Cricket 1899

§0 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 27, 1899. made b y the same club in 1896. score of the innings is appended :— W ellin g to n . The K . Burn, not out ...365 W . W ard, c McAllen, b McDowall ......... 24 W .ArnoH ,bM cDow all 0 L. H. Macleod. b Watt 33 M. Macleod, c McAllen b Watt ...................63 E. T. Davis, c Hudson, b S. Hawson .......... 1 G.H.Gatebouse,bWatt 88 O. Douglas, lbw, Paton ................ H . Reeves, b W att . J. Harper, lbw, McDowall ... . E. Brooke, b Paton . E xtras................ Total Derwent made 222 and 30 for one wicket, and were thus beaten on the first innings by 450 runs. U p to and including March llth , Burn’s average for the season was 81.63. His best season was 1892-3, when he scored 963 runs and had an average o f 80.25. His averages between 1894 and 1898 "e r e 59.75, 61.9, 45.12, and 72.81. His highest aggregate for a season was 991 in 1890, and this season he still has a chance of reaching the thousand runs, for he only requires 103, with a match or two to play. F o r the W bitgift Wanderers, against Addiscombe, on Saturday, V. F. S. Crawford took 3 wickets for 25 runs, be­ sides bow ling two men with no-balls, and made 104 not out on a mud wicket. His innings included 6 sixes and 10 fours. The scores were, Addiscombe 127, W hitgift Wanderers, 148 for six wickets. W ith a little luck, Mr. Crawford ought to develop very considerably this season. T h e “ Derbyshire Cricket G u ide” for 1899 has just made its appearance. It contains almost everything that a Derby­ shire cricketer could desire to know about cricket in his county, and also includes articles b y Mr. F. S. Ashley Cooper (England v. Australia) and “ L .G .W . ” (County Cricket in 1898), and a biography of Mr. W . B. Delacombe. The guide, which is in its fourth year of issue, is compiled b y Messrs. L . G. W right and W . J. Piper, junior, and is published by Bacon and Hudson, Derby. U n d e r , the heading o f “ The thirteenth man,” the Australasian gives a few particulars about Frank Laver, by “ F e lix ” :— The admirers of the well-known Jolimonter, Frank Laver, are very numerous, and their joy was complete as soon as they ascertained that he had been chosen as thirteenth man. He has certainly won his splits by most determined fighting. In 1896 he was fit for a place in the Australian team of that year, yet he was actually omitted from the twenty- two players engaged in the contest between the Australian team of 1896 and the Rest of Australia. His scores of 137, not out, against South Australia, 135 against the Australian Eleven, allied to his consistent and solid doubles brought him prominently before the selection committee of the Australian team, and, taking also into consideration his merit as a bowler, and his high-class qualifications as a point, they finally selected him. . . . One thing I noticed in the recent match, and it was that George Giffen gave Laver every show at the bowling crease, and I daresay the tall Jolimonter is fully sensible of the opportunity afforded him. A c o r r e s p o n d e n t writes :— Some days ago I went into a City bookshop and asked for “ W illow and Leather.” The assistant (a young man) replied, “ What and leather, sir P” After repeating the name he gazed at me doubtfully for some seconds, and then said, “ N o-o. I never heard of it. What is it—a book dealing with the treatment of leather extracted from the willow tree ? ” This is a fact. A BOWLING feat somewhat out of the common was, says the Australasian, per­ formed last Saturday by Jas. M ’Kay, of the Linacre Park (Brighton). Playing against the Raleigh, anElsternwick team, he secured five wickets, all clean bowled, with five successive balls. In all, he was responsible for nine wickets, at a cost of 7 runs. The match took place at Elstern- wick, being played on matting over an asphalt pitch, and the scores were— Linacre Park, 7 4 ; Raleigh, 17. O n all sides one hears the remark that the present season is the latest within the memory of man. With county matches loom ing in the immediate future no one has been able to get any practice worthy of the name except on a few favoured grounds where rain dries up almost as soon as it has fallen. And still “ cauld blaws the wintry blast.” S o m e time ago I referred to W .G .’s forthcom ing book, “ Reminiscences of Cricket and other Sports.” It is now appearing in serial form in the Echo and Morning Herald, and presumably in several provincial newspapers. In the first instalment the Doctor refers to one of the very earliest of matches played by his brother, E .M . “ I see from the score sheet,” he says, “ E.M . was given out leg-before-w icket. I wonder if he was satisfied with the decision P” I n the course of a speech in the House of Commons last Friday, Lord Charles Beresford said: —“ While I was at Wei- H ai-W ei, the German Admiral made a curious remark to me. He said : ‘ You English are a most extraordinary people. Three ports have been taken in China by foreigners—one at Port Arthur by the Russians, one at Kiaochau b y the Germans, and one at W ei-H ai-W ei by the British. The Russians are working with very great activity to fortify their p ort; the Germans are employed, also with great activity, in making parade grounds; and the English are engaged with great industry in making a cricket ground.’ ” R e f e r r in g to a match at Ootacamund a lady writer in the Nilgiri News says :— “ Although the cricket was rather spoilt yesterday morning, in the afternoon there was a good gathering of the fair sex to witness the match. All, of course, were to be found in the tent, and, if other topics except the play were dis­ cussed, it must be admitted all seemed to be enjoying themselves. As I heard someone remark, it sounded for all the world like the Library.” D u ring one of the Australian tours R . J. Pope played in a few of the matches. He has also represented New South Wales. Recently he took part in an electorate match at Sydney, and made the highest score, 20 out of a total of 72, for Burwood against Leichardt. A b it of descriptive writing from an Indian newspaper:— “ Ranjitsinhji evolved a style of batting as distinct as his own magnetic personality.” O n the few occasions when practice at Leyton has been possible, Abel, Peel, and Brockwell have been coaching the Essex men. It is a mistake to suppose that Peel is qualifying for Essex. His engagement only lasts for about another week, after which he will play for a Yorkshire club. I n Australia the selection of the team for 1899 has produced no shouts of rapture from the critics, who have b y no means fallen upon the necks of the selectors and given them their blessing. On the contrary, they have gone bald- headed for them. The chief fault that is found with the composition of the team is its want of slow bowlers, and much dissatisfaction is expressed that it did not include Giffin and McKibbin. Never­ theless, no one seems to have objected to the choice of any of the members of the team. T h e father of S. E . Gregory died on April 22nd, at Sydney, after a long illness. He was for many years the chief attendant of the Sydney Association Cricket Ground. N ot long ago a match was played for his benefit. A c c o r d in g to the Sunday Daily Tele - graph cricket clubs for ladies are spring­ ing up all over the country. The St. Leonard’s School, Wimbledon House School, Wickham Abbey, and Princess Helena College X I .’s are well known, and are training numbers of girls, who are eager to get some play when they leave school. Several colleges, notably Girton and the Dartford Physical Train­ ing College, can put a fairly good team in the field. T h e difficulty, says the S. D. T., is to find clubs for those who live in or near London, and are not attached to any of the women’s colleges. Fore­ most among these is the St. Quintin Club, which has secured a very good pitch at Wormwood Scrubbs, and has the advantage of possessing a first-rate pro­ fessional coach. Tbe Naueicaa Club has no subscription at all, but there is a charge of 6d. a time for play in the nets at Paddington Recreation Ground on Monday mornings— rather an awkward time, by the way. Then there are teams at Addlestone and Epping, and for those who do not mind going farther afield, there is the Hawthorn Club, at Walton-on-Thames, which is very select, and provides good play. Thus there is no reason for cricket to be dropped along with lesson-books, and as it is excellent