Cricket 1900

400 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 6, 1900. BOWLING AVERAGES. Overs. Mdns. Runs. W kts. Aver. Tunnicliffe .......................84 ... 3 ... 12...1... 1200 Rhodes ...................1165'1 .. 359 ...2532.. 2^6 ... 12*29 Haigh .................. 825 4 ...217 ...2054 ...145 ... 14*16 Brown (J. T.), jun. 204-1 ... 41 ... 529 ... 23 ... 23'00 Hirst .................... 450 2 .102 ..1227 ... 49 ... 25*04 E. Smith.................. 260*1 ... 57 ... 751 ... 29 ... 25 89 Whitehead (Lees) 18*1 ... 6 . 55 ... 2 ... 27 50 W ainw right........... 110 ... 24 ... 291 ... 9 ... 32 33 Oyston ................... 79*4 ... 17 ... 233 ... 7 ... 33 23 Riley ................... 22 ... 3 ... ?4 ... 1 .. 64T0 Brown (J. T.), sen. 62 ... 9 ... 158 ... 2 ... 79*00 E. R. W ilson (16 5, 6, 27, 4) bowled in two innings and Denton (1, 0, 2, 0) once only. Hirst delivered fourteen no-balls, Brown, jun., ten, Haigh six, W ilson four. Smith two. and Riley on e; Rhodes bowled twenty four wides, Brown, jun., five, Smith four, Haigh three, Hirst two, and Riley one. M U N I C I P A L C R I C K E T A T B R I G H T O N . [We take the following entertaining account of a Corporation cricket match from \he Brighton H erald .] Behold how good and jo yfu l a thing it is for Mayors— not to speak of Aldermen and Councillors —to dwell together in unity. The M ayors of B righton, H ove, Lewes, Eastbourne, and H astings are all of this opinion, and they signified the same by assembling at Preston Park on Tues­ day at an inter-municipal cricket match. The gathering came about in this way. L ast year, at the invitation of the M ayor of Eastbourne, a team drawn from the Brighton and H aslin gs Coiporations visited Eastbourne for the purpose of playing a cricket match with a tw elve— not the orthodox eleven— representing the Eastbourne and Lewes Councils. On that historic occasion Brighton and Hastings were beaten by the narrow margin of seven runs. The honour of Brighton and H astings, no lets than the need of reciprocating the hospitality of the M ayor of Eastbourne, demanded that a return match should be played. Hence the match of Tuesday. A lth ough the date was A ugust 28th, the cricket match was an anachronism. It ought, having regard to the tempera­ ture, to have been a football match, and the spectators ought to have been present in overcoats and mufflers. The Brighton dolphins on the flag that floats over the cricket ground danced and writhed madly in the 11 crth-easter that ought to have been a balm y summer breeze, and the sky that they looked up to, instead of b tin g ablaze with sunlight, was heavy with leaden-hued clouds. And presently those clouds played the M ayor ol Brighton about as shady a trick as clouds could well play a M ayor. A t the close of the luncheon, H is W orship, with painful memories o f the still worse condition of affairs that had prevailed on the previous day, congratulated the assembly on the state of the weather. H e did so with a note of jubilation iu his voice, when, from a Councillor seated near the opening of the marquee, came the doleful rejoinder, “ B u t it’s raining, M r. M ayo r.” A n d so it was. Acrots the opening could be discerned a fine rain beiug driven before the chill w ind. So overcome was the M ayor, that he clean forgot to rule the rain out of order. Consequently, the Powers that be had it all their own w ay, and the M ayors, Alderm en, and Coun­ cillors, each of their kind, had to put up with the wet for an hour or more. Apart from the wet, and the cold, and the gloom , the match would have formed, or at any rate a part of it would have formed, a most soothing spectacle. Im agine two Mayors at the wickets, batting with all the leisurely dignity so becom ing to the M ayoral office. Im agine the Corporation Band meanwhile playing Thome’s delightfully dreamy “ Simple Aveu ” about as slow ly as one can ever recollect to have heard it played. The combination was inexpressibly soothing. A ll that was wanted was the languorous heat of a sultry sun, and one could have slept the sleep of a sweet peace. N o t that the cricket was all of this slumbrous quality. It was only at times that the ball glided gently down to the wickets and came gently trundling back again in a soothing cadence that was positively hypnotic. There were times when the cricket was fast and furious, wben fre­ quent hits were made to the boundaries, and when all sorts of unlooked-for skill was revealed; whilst at the end the match grew acutely exciting. It opened, too, in dashing style. In the first half-hour, Councillor E . A . Sm ithers, of Brighton, and Alderman W eston, of H astings, knocked up a total of 50, and it was a curious coincidence that each before he retired registered 41. In marked contrast was the opening of the innings by the Eastbourne and Lewes team , when the runs came not at tbe rate of fifty, but of five per half-hour. H ow ­ ever, variety is always charming, and the Corporation teams gave us all shades of variety. They gave us slow play and quick play, skilful batting, skilful field­ in g, skilful bow ling, and skilful w icket- keeping, and batting and fielding— well, in what connoisseurs professed to discern the hand of the amateur. Councillor E . J . Butt-Thom pson, of B righton, who