Cricket 1900

N ot . 29, 1900. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 459 which is always vastly appreciated by all classes of cricketers—would no longer be of the slightest use; that umpires would act on entirely different lines, and that all counties would therefore not be treated alike; that the county championship, already perilously near to being a league competition in everything except that every side does not play every other side twice, would develop into a struggle for points and position in which sport had no part at all. The scheme has been as universally condemned as the famous “ net scheme” of last year, but experience shows that it may, for all that, be put into practice as an experiment. "Whether umpires would accept the responsibility or not remains to be seen; they would not, in any case, be in an enviable position. Pre­ sumably areferee willhaveto be appointed, for there would be numerous cases in which the two umpires would disagree. Then would come the attendant interesting scenes which are so familiar in connection with Association football matches in the north. And we should read that “ it speaks well for the behaviour of the crowd, that, although it consisted entirely of sympa­ thisers with the home team, the referee was allowed to depart without serious injury, after giving a decision which savoured distinctly of favouritism, in the opinion of most of the onlookers.” With regard to the various suggestions for altering the l.b.w. rule in order to k ive the bowler some advantage over the batsman, there is very little to be said. Of late years a tendency has been shown by the M.C.C. to legislate for first class cricket as if it were a game quite distinct from all other cricket. This seems a pity, for it has always been one of the great charms of cricket that it could be played in Zulu-land and at Lord’s under identically the same rules. Unquestionably, a drastic change in the l.b.w. rule would bear much more heavily on the village or pai k cricketer, who already has his work cut out to make half-a-dozen runs, than on the first class cricketer with his skill and experience. Even in first class cricket such a change could only work badly, for if there is one thing more certain than another it is that the accomplished bats­ man would not be seriously incommoded by it when the wickets were excellent, whereas when they were bad and the bowler master of the situation, its effect would bedisastrous. Perhaps thebestsug- gestion which has appeared for anew l.b.w. rule—always admitting that a new rule is required—is that which appeared in last month’s Cricket in a letter from a corres­ pondent. It is to make the off side of the wicket (starting from a straight line between the leg stump and the off stump at the other end), the forbidden ground. This would certainly have the effect of stopping the system of “ legging,” but how often is the system practised now-a-days ? Surely very seldom. But this scheme, like all the others, has the defect that it would work most effectually when it was least required, viz., when the wickets were bad. It is the common fault of all the suggestions, whether they be to raise the height of the stump, to increase the width of the wicket, to make the bat narrower, and what not, that they one and all would make very little difference to the first class batsman on perfect wickets, while they would render run-getting on bad wickets even more difficult than it is at present. O B ITU A RY . PRINCE CHRISTIAN VICTOR. Of the many cricketers who have given up their lives in the service of the country during the campaign (unhappily, not yet concluded) in South Africa, none will be more deeply lamented than Prince Christian Victor. It was as a cricketer that he first made his mark, and it is as a cricketer that he will be affectionately remembered by hundreds to whom he was little more than a name. The qualities that made him successful as a soldier were those which the cricket field had developed in him. But his popularity— and he was popular with every class, whether at school, or at Oxford, or in the army—was due to the special traits of a peculiarly charming character. Un­ assuming and modest to a degree, keenly interested in everything with which he was associated, affable to everyone, his exalted position was almost forgotten in the personal regard everyone felt for him as a man. The elder son of Prince and Princess Christian, he was educated at Wellington College and Oxford. At Wellington he won his colours both for cricket and football. As captain of the cricket eleven he was a distinct success. There were good reasons to hope that he would have got his blue at Oxford. Un­ fortunately for him, the University at the time had a wicket keeper much above the average in H. Philipson, so that the opportunity of showing his special capacity as a stumper did not come to him. After leaving Oxford he joined the King’s Own Rifles, and here he had plenty of chances of proving his mettle. Indeed, for his years his record of active service under arms was not only con­ siderable but full of distinction. But it is not as a soldier that one has to write of him here. His military duties did not prevent him following up his cricket. Indeed, he followed it up vigorously, and some of his scores while he was in India were quite out of the common. Subsequently he did good service for the Green Jackets, and later, if one’s memory is not treacherous, for the Aldershot division. For the last year or two he could not have had much practice, but he was always closely in touch with cricket and cricketers; his judgment, too, on cricket matters was as sound as his knowledge of practical cricket and cricket law was comprehensive. A con­ stant visitor at Lords and the Oval whenever an important match was on, his unvarying good humour and amiable disposition made him universally pop­ ular. Surrey cricket in particular had no more enthusiastic admirer, and he never failed to take an active interest in Surrey cricketers, whether they were amateurs or professionals. A cricketer to the back­ bone, it is not too much to say that his name will be held in affectionate remembrance wherever the game is played. Before he entered on the South African campaign he expressed a wish that if he died on service he should be buried out there with his comrades. After surviv­ ing the harder part of the war he fell a victim to enteric fever, and in accordance with his desire his body lies in Pretoria, in the heart of the country he helped to win for England. He was only thirty- three years of age. THE MAHARAJAH OF PATIALA. This very popular Indian prince died of gastritis on November 7th, at his capital. He was born on May 2oth, 1872, and succeeded as a minor to the “ gadi ” on April 14th, 1876. He maintained a military force of 4,147 infantry, 2,423 cavalry and 109 guns, and was entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. He ruled over a population numbering about a million and a half, chiefly Hindoos, but including 400,000 Sikhs and 300,000 Moham­ medans. His full title was His Highness F a r z a n d -i-K h a s -i- Doulat-i-Inglishia Mansur-i-Zamam, Amir-ul-Umra, Ma- haraj-Adhiraj Rajeshwar, Shri Maharaja- i-Rajagan Ragendra Singh Mahendra Bahadur. Of late years he took the very greatest interest in cricket, and, as every­ body knows, he has for season after season engaged the services of Brockwell and J. T. Hearne. Under his fostering care the Patiala Cricket Club has been brought to a very high level, and the club with its two professionals was Btrong enough to tackle any club in India. A season or two ago the Maharajah made a long cricket tour, and readers of Cricket will doubtless remember the big scores which were put up by his side. He himself was a fine batsman, who, if he had not been obliged to devote so much of his time to his many official duties, would have become first class; indeed it is claimed of him that he was quite first class. His loss will be