Cricket 1900

THE FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. J une 7, J900. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 179 BUSSEY’S CO M J o &< D co - J C H — CO - ® O ^ - •— > 3 “ ! i - s S £ 3 E C D A u i UJ S _ CO CO *— <vs CM C O CO w to * «< n M o w 0 9 T CO j; CO I Z 3 J cm ES G cd s per BUSSEY’S AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. B y F'. S. A s h l e y -C o o p e r . Soon after these lines are in print the members of the West Indian team will be in our midst. The news that a team from the West Indies would visit us this season was first published in this column last year, when the causes of the projected tour were also given. The members of the team were selected in January last at Trinidad, but since that, time alterations have been made, and the cricketers who left Barbados on the 26th ult. were as follows:—R. S. A. Warner (Capt.), L. S. L)’Ade,L. Constantine and J. Woods (Trinidad), P. A. Goodman, W. Bowring, P. I. Cox and F. Hinds (Bar­ bados), W. H. Mignon (Grenada), C. A. Ollivierre (St. Vincent), M. M. Kerr and G. V. Livingstone (Jamaica) and G. C. Learmond and T. Burton ( Demerara). Mr. W. C. Nock, of Trinided, accompanies the team as manager. Mr. Warner, who has been elected captain (a good selection from a social point of view) in deference to the wishes of the West Indian club in England, was a fine bat five, or even three, years ago, but is now far from being first-class. The inclusion in the team, too of Mr.W.Bowring caused a great deal of surprise. By birth he is an Englishman, and went to Barbados as recently as November or December, 1898, immediately after which he went to Trini­ dad for a short time. Then he went to the same island in May last year. In August, September and October he was in America, and lor the fortnight in January this year he was in Trinidad as captain of the Bar­ bados team, playing against Demerara. In all, he has only been in the West Indies about one year, yet he is included in the team visiting us as a representative of Barbados ! The strength of the team will probably lie in its bowling, for in the ab­ sence of H. A. Cole, G. B. Y. Cox and S. W. Sproston, it has lost its three best batsmen. It may be as well to add that the visit is made for educational purposes and with no idea of “ setting the Thames on fire/’ Had a fully representative team been able to visit us some good finishes might have been seen, but, as it is, it appears impossible for the side to often prove successful. Be that as it may, however, all will join in wishing the team a pleasant tour. The collapse of Gloucestershire on Thurs­ day last was the cause of their losing to Surrey at the Oval. When they won the toss and had first use of a good wicket it was confidently expected that they would remain in all day and make a good score. With the exceptions of Wrathall and Mr. Jessop, however, nobody was able to make many runs against Lockwood and Richard­ son. The former bowled with great effect and thoroughly deserved the success with which he met, whilst Richardson was clearly kept on too long. That there was little the matter with the wicket was plainly shown when Surrey went in, Hayward and Abel scoring 201 for the first wicket. By scoring 92, Hayward was enabled to complete his thousand runs before the end of May, a performance only previously accomplished by “ W. G.,” in 1895. Five years ago “ W. G.” obtained his runs between May 9th and May 31st, whereas Hayward this year played his first match in April, scoring 120 not out against London County at the Oval. In the Gloucestershire eleven which played at the Oval there were as many as five left-lianded batsmen, which must surely be a most unusual number for a first-class side. Matches have frequently taken place between Right-handed and Left-handed, but I believe the record number of left- handed players in a team taking part in an ordinary match is eight (Vide Cricket Field . 1.894, p. 325). Sussex, without Mr. Fry, would now seem almost as strange as Gloucestershire would have done in the seventies without “ W.G.” To iall those who are acquainted with Mr. Fry’s delightful and forceful style—and who is not who frequents cricket grounds?—his recent successes with the bat must have been hailed with pleasure. His scores of 69 and 101 not out on a bad wicket at Leyton were masterly displays, even for so great a master as Mr. Fry. If Sussex could only unearth a couple of first- class bowlers to assist Bland and Tate, the county would be able to place in the field a side which might reasonably be expected to make a good fight against the rest of England. The inclusion of Cordingley in the team will strengthen the side greatly, but another first-class bowler will still be required to make it an ideal team. Nowadays, there are so many large indi­ vidual scores, that it is impossible to refer to them all in a short article, such as this must always be, but the splendid doubles of Messrs. MacLaren and Grace must be noted. It is a long time since the former has shown such fine batting as he did last week at Southampton, and on that account his success is the more gratifying. If he can only manage to get back into his best form, Lancashire should be near, if not actually at the top of the list of first-class counties at the end of the season. So many adjectives have been used during the past forty years to describe W. G.’s performances in the field that it is difficult to know which to make use of in referring to his doings at Cambridge. As figures often speak louder than words all will be understood when it is stated that he scored 86 and 62 (the highest score in each innings of his side), and obtained 5 wickets for 99 runs in the first innings of his opponents. Such a per­ formance for a veteran is, to use Dominie Sampson’s favourite expression, “ Pro­ digious !*’ Veteran did I say? He is still a very boy in spirits and enthusiasm. A few extraordinary performances in minor matches may be noted here. For Cane Hill v. Croydon, at Coulsdon, on May 26th, Mr. V. F. S. Crawford scored 201 not out out of a total of 300 for one wicket, at one time obtaining 30 runs off one over by means of three sixes and three fours. In a match on the Central Ground, Hastings, on the 30th ult., in which I was umpiring, between the Hastings Rovers and Mr. J. W. Rome’s XI., Capt. H. S. Johnstone scored 227 not out for the latter, which is the highest score ever made on the ground. From fourteen consecutive overs he scored 102 runs at one period of his innings, obtaining 24 (six boundaries) from one over sent down by Mr. C. F. Adamson. Capt. Johnstone is a vice-presi­ dent of the Rovers Club and only played for the scratch team because they were a man short. For Peterborough v. Ramsey, at Peterborough, on May 31st., C. Tlirel- fall, a one-armed player, made 44 not out by means of eleven fours, eight of the fours being from consecutive balls. It is so seldom that a one-armed player dis­ tinguishes himself as a batsmen that I take this opportunity of giving a list of