Cricket 1901

M at 2, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 107 the nets they would prove useful recruits. Gloucestershire, as was shewn b y the report which was given in last week’s Cricket, had an adverse balance sheet, but did not suffer as much from the pre­ vailing depression which existed last season as some of the other counties. C r ic k e t e r s will doubtless have noticed that the letter upon the l.b.w . question which appeared in the F ield of Saturday, signed “ P. F . Warner,” is identical with that which appeared in the Sportsman of the same date, signed “ A County Cricketer.” This is a new departure in journalism which is not without interest. In his letter, Mr. Warner claims that the very greatest consideration should be given to the opinion of the county cap­ tains, who, he says, speak as experts— men who see the game day after day in all its phases. “ T h e captains of the first-class counties,” says Mr. Warner, “ at their meeting in December last, unanimously decided against any alteration in the l.b.w . law. . . . Are the M.C.C. going to alter one of the vital principles of the game in the face of such an expres­ sion of opinion from so distinguished a body of cricketers ? The captains were asked to give an opinion on the subject by the committee of the M.C.C. What was the use of soliciting that opinion if not the slightest attention is to be paid to it ? As far as we can see, Mr. Warner has brought forward no argument in his letter which has not already appeared in Cricket , but his letter was none the less forcible and well timed. We are glad to find that in his last two paragraphs he entirely agrees with what we have said again and again, viz. :— 9. If the fielding in first-class cricket was as good as it ought to be, we should hear very little, even in the driest season, of excessive scoring. 10. One wet summer would knock all this talk of reform on the head. T h e r e are tw o exp ression s o f o p in ion in Mr. W a rn e r’s letter w h ich ca n h a rd ly b e reco n cile d . R e fe rrin g to th e b atsm en h e s a y s :— The object of these would-be reformers is to reduce the present high scoring in first- class cricket; hut are they sure that such an alteration as they propose will have that effect ? I am certain it will do nothing of the kind on a hard and true wicket, and that is the only occasion on which it is desirable that there should he a reduction in run-get­ ting. On a hard, true wicket, the ball does not turn to any great extent, and, therefore, I maintain, that the proposed alteration will have no appreciable effect on the run-getting in fine weather. O n the other hand, he claims that bow ling will deteriorate if the present law relating to the lbw is altered. It is admitted by everyone, I fancy, that a man has to be a really good bowler nowadays to get wickets with any consistency in first- class cricket. If this rule becomes law, you will find bowlers of a quite inferior type getting rid of good batsmen, and, as a natural consequence of this, the present high standard of bowling will decline. A t the annual meeting of the Essex County C.C., the chairman, Mr. C. E. Green, said that there was no need to feel disheartened when they compared their financial results of last season with that of other county clubs. The weather and the fact that the team had not been doing too well undoubtedly affected their gate receipts. He asked the members of the team to practise fielding more, for this was the weak spot last season. He referred to the presence once more of Mr. A. J. Turner, now quartered at Woolwich, and wished to correct the misapprehension that Mead only received a sum of £137. This was merely the profit from the m atch ; with subscriptions £800 had been received by Mead. A t the dinner which followed, Colonel Mark Lockwood, M .P ., was in the chair. He complimented Mr. H . G. Owen on the way in which he had captained the team. In replying, Mr. Owen referred to the throw ing question, and amid much laughter suggested that a cricket council which should be composed of a represen­ tative, warranted eighty years old, from each county, m ight deal with the subject in a satisfactory manner. E v e n in far off Buenos Aires batsmen occasionally score a thousand runs during the season. This is not quite such a sin­ ful feat as it is considered b y some when it is performed by Englishmen, for the wickets in Buenos Aires are not always perfect. We are inclined to think that the success of the batsmen is simply due to the fact that they are good cricketers. This year the successful batsman is Mr. J. O. Anderson. T h e chief averages made in Buenos Aires and district last year have been carefully compiled by River Plate Sport and Pattime, and are as follow s:— BATTING. No. Times of Not Inns. out. To*-al Runs. Highest Score. Aver. J. O. Anderson ... 