Cricket 1900

CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF TllE GAME. M ay 3 i, 1900 W hiting about the effect of the war on the gtmo of cricked, “ Felix,” in the Australasian , says:— “ Public feeling in England is wholly centred in the war, and when thousands of brave men are numbered wi‘,h the slain their countrymen. feel, and justly feel, that it is no time for organising a team to take a pleasure trip for play. The Melbourne Cricket Club executive here recogni.-e it, and are, I think, in complete accord with the action taken by the committee of the Marylebone Club. Mr. Frank Grey Smith, president of our M.C.C., predicted the step taken by the Marylebone Club two months or so before the cable came to Major Wardill stating that the proposed tour would have to be deferred, and the Major, so soon as the cable arrived, at once admitted that it was only what he had ex­ pected under the sad prevailing circumstances. The war pretty well killed all interest in intercolonial cricket in Melbourne this C. J. E ady di i a notable bowling per­ formance for the Sou'h against the North of Tasmania. In the two innings he took 16 wickets for 108 runs, his analyses being : — O. 425 . 14 First innings Second innings M. R. W . . 18 ... 61 .. 8 . 4 ... 47 .. 8 The South scored 524 (W. Ward, 115; K. Burn, 56 ; S. Hawson, 81; and R. Hawson, 98) against 146 and 89 by the North. A ustralian papers have lately 1een making merry over a good old tale which, as far as we know, lias never previously been introduced as told by a cricketer. It is as follows :— One of the good old-time cricketers who plays no more now because “ something has gone wrong with the works,” went out one day last week to see an old friend at the Yarra Bend. Whilst waiting in one of the yards, a pleasant, gentlemanly fellow came up and commenced conversation. He talked so rationally that the visitor was startled when he announced that he was considered a lunatic. “ You see,” he said, “ they shutme up here just on account of a little failing I have. Fact of it is I like to get a bit of chalk and go about writing things on the wall. It doesn’t do any harm, because a warder follows immediately and rubs it out. But I’ve got ahead of him this time, for I’ve had ‘ Jackass ’ written on your back for the last twenty minutes.” M b . W a r n e r has played four innings at Lord’s this season. He has made 83 and 69 for Marylebone against Yorkshire, 114 for Middlesex against Sussex, and 146 for Middlesex against Lancashire. A STOUT old Yorksbireman playing in a village match a few days ago completely covered his wickets with his legs and was given out l.b.w. in the first over. He seemed quite taken by surprise at the umpire’s decision, and would not leave the crease, but said repeatedly “ Wot’s bout new, I ’aven’t moved my legs.” The umpiie, who was a bit of a wag, replied “ You’re right in front of your wicket. Come over here, mon, and look for yerself.” The last remark seemed to amuse the batsman almost as much as the spectator-!, and he quickly made hi< way back to tbe paviliou and smoked his pipe thoughtfully for the rest of the afternoon. Describing a match between Bradford and Harrogate, a local pap«r says: — “ During tbe course of the game the umpire obviously gave a wrong decision against Rotheray. The ball lodged in his pid, and he picked it out. On being appealed to the umpire at fir s t , it is said, decided “ not out,” but subsfquently gave him out for handling the ball.” Apparently the umpire has not realised that rule 33 (a) now reads “ If the ball, whether struck with the bat or not, lodges in a batsman’s clothing, the b ill shall become *dead.’ ” Possibly, how­ ever, he does not consider that a pid comes under the head of “ clothing.” K. S. R anjitsinhji may be a model captain, but if captains were selected on the principle enunciated by Harry Trott in his advice to boys, v iz.:—“ If possible let him always win the tos3,” he would still be waiting for his time to come. He has lost the toss for Sussex in champion­ ship matches sixteen times in succ-tssion. Even when he had an ordinary match in which to try his luck iu tossing—against Oxford University, he managed to lose. Again in a match in which he was not playing, his deputy contrived to lose the toss. So that Sussex have now lost the toss eighteen times in succession up to the present date. In Monday’s Evening News part of an article by Mr. A. C. MacLaren appeared. The following is an extract from i t : — Writing of losing form reminds me that many batsmen, when they arrive at this unfortunate stage, make the mistake as a rule of playing too carefully, all the time thinking of how they are going to keep the ball out of the wicket rather than to what part of the field they are going to hit it. On the same day at Lord’s, Mr. Mac­ Laren having arrived at the unfortunate stage of being entirely out of form, put his theory into practice. Instead of thinking how he was going to keep the ball out of the wicket as is done by most batsmen in a like position, he directed his attention to the parts of the field iu which he was going to hit it. The result was an innings of 44, the highest on the side, made in forty minutes. It was not put together in his usual style, for at the moment he was not concerning hiuiself with style at all, but it was a success. T he finest all-round performance of the past week was accomplished by Storer. For Derbyshire against M.C.C. he scored 55 and 175 not out, took three wickets for 49, stumped a man, and made three catches at the wicket. L ieut . -COLONEL C. K. W ood , R.E., who has been granted the local rank of Colonel on the Staff while holding the appointment of Chief Engineer, Natal Field Force, is the slow left-hand bowler who did good service for the Sappjers for many years in the seventies. He was a contemporary of George Strachau iu the Cheltenham X I. of 1869. Two old Middlesex cricketers have been among the prize-winners at g jlf during the last few days. Oa S iturday, P. J. T. Henery, of Harrow and Cambridge, won the aggregate prize at the spring meeting of the Formby Club. Oa Monday, C. F. H. Leslie, Rugby and Oxford, also won the President’s Cup of the Mi I Herts Club with an excellent sc >re of 84-3-81. F ro m the San, Tuesday “ Winter, of Mi Idlesex, had a good catuh offered to him yeBterday, and missed it, ‘ It wasn’t so much that the sun was right in my eyes,’ he explained afterwards, ‘ but when I looked up I saw the ball passing right over the sun and blotting it out. I waited for it to come back, but I waited too long. That ball must have travelled pretty fast.’ Someone broke the news of the eclipse to him gently.” T h e highest aggregate for the season in Sydney Electorate matches has been made by R. A. Duff with 562. Iu pre­ vious seasons the highest aggregate was made by W. J. Camphin (379 in 1893 4), T. W. Garrett (524 in 1894-5), A. C. K. Mackenzie (565 in 1895-6), A. Cjningham (655 in 1896-7), V. Truuper (102L in 1897-8), and A.. J. Hopkius (619 iu 1898-9). T h e averages of well-known men in Sydney Electorate cricket this season are as follow s:— BATTING. P y e .. . H owell. Inns. N.O. .. 9 ... 0 .. H.8. Total 188 12 Gregory, C .... 9 ... 0 ... 176 Marsh B. A. Duff . Gregory Trump ir Mackenzie ... 8 ... 1 Ktlly 8 M. A. Noble 6 ... 1 Ban Herman... Dorman Garrett........... 1 27* 15S 67 119 166 57 135 51 £82 140 372 41 662 227 354 370 105 223 80 160* ... 81-S 74 178 Aver. 4244 20 41-33 41 62 44 3i42 t9 62-85 52 5 46 66 26 66 682 25'42 Youll ........... 9 ... 0 ... 76 ... 193 ... 2144 BOWLING. Runs. Wickets. Aver. Howell ................ .. 315 33 9.64 Pye ........................ .. 457 29 15 75 Marsh ................ .. 296 30 9-86 M’ B ea th ................ .. 418 33 1266 M. A. Noble ... ... 331 24 1379 Trum per................ .. 261 '1 . 13 2007 Donnan ........... ... 124 4 31 T h e following tribute to Captain Boyle, of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, who was killed near Boshaf, from the pen of Mr. Andrew Lang, appeared in Longman's Magazine. He was, writes Mr. Lang, with, perhaps, the exception of Mr. Kortright and the Rev. Mr. Barclay, the fastest bowler that I ever saw. He played football (Rugby) for England, and his S-sottish opponents said they had never seen a finer man. He was the soul of honour, and so constant to duty that, at the age of forty-Beven, he hurried to South Africa, taking many horses of his own, to serve in the Imperial Yeomanry. He gave up wealth of his own creation, and all the happiness of home, and laid down his life, at the call of his country. So remarkable was