J. W . Mansfield, and V. Yorke, seven wickets for 41. Mr. Hepworth’s Eleven, nine wickets for 18 and eight wickets for 19. v. Rev. Fish’s Eleven, seven wickets for 23 and six wickets for 27. v. Clingendaal Eleven, including Messrs. H. Foley, D. Forbes, Hon. J. W . Mansfield, six wickets for 19 and seven wickets for 33. His average for the whole season, 1898, was 3*03 (70 wickets) and for 1899was 3'82 (111 wickets). That the Dutch “ demon ” can also do some good work with the bat is shown by the fact that since 1894 he has held the record for Holland, with 120 not out, a score which was only beaten by himself in the past summer when he made 154 not out, v. the Utrecht C.C. His batting average for a season gene­ rally lies between 20 and 40, and several times his name has been at the top of the list. LORD HARRIS AND THE CHILDREN. The representative of the Daily Tele­ graph at the Church Congress was obviously greatly impressed by the speech made by Lord Harris in the Albert Hall, at the meeting of children which formed a sequel to the Congress. He says :— The twentieth century in its infancy had come to be talked to by the nine­ teenth. “ I thought it was a very good thing for theGovernor of Bombay to play cricket,” said Lord Harris, who, it need hardly be explained, was himself the active potentate in question. His defence against the Scribes and other Pharisees out there who had censured him at the time for frivolity was received with the strongest marks of approval by every boy in the Albert Hall. It was the children’s meeting fol­ lowing, on Saturday afternoon, the Church Congress. They had heard much from previous speakers of an abstractthing called the ideal, interesting to adults. But here they recognised at once that the Ideal was standing under the “ oyster-shell ” in its visible person. To have been the life and soul of Kent cricket, captain and committee rolled into one, as used to be said of Lord Harris, and then to become a satrap of the East, and still to play cricket—this was a thing indeed to dazzle the dreams of the juveniles who had met in the Albert Hall under the serious auspices of the Church, to be talked to for an hour and a half by the clock about a distant and shadowy thing called their future. Lord Harris became at once a vividly separate being among all the grown-up persons on the platform who were so much concerned about the future of children. He became a more wonderful person than the Bishop of London. The plain peer talking manly sense under the “ oyster-shell ” who had been captain of the Kent Cricket Club and Governor of Bombay—was obviously the transfigured embodiment of this vague and attractive thing, the Ideal, about which such a weary deal had been said. A boy with a small, firmhead and a chiselled face, like a little Ceesar, leaned his chin upon his knuckles and wondered. All the talk had been addressed to the young barbarians of the sex which always wears its head bare in public meetings. The little girls, to whom, as usual, hardly anything had been said, looked bright and quiet under their hats, and probably wished that they were also little boys, to whom action and romance were equally open— captaincies of counties and Governorships of Bombay. Do they not often wish so at that age, unconscious yet of the more subtle and not less wonderful destiny of women ? Lord Harris made the speech of the day. The children understood and relished every word of it. Here was a man who knew how to talk to boys. The Catechism was never better trans­ lated into terms of cricket. The whole audience groaned in sympathy when Lord Harris informed it that when he was Governor of Bombay he was prohibited by Act of Parliament from having any­ thing like a proper holiday during all those years. Sometimes he played alittle cricket at Bombay, and sometimes he went out to sea for a day or two. Even to a bad sailor the relief of getting away from everything, if only for forty-eight hours, was inexpressible. Lord Harris pointed out the advantages of cricket and football over “ a selfish game like golf.” Where was all North Briton to rise against the public author of this daring impiety P The children, however, seemed willing enough to grasp the point that life was not