23 ... 4 1039 .. 134* .. 64-68 B'. F. R. Bedford... 15 ... 4 666 .. 102* .. 60-45 R. L e y s .................. 17 ... 2 748 .. 159 .. 49-86 E. D. Ayling......... 16 ... 2 459 .. 118 .. 32-78 F. E. J o n e s ......... 13 .. 0 ... 410 .. 169 .. 31*63 A. Anderson........... 17 ... 3 406 .. 110* .. 2900 H . A. Cowes.......... 18 ... 1 462 .. 67 .. 27-18 B. B. Syer ........... 17 ... 4 352 .. 91* .. 27-07 E. L. Itumboll ... 19 ... 0 491 .. 73 .. 25-84 R. E. H. Anderson 20 ... 3 366 .. 76 .. 21-52 K. W . R u dd........... 16 ... 0 312 .. 49 .. 19 50 T. Brown .......... 7 ... 0 249 .. 69 .. 35-67 T. M. Greene 16 ... 4 253 .. 62* .. 21-C8 * Signifies not out. BOWLING. O. M. R. W . Aver. H. A. Cowes 241 ... 67 ... 499 ... 51 .. 9-78 T. V. M. Knox ... 196*2 ... 56 ... 672 ... 52 .. u-oo H. B. Elliot........... 167-3 ... 35 ... 436 ... 46 .. 9-47 F. Messervy........... 169 42 ... 447 ... 41 .. 10*90 A . T. Bpens.......... 198*3 ... 62 ... 428 ... 89 .. 10-97 An old cricketer writes : “ The appear­ ance in Cricket last week of the chat with John Hughes reminded me of the Islington Albion matches against Chip- perfield, in Hertfordshire, some forty years ago, when Hughes was one of our opponents. H e was almost the last of the old country cricketers who wore the old-fashioned dress when playing. Generally he sported a buff waistcoat and a ‘ belcher ’ handkerchief. I was present at the match at Southgate in which he first met the Walkers’ famous team, some three or four decades ago, and I well remember how his bowling ‘ tucked them up.’ ” T h e Lord Chief Justice, the President, is to preside at the annual general meeting of the Surrey County C.C. to be held in the Pavilion at the Oval this afternoon at five o ’clock. The office of Vice-President vacant by the recent death of General Sir Frederick Marshall will have to be filled up at this meeting. M . A. N o b l e , one of the best all-round players Australian cricket has produced, was bringing the season just ending to a close with a brilliant flourish of trumpets, to judge by the latest advices from Sydney. Playing for the Paddington Club against a country team at Sydney, on March23rd, he wasnot out with 161, out of a total of 300 for nine wickets. On the same day in another place, that is in Melbourne, another of the bright particular stars of Australian cricket, Hugh Trumble, was even in better form. H e was representing the Melbourne Club against Hawksburn, and of the 570 for eight wickets made b y the former, his share was 210. W . G., who has already commenced auspiciously with a hundred, has got a pretty good side to represent the London County C.C. against Surrey in the open­ ing match of the first-class season at the Crystal Palace to-day. The G.O.M ., it is rumoured, with the approval of the Marylebone Club, has come to an arrange­ ment b y which, some, at least, of the matches of the London County C.C. this year will be decided on the first innings if the game cannot be played out. The L .C .C .’s matches with M .C.C. and Ground and Warwickshire, so I under­ stand, will in any case be played on such an understanding. Recent experiences have made one rather shy of cricket experiments. But this does not present any really serious difficulties. In any case it will be interesting to see how the idea works out. O n the eve of the general meeting of the M .C.C., which took place yesterday, a manifesto was issued to the Press by six first-class county captains, viz., Lord Hawke and Messrs. A. P. Lucas, J. R. Mason, H . G Owen, P. F. Warner, and D . L . A. Jephson. In the manifesto reasons were given why the l.b.w . law