Cricket 1900

A ug . 30, 1900. ORIOKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 377 captain, who is very seldom outman­ oeuvred, and they have gained their position b y sheer all-round ability. Their two great bowlers, Rhodes and H aigh , have most decidedly earned the right to be placed am ong the other great pairs of bowlers who have from time to time appeared in the history of the game, am ong them being Alfred 8haw and M orlev, Richardson and Lohmann, Spofforth and Palmer, and Peate and Bates. I n the follow ing letter M r. A . C . K e r- minski asks a somewhat difficult question. thrown in at that wicket from the country and dislodged the only remain­ ing bail. I insisted that one of the stumps ought to have been pitched out of the ground, as I have been always doing, holding that as soon as even one bail is removed the wicket becomes ‘ down ’ or * disordered.’ It was, however, contended that one of the stumps need be pitched out only when both the bails are off. W ill you please get the follow ing queries settled, (a) I f one of the bails be struck off, whether the wicket is ‘ down ’ ; (5) If so, if it is not necessary to pitch out one of the stumps out of the ground to run a The law s do not meet the case; hitherto, public opinion has sufficed to prevent this sort of thing. W e gather from our correspondent’s letter that the umpire alone knew what was being done, and we do not see what he could do, except, perhaps, warn the wicket-keeper that he was acting unfairly. W e should be inclined to say that an umpire, as the “ sole judge of fair and unfair play,” would, if he were a strong umpire, refuse to give the man out, if he felt convinced that in removing the bail before the ball reached him the wicket­ keeper was acting deliberately. It would THE YORKSHIRE TEAM. WAINWRIGHT. WASHINGTON. HUNTER. RHODHS. IUNNICLIFFE. MR ,T . L. TAYLOR. LORD HAWKE. MR. ERNEST SMITH. HIRST. HAIGH. DENTON. (Reproduced, by permission o f Messrs. Gunn and Stuart, Photographers, Richmond, Surrey.) “ I have had a letter from Ind ia,” he says, “ and should be very much obliged if you w ill give an answer to what m y correspondent wishes to know, v i z .: ‘ Some wicket-keepers and bowlers there have a mischievous tendency to dislodge one or both the bails before the ball reaches them , in a hurry, presumably to mislead the umpires and to take advan­ tage of anything which m ay turn up in the way o f a ball going very close to the wicket, etc. The other day while I was umpiring, the bowler at m y end managed to dislodge one of the bails before he received the ball, which was hit and then batsman out at that w ick et; (e) I f it is sufficient if the remaining bail only is dislodged to run a batsman out at that wicket. ’ ” W it h regard to these queries, the answers are easy enough, viz. : ( a ) The wicket is down ; ( b ) It is not necessary to pull one of the stumps out of the ground ; f c j It is sufficient if the remain­ ing bail is dislodged. But as to the other and more important question, what should be done if a wicket-keeper deliberately dislodges a bail before the ball comes to him , it is difficult to know what to say. be interesting to hear the opinion of Thom s on the subject. T h e total number of members of the Bom bay Gymkhana is 1886, of whom 458 were resident on June 30th, 1900 ; 73 new members have been elected during the past half-year, and 13 members have resigned ; 35 temporary members were elected during the half-year. The pros­ pects this season, says the Bombay Gazette, are satisfactory. There is a great variety of b ow lin g; the batting talent is fair all round. If the full strength can be g o t together, a very