Cricket 1900

THE FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. S ept . 13, 1900. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 403 BUSSEY’S l i i i I®1/!® GO w o Si f c O 09 iJ - J t w — CO — g * j 3 _ £ w ec J. 5 n ® i _ Q 3 l T > »H > L U ® TW c d « l u U J a l u c e .3 _ e o 0 9 c o e w « a C O C O w 03 p » * s M o w c o 7 c o ^ C O I S o 6 m S3 5 s 0 9 BUSSEY’S A T T H E S I G N O F T H E W I C K E T . B y F . S . A s h x e y -C ooper . In the last issue of Cricket a letter was reproduced from one of the sporting papers, written b y M r. J. W . Fletcher, of W ilcannie, New South W ales. In this communication reference was made to the four hits for six made in one over by George Griffith, at Hastings, off George Bennett. “ The follow ing details,” said the correspondent, “ I had from ‘ F arm er’ Bennett himself. I was travelling from W indsor to London in 1873 in the same compartment as the ‘ Farm er,’ who at that time was engaged as professional at E ton . W e were alone, aud got into conversation about incidents at cricket, and I mentioned this performance of Griffith’s. ‘ O h,’ said Bennett, ‘ I ’ll tell you how that happened. There was a bet at lunch time whether Ben could hit four successive balls out of the ground. Ben turned to me and said, “ W ill you bite, George ? ” I said “ Y es.” So I tossed them up to him (or words to that effect) and Ben hit them out of the ground.’ ” It is curious how many different versions of Griffith’s performance are circulated. Sometimes we are told the event took place at the Oval, others at Brighton or Eastbourne (according to the fancy of the teller), whilst now we are assured that it was a pre-arranged thing ! A fter the conclusion of the recent N orth v. South match at H astings, whilst chatting in the pavilion to the “ Two B ib s ” — Thoms and Carpenter— the sub­ ject of Griffith’s four sixes cropped up and reference was made to the remarks reproduced above. Carpenter assured me that it had not been arranged that Griffith should hit four sixes in one over off Bennett, and, as he took part in the match, his evidence may be taken as conclusive. Therefore, credit must still be given Griffith for his wonderful piece of hitting. The “ F arm er” used fre quently to tell a tale about the occurrence. According to him, he and Griffith, whilst on tour together in Australia, had a squabble about something, and, the matter being decided in “ the good old English style,” the “ Farmer ” came off victorious. F or some years Griffith endeavoured to get on terms with Bennett, and when the two found themselves on different sides at H astings, Ben seized the opportunity of punishing one of the “ Farmer’s ” overs for tw enty-four runs. W hether this version is the correct one or not, however, the fact remains that Bennett did not send up balls w ell calcu­ lated for hitting purposes. H a d it been arranged beforehand that Griffith was to hit four consecutive sixes, but little credit could have been given him for scoring the runs. As it is, however, he stands credited w ith having performed one of the most noteworthy hitting feats ever achieved on any cricket ground. There is no more pleasant way of w inding-up the cricket season than by attending the Hastings Festival. “ There I’ve been, and still would go : ’Twas like a little Heaven below.” M r. Carless, the ever-busy, ever-kindly, secretary, is invariably successful in bringing together capital sides. The cricket, although always keen, does not provide the amount of excitement that attaches to a county championship match and, on that account, is b y many con­ siderably preferable to the multitudinous inter-county contests. Everybody who attends the matches goes filled w ith one idea— to have a pleasant week, and, as a consequence, everything appears enjoy-' able. Then ‘ Hurrah ’ for that grand little pic- nicing party, The ladies so winsome, the oldsters so hearty.” Into the history of the Hastings W eek it is not necessary to enter here, beyond stating that it was chiefly ow ing to the energy of the late Capt. Greatorex and Messrs. Carless and F . G . Harding that the W eek originated in 1887. The recent Festival was, therefore, the fourteenth. Stronger teams had never been got together than was the case last week and, as the weather was most favourable throughout, the Festival ought to prove one of the best— if not absolutely the best— (from a financial point of view) the H astings authorities have ever expe­ rienced. The cricket seen, too, was of the very best. It would be a difficult matter to say which player showed the best cricket, but the Week will chiefly be remembered on account of Tyldesley’s double-century performance in the North v. South match. Both his innings were delightful to watch, and each was made in very quick time. N o less than five separate hundreds were hit in the first match, M r. Jephson’s 124, made when everything was going badly for the side, being probably the best. The Surrey captain hit in splendid fashion— hitters, b y the way, generally do well at Hastings — and scored his runs in two hours and a half against the bow ling of Rhodes, J . G u u d , Cuttell and H irst, this being the third century he has scored this season against the bow ling of the first-named. Lockwood deserves very high praise for the manner in which he stayed in with M r. Jephson, and his innings of 50 was better than m any of over a hundred which have been played during the season. It was wholly due to the efforts of the two Surrey men that the South were able to make s o good a stand against their powerful opponents. M r. Jessop, in his second innings, gave one of his most characterisic displays, scoring 123 not out in seventy-five minutes against excellent bow ling, and during the match equalled the record, which had pre­ viously been held by W . G . Grace and C. L . Townsend, of scoring 2,000 runs and obtaining 100 wickets in a season. Another record was set up in the second match of the W eek, by Abel scoring his tw elfth hundred of the season. Considering his advanced age (for a cricketer) and his height, or rather lack of it, A bel must be regarded as one of the most extraordinary batsmen of his own or any tim e. H ad he not been obliged to stand out of great matches for a few weeks this season it is very prob­ able he would have made even more than twelve hundreds. In the Gentlemen v.