Cricket 1900

Nov. 29, 1900. ORIOKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 457 The following story is from the Aus­ tralasian :— In the Victorian contingent in South Africa was George Bruce, a ground howler for the Melbourne Cricket Club. Colonel Hoad, the commanding officer, did not recog­ nise him till Bruce said, “ Different sort of work to ground-howling this, sir; ” then he recalled where he had seen Bruce. Well, the Victorians got into a warm corner. They lay behind cover on a kopje on their breasts with their legs spread wide apart, using their rifles whenever they could get a chance. A big shot came over the kopje, landed near one of the men, and went off harmlessly down the slope. The man drew his legs together very quickly when he saw the ball strike. Bruce, who noticed the incident, said loud enough for the whole party to hear, “ Nearly had you leg-hefore that time, Jack.” Mb. A. H. S a ffb ry , the honorary secretary of the St. Vincent C.C., writes as follows to the River Plate Sport and Pastime. The report to which he refers was quoted from that paper in the last issue of Cricket :— To the Editor of Sport and Pastime. D e a r Sir,—With reference to a letter in your issue of September 5th on “ A Cricket Match at St. Vincent.” The hospitality of the S. V. Cricket Club is too widely known to be damaged hy such reflections as thosepassed on it by “ Albion.” I could name many officers of the P.S.N. Co. who would willingly hearwitness to same. There was no challenge received from R.M.S. Orissa at Lisbon, otherwise every effort would have been made to arrange ateam, notwithstanding that these early matches are most inconvenient. “ Albion” should remember that though he had several hours to pass, and craved for recreation, all are not so fortunate. Our time is not out own, and duty comes before pleasure. On the occasion in question I with two other members of the club, though on duty at the time, went to ‘ ‘ highways and hedges ” and did our best to find one of our colleagues willing to see things through, but without success, owing to such short notice, and as rules of our club forbid material being used by strangers unless a member of club be present we had no option but to refuse. Does “ Albion ” imagine if he were passing through Buenos Aires that the cricket club there would place their material at his disposal ? I think not. I t does not seem to be by any means certain after all that P. F. Warner will be lost to English cricket at least for the present. The rumour that he was off to South Africa early next month to settle there came from the best informed quarters, and was generally accepted as well founded. It received circumstantial corroboration from the announcement, in some of the dailies that he was sailing in the “ Tantallon Castle” on December 8th. Happily there is every reason to hope that his valuable services will still be available for Middlesex, for the time at all events. I have his own authority indeed for saying that there is nothing as yet fixed to justify the statement that he has determined on a permanent location in South Africa. The annual report of the Melbourne C.C. shows that the club had a fairly prosperous season. Owing to the New Zealand tour the record in pennant matches was not up to the usual standard. Four matches were won against three defeats, by East Melbourne, South Mel­ bourne and Hawksburn respectively. The honour of being placed on the Merit Board again fell to H. Graham, who had an average of 49'38 for thirteen innings. In bowling the same distinction fell to H. Trumble, who took fifty-one wickets at an average cost of 9'49 runs. The best individual score in Pennant matches was H. Graha n’s 114 against Carlton. The tour in New Zealand last February, undertaken at the invitation of the New Zealand Cricket Council, was very successful as well as enjoyable, and the M.C.C. representatives were heartily welcomed everywhere. Of the seven matches played, all were won, except that against Otago, which was drawn, very much in favour of the M.C.C. Some fine individual scores were made, notably 169 by H. Graham against Canterbury, 135 by H. Trumble, and 105 by D. Mailer against Auckland. A. J. C. Russell also got 98 against All New Zealand, and D. Mailer 88 against Wellington. The report also speaks favourably of the bowling of Cave, one of the professionals for the senior team during the season. He took fifty wickets at a cost of 14'08 runs apiece. M r. C laude S. Buckingham writes as follows:—“ May I be allowed to point out to you that there is an inaccuracy in the paragraph with reference to the total of Dr. Grace’s hundreds Under “ Pavilion Gossip ” in your issue of September 20th ? The number of such hundreds (including the three made this past season) should stand at 121, and not at 118, as stated in your paper. The omission has no doubt been already brought to your notice, but, in case not, I beg leave to correct you.” T. R. M’Kibbin, the old New South Wales left hand slow bowler, is now playing for Port Adelaide. A New South W a les batsman, named Gow, who was last year in the third team of the Paddington C.C., has been promoted this season to the first team. He scored 88 in his first electorate match. The thirty-fourth annual circular of the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Associa­ tion gives a complete report of the cricket played in the island in 1899- 1900, and also contains many interesting notes and tables. The list of playing members of the three chief clubs is so small as to be almost startling—an average of about 16—and with so few men to draw upon it is surprising that such excellent results are attained. Among well-knownAustralian cricketers who have made runs in the first matches of the season are: V. Trumper, 94; M. A. Noble, 50; F. Iredale, 35; H. Trott, 27 not ou t; S. E. Gregory, 23; G. Giffen, 45 ; W. Bruce, 20; H. Gra­ ham, 35. H. L. Donnan has taken 7 wickets for 50 runs. The Eastbourne Club has paid a fitting tribute to the brilliant all-round cricket Dr. M. E. Pavri played for it last season, in presenting him with a silver cricket ball as a souvenir. The ball bears the following inscription : ‘ ‘ Eastbourne Cricket and Football Club, 1900. Pre­ sented to Dr. M. E. Pavri by the members, in recognition of the valuable services h9 has rendered to the Club.” Dr. Pavri was to leave Eastbourne for Marseilles on Thursday last, on his return to Bombay. He hopes, however, to be back in England again by the middle of next May. Everybody who came into contact with the members of the West Indian team last summer will be glad to hear that the manager, W. C. Nock, has just received a good step in the way of pro­ motion. He has been appointed Warden of Montserrat, which is the great cocoa district of Trinidad. Unfortunately this will involve his retirement from the secretaryship of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, to whose success he has so very largely contributed. All the same, no one who knows him need to be told that ths development of cricket in Trinidad will still be bis constant care. The Dutch Cricket Association has decided to send over a representative eleven to England next season. The periodical visits of English teams to Holland—commenced in 1884, by the way—have, as was only to be expected, produced a material improvement in the general quality of Dutch cricket. Under the circumstances, it is only natural that the young Hollander should desire to try his capacity against a better class of opponent than he has hitherto had to meet. The intention is that the Dutch cricketers shall play some five matches in the first fortnight of August. The team are to arrive in London on Friday, the 3rd of that month, so as to have two days’ practice before they play their first match. They will be at Lord’s on the Bank Holiday and following day to play the Gentlemen of the Marylebone Club. The Gentlemen of Surrey will meet them at the Oral later in the same week, and iu all likelihood they will visit the Crystal Palace to play the London County C.C. The two other fixtures have yet to be arranged. The tour will last just over a fortnight, as the team are to leave London on their return on August 17th. The Hon. A lfr e d L y ttle to n , who has been in South Africa for the last two or three months in the capacity of chairman of the Transvaal Concessions Commission, was among the passengers by the “ Tantallon Castle,” which arrived at Southampton on Saturday last.