Cricket 1900

450 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. N ov. 29, 1900. makes eight home matches with other counties a qualification—a qualification reasonable and necessary, and one to which no objection can be taken. There is, however, first-class cricket duly provided for in the rules apart from the County Championship, but it is not stated what qualification is necessary or is required, in order to entitle a county not now in first-class to rank there. My point is that a county may be first-class under the rules without necessarily being in the County Championship, and we are now asking the M.C.C. committee to advise as to what qualification in programme they require to admit a county to first-class, including matches against M.C.C. and Ground—some counties, or the Universities, and London County—in short, to make whatever ruling has been applied to London County apply equally to minor counties. Once in first-class cricket a county would have a trial and would take its chance on its merits with others in getting into the County Championship. There would no doubt be an increase of first-class counties, but not of necessity be any increase in the number of counties competing in the County Championship matches, and the tendency would probably be in the direction of producing a more satisfactory County Championship Competition, by a division into three classes as recommended in 1889. The story of Mr. Mallett’s earliest experience as a cricketer is most interest­ ing. His family were staying at Mablethorpe, a little seaside town in Lincolnshire, and with his brothers and other boys he played cricket on the sands. To them entered a stranger one fine day. “ It was Bichard D a ft” said Mr. Mallett. “ He joined in our games, showed us how to stand at the wicket, and taught us various new strokes. He batted himself, to show us what could be done with the bat, but he did not stay in long enough to weary us. Of course we never got him out. The picture which still remains in my mind of Daft—I was then only eight years old—is that of a person dignified in bis manner and exceedingly keen on the game.” “ Did you ever meet him again in cricket matches in later years ? ” “ I did not see him again for about twenty-five years. He then came to play at Darlington. To my great surprise he reminded me of Ihe time when he coached me at Mablethorpe, and showed that he had forgotten none of the details. After this I played with him a good many times. I very well remember an incident in which he was concerned. He was acting as captain of a side in which I was playing, and asked the opposing captain to toss. Daft called *woman,’ and, watching the other captain steadily, came to the conclusion that (like some other cricketers whom I have met) he did not know which side of the coin was ‘ woman.’ Daft lcoked at the coin as it dropped, and said ‘ Well, we’ll bat.’ And bat we did. But the coin had not fallen with ‘ woman ’ upwards.” “ At Darlington you probably played with some well - known Yorkshire cricketers ? ” “ Yes, many, including George Free­ man, who used to say that he could bowl as well as ever he bowled in his life—this was about 1879 to 1882— and that he retained all bis powers, but personally I doubt it. On the other hand Freeman was even then a splendid bowler, as fast, I should say, as anything which is going now. He had a lovely action, and there was such remarkable “ life ” in the ball off the pitch. I also saw a good deal of George Anderson, who umpired sometimes for the Constable Burton Club. At Darlington I once saw George Parr, but only as umpire for Mr. William Wright’s X I. against Darlington. Charles Wright was playing on his father’s side, and during his innings I had him, as I considered, plumb leg before. On appeal, George Parr gave him not out in an emphatic manner. After the over I was fielding at short-leg close to Parr, and said to him, ' I thought he was out p ’ to which Parr replied ‘ I’ve been to see Charles bat for I don’t know how many times—six or seven at any rate, and I ’ve never seen him make runs.’ This was the only explana­ tion that I ever got out of him. Wright afterwards took a hundred and ten of the very best.” Mr. Mallett tells an amusing tale of one of his experiences at Darlington in 1885. “ Among the first to go down to practise in those days, and the last to leave off were A. Worsley and myself. In the latter part of September we could not persuade any other members of the club to go down to the nets, and so we arranged to play a single wicket match— two innings apiece. We played three or four nights a week for three weeks—in fact, we played up to the night before I had to leave to get married—and even then the match was not concluded. Worsley batted first, and made about twelve. 