Cricket 1899

Nov. 30, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 461 V a l p a r a i s o ca n boast of a journal devoted to sports—and a very good one it is—named the Chilian Sport and Pas­ time. From it we learn that the hon. secretary of the cricket club is Mr. A. D. Price, and that the season has opened with a fair prospect of success. We also learn that owing to the severe weather it will not be possible to begin matches until after the “ Dieziocho,” whatever that may be. Immense journeys are occasionally undertaken by the club to find opponents, and we believe that even Buenos Aires has been visited by it. T h e fo llo w in g dates h a ve been fixed fo r 1900:— Oxford v. Cambridge, July 5, 6 &7. Gentlemen v. Players (Oval), July 9, 10&11. Eton v. Harrow, July 13 &14. Gentlemenv.Players(Lord’s),July16,17&18. I t is announced that Lord Hawke has been asked to take the next team of cricketers to Australia in 1900, under the auspices of the M.C.C. F o b this Australian season Tasmania, Queensland, West Australia, and New Zealand have all succeeded in arranging matches against Victoria, South Aus­ tralia, and New South Wales. It is stated in the Australasian that A. E. Johns, the well-known Australian wicket-keeper, has expressed his intention of giving up the game entirely, owing to business cares. A t the conclusion of a match between Patiala and Mr. Panthaki’s team at Patiala, the visitors presentedtheMahara­ jah with a cup, worth 8,000 rupees, as an acknowledgment of his many acts of kindness to their team. A. H . M e h t a , the well-known Parsi cricketer, has been promoted by the Maharajah of Patiala to the rank of captain in his army. After aDurbar, the Maharajah made a speech, in which he said some very fine things about Mr. M eh ta , while the new captain responded in suitable terms about the Maharajah. F r o m the Madras Times :— A Madras cricketer home on leave describes first- class cricket now-a-days as i. You hit the ball ii. A fieldsman stops it. If he does’nt iii. You stand still and score four. No first-class batsman ever runs now-a- days, while the spectators and itinerant bobbies do most of the fielding. B y scoring 1,006 runs during the past season, M. B. Cobb, the well-known American cricketer, has beaten the record for New York. In the past eleven years Mr. Cobb has scored 5,829 runs and taken 782 wickets. He has also won the prizes for batting and bowling five times each. “ W h e n the Prince andMacLaren were making runs at Haverford as if they found it a very pleasant pastime to add a century to the total,” says Cricket Club Life (Philadelphia), “ a University senior, pensively looking on, and probably think­ ing more of his studies than the game, remarked that this batting reminded him of what the Professor said in his opening lecture on geology, ‘ it shows no trace of abeginning and no prospect of an end.’ ” “ T h e Princewas delighted,” continues the same j ournal, ‘ ‘ with the work of the colts. He said: ‘ Give me fifteen of those boys, let me coach them for two months, and I will have a team that I would not be afraid to put against some county teams in England.’ How these visitors of ours do throw bouquets ! ” S om e headlines from American papers: Youngsters Make Runs Against Stiff Work of England’s Star Bowlers. Philadelphian Gentlemen Utterly Routed by Ranjitsinhji’s Cricketers. “ Ranji” and His Cohorts Make Us Look Like the Legendary “ Thirty Cents.” Greene Catches the Cricket King in an Unprotected Place and Downs Him. A t the adjourned special general meet­ ing of the Marylebone Cricket Club, held on October 30, at Lord’s, the proposed alterations in Law 10 and Law 48 were unanimously carried. Law 10 will now read:— The hall must he howled. If thrown or jerked, either umpire shall call “ no-hall.” Law 48 will read:— If either umpire be not satisfied of the absolute fairness of the delivery of any ball, he shall call “ no-hall.” It will be interesting to see how the new Law 48 works out when the umpire at square leg is watching a very fast bowler like Mr. Kortright, and has to decide a very nice case of stumping. S t i l l further alterations in the laws are proposed. The following have been recommended by the committee of the M.C.C., and copies have been sent to Australia, America, and South Africa. 1. Six halls to constitute an over. 2. Declarationpermissible at or after the luncheon time on the second day. 3. The side that leads by 150 runs in a three-day match, 100 runs in a two-day match, or seventy-five runs in a one-day match, shall have the option of calling on the other side to follow its innings. It is pretty evident that, although a cer­ tain amount of time will be saved by the first alteration, the new law will be to the advantage of batsmen. The third altera­ tion will make winning the toss of even more importance than it is at present, and it is to the advantage of one side only. I t is reported that Mr. G. L. Wilson, the old Sussex cricketer, who has of late years played so well for the Melbourne C.C., will not be appear to play in the first eleven of the club during the coming season. Many of his former friends will be very interested to hear that his work as a solicitor at Seymour, near Mel­ bourne, requires all his attention. It would hardly be worth while to allude to the little unpleasantness which has taken place between certain of the American players and one or two of the members of Banjitsinhji’steam, including the Prince himself ; for the question as to whether one or two of the visitors did or did not consider the susceptibilities of the New York team on a certain occasion, was a private matter. But the following remarks, or rather the latter part of them, in a New York daily paper, are quite too delightful to be passed over:— The public—our small hand of cricket en­ thusiasts—had purchased tickets principally Iin the expectation of seeing Banjitsinhji and ! MacLaren hat, and were naturally disap­ pointedwhen neither of theplayersappeared. By hearsay we learned that Prince Ranjit- sinhji was sick in New York, although I must admit, the club received no definite message or information on this point from the Prince or anymember of his team. The match was undertaken by our club in the interest of cricket, and to accommodate the Metropolitan League. We have no com­ plaints to make. Tact and good breeding are matters of refinement and are largely inhorn, and it is, perhaps, hardly fair to expect a display of these qualities among the members of a team which was doubtless selected on account of the cricketing prowess of its members rather than by reason of any very intimate knowledge on their part of the often exacting usages of polite society. T h e following remarks from another American paper act as an antidote to the above:— “ Banji ” is simply a decent fellow. He is one of the hoys. He is par excellence a gen­ tleman. Demagogues may talk of him as a democrat. He does not understand the word. Neither do any of his team. They merely understand the meaning of the word “ gen­ tleman,” and as a consequence “ behave as sich.” A record drive was made some years ago, says the Madras Times, by a bats­ man not unknown on Bangalore, K.G.F., and Chepauk, when at School. “ Driving straight back at the bowler, high up, the latter missed the catch, but the ball struck his bare head, and thence pitched over the boundary. The next may now come, please.” T h e first hundred of the season at Buenos Aires has been made by Mr. B. L. Halstead, who scored 120, not out, for Lomas v. Harlingham. I n a speech at Leeds, at the beginning of the month, Lord Hawke said that in all probability something would be done by the counties towards making provision for professionals iu their old age. He could certainly say that Yorkshire would take steps to do this.