Cricket 1899

D ec . 21, 1«99. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 475 rent, etc., £423. Tne second eleven matches cost £143. Appeals against the assessment of the county ground have resulted iu its being reduced from £400 to £200. T h e fo llo w in g is th e list as a t present a rra n g ed o f b en efit m atch es fo r the e n su in g s e a s o n :— A. Shrewsbury, Notts v. Surrey, June 4th (half net gate). J. T. Hearne, Middlesex v. Somerset, June 4th. A. Mold, Lancashire v. Yorkshire, July 19th. p. Martin, Kent v. Surrey, August 9th (Canterbury Week). W. Mead, Essex v. Middlesex, August 23rd. Those for T. Soar (Hampshire), H. Butt (Sussex), Pougher (Leicestershire), and W. Brockwell (Surrey) have yet to be definitely arranged. A t the annual meeting of the secre­ taries of the so-called “ Minor ” Counties it was proposed “ That an attempt be made to obtain an official recognition by the first-class counties and M.C.C. of the Minor Counties competition as the second division of the County Championship competition; and, further, that au attempt be made to have a recognised system of promotion by merit.” T h e following alterations andadditions to the Classification of Counties table were proposed at this meeting :— Rule 1.—The rule to he altered and read: “ Cricketing counties shall be considered as belonging to first class or second class.” Addition to Rule 2.—“ Second-class coun­ ties are those not included in first class, and the second elevensof the first-classcounties.” Rule 3.—To read : “ There shall be no limit to the number of first or second-class counties. The M.C.C. committee, etc.” Additional Rule.—The County Champion­ ship (sucond class). It shall be competed for by second-class counties and second elevens of first-class counties. No county or second eleven shall he eligible unless it shall have played at least four out and home matches with other second-class counties, themselves being qualified competitors. In the course of a speech at the annual dinner of the Belgrave C.C., Mr. H. D. O. Leveson-Gower said that cricket was un­ doubtedly the queen of our national games. The past season had been notice­ able for some remarkable scoring, and the presence of perhaps the strongest team Australia had ever sent over. Fro n the series of test matches their visitors had derived about £6,000. County cricket had, perhaps, suffered a little, but he was glad to say Surrey had regained the championship. I n the first intercolonial match of the season, between South Australia and Victoria, the former had to make 565 runs in their second innings if they wanted to win. G e o r g e G i f f e n began the season by taking eight wickets for 11 runs in an Electorate match for West Adelaide against Port Adelaide. O n October 20th C. J. Eady scored 87 not out for Town v. Country, at Hobart, also taking three wickets for 50 runR. On the following Saturday he made 48 for Break o’ Day v. Wellington and took several wickets at a small cost, and followed this up by 41 not out. W or ra l l has arranged to open a ciicket and athletic store in Melbourne with his share of the proceeds of the Australian tour. T h e useful table which follows of the engagements of the counties for next season is from tbe Sportsman :— Derbyshire .. Essex............. Gloucester .... Hampshire .. Kent ........ Lancashire ... Leicester ..... Middlesex..... Notts ......... Somerset ...... Surrey ........ Bussex ......... Warwickshire Worcester ... Yorkshire... . XIV I h V X O 33 3 H am pshire a >2 .§ — §o 5 (->1 X V ~ 't h ) X X <L> •c § 1 a) S 0 L >. 3X X X 8 3 O U s z aS Xi & i a> .5 X _ * I • • I * _ • * 4 * * * • * + _ * * * _ * _ * + * __ __ * * * • * * * + * — * * • * * + * • * • * • * * • * • • - * _ * • + * + * * + • — * « * * * * * _ _ — # — • * + * — • — __ * * « • — • - • * + ♦ • * * i + * * * * _ • * • * • * __ __ __ * _ * + « + * + * * + New fixtures. 5Matches dropped. “ A B a r b a d ia n ” writes:—“ In your issue of October 26th you gave the names of some cricketers who were fighting at the Cape. A very fair cricketer you omitted is Liaut. E. L. Challenor, of the Leicestershire Regiment. Challenor is a Barbadian, and played for this colony against Lucas’ English Team, after which he went with his regiment to the Cape and has played well against the English teams (Lord Hawke’s) which have been out there. He played on one occasion for Mr. Logan’s team.” F ro m British Columbia, Mr. A. F . Venables writes on November 20th with regard to the controversy about Griffith’s hits (before he could have received Mr. Ashley-Cooper’s final settlement of the question):—“ You ask in your paper whether any of your readers can throw any light on the fact of Ben Griffith’s record of four 6’s running. I was a lad at the time, and saw the feat at the Central Cricket Ground, Hastings, the ball being hit out of the ground over Station Road into Middle Street, and, what is more, over the same house each time. I shall never forget it. Seeing is believing, and I am certain of my facts.” A c c o r d in g to the Australasian, J. Harry, who was playing in England as a professional a year or two ago, has made a discovery of a new left-handed bowler in Bendigo. This is his report:—“ A left-handed bowler up here called R. Drew has been spotted by me, and a reil beauty he is. He stands 6ft. high, has a lovely action, with pace varying splen­ didly, and fine length. I am certain there is not a left-handed bowler in Victoria his equal. He is working in the mines.” C r i c k e t e r s in Buenos Aires seem to get some funny weather. On November 19th a fine morning was followed by a terrific dust storm, and after this had passed over it began to rain steadily, finally drifting into a downpour. At Hurlingham the wind carried away the roof of the scoring tent; the players found it impossible to keep warm ; and the unfortunate bitsmen were unable to keep their balance on account of the force of the gale. In the Madras Times “ The Tics” remarks that J. T. Hearne has practi­ cally had continuous cricket since about April, 1896. “ Tbat is to say if 1896 was his first season with Patiala, e.g. :— First-class season 1896, April to Sept. With Patiala 1896-97, Oct.-Feb. First-class season 1897, April-Sept. Stoddart’s Team to Australia, 1897-98, Oct.-March. First-class season 1898, April-Sept. With Patiala 1898-99. Oct.-Feb. (First-class season 1899, April-Sept. With Patia'a 1899, Oct.) A period of three years and six months cricket with only sea voyages as inter­ ludes ! A strong right arm is needful for this, to say nothing of the requisite stamina. And if 1895 was his introduc­ tion to Patiala, then he has done four and a-half years’ solid cricket.” E a r l y in the Tasmanian season as it is, Kenny Burn scored 212 not out for Wellington v. Derwent, at Hobart, on November 2nd, and as he had to resume his innings on the following Saturday he had a chance of beating hisprevious record against the same club, viz., 365 not out. The score made by the Derwent Club on November 2nd was as follows:— W e llin g t o n . First innings. K. Burn, notout ...212 O. Douglas, c Dodds, b K. Bailey ..............20 W . Ward, c Burgess, b K. Bailey ..............61 G. Gatehouse, lbw, b Downie ......................31 Fall of wickets: 4—39—364. L. Macleod, ltw, Reg. Hawson ... E. Free, not out .. Extras ... ... 4 12 Total (4 wkte) 379 ■1 -20—72, 2-61—192, 3—31—280, On the following Saturday Burn increased his score to 3^1, out of a total of 673. W. P. H o w e l l , who, as everybody knows, interests himself in bees, felici­ tously referred to London on his return home as “ a busy hive.” V ic to r T r u m f e r seems to have been almost the only member of the Austra­ lian team who has not given his impres­ sions to the public of the faults to be found with the tour. He is described as being “ as dumb as an oyster—absolutely declining to say even a word about the tour.”