1 had made 29, when I antici­ pated the law which was afterwards made about closing an innings, although I am bound to say that my opponent’s version of the affair is that he caught and bowled me. He went in again and was 32 not out when the match had to be abandoned.” Mr. Mallett must sometimes miss the local matches in which he used to play when in Durham, for players and spectators alike were always giving cause for amusement. “ In a match in which I was taking part against a colliery club,” he said, “ one of our opponents was hit on the seat and given out leg before. This was too much for one of the crowd, who, rising in great indignation, shouted out, ‘ Mister ! Mister !—Oompire ! Oompire ! When that t h e r e ----------was batting (pointing to one of our side who had made a lot of iuns), he was hit all over the body, but directly one of our men is hit on the seat you give him o o t ! ’ In another local match, a yokel was given out 1. b. w. He turned angrily to the umpire and aeked, ‘ How am I o o t ? ” *You’re leg before wicket.’ To which the yokel replied, ‘ Why, domn it man, I was hit i’ the stomach ! ’ ‘ Ah, well,’ said the umpire, ‘ stomach or no stomach, its oot.’ Cricket in the county of Durham has been decidedly improved by a league which was formed in 1888. I do not approve of leagues in the abstract, but in this particular county, where very little interest was taken by the clubs in ordinary matches, and where there was a general feeling of depression, league matches were undoubtedly the very best possible antidote.” In other branches of sport Mr. Mallett has distinguished himself. He played in the Durham Rugby Union team from 1878 to 1882, and also was selected for the county at Association. He has had the unusual experience of playing in two important matches on the same day. The first was an Association cup tie, followed immediately by a Rugby match against the Hartlepool Rovers, But he adm;ts that he was “ sorry for himself ” on the next morning. If it had not been that the amateur athletic championship took place at the time of the year when he could not possibly get away from business, he would almost certainly have been numbered among the champions. In the hurdles he won twenty-four out of the twenty-six races in which he competed, beating the famous Cambridge hurdler, Sam Palmer, at Stoke by about a yard, each owing 18 yards. The time was 181 seconds. A fortnight before, Palmer had won the championship over the same course. One of Mr. Mallett’s best performances was to run two hundred yards (hurdles) from scratch in 26J seconds. This is not a standard distance, but the Field stated that the time was a record. W . A. B m t is w o h t h . C R I C K E T I N I N D I A . MANGALORE COLLEGE v. MANGALORE.— Played od September 27. Drawn. M angalore C ollege . First innings. Second innings. N. Krishnappa, b Ptrcival 1 b P trciv a l............. 0 L. Ca&telino, b Percival ... 2 not cut.................... 0 A . Correa, c Pereira, b N. Bhavani Bao ........... 8 b K. Bhavani Bao 48 A. Sequeira, c N. Bhavani, b Morgan .........................33 not out ............ 82 L. Saldanha, b Latham ... 32 lbw, b K . Bha­ vani R a o........... 7 B . Tauro, c Latham, bM or- gan .................................. 1 bN . Bhavani Bao 18 L. D’Souza, b Latham ... 4 c Ramo Bao, b P e iciv a l........... 8 C. Rebello, b Morgan........... 0 J. Gonsalves, b Morgan .. 0 B. Sildanha, T?ot o u t ........... 0 Alex. Sequeira, b M organ.. 4 B 4, w 6 ................. 10 B 12,1b 6 .. .. 18 Total.........................95 Total (5 wkts) 181 M angalore . First innings. Second innings. G. Shiva Bao, c L. Saldanha, b Gonsalves ... ^ ... 12 b Correa ........... 2 H. Morgan, b Gonsa ves .. 10 H. A . Latham, c Rebello, b Gonsalves ...........................12 b Correa .. 0 Percivas, b Correa ............ 4 b Gonsalves ... 4 N. Bhavini Bao, b Correa... 1 b Coirea ......14 Narayana Rao, b Gonsalves 11 H. S. Mullins, lbw, b Gon­ salves ................................... 1 b Correa .. 0 Ramachondra, b Corroa ... 0 D. E. Pereira, not out ... 0 Jennings, b Correa ... ... 1 T. E. M oir, b Correa ......... 8 Rama Rao, not out ........... 0 not out.................. 8 B 8, lb 1 ................... 9 B y e ............. 1 Total........................ 69 Total (6 wkts) 37