Cricket 1900

158 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 24, 1900. THE NEW LAWS OF CRICKET. In the Londoner of May 19th Mr. P. F. W arD er writes an article under the above title. His remarks, as one of the best of modem batsmen, are necessarily of so much interest to cricketers that we need not make an apology for quoting some of them—more especially as they corroboi - ate what has been said in Cricket. Of the follow-on iule and the boundary net he says:— Under the new rules such incidents as took place in the ’ Varsity matches of 1893 and 1896 cannot occur. The winners of the toss, however, have a greater advantage than they possessed under the old rule, and I fancy that on hard, true wickets a side will usually select to go in again, no matter how far ahead they may be at the end of an innings apiece. The old rule, though on occasions bearing hardly on the winner of the toss, often produced some of the finest matches in the history of the game ; and who will forget that memor­ able Surrey and Middlesex match at Lord’s, when A. E. Stoddart and Sir T. C. O’ Brien put on over 200 runs for the first wicket when Middlesex followed on, and enabled their side to win after being in an apparently hopeless minority on the first innings ? Of course it was hard luck on Surrey having to field twice running ; but the point I wish to bring out is that under the old rule there was a certain charm and uncertainty about a match which will, I think, be lacking under the new law. However, on the whole, the old rule probably worked more harm than good ; for, alter all, it is unfair that a side w'hich has gained a commanding 1<ad on the fii st innings should be compelled to fi- Id again, and then, when their opponents have knocked up a big score at their second attempt against tired bowling, have to go in on a worn wicket with a good many runs to win the match. Despite all there is to be said for the old rule, 1 am a firm supporter of the new law, and am convinced that it will work well. And now as to theboundary “ experiment.” When tried in the first match of the season at Lord’s, in the game between the M.C.C. and Kotts, it was an absolute failure, and the vast majority of the spectators and every cricketer who took part in that game condemned it. The experiment, I take it, was made with the idea of tiring out the batsmen. What was the actual result? It was the bowlers and fielders who became absolutely “ cooked,” and not the batsmen. Again, the rules regarding the boundaries w’ere so childish as to make one wonder how any cricketer in the world could have suggested them. As someone aptly re­ marked, “ All the Absent-minded Beggars have not gone to the front.” The rules were: “ If the baU hit the net two runs shall be added to the batsman’s score in addition to those actually run. Hits over the net are to count as boundaries, and boun­ daries are to count three,” The Committee of the M.C.C. were evidently of the same opinion as the spectators and players, for after a couple of games the rules were altered, and it was laid down that ‘ for hits bounding over, going through or under the net, four runs shall be scoied; for l.its over Ihe net, five; and for hits out of ilie ground, six.” But these alt» rations worked little, if any, better. Eight, or possibly nine, runs are still to be had fora “ snick ; ” and though the batsman is certainly encouraged to hit out more than under the first set of rules, there are to my mind several grave disadvantages. Firstly, the face values of hits are altogether out of proportion. I saw Albert Trott, in the M.C.C. v. Sussex match, obtain six for a by no means big on drive, four being run, in addition to the two runs added for the ball striking the net; while a beautiful hard, clean hit just in front of point only produced three runs. The batsman who will make the most runs is the man w'ho can hit the ball only just hard enough to reach the boundary, for the hard hit gets to the net too quickly. Secondly—and the greatest objection of all—the bowlers and fielders are the people who feel the effects of running everything out, and not the batsmen, who can take their time and have as long a “ breather ” as they like after each ball. Thirdly, imagine a man with a long run, like Kortright, bowling. He gets hit to the net; four runs are run, and two added for the ball striking the net. The batsman then takes his time, and next ball again hits him for six. Again he takes his time before the next ball is bowled. ') he result of all this is that an over will take twice as long as before, when the ball was promptly thrown up from the ropes and the game continued at once. Fourthly, scoring will be much higher. The M.C.C. made about 140 in their second innings against Sussex, and I venture to say that with the old boundary rules they would have got just about 100, and no more. One hears a good many people talking as if the batsman never by any chance ran, but simply stood at the wickets and hit the ball to the boundary. That is quite a fallacious idea. In very many cases the batsman has run two, sometimes three, runs before the ball reaches the boundarj\ It is highly probable that the M.C.C. Com­ mittee will revert to the old system of scoring before many weeks are past; but, for all that, there is a love of change for its own sake creeping over a certain section of cricketers— not modern cricketers, but men who have been giants in the past—which is, I am con­ vinced, very detrimental to the best interests of the greatest game in the world. BUTTON (2) v. GRANVILLE Sutton on May 19. G b a n v illk . ■A .” —Played at A. L. Ryder, b Hyslop 4 C. E. G. L°e, c Poole, b H j slop .24 G. Helder, c W hit- bourne, b Hyslop ... 