Cricket 1900

282 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u l y 19, 1900. ventured to say was, ‘ Sammy Woods, Sammy Woods,’ but brief as that was it con­ veyed much.” In the chat which appeared in last week’s Cricket Mr. Vernon Hill referred to the fact that Richardson in his best days hardly needed a field—he bowled his man. Mr. Hill instanced a Surrey match against Essex in which Richard- spn took seventeen wickets, of whch thirteen were bowled—a feat which he repeated in last » eek’s match at Ley­ ton, when he look fourteen wickets in the match—nine of them clean bjwled. S cene .—The Essex County Ground. The Surrey match in progress. Among the crowd. The Essex team is just going into the field:— Curate (who has given many signs that he knows nothing whatever about cricket): “ Can you tell me which is Mr. Ranjitsinhji ? ” British Working Man (who has dis­ covered that he has a tyro to deal with) : “ Suttinly. It’s ’im in the white coat as is puttin’ on the bails.” Curate : “ Dear me ! How remarkable. True his face is dark, but his hands seem quite white, and much bigger than I expected to see.” B. W . M. : “ Yus, iu course they is. Didn’t you know as ’e ’as to wear gloves ’cause ’is ’ands is so small that he couldn’t catch nothing ? ” Curate left pondering on the mysteries of the game of cricket. F or the first time for thirty-five years the name of Dr. Grace has not appeared among the Gentlemen who were asked to play at Lord’s against the Players. T he list of innings of over two hundred made by Ranjitsinhji in first-class cricket is as follows :— 1897, May, Sussex v. M.C.C., at Lord’s, 2)0. 1900, June, Sussex v. Somerset, at Brighton, 222. 1900, June, 8ussex v. Cambridge University, 215. 1900, July, Sussex v. Leicestershire, 275. U nder the heading of “ Strange occurrence at Lord’s,” the following very amusing letter, written in chaff of the time taken by so many first-class bats­ men before they reach the wickets after another man has been out, appeared in last Saturday’s Sportsman : — Sir,—I was an eye-witness to the following unusual incident at Lord’s yesterday after­ noon : As an outcoming batsman approached the steps of the pavilion, the ingoing batsman stepped upon the turf, and with brisk gait arrived at the wicket within the time allowed by Rule 38, which reads as follows; “ They (the umpires) shall allow two minutes for each striker to come in.” As in first-class cricket it is customary for the batsman to help himseif to another three minutes, over and above what is allowed by Rule 38, I asked this eccentric player what his little game was, and his apologetic reply was to the effect that, not having had the advantage of playing in first-class cricket, he did not know the etiquette of the game. Now, let us consider what the effect would be if everyone thus forgot what is due to the dignity of the batsman. Not counting the first two batsmen, nine men have to march to the wickets in each innings, and 9 by 3— 27, so in each innings, long or short, 27 minutes would be saved. To avoid any interference with the placid and nearly inevitable draw, this saved time might be added on to the interval for tea, and if the players who prefer luncheon to tea objected, the luncheon hour might be extended by adding on the time that might be saved in the following way: Let bowlers desist from taking a trial over every time they are put on to bowl. The time tor practice should be over for the bowler, as for the batsmen, when they enter on the field of play.—Yours, etc., T. W . L a n g . Old Broad Street, E.C., July 13th. Ir Abel still persists in making a lot of runs, even when the wicket is not altogether in favour of the batsman, it is quite on the cards that when tbe next Australian team arrives in England he may be selected for one of the representa­ tive matches—say as tbe reserve man, who kicks his heels in the pavilion, wish­ ing he were playing for his county. O ne by one the records held for so long by Dr. Grace are left behind, or equalled. For many years he stood as the only man who had more than once scored two separate innings of a hundred in a fii st- class match. In May this year, Mr. R. E. Foster made it necessary to slightly alter this statement, whica had to read as “ Dr. Grace is the only man who has more than twice scored two separate innings of a hundred in a first-class match.” And now Mr. R. E. Foster has brought about another alteration, and the statement at the present day stands:— “ Dr. W . G. Graco and Mr. R. E. Foster have each three times scored two separate innings of a hundred in a first-class match. No one else has accomplished the feat more than once.” T hese innings of R. E. Foster are as follows:— July, 1699, Worcestershire v. Hampshire, 134 and 101, not out. May, 1900, Oxford University v. Mr. A . J. Webbe's X L , 128 and 100, not out. July, 19J0, Gentlemen v. Players, 102, not out, and 136. S ince the last issue of Cricket appeared there have been several individual innings of between 130 and 140. It may be interesting to compare the times in which they wete made. They are as follows:— R. Abel, Surrey v. Essex, 137 ... 