Cricket 1900

J u l y 12, 1900. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECOfeD OS’ THE GAME. 265 and a resolution was passed expressing the thanks of the meeting to “ Mr. VV. P. Kirk­ wood, the spirited owner of the s.s, ‘ White Swan,’ for having, unsolicited, expressed his willingness to convey the Auckland cricketers to Wellington and hack on exceedingly liberal terms.” Though the visitors were expected by the next trip of the “ White Swan,” it was not till the middle of March that they arrived. It showed a lot of enter­ prise and enthusiasm on the part of the two elevens to carry out these games, when the difficulties of travelling in those early times are taken into consideration. The Wellington Independent reported the above match t h u s “ Auckland won with four wickets to go down. They fairly won and are entitled to all the credit. Unfortunately, however, the suddenness of their arrival caught our players unprepared, two or three of the best who are living at some distance from town, not being able to be apprised sufficiently early, while several others had been enjoying themselves at the races during the previous two days, not quite the best preparation that could have been desired. The Auckland eleven have been well received, although the uncertainty of their coming prevented the intended preparations for their recep­ tion being carried out. They returned on Sunday morning, taking with them the hearty good wishes of all here, who fully appreciate the enterprise which has led them to set the example of searching for laurels beyond the confines of their own province.” We have received the following letter from “ Wykehaiu ” : “ Can you kindly inform me who are the publishers of the three following books, mentioned in Cricket of last week?” “ The Ethics of No-balling,” by C. B. Fry and A. Mold ; “ How I became aWebt Indian,” by P. F. Warner; and “ Why Bowlers Love Me,” by W . G. Quaife. We imagine that “ Wykeham ” cannot be serious, but, if he is, we can only say that we fancy the publishers have not yet been decided upon. A G loucestershire correspondent writes: “ During one of Mr. Jessop’s wonderful innings, one of his bats showed considerable signs of splintering, and another one was soon forthcoming. When the new bat arrived, a gentleman in the crowd (a Gloucestershire man) rather tickled the spectators in his immediate neighbourhood by remarking, ‘ That bat aint no sort of good, fetch ’im a telegraph pole.’ This is a fact.” DESCRIBING last Thursday’s play in Notts v. Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Tele­ graph and Star says:— “ Shrewsbury arrived. To those in the know his appearance in borrowed plumes was the subject of much merriment, Gunn's big pads reaching half-way up his thighs .” I t is stated that the Yorkshire County Cricket Committee have decided to abolisn talent money for their professional cricketers. Instead of this, good per­ formances will be rewarded by marks, given at the discretion of the captain. This is, we may add, by no means the new departure some critics seem to imagine. It has been done for years by Surrey, and also for some time, we believe, by Lancashire. F rom the list of members of the Artists’ C.C. of which the president is Mr. E. A, Abbey, R.A., the vice-president, Mr. H. H. La Thangue, A.It A., the hon. treasurer, Mr. A. Chevallier Tayler, the hon, sec., Mr. G. H. Hillyard Swin­ stead, we find that several well-known artists—many of them famous—are also cricketers. Thefollowing areallcricketers, and some of them extremely good players. Abbey, E. A ., B.A. Luard, F. D. Batson, F. C. Mayor, Fred. Seamer. Blomfield, Reginald. Nightingale, L. C. Bramley, Frank, A .R .A . O’Brien, Dermod. Brown, Am esby. Partridge, J. Bernard. Brown, Frank Pomeroy, F. W . Burns, Cecil L. Proctor, Adam. Crofts, Ernest, R .A . Reid, John R. Downing, C. P. Stokes, Adrian. Ford, Henry J. Stott, Edward. Hampton, A. H. Studd, Arthur H. Jacomb-Hood, G. P. Swinstead, G. Hillyard. James, The Hon. W . J. Taubman, Frank M. La Thangue, H .H .,A .R .A . Tayler, A . Chevallier. A n article by Mr. M. Randal Roberts, in the Windsor Magazine, entitled “ My first century,” contains letters from Lord Hawke, Dr. Grace, Messrs. Stoddart, Fry, Key, Jessop, Mason, Warner and Jephson, and Abel and J. T. Brown, with comments by the author. Most of the cricketers profess to forget