Cricket 1900

Sept. 20, 1900. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 419 A T T H E S I G N O F T H E W I C K E T . B y F . 8 . A sh l e y -C ooper . The recent North v. South match at Lord’s will long be remembered on account of the large score made b y the “ Doctor ” in the first innings of the latter. It was the first time since 1871 that he had played a three-figure innings at Lord's for the South against the North, although he has frequently done so on other grounds, especially at the Oval. The follow ing short table will show at a glance his three-figure innings in these important m atches:— Score. Ground. Year. 122 ... ... Sheffield ... ... 1869 178 ... ... Lord’s ................ .. 1871 268 ... ... Oval ................ .. 1871 114 ... .. Oval ................ .. 1872 192* .. ... Oval ................ .. 1873 114* ... ... Nottingham .. 1876 126 ... ... Hull ................ .. 1876 261 ... ... Prince’s ... ... 1877 164 ... ... Scarborough ... 1889 104 ... ... Hastings ... ... 1895 126 ... ... Lord’s ................ .. 1900 •Signifies not out. H e obtained his 126 at H u ll out of 153 made whilst in, and in the second innings scored 82, obtaining the runs against the bow ling of Alfred Shaw, Morley, H ill, and Tye. Like all really great players, W .G . always manages to make runs in representative matches. H is great innings at L ord’s last week was a wonderful one for a man who has passed his fifty-second birthday. H e is the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen, or probably ever w ill see. W ho but he ever made over two hundred in an innings in an England match at the age of eighteen, and who when forty-eight will ever score, as he did, three hundred in one innings of a first-class county match ? F or a short time a player may appear, who on modern wickets can sur­ pass one or other of the wonderful deeds performed by the champion on faulty and rough wickets, but it is safe to say that no player w ill ever be seen who will be so dreaded by bowlers as “ W .G .” was in his prime. H is batting has always been of so extraordinary a nature that one is apt to forget how great a bowler he was at his best. It is only necessary to state that he has obtained more wickets in first- class matches than any other bowler in order to show how deadly his deliveries have proved. It is of interest to note that M r. Iron­ side in a chart giving particulars of Anglo-Australian cricket now gives the largest aggregate score as 1,094 b y M el­ bourne University v. Essendon, in 1898, from which it is to be inferred that he is no longer under the impression that he copied the score from the original score sheet of the match between U lster and Macquarie, in which the former side was credited with an aggregate of 1,238. It m ay now be taken for granted that Mr. Ironside, who for so many years maintained that the match really did take place, acknowledges the whole affair to have been a hoax. The ,wonderful excellence of modern wickets, coupled w ith the glorious summers we have experienced of late years, has caused scoring generally to be enormous w ith the result that centuries and drawn games have abounded. This being so, it was only appropriate that the three last matches of a heavy scoring season should have remained undecided. O f late, m any draw ing-room batsmen who have been able to make large scores would have been fortunate and delighted if in the old days they had been able to gain a double-figure average. I cannot help feeling that cricket, ow ing to the tremendous scores to which we have become accustomed, is losing a great deal of the charm which formerly attached to it. Large scores nowadays by no means prove that batsmen are better now than in days gone b y . W h o, for instance, would dream of asserting that men like Fuller Pilch, Alfred M yn n , M r. H aygarth, the great Small, and others, could they but be brought back to us in their prime, would not at once take their places amongst the greatest players of the day ? (From a spectator’s point of view it is perhaps as well that M r. H aygarth can­ not be brought back, for if he could he would assuredly stonewall the whole season through w ithout losing his wicket). A t the close of last season the Daily Telegraph published the opinions of some of the leading players, a few of whom (I believe M r. K ey and Shrewsbury were amongst the number) stated they con­ sidered batting had deteriorated during the previous fifteen years or so. A n d the majority of those who have closely followed the game during the past few decades w ill probably agree w ith this expression of opinion. It is impossible for the present generation to realise to how great an extent the batsmen of years gone b y were handicapped. They had to overcome difficulties which are almost unknown to present-day players. Buns had to be fought for, practically all the hits were run out, whilst the pitches seen on thousands of rural grounds to-d ay are billiard tables compared w ith those our fathers were wont to play upon. M r. Felix, the famous batsman, when he appeared at L ord’s used to pad even his elbow. In the course of a side’ s innings several shooters used to be bow led, and when one came along it generally claimed a wicket. A shooter at L ord ’s, or any other ground for that matter, from a bow ler like M orley took a deal of stopping. A s show ing how dangerous it used to be to stand up to fast bowlers on the old wickets it m ay be stated that in a m atch at Lord’s Joe Guy, when facing Alfred M yn n , had his hat knocked off his head and deposited into the hands of lon g-stop . The next ball went hard off the batsman’s elbow for two, the follow ­ ing knocked the bat from the player’s grasp, whilst the last ball of the over knocked two stumps out of the ground. The gam e will never again be as interesting as it once was until batsmen and bowlers find themselves on a more equal footing. “ Is there no rem edy,” it w ill be asked, by which this m uch-to-be-desired change could be effected ? ” M any have advo­ cated the narrow ing of the bat or the w idening of the wicket, whilst M r. H erbert Jenner-Fust, the veteran bats­ BUSSEY’S w j o fa u* D 03 (J E W - a i S3 •J w I »-§ a H i t s u <D 4a .§ H K o w Q D 7 C O C O £ o o cm 0 § s BUSSEY’S