Cricket 1901

106 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M at 2, 1901. only 31 runs were needed. Then Howell upset all calculations b y taking four wickets, all clean bowled, with successive balls— a remarkable ending to such an interesting match. T h e r e was still just a chance that North Sydney might win on the second innings if they could get Cumberland out cheaply. As it was they got eight wickets down for 41, and although the last two men only added 23 runs, they made such inroads into the time that when North Sydney went in they had to make 95 in 25 minutes. One is so accustomed to think of all Australian batsmen as slow scorers— a mistake for which the last team is chiefly to blame—that it is well to note that the North Sydney men seriously set to work to knock off the runs, and although they soon found that their task was hopeless, they scored 53 in the short time for the loss of four wickets. P a d d in g t o n , the winners of the com ­ petition, scored 2,441 runs for 90 wickets against 1,519 for the same number. The only innings of over a hundred made by a member of the club during the season was 213 not out b y Trumper. B ight matches were played, of which six were won and two drawn. The brunt of the batting and bow ling was done by Trumper and Noble, as the follow ing list of the chief averages will show :— BATTING. No. Times Most of not in an Total inns. out. inns. runs. Aver. V. Trumper........... ... 10 ... 1 .. 213*... 557 . ,. 61-88 A. C. Bannerman ... 3 ... 2 .. . 37*... 56 . 56 00 M. A. Noble........... ... 10 .. 1 .. . 93 ... 473 .,,. 52*55 J. J. Kelly ........... ... 7 ... 0 ..,. 72 ... 2(8 .... 29 71 E. G. N oble........... ... 10 ... 1 .. . 44*... 229 . ,. 25-44 * Signifies not out. BOWLING. Runs. Wickets. Average. M. A. Noble .. 341 32 10-65 V. Trumper .. 310 25 12-40 A . Fenton 216 14 15-42 A. Gow ......... 155 5 3100 T h e results of the Electorate competi­ tion at Sydney are as follow s:— Match Mtchs. W . L. D. Byes. Pts. Paddington ................ 8 6 0 2 0 12 North Sydney ......... 7 6 1 1 1 8 Sydney .......................... 7 6 1 1 1 8 Waverley ......... . ... 7 4 2 1 14 Central Cumberland ... 7 4 3 0 1 2 R ed fern ........................ 7 1 4 2 1 —6 Burwood.......................... 7 1 5 1 1 —8 Glebe ........................ 7 0 5 2 1 —10 Leichardt-Balmain ... 7 0 5 2 1 —10 Paddington had still to play a bye, but the result could not be altered. berland gets better cricket out of him than New South Wales does, a fact I am disposed to attribute to his being used as a bowler with better judgment hy the club captain. “ Old B ill” is as popular as ever with the crowd. At the Shore they cheered his lusty strokes while batting, and at the finish of the North Sydney innings they gave him the applause he had earned. He is the only bowler who has performed the hat trick in the First Grade this season ; he has done so twice. His feat at North Sydney merits a new hat as a souvenir. A n o t h e r popular magazine which devotes a lot of space this month to the subject of cricket is the evergreen “ Baily.” It contains a portrait and biography of Mr. L . C. H . Palairet, an unsigned and sensible article on the leg- before-wieket question, some comments in “ Our V a n ” on “ The New Cricket Season,” and last but not least an article b y Mr. Fred Gale. M a n y enthusiastic cricketers will regret that Mr. Gale announces in this article that it is “ positively the very last ” that he w ill write for “ Bailys’ Magazine.” They will say that they hope his very last appearances in print will be as numerous as those of Mr. Sims Beeves on the con­ cert platform. M r. G a l e relates many reminiscences, among them the follow in g:— The green, though rather small, was big enough for a match. I inquired about cricket. “ Well, there had a-been two matches that year, but the club could not do much to the green.” I was introduced to Billy Bland, a kind of Trotty Veck, who did odd jobs and ran errands. He was between sixty and seventy. “ Billy,” I said, “ can you mow ?” “ Yees, I can,” was the answer. “ Now look here, Billy, get your scythe out to-morrow morning at seven o’clock, and a big watering- pot and the roller, and you and I will work at the green for a day or two.” Result:— William