Cricket 1900

Nov. 29, 1900. CRICKET ; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 453 R EM A R K S ON TH E D IV IS ION OF CR ICK ET COUNTIES AN D M ATCHES INTO F IRST AN D SECOND R A T E CLASSES. B y “ A n O l d H a r r o v ia n .” The division of cricket matches and counties into first and second rate classes, which plan was adopted some few years back, is, in my opinion, incorrect altogether. Are certain matches played between county and county previous to this classifi­ cation, and even at the present time to be counted as nothing, and disowned altogether ? The idea is preposterous, and ia considered to be so by many lovers, and judges, and critics of our national sport. As a case in point, I remember that some years back—I forget the date—in one of the annual matches between Kent and Hampshire, the secre­ tary of the M.C.C. hit an innings of over 200. Well, for several subsequent years, the sporting papers and even “ Wisden ” ignored, and still ignore altogether, that fine performance, for it must be remem­ bered and noticed that individual innings of 200 and upwards were not so common then, or so easily compiled, as they are now, nor were they manipulated on smooth and level adamantine wickets or “ pitches ” as exist in these days. The match was objected to, for insertion and preservation in the averages and in “ Wisden ” solely because Hampshire was not just then reckoned or classed by some as being a first-rate county. Actually, therefore, a match between Kent and Hampshire, two of the oldest cricketing counties, was not to be noticed, or the score preserved with others among the annals of cricket, merely because Hamp­ shire was not at that time supposed to be, by some statisticians, good enough to be classed as first rate. As with this great match, so also with many others of about that date, played under similar circumstances. The classification of matches as now arranged, results in this. If a first- rate county, so called and classed for a time, contends against a second-rate county, so named, that match or matches count for nothing, and are, I suppose, to be con­ sidered as not having come off, or been played at all, and several so classed and arranged have contended only a few years back. This is, or would be, a most intolerable and unfair innovation all will allow. Wrong altogether has this plan, or method, or system worked, in my eyes at least, for the good of cricket, and I have always thought so from the very first day when it was adopted. This division of counties has been unwillingly thrust upon many cricketers, who would certainly like to have all matches between county and county preserved and recorded, and considered, too, to have been fought out on an equality, let their standing be either first or second rate. If a county is unfortunately for a time or period ever so low down in the scale as regards cricket talent, or members, or money, still it should not, by being classed as second or third rate, or no rate at all, be ' deprived of the chance and opportunity of defeating a superior, for a time, county, and still less should it be treated or considered as if it did not really exist in the cricketing world. All cricket counties have, and always will have, their “ ups and downs,” but when contending against each other, the status of both sides or elevens, should be reckoned to be perfectly equal, let the result of any particular or individual contest be what it may. They should not be deprived of that great advantage because of their inferior rank or position in the cricketing world temporarily. Let, then, the present system or method of classing counties be abolished altogether, as being unjust, or let it at least be revised, or modified, or replaced in some way or other by another plan. I, for one, have never agreed to the classification of counties, and to the exalting by divisions of one over another, and I never shall. These divisions are, I think, most unfair and uncalled for arrangements, and ought never to have been initiated. I wish to add here that I have only enunciated all the above for the good, I trust, of cricket generally, and for no other reason or object. I hope, therefore, that I shall give no offence in any way to those who differ from myself on this important subject, as far as cricket is concerned. THE FUTURE OF TH E COUNTY CHAM P ION SH IP . By “ H. P.-T.” I .— P r e s e n t D e f e c t s . That the manner in which the County Cricket Championship Competition has been regulated during the last few years has given rise to endless bewilderment, and a growing volume of dissatisfaction, is a premise hardly likely to be disputed. Now, therefore, that we are on the threshold of a new century, when the rulers of the game have shown a dis­ position to keep abreast with the times and, above all, when no suspicion of perpetrating a “ jo b ” can attach to the attempt to remedy matters, seems a fitting opportunity to review the whole matter. As one who has been for many years a constant student of and occa­ sional effuser upon the subject, the writer has ventured to undertake that office. His method will b e : Firstly, to point out the chief imperfections of the present system; Secondly, to deal seriatim with the most notable of the tendered remedies ; and, Thirdly, to leave those in whose hands the adoption of reforms would lie, to stir in the matter or go to sleep again, just as the maggot may dictate. To sleep the beauty sleep is delicious, but it has its disadvantages when a long day’s work awaits one. And the work of organising the Cham­ pionship is one which will not bear staving off much longer. The present arrangement of the Cham­ pionship is so young as hardly to have passed out of the experimental stage. Nevertheless, it has existed long enough to demonstrate its inefficiency. It was preceded by a system which, for the purposes of allotting the crown of honour, was practically perfect. Fair to all and simplicity itself. In 1893, and for a year or two prior, every competing X I. met every other of the nine, then, first-class counties in out and home engagements and had its position in the tourney arrived at by simply substracting the number of its defeats from that of its victories, and placing the resultant surplus or deficit, as “ points,” to its credit. There was one weak spot in this settlement, however, that it had made no provision for the orderly admission of any promising outsider or the temporary ex­ clusion of any competitor no longer found equal to the contest. For want of this provision, two previous acts, of reduction and elevation, had given rise to ugly comparisons and perhaps excus­ able suspicions of favouritism in the inner councils. As a matter of fact, too, the title of some of the supposedly first- class counties to the certificate had for some years been very slender, whilst one or two outside the pale were doing remarkably well. The arbitrary arrange­ ment of the counties in three classes which the County Cricket Council had effected in 1890 was already obsolete, as it was bound to become and as must always be the case. Fluctuations in the strengths of counties are certain to occur as regularly as boys become men and men cease to cricket, as batsmen flare up and bowlers flicker out. It may astonish some of us now to recall that grouping of ten short years ago. Of the eight counties then designated as comprising the second class, one was admitted to first-class company in the following year and all but two have since followed suit. Of the eight third raters, three at least would not now shame comparison with some that the competition assumes, every May, to have designs on the Championship; whilst one county, that in 1890 could not obtain even third-class recognition, is now found embodied in the most favoured county clause. Naturally, the anomalous position I have referred to evoked an epistolary campaign in the newspapers, and the claims of the locked out peris were freely urged by people who could only see the shining side of them. Before the storm broke, he may be pardoned for recalling, the writer had (in the Sportsman and, afterwards, in the Cricket Field) pointed out the advisability of being pre-armed with a scheme by which the titles of fresh aspirants and dubious possessors could be properly tested, but the hint was lost. No such precaution was taken, but, as the upshot of the agitation, after a number of irresolute resolutions, and an indefinite half measure in 1894, the second-class counties were, in 1895 drafted practically en bloc into the first- class competition. With them they brought their complete table of inter-engagements