Cricket 1901

M a y 2 3 , 19 0 1 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 153 I t was a bold stroke on the part of Messrs. W illiam Blackwood and Sons to reissue the Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Book of Cricket in the popular sixpenny form, but we should not be at all surprised if their pluck met with its reward. For the book, more particularly Mr. C. B. Fry’s large share of it, is a good one, and it is highly probable that the masses will be glad of an opportunity to buy it. We observe that in his introduction, Ranjit­ sinhji still places Mr. Fry third on the list of men who have helped him, which is, to say the least of it, unkind of him. But still, to misquote the words of another famous w riter:— But, still, you know, such things must he After a famous Jubilee. C o m m e n t in g on Electorate cricket in Sydney, the Sydney Referee gives the follow ing interesting statistics of the batting and bow ling during the eight years of Electorate cricket:— HIGHEST AGGREGATE IN THE LOCAL PREMIERSHIP. I. N.O. H.S. R. Avg. 1893-4 W .J. Camphin ...10 1 170 879 42 11 1894-5 T. W. Garrett ... 11 1 92 624 52'40 1895-6 A.K.C.Mackenzie... 11 1 214 565 61'36 1896-7 A. Coningham ... 11 0 176 655 65'60 1897-8 V. Trumper ............ 8 3 191* 1021 204 20 1898-9 A. J. Hopkins ... 10 3 137 619 77 37 1899-0 R. A. Duff ............ 9 2 158 662 62'44 1900-1 V. Trumper ............ 10 0 213* 667 61'88 MOST WICKETS IN THE LOCAL PREMIERSHIP. O. M. R. W. Avff. 1893-4 A L. Newell . . 223 61 326 60 643 1894-6 T.Connell... . 310 83 654 65 10-06 1895-6 8 . W. Austin .. 302 72 723 46 1671 1896*7 T. Connell........ 267 96 502 60 10*04 1897-8 8 . W. Austin .. 204 37 543 34 16*97 1898-9 M.A . Noble ... 149 22 417 49 8 51 J899-0 A J. Hopkins. . 166 32 498 40 12-45 1900-1 W. P. Howell .. — — 533 46 11-68 O t j r spring poet sends us the follow ing verses, as he calls them. We must admit that we cannot see much rhythm or rhyme about them, but there is really no accounting for the vagaries of spring p o ets:— Why didn’t Jack Shuter P Because he saw P. F. Warner. Why is Bobby Carpenter ? Because he’s Bobby Abel. Why was Sir A. W . L. Hemming ? Because he saw Leveson-Grower. W r i t i n g about bowlers with a sus­ picious action, “ Short Slip,” in the Sydney Mail, says :— There is undoubtedly a growing tendency amongst the rising generation to use the flick of the elbow when delivering, which means that when they come into the front rank there will be trouble. I have seen players at practice who could not turn the ball an inch by fair delivery, but when they “ shied” they were well-nigh unplayable. Probably some of my readers have seen the same thing. Unless this is checked everywhere—seniors and juniors—we may expect to be without bowlers in the future. Does “ Short Slip ” mean from this to infer that he has seen bowlers make the ball turn a great deal when they shied, although they could not make it turn an inch when they bowled ? We ask because there are very many players, batsmen as w«ll as bowlers, who insist that a man cannot throw a break to anything like the same extent that he can bowl one, and that a man could not throw a very fast break at all. A w r it e r in the Australasian gives the follow ing description of a wicket on which two well-known Melbourne clubs, Hawksbum and Bendigo were playing :— The wicket was dry and to all appearances in excellent condition, and yet it played as I have never known a wicket to play at any other time. Bowlers got whips of stuff on though never a ball rose more than bail high. I don’t think you, with all your experience of pitches, ever saw anything like it. Its chief peculiarity was its slowness. Five times out of six batsmen had completed their strokes before the ball reached them. Deliveries that looked beauties to pull came along in funereal fashion, and simply rolled up against the wicket a second or more after the bat had made its gyrations through the unresisting air. The explanation is that owing to the erection of a fine new stand in the Upper Reserve, where the match was played, the pitch had to be prepared on a portion of the field where the top-dressing had been placed upon a foundation of street scrapings, and this foundation was so loose that the pitch had about the consistency of sponge. A t the first annual dinner of the London County C.C. at the Crystal Palace on Monday, the