was there, and every morning at seven o’clock I was with him, and, barring breakfast-time, worked till twelve o’clock. In three days we had a good practice wicket; within a week the lads of the village came out, and a few who could play a bit from neighbouring villages came too. Ina fortnight we had a fair eleven and played several matches. W e had in the village one good bowler who had once played for Surrey. I found a boy at Dorking nineteen years old by the name of Harry Jupp, who was heard of a little later on.” Mr. Gale adds, in a footnote to the above anecdote, “ Sir Wilfred Lawson would weep if he saw B illy’s score at the village pub.” O f William Howell, the hero of the North Sydney and Cumberland match, the Sydney Referee says :— His great bowling, of course, stands out, but his batting and fielding were also excel­ lent. It is altogether a mistaken idea that Howell, as a bowler, has deteriorated. I am inclined to regard him as a better and more dangerous bowler than ever before, and I quite expect to see him playing for Australia against England next season. Central Cum­ W e have received a very well arranged little book, entitled “ The Hampstead Cricket Club,” and containing the aver­ ages from 1879 to 1900, with the excep­ tion of the years 1881 and 1882, of which no record can be found. It is interesting to note the gradual rise in the batting averages, of which Mr. Stoddart has been nearly always at the head. The bow ling averages have not varied so much, for the club has always had a sufficiency of ex­ cellent bowlers—we may add that it was not until 1887 that the bow ling analyses were regularly kept. As colours for their team the South Africans have chosen the ribbon of the Boer War medal, permission to use it having been granted by the military authorities. The team is due at Southampton to-m orrow (Friday). A n accident of a nature which is fortu­ nately most uncommon was the cause of an action in the K in g’s Bench Division last week. The case for the plaintiffs, Mr. Henry James Bulteel and his son, Walter Bulteel, aged fifteen years, was that on the morning of March 16, 1899, Walter Bulteel and all the house boys in the forms below the fifth were instructed to roll the ground after morning school, and that while they were engaged in pulling the roller b y means of ropes, Walter Bulteel tripped in a dip or ditch, more or less covered with grass, and fell, the roller passing over him. The boy received concussion of the brain and a fracture at the base of the skull. I t was contended that the masters were bound to take such care of the boy as would be taken b y a careful paren t; that in direct­ ing him to assist in pulling the roller they were guilty of negligence; and that, therefore, defendants were liable to com ­ pensate the boy, who, in consequence of the accident, had been prevented from entering the Navy, and was now suffering to a certain extent from the effects of the accident. T h e defendants— the H igh School for Boys, at Plymouth— denied that the boy was instructed to assist in rolling the ground. As a matter of fact, they said, he ought to have been attending a drawing-class at the time he met with his injuries. They further said that if the accident was due to negligence it was the negligence of fellow students, for which they were not responsible. After some consideration the jury awarded the plaintiffs £380 damages, being £80 for the father and £300 for the son. H a l l a m ’ s analysis in the Notts Colts match in the second innings was some­ what remarkable, viz., 30 overs, 14 maidens, 48 runs, and 17 wickets— less than three runs per wicket. His services ought to be exceedingly useful to his native county this year. A t the annual general meeting of the Gloucestershire County C.C., Mr. Jessop said that if their prospects were not as bright as they could have wished, owing to the fact that Mr. C. L. Townsend and Mr. W . S. A. Brown would not play before July, he was glad to say that Mr. S. A. P. K itcat and Hale would take part in the southern tour. He also had reason to hope that Mr. C. O. H. Sewell would assist more frequently than usual. Roberts and Paish were bowling particu­ larly well, and if Spry and Langdon did as well in matches as they were doing at