captained the Brighton and Hastings team , had what appeared to some o f the spectators to be bad luck, the umpires giving him as run out. In the spirit of the sportsman, M r. B u tt- Thompson accepted the ruling without a murmur. But what puzzles him , and what puzzled some of the spectators, was how he and the w icket-keeper came to knock their heads together before the ball arrived at the w icket? Possibly the umpire gave him out to save the wicket­ keeper’s life. However, this is one of the little mysteries of cricket. The M ayor of B righton, it w ill be seen, was one of those who most distinguished himself at the wickets, the score he made being 14. Councillor Smithers, of B righton, besides m aking a fine score of 41, made an alert w icket-keeper, and, like Councillor Sw ift, did effective work as a bowler. More than once, by the way, M r. Smithers was terribly mystified b y the ruling of the Eastbourne umpire. A smart piece of stumping by Coun­ cillor Smithers cut short the partnership betw ten Alderman Burt (Captain of the Eastbourne team ) and Councillor Q . R . Beard, o f Lewes— the pair on which the hopes of the two towns had been mainly centred. After this, when runs came slo w ly and w ickets fell fa irly rap id ly, victory for th e B rig h to n an d H a stin g s T w elve, w ho had registered 146, seem ed safe. B rig h to n and H a stin g s fe lt th at a little som eth in g had been “ w ip ed off the sla te.” B u t on e o f th e surprises of gloriou s uncertain cricket w as a t h and. A ld erm an B u rt cou ld n o t b e disposed o f, an d , w hen he w as jo in ed b y C ouncillor B reach , o f E a stb ou rn e, runs cam e as freely as th ey had done at th e o p en in g o f their op p on en ts’ in n in g s. F ro m this tim e on w ard, as th e score grew an d grew and th e tim e lim it w as b ein g reached, the interest o f th e g am e grew apace. A t len g th th e w in n in g h it w as scored ju st as th e bell from the C lock T o w er gave ou t th e hour o f six . H en ce, as th e ou t­ com e o f a m o st e xcitin g finish, E astb ou rn e and L ew es scored a decisive v ictory. T h e score w as as follo w s :— B righton and H astings . Councillor E. A. Smithers (Brighton), c Breach, b Burt ...........................................41 Alderman Weston (Hastings), b Beard ... 41 The Mayor of Brighton (Alderman Staf­ ford), b Beard ........................... ... 14 Councillor Wickens (Hastings), c "Welch, b B eard.......................................................... 9 CouncillorMcClpan (Brighton) ,lbw,b Burt 0 Councillor Ball (Hastings), b Beard... ... 9 Councillor Butt - Thompson (Brighton), run out ........................................................... 6 Councillor Swift (Brighton), b Beard ... 6 Councillor Penfold (Bright n), b Beard ... 3 Town Clerk of Hastings, b Burt................... 4 Councillor Mayston (Brighton), not out... 7 Councillor Culhane (Hastings), b Burt ... 5 Extra ........................................... 1 Total.................................. 146 E astboubne and L kwks . The Mayor of Eastbourne, c Weston, b Swift ........................................................... 1 The Mayor of Lewes, c Culhane, b W eston 4 Councillor Beard (Lewes), c Smithers, b W eston......................................................... 6 CounciltorMartin(Eastbourne),c Smithers, b Swift ......................................................... 1 Alderman Burt (Eastbourne), st Smithers, b Weston .................................................. 68 Councillor Welch (Eastbourne), b Weston 8 Alderman Strange (Eastboume),bMayston 9 Councillor Breach (Eastbourne), noi; out... 84 Councillor Hammond (Lewes), b Weston 10 Town Clerk of Eastbourne, b Weston ... 4 Councillor Miles (Lewes), not out ...........15 Extras ........................................... 2 Total (9 wickets)... .147 Alderman Wightman (Lewes) did not bat. DEVONSHIRE PARK (Eastbourne) v. INCOG­ N IT I.—Played at Devonshire Park on August 31 and September 1. I ncognito . Rev. F. W . Poland, b W . A . S. Sparling, c Cordingley ...19 W hatford, b Parris 6 M.U. Quin, bCording- A . E. H olt, run out... 1 ley ......................... 6 M. Cloete, b Parris ... 13 A.P.Soell.bCordingley 19 L.E.G .Abney, notout 6 R.O.Schwarz,cCoilins, A . H. W all, st Collins, b Cordingley ... . 19 b C ordingley....... 6 R.O.Tagart, st Collins, Extras................... 5 b Cordingley ....... 0 — J. C. Snaith, lbw, b Total ...........110 Walker ................. 11 Second innings: Poland, not out, 4; Snaith, b Parris, 1 ; Snell, b Parris, 2 ; Quin, b Cordingley, 1; Schwarz, not out, 7 ; extras, 1.—Total (for three wickets), 16. D rvonshibi P a r k . A. Priestley, b Snaith 0 Parris, b Schwarz ... 26 H.F.Lyon,lbw,bAbney 27 G. L . W hatford, b Snaith .................. 8 C.H.Walker, c Poland, b Snaith ................. 78 G. H. Lyon, b Schwarz 62 H . Addison did not bat. Cordingley, c Snell, b S ch w arz................. 23 C.E.Corthom,cPoland, b S n a ith ................... 7 Collins (B.), not out 6 H . J. Brutton, notout 11 Extras...................14 Total (8 wkts)*246 • Innings declared olosed. Printed and Published for the Proprietor by l t i i ir r r * H atobib , L td . 167. 168, and 169, Upper Thames Street, London, B.C., Sept. 6th, 1900.