when they marie their first hundred —we note that they nearly all refer to it as a “ century,” while we sadly observe that Mr. Jessop calls himself a “ centurion” — and Mr. Stoddart boldly describes one of his best innings instead. Some of the letters are very interesting, notably those of Mr. S. M. J. Woods, Mr. Jessop, and J. T. Brown. Here is Mr. Woods’ letter : When I was twelve I scored 109 out of 148 for Juniors of Royston College, Sydney, New South Wales. I was in the first eleven at the time and played for them in the afternoon. I remember telling the captain that I had made a century in the morning, thinking he might put me in a little earlier. I generally went in last, as I was a bowler. Much to my disgust, he said, “ Oh, then you need not go in soon, as you will be too tired; or, if you do, get out first ball.” Which I did without any trying to. S. M. J. W o o d s . Mr. Jessop thus describes his first hundred:— My first appearance as a centurion in any match was in Essex, for South Woodford v. Woodford United, in 1893, when I scored 112. I can remember that it was a distinctly lucky innings, remarkable chiefly for the number of opportunities I presented to the wicket-keeper. I stood a foot and a half out­ side my crease during most of tbe innings, and eventually fell a victim to my boldness, by being stumped through the ball re-bound­ ing from the wicket-keeper’s pads. This habit of mine, by the way, of standing outside the crease, greatly displeased the journalistic critics when I first played county cricket. '1he comments of a Manchester evening paper on my debut as a first-class cricketer were cer­ tainly not very encouraging to a nervous player. They read as follows: “ If Mr. Jessop cannot bat better than he can bowl or field, he will certainly not be an acquisition to the western shire.” My running out to Mold was condemned in those days as “ rustic cricket ” by a good few of [the people who nowadays talk of the same method as good forcing tactics. Mores mutantur. Sincerely yours, G i l b e r t L . J e s s o p . And to conclude, J. T. Brown’s letter is as follows : I am sorry I cannot oblige you by writing an account of my first century; but as I have been asked to do so before, and refused, I think it would not look well of me to do so now. Yours truly, J. T. B r o w n . M r . R. E. F oster ’ s scores for Oxford against Cambridge are as follows :— First inns. Second inns. 1897 ................................ 27 ................................ 6 1898 ................................ 57 ................................— 1899 ................................ 21 ................................ 18 1900 ........... ... ... 171 ............................................. 42 I n recent public school matches there have bfen a couple of very exciting finishes. Bradfield College, in the fourth innings of the match against Sherborne School, were left to make 232 runs in an hour and a half, and when the last over was begun had made 97 for the loss of 8 wickets. With the first ball of the over the Sherborne bowler, Birks, took a wicket, and finished off the match in triumph by disposing of the last bats­ man with the last ball. In the other match, Haileybury College had to make 327 to win against Wellington College, and accomplished their task for the loss of four wickets in two hours and twenty minutes. T h e following are pood and somewhat similar peiformances by schoolboys:— J. E. Raphael, for Merchant Taylors’ School v. Cranleigh School, scored 152 not out, and took 5 wickets for 25 runs. E. P. Culver, for St. Paul’s School v. Dul­ wich College, scored 103 and took 6 wickets. A. J. K. Roberts, for Mill Hill School v. Wellingborough Grammar School, scored 101, and took 5 wickets for 28 runs. I g r e a t l y regret to hear that Mr. Richard Daft is very seriously ill. A bel has now made a hundred for Players v. Gentlemen four times, viz., 168 not out in 1894; 195 in 1899, and 153 not out on Monday last—all these at the Oval; and 117 at Hastings in 1892. T h e first two individual innings of a hundred in New York this season have been made by the same man, Mr. F. J. Prendergast, who made 124 in each innings. T here was a curious incident in a recent match between Hornsey and Mr. W . P. Harrison’s X I. The latter had to go in second, and when the last over was begun had still to make ten runs with a