members of the South African team were the guests, and the president (Lord Suffield) was in the chair. In his Bpeech in reply to the toast of the South African team, the Hon. J. D. Logan defended the action of persevering with the undertaking, which had been severely criticised by a section of the Press, explaining that last season when all arrangements had been made, they were upset by the continuation of the war—a cause of inconvenience which they had no desire to repeat. He was not a prophet, but the reception thus far met with scarcely bore out the idea of a hostile reception. They hoped in turn to see another English team at the Cape, and if they could possibly bring out “ the old evergreen (W. G.), not only the South African team, but everyone in South Africa would extend a hearty welcome to him. F or West Denton against Newcastle- on-Tyne Y.M.C.A. a player named AtkinBon, says the Sunday Chronicle, bowled 6-1 overs, and twice took three wickets in four deliveries, while when he dismissed the seventh batsman he sent the bails twenty yards, and when the last wicket was taken knocked a bail 27 yards. He bowled at a tremendous pace, and as his deliveries have a decided tendency to curl in the air he puzzled the batsmen frequently. Last year Atkinson had the excellent record of 66 wickets, taken at an average cost of 2'73 runs, so that he is evidently a young cricketer of promise. That he kept in excellent line was evident from the fact that he hit the wickets every time he dismissed a man. The details of his analysis are aB follow s:— I t is announced that Mr. A. C. Mac- laren has received a cablegram from Mr. J. B. Wardill asking him to take out a team to Australia on certain terms, which have not been made public. F or Wellingborough Masters against Leicester Roslyn, on May 15, Mr. D. P. Williams took all ten wickets (three of them with successive balls) in the first innings for twelve runs. The last seven wickets fell to him in nine balls without a run being scored off him. The score of this innings is as follows :— L e ic e s t e r E o s l y n . J. Barradell,bWilliams C. Jackson, b Williams 3 C. Potter, b Williams.. 0 P.J.Neale, b Williams E. Green, b Williams. G. Nosworthy, Williams......... Extras......... w w w . 1 . w w R. Thompson, not out. 15 J. McRobie,b Williams 2 M. Byrne, b Williams. 0 G. Swain, b Williams.. 0 T otal...........36 R. Ruston, b Williams 0 In the end Leicester Rosslyn made 67 for five wickets. The Wellingborough Masters made 213. I t is a little early in the day to say much about the strength of the South African team, but it is at least certain that its members know how to play an uphill game. This knowledge w ill be serviceable to them in many ways, and there is nothing which an English crowd likes better than to see a team lighting tooth and nail to save itself from defeat. Our visitors seem to be good sportsmen, and it is to be hoped that the ideas which, from the visits of touring teams in South Africa, they have formed of the good fellowship and good nature of English cricketers w ill not be lessened by a closer acquaintance with them. T h e ir captain seemed a little discon­ certed at the display of feeling by one of the younger London County bowlers who had tw ice in an over appealed against him unsuccessfully for l.b.w . These little things w ill unfortunately happen now and then, even in first-class cricket, but our visitors may be assured that they are not esteemed by cricketers “ for example of life and instruction of manners.” I t is very interesting to see the two old-stagers, W. G. and Mr. Murdoch, in the field. The Doctor was very lame at the Palace, but within a lim ited area at point he fielded exceedingly well, stop­ ping many a hit which younger men m ight have allowed to pass without attracting attention. I t is really surpris­ ing to see the way in which he still freezes on to a ball, however hard the hit may be. I t must have been a little startling to any Gloucestershire man who, living in the London suburbs, went to his home on Tuesday night w ith one of the Cricket Extras in his pocket, to read the morning papers next day. The “ Stop Press N ew s ” gave the follow ing result. Gloucester 133 for 1. Sewell 70. Unfor­ tunately for Gloucestershire there was a sudden collapse when things were in this happy position, and when stumps were drawn the score was 219 for seven wickets.