7 A .0. Pettn an, b Whit- bourne ... ...0 A.N.Ma>sie,bHaycraft 14 E J. Brown, b Col.ins 4 8. Atkinson, run out | W . H. Smith, c F .,b A. Collins A. Bacon, b A. Collins A. J. Irons, run out... H. J. Graham, notout Extras ... Total S utton A. Collins, b Beider ... 3 F. Collins, b Helder... 3 F. Whitbourne, b H. Hyslop, b Brown 4 Helder ................... 2 W . b . 11aj craft, not J. Poole, lbw, b Brown 31 out .......................... 1 C.J. Ramsay, b Helderl31 E xtras...................34 C. C. Costen, not out...107 — Total (6wkts)316 S. Lord, C. E. Easton, anl S. V. Straker did not bat. GRAN VILLE (Lee) “ A ” v. R. ESCOMBE’S X I.— Played at Lee on May 19. R. F scom b r’s X I. W. 8. Robertson, not out ................. 108 I W . R. Lemarchand, b P an n ore... 5 W . A. Clayton,b W in- dett .................. f? C.M. Fiith, b w indett 6 H. F. Fall**, b W inde t 1 G E T . Sunderland, c Rae, b \>iadett ... 0 1 G ran J. Rae, c Borrisow, b Robenson .. 34 F.E. 'I homson,not out 56 S. V. Windett, b R o- ertson ...........14 H. Wilson, c and b Bo’ erts^n ........... 0 P. W. Brown, c Hob­ son. b Gill ........... 0 E. B. Ba’ t ett, run out 3 R. Stephen, b Windett 0 A. l'orri*ow,c Wilson, b Debenham ...........11 A.N Other, b W inditt 0 Extras...................11 Total ...151 J. A. Johnston, b Fotertson ........... 6 E F.Debenham, c Bor­ risow, b Robertson 17 T.L.Passmore, notout 4 Extras...................24 Total (5 wkts) 154 J. H. Hollingworth. H. W. Gill, 8. C. Burnett and L. Hobson did not bat. NORTHBROOK v. HAMPTON W IC K —Played at Hampton W ick on May 19. N o rth brook . A. Fuller, c Hirst, b R. C. O. Springthorpe, b H. Russell ...........25 J. W . West, c White, b H. Russell ...........34 D. M. Goodall, b R. Russell .................. 8 W . J. Symon, lbw, b H. Russell .......... 4 H. O. Goodall, b D. G. W illiam s.................. 50 Russell T. G. Cannon, c Sivers, b R. Rustell ........... 2 P. E. Goodall, not out 34 Ashdown, b White ... 0 W . D. Butler, not out 3 Extras ...........22 Total (8]wkts) *191 T. D. Warry did not bat. •Innings declared closed. H am pton W ick . H. T. Knight, lbw, b R.A.Russell,c Cannon, Symon ................. 0 b S y m o n ................... 1 J. Price, c Butler, b L. C. Moore, not out... 10 Symon ...................25 G. Petherbridge, not D.G.Williams.stWest, out ........................... 0 b Symon ................... 6 Extras ........... 2 F.K. Hirst, b Symon .. 3 — Dr. Sedgwick, c and b Total (6 wkts) 92 Symon ...................45 R. J. Sivers, H. Russell, and G. W hite did not bat. N ATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK v. LONDON, CITY, AND M IDLAND B A N K —Played at Lovrer Sydenham on May 17 and 18. N. P. B. A.D.Phillips, b Brown 0 P. M. White, c Dewey, b W illiams ........... 0 J. W . Richards, c Dewey, b Brown ... 10 J. Price, b Williams ... 5 (?. A . Cosser, c Law- ford, b Williams ... 30 H. C. J. McCo- achy, cDagger, b Williams 8 W . H. F»ar, b Brown 3 E. C. Troughton, b Brown ................... W . H. Po»ter, c Cole­ man, b W illiams . . J. W . Muuford, b Brown ................... P. W . Hatherley, not out ........................... Byes ................... Total L. C. & M. B. Dewey, c Ha'herley, b Cosser .................. Brown, b Richaids ... W i liams, b Cosier ... Coleman, c Phillips, b CoKS'-r............ Fishwick, b Cosser ... Brigg, b C osser........... Martin, not o u t ........... La«ford, run out ... l F. Dagger, c Price, b Coss^r ................... 3 H. G. Dagger, b Cos­ ser ... ..................10 Geer, run out ........... 0 L ^g-byes...........14 Total ..108 BAT v. BALL. THE NEW AND ONLY BOOK OF INDIVIDUAL CRICKET RECORDS. 1 § 6 4 -1 » 0 0 . A marvellous compilation of features and facts deeply interesting to every follower of the Great National pastime. The book, which is concisely and conveniently arranged and pp’endidly printed, contains upwards of 400 piges. It gives, amongst other features of equal interest, a complete list of every individual innings of 50 runs and upwards (more than 10,003 in number by over 1,10 1players) and every bowlt-r of 50 wickets and in important Cricktt in England and Australia during the last 36 years. The Press and representative Cricketers are unani­ mous in their praise of this unique book. Strongly I ound in cloth, with provision for keeping up the records 2s. 6d. Popu’ar edition, in artistic cover. Is. 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