Cricket 1901

M ay 9, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 121 (the side refusing to play when the umpire shall call “ P la y ” shall lose the match). T h e honour of m ating the first hun­ dred of the season has fallen to Braund, who is now qualified for Somersetshire. He has shown remarkably good batting form during the last two years, and he ought to prove a most valuable addition to the Somersetshire eleven. F o r some extraordinary reason an attempt has been made to throw cold water on the visit of the South African team, on the ground that its members ought to be fighting for England. Why these particular cricketers should be con­ sidered as poltroons because they come to England to play cricket, while English­ men who have stayed at home and played are not to be blamed, is a complete mystery. As it happens, however, many of the team have taken part in the war, and all of them have suffered more or less from it—not merely b y having to pay a something extra per pound on sugar and tobacco, but by real hardship. Fortunately, so far from doing harm to the prospects of the team, the adverse remarks made about them will do a great deal of good, as it has caused Englishmen to see that most of our visitors have fought for the Empire, and as a matter of fact the team could not have had a better advertisement. So that all ends well. A m o n g the members of the team who actually took part in the war are Murray Bissett, E. A. Halliwell, G. Rowe, Louis Tancred, and G. P. Koetze (with the Western Province Mounted Rifles) ; J. H. Sinclair (with General French’s scouts, he was taken prisoner b y De W et);. J. D. Logan, jun. (guide to the Coldstreams); W . Shalders (one of the defenders of Kimberley). I t is stated that the officials who are directing the fortunes of the new Belgrave C.C. are of opinion that the time has now arrived when a representative council should be formed, with the sanction of the M .C.C., to take over the control of club and league cricket, and that they intend to set to work to bring this scheme to maturity. It was bound to come sooner or later. B ut they have tried all this sort of thing in Australia, America, New Zealand, Tasmania, and elsewhere ; and in various parts of the world there are cricket asso­ ciations b y the dozen. We have never heard that cricketers are any the happier for them, while the rows and squabbles among them make edifying reading at times. A n o t h e r cricket book is shortly to be published. The author is Captain Philip Trevor and the publishers Messrs. Methuen. It will include chapters on cricket in the army, country house cricket, village cricket, women’s cricket, and cricket as a profession. It is an­ nounced that the title will be “ The Lighter Side of Cricket,” but as Mr. Bowden published a cricket book a year or two ago under the title of “ The Light Side of Cricket,” it may possibly be altered. D r . W. G. G race is now in his fifty- third year. Before the first-class season began he scored a hundred in a minor match, and, having thus got himself in good trim, he began his season of first- class cricket by doing wonders against Surrey. That is to say he scored 7l and 80, and took five wickets for 39. Is there any other all-round cricketer of the day who could do better ? I n the course of years we shall no doubt have scoring boards in England nearly as good as they are in Australia. Already considerable progress has been made, and at two or three big grounds it is possible to know a good deal about the state of the game by looking at the board. A further improvement has been made at the Crystal Palace, where Mr. S. Deard’s scoring board is in use, and when a catch has been made a number is hoisted, from which (on referring to the card of the match) the name of the fieldsman may be found. This is a very distinct advance. A n o tic e of Mr. Llewellyn Hutchinson, the popular hon. secretary of the Nondescripts C.C., appears in the first issue of the Oandid Friend. It is not as a cricketer that Mr. Hutchinson appears before the public, but— we hardly have the pluck to say it— as an able exponent of a game known as “ Ping P on g.” We do not quite know whether we ought to congratulate him on possess­ ing the skill necessary to be an expert at such a game, or to lament that he has become a convert to it. In any case we feel sure that it will not prevent him from playing cricket as usual. T h e very latest of cricket books is published at sixpence b y Henry J. Drane, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, E.C., in the series of “ Bijou Biographies.” It is entitled “ Dr. W . G. Grace,” and its compiler is Acton Wye— we fancy that this is a norn de plume. In his prefatory note the author says : “ This little book, it may be as well frankly to confess, is contended to be as laudatory as can be made. Y et it is not the work of a mere hero-worshipper. I f the record of no other cricketer approaches that of Dr. Grace, the responsibility is not mine.” This note gives a fair idea of the author’s aims and intentions. The biography is very concise, and gives an accurate impression of the subject, which is, of course, all that there is room for. In our copy pages 65 to 80 are misting. In the Sunday Times of May 5th Mr. Jessop writes on “ The Art of Run Getting.” Old cricketers who have ceased to appear in public will be in­ terested to find that he is decidedly of opinion that it takes much less endurance nowadays to make a big score than it did thirty years ago. H e says:— The pursuit of batting nowadays makes less strenuous calls on one’ s endurance than that of bowling. Thirty years ago, boun­ daries were more or less indefinite. All hits, unless the hall travelled to a tent or the pavilion, were run o u t; and the making of a century must have been a far more arduous task than it is in present-day cricket, when a batsman may score a half, or even two-thirds of his runs by boundary hits. In these days when the boundaries are easy, and true wickets are the rule and not the exception, the amount of energy expended in making a century is small compared with the persistent efforts required of the crack bowlers of a side which, on a .scorching August day, finds itself confronted with the task of getting rid of Yorkshire or Surrey on a wicket where even the fastest and shortest ball will not rise above the top of the stumps. O n the question o f running out to hit the ball, Mr. Jessop’s practice would seem to differ from his theory. He writes as follow s:— Others dash in even to fast bowling. This requires considerable quickness of foot, and a solid determination to adopt no half-measures, but to get as near the pitch of the ball as one can. If this be done the process is not as dangerous as it undoubtedly looks from the pavilion or the ring; but I think that one is apt to make a fatal mistake by running out too early in one’s innings. Some batsmen adopt the plan of leaving their ground to play the ball, as Eanjitsinhji does when opposing Jephson’s lobs. This may be an excellent defensive measure in the case of slow bowling, though I have never seen it done against Richardson or Mold. Of course, a good deal depends on what is meant by defensive batting, but if Mr. Jessop could see himself, he would somtimes see a man going out to Richardson or M old before the ball has left the bowler’s hand, and patting it down, or hitting it hard, as circumstances require. M r. W il l ia m H e in e m a n n will publish early next week a new and cheaper edition in paper boards of Mr. P. F. Warner’s “ Cricket in Many Climes.” A n o r t h - c o u n t r y bowler named Moss took nine wickets for 1 run on Saturday for Burslem v. Bignall End. We believe he was formerly the Bacup professional fast bowler. M r . W il l ia m C a r l e s s , hon, secretary of the Hastings Cricket Week, has issued the follow ing circular to cricketers in Hastings and the neighbourhood :— The Sussex County Cricket Club Commit ee have again arranged to play a first-cltass county match at Hastings this year, the fixture being Sussex v. Leicestershire, July 11th, 12th, and 13th. As one of the East