a bad game like golf, but a good game like cricket and football, where you had to “ play for your side.” It was probably as useful a compendium of morality as could have been devised for this particular occasion. great cricketing ability and wide ex­ perience of the game, and maintain that close bond between the Governor and the athlete which was so pronounced a feature of his regime ; but it is a task that Lord Sandhurst has fulfilled most admirably, and he leaves native cricket firmly established upon a far sounder and wider basis than when he came to Bom­ bay in 1894. “ Lord Sandhurst’s success, I think, has been due principally to his keenness, his sympathy and his tact. He has never missed an opportunity of showing how genuine is his love of the game, and how deeply heis interested in its development, whilst no finer instance of his tact could be found than the spirit which dictated the selection of his team to play the Mofussil last cold weather. It would hardly be anexaggeration to say that that match contributed more to the growth of the idea of Indian cricket, as opposed to Parsee cricket, or Hindoo cricket, or Mahomedan cricket, than anything which has happened during the past decade. The matches at Ganeshkhind have in the case of many players cemented the bond which I am sure exists between his Excellency and every native cricketer. The improvement in the whole tone of native cricket is, I think, in no small measure due to his Lordship’s example and counsel. We have got so accustomed to the luxury of a cricketing Governor that we shall not realise, until Lord Sand­ hurst’s successor—who will assuredly not be a cricketer—takes up the reins of office, how much we owe to him and to his pre­ decessor. We are fortunate in this, however, that the sedulous encourage­ ment of native cricket by Lord Harris and Lord Sandhurst has enabled it to take such a firm root that it may now be left to take care of itself.” LORD SANDHURST AND CRICKET IN INDIA. Referring to thevisit of Mr. J. Framjee Patel’s team to Ganeshkhind, the Indian Sporting Times says, “ it marked the close of the connection of Lord Sandhurst with native cricket, which he has done somuch to encourage and foster in Western India. Mr. Patel wisely took advantage of the opportunity to express briefly the native cricketers’ appreciation of Lord Sand­ hurst’s kindly interest in their prowess, and, indeed, when we come to look over the change which has taken place in the game in the Bombay Presidency during the past five years, it is apparent that the cricketers’ debt to Lord Sandhurst is no small one. It was not an easy task to follow a Governor of Lord Harris CRICKET IN INDIA. BOMBAY GYMKHANA v. POONA GYMKHANA. Played at Bombay on September 6. Poona won by 10 wickets. B om bay G ym k h an a. First innings. Lieut. Back, e Mathew, b Deas ..................................17 Capt. Tomkins, b Grei^r ■■■ 4 Mr Edwards, c Martin, b Deas .................................. 1 Mr. DuBoulay, b Greig ... 0 Mr. Stephens, c Beresford, b Deas.................................. Capt. Rogers, c Duncan, b Deas .................................. 1 Mr. Nigel-Jones, c&b Deas 0 Mr Thesiger, cGreig, b Deas 9 Mr. Don, c Wood, b Deas... 0 Lieut. Douglas, b Deas ... 5 Mr. Marshall, not out ... 6 Extras.......................... 3 Total ...................46 Second innings. c and b Deas ... cMathews.b Deas 0 b Greig.................. 7 cBeresford,bDeas 11 0 c Duncan, b Deas 0 bGreig........... ... c Martin, b Greig hit wkt, b Greig... c Young, b Deas not out.................. cBeresford.bGreig Extras ........... Total...........49 P oona G y m kh an a . Capt. Greig, st Steph­ ens, b Edwards ... 15 Capt. Duncan, c and b Rogers ...................17 Mr. Wood, o Nigel- Jones, b Edwards . 8 Mr Deas, e Back, b Edwards...................15 Mr. Markham, b Ed­ wards ................... 3 Capt. Usbome, c and b Rogers................... 4 Second inningsCapt. Duncan, not out, 2.—Total (no wicket), 2. Major Martin, c Bel- lary, b Don ........... 6 Mr. Drysdale, st Ste­ phens, b Rogers ... 5 Major Beresford, b Edwards.................. 0 Mr. Young, not out... 10 Mr. Mathew, b Rogers 4 Extras................... 7 Total ...........94 Greig, not out, 0 ; Capt.