Cricket 1900

1 0 6 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a t 3 , 1 9 0 0 . A new and commodious pavilion was opened by the Ealing C.O. on Monday. The total cost of the building has been about £900. Ilf the excellent number of Badminton for May, Mr. W. J. Ford discourses ably on the subject of throwing. He is inclined to think that “ the general average of throwing is much lower than it used to be in the days when boundaries were rare and a man was selected for his side because, inter alia, he could throw.” We quote one of the anecdotes in the article : — “ I was sitting in the pavilion at Lord’s last year watching a match, in the course of which Albert Trott chased a ball to the lower boundary and flung it back to the bowler. So hard and low was the throw that as the ball hummed off the hard ground, the bowler con­ sidered it prudent not to meddle with it, whereupon it promptly found the boundary at the Grand Stand side, hitting the seats with a .vicious thump. Turning to a friend next to me, I ventured the remark that none of our English cricketers could throw like that, and got for my pains the cynical retort, ‘ Oh yes they can, and they do, but they call it bowling.’ ” T he Badminton Magazine also contains a skit npon the low scoring shewn by some present day players. The writer, who has evidently studied the game of football, takes a gloomy view of the future, as he makes one of his characters say : “ As a matter of fact there are no games of the kind you mention nowadays (i.e., matches between local clubs and villages, etc.). Instead of playing themselves, people prefer to come and look on. They hke taking their exercise by deputy.” I n the interview with Mr. F. G. Harding last week it was stated that the Old Islington Albion Cricket Club played All England in 1882, which was an obvious misprint. The date should have been 1822. In the same interview Mr. Harding’s name is once inserted as Hardy, but it is scarcely likely that any one was deceived by this. T he appointment of the Rev. W- Rasbleigh to a minor c.moni y in Gloucester Cathedral will give gratifica­ tion to his many friends. Report was busy some time ago with the possibility of his removal from Tonbridge. His retirement will be a great loss to Ton­ bridge School, in whose cricket tuition he took an active part. As I understand that Mr. Rashleigh’s duties will not commence until the end of the cricket season, it may be that he will be found in the Kent eleven this summer. But we are not certain whether etiquette would allow a minor canon to disport himself on the cricket field in modern first-class matches. Is there any instance of a minor canon playing for his county ? Q uery : To how many men does the honour belong of having been the very first to discover the merits of Mr. Y. F. S. Crawford and Mr. E. M. Dowson ? U nder what is apparently a most appropriate title, the following altogether mysterious paragraph appeared iu the Sun last Monday :— S O M E O N E H A D B L U N D E R E D . The announcement that a cricket match is to take place three months ahead is slightly premature. The fact that Leamington are billed to play Hunslet in a Leeds League game on July 28th leads to the belief that someone has blundered. Many cricketers in Leeds have come to the conclusion that the month has been mistaken, and that Saturday, April 28th was the date intended, but the League fixtures show that the clubs have arranged to play their return match on the Leamington ground on July 28th, the date of the first game at Hunslet, being Ma}' 26th. T he match between the Victorian Veterans of Australian Elevens and The Armv, which was played at Melbourne on March 17th in aid of the Patriotic Fm.ds, showed conclusively that the veterans could bat far better than they could bowl. It must, however, be re­ membered that most of them bad not played for years, which makes all the difference in the world. The scores ^'ill be found on another page. S ome interesting comments on the bowling and fielding of the Veterans are made in the Australasian by “ Felix,” the pen-name of T. Horan, himself one of the players :— The bowlers who wrought havoc in inter­ colonial and international matches twenty years ago are well nigh harmless to-day. Like Boer shells, their deliveries won’t go off. Once the turf is touched, a door nail could scarcely be deader than a ball from one of the Veterans. Harry Boyle can keep a length yet, but where is the “ devil?” Echo an­ swers “ nowhere.” The bowler of the last century, Frank Allan, was done up after sending down a few against the wind. One ball from him to Captain Pleasents was really good, and the captain is yet marvelling how it missed his wicket. W. H. Cooper has lost a lot of his curl, and they do not nip off the pitch now, but for all that he had Dr. Daish in trouble at times. Harry Boyle, the oldest man of the lot, showed surprising activity, and threw some of his old-time “ pictures ” with rare agility, his knee and body flexure being almost up to the form of his youthful days. George Alexander made a rattling running catch at mid-on, and another good catch at short-leg, but why did he drop that easy one at fine short-leg ? Lieutenant 1>uigan (an army man) gave a spirited and able display for 100 (retired), Horan’s bowling suiting'him right down to the ground, or rather the boundary. J- W. Trumble’s bowling has some life left in it yet, but then, J. W. can hardly be termed an “ old ’ un.” Tom Groube had a lot of running about in the field, and he lasted like the Tom of yore, but the man who had most work of all was Harry Boyle. W. H. Cooper was very good at point, and John McCarthy Blackham acquitted himself satisfactorily in his well-known post. As to the batting, Horan says : “ It was W. H. Moule’ s day out. He shaped excellently for 106 (not out), some of his drives being up to the form of his best day. George Alexander put life into his play for 31, and J. Slight’s 17 was a neat contribution. Frank Allan, whom the Americans termed tbe “ crouching pan­ ther,” batfed as of old, without pads or gloves, and the Army failed to find a weak spot in his armour. He scored 13 not out.” ------ T he Veterans’ match realized about £12 in gate money, and a collection about £17. It is anticipated that from £80 to £90 will be handed over to the fund as the proceeds of the match W. H. M o u l e , who scored 106 not out in the Ve'erans’ match had, a few days before, scored 60 for the Parliament of Victoria against that of New South Wales. He is the only member of an Australian X I. who has been elected to the legislature; he came over with the team in 1880, scoring 75 runs in nine innings. Nearly half of these rnns (34) were made in the only match played by the 1880 team against England. When tbe innings defeat seemed imminent, 32 ruus being required to save it, he put on 88 runs for the last wicket iu partnership with Mr. Murdoch, who carried his bat for 153. ------ T he unusual occurrence of an umpire awarding a penalty against a fieldsman for stopping the ball with bis hat has occurred in Australia. Commenting on this, the Sydney Referee says :— Some doubt seems to have arisen as to whether the law is intended to penalise such an act as that described. The bowler in this instance, before starting his run, threw his hat on to the ground. The batsman drove the ball into it, and a ccrtain fourer was thereby saved. As he deliberately threw his hat upon the ground, the onus of the act must rest with the bowler. Box relates that in 1865 “ in a county match, the wiekot-keeper took off his pads and threw them down in the locality of short-leg. Presently a ball was impeded by them, and the party who was in appealed to the umpire, who awarded the five runs penalty for the pads obstruction.” This needs a little explanation. At that time the law was: “ If any fieldsman stop the ball with his hat, the ball shall be considered dead, and the opposite party shall add five runs to their score. ------ W ith regard to the above incident, the only question which can aiise is whether the batsman “ wilfully stopped the ball otherwise ” — that is to say, otherwi-e than with any part of his person. In this case, the bowler threw down his hat before starting to run, obviously not with any intention of stopping a hit made by the batsman ; and it would seem almost as reasonable to penalise him if the ball happened to be stopped by bis sweater or coat which he had given to the umpire to hold. But if precedent were followed a five would be given. From the Auckland Observer (New Zealand):— ‘ ‘ One of the most amusing incidents I have ever seen on a cricket-fiold occurred during Auckland’s second innings against the