3 hrs. W. Gunn. Notts v. Kent, 137 ... 3 hrs. 20m in. C. B. Fry, buaaex v. Le’stersh. 135 4 „ 20 „ P U. baker. Kei.tv. Notts, 130 ... 2 „ 45 „ R .E . Eoster, Gentn. v. Players, 136 1 „ 40 „ Mr. G. L. J essop , iu a twelve-a-side match between Aiklty and West Herts, took all the eleven wickets of the latter, ten of them being bowled. He also scored 43 ruus. W hile the Eton and Harrow match was in progress a presentation was made in the pavilion at Lord’s to Mr. A. J.- Webbe on behalf of the cricketers who had played for Middlesex under his cap­ taincy. It took the form of a solid silver tray, on winch were engrave i the signa­ tures of the various subscribers. On Saturday, on their own ground, Hornsey scored 212 in an hour and ten minutes against Enfield, 51 of the runs being made in ten minutes. On Tuesday at Leyton, Hornsey (tw.i men absent) made 329 (D. J. C.ump 152, and L. F. Z. King 94) against Ihe Essex Club and Ground, while the latter made 379 (C. S. Knight 107, Innes 100, Reeves 70), the total of 708 beii.g put together in six hours. It is interests g to note that Mr. Crump was missed when he had made 10 runs and Mr. King before he had scored ; the two men made 246 out of 323 from the bat. M r . R ichard D aft , the famous Notts and All England cricketer, whose illness we referred to last week, died yesterday (Wednesday) morning, at Nottingham. He was born on November 2, 1836, and was, perhaps, the greatest batsman of his age. T he following are some of the latest hundreds:— JU LY. 10. C . F ield , Stre& tham v. E rratics....................................112 11. N. M iller, S treatbam v. O ld P aulines .................157 12 M . R ead, T ich born e P ark v. I n c o g n it i.................216 13. N. M iller, S treatham v. Surrey C an d G. ...109* 14. N . M iller, S treatham v. C ru sa d e rs.......................128* 14. C . H . M ou n tain , J.C . L ov ell’s X I v . B.W .C.C.1< 0* 14. C apt. B lair. B lack heath v. B ick ley P rk .. 101* 16. H. C udw orth, L ancashire v . W est In dian s .. 102 12. K n igh t , L eicestersh ire v . S ussex .................182 12. W h ite h e a d , L eicestersh ire v . 8 u ssex .. 116 13. C. B . F r y , S ussex v . L eicestersh ire .................136 1 '. G unn ( W .), N o tts v . K ent ....................................137 13. T u nn icliffe , Y orksh ire v . H am psh ire ...138 13. A bel , S urrey v . E ssex ............................................137 14. K .S K a n jitsin h ji , S ussex v . L eiceste r sh ir e 275 14. P . C . B a k e r , K ent v . N o tts ...................................130 16. R . E . F oster , G en tlem en v . P l a y e r s ..............102* 17. R . E . F o ster , G entlem en v . P l a y e r s ................136 18. B arto n , B ampmhire v . S u sse x ...................................20* 18. T u nn icliffe , Y orksh ire v . W orcester .. 15S* 18. B ro w n , Sen., P la y e r s v . G e n t l e m e n .................163 18. H a y w a r d , P la ye r s v . G en ' tlem en ..........................I l l * Signifies n o t ou t. ALFRED MYNN AND CRICKET, B eing a lamentation and reminiscence o f this once fam ous am ateur, by one o f his fellow cricketers o f fo rm er days , h a lf a century bach , nam ely , in 1850. [ We do not guarantee that these verses possess literary merit of a kind which produces poets laureate, but they are interesting as being the outcome of the leisure time of one of the most famous batsmen of years gone by.] . An aged cricketer exists, Tho’ now he’s quite forgot, But he declares, and without doubt, That cricket’s perfect “ rot.” For money and for that alone, Thousands of games are played, The number never will atone For science not displayed. And now, alas, in vale of years, He trembles with old age, Tho’ when the end to him appears, He cannot yet presage. Ah ! give him back the good old times, When all the runs w ere run , When bowling any height was foul, By labour to be won. Hard hits to boundary and applause Is all a man seeks now, Of modem cricket and disputes, There are and were enow.