Cricket 1901

J an . 31, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAM®. 11 their success against New South Wales in the match at Adelaide in the middle of last month. With Mr. A. Noble, Yictor Trumper, F. A . Iredale and S. E . Gregory in the eleven, New South Wales has a strong batting side and it was certainly a good performance to get them out for totals of 279 and 261. In the second innings the wicket had begun to wear a little but was still in fair order. As it was, neither Gregory, Trumper, nor Noble, who were accountable for most of the runs, seemed to be really at their ease with either bowler. The t-wo young­ sters divided the wickets between them and their bow ling throughout was of a distinctly high class. A well-known Australian cricketer describes Travers as the finest left-hand length bowler in Australia at the present time. T h a t good bowlers can still get first- class batsmen out even when the wicket is all in favour of rungettirig, was fully proved in the match between Victoria and New South Wales at Melbourne at Christ­ mas time. It does not look as if the bowlers are very badly treated, even under existing conditions, when such a strong rungetting side as the New South Wales was got out twice for a gross total of 288 and on a batsman’s wicket. Happily, the glorious un­ certainty of cricket has still seriously to be reckoned with. O n Monday, Lieut. E. I. M. Barrett, the well-known Hampshire cricketer, arrived in England from South Africa on the hospital ship “ Nubia.” He was wounded at Venterspruit, and after recovery was attacked by enteric fever, with the result that he was invalided home. Another well-known Hampshire cricketer, Captain F. W . D. Quinton, has been promoted to the rank of Major. M b. A. G. S t e e l , the famous old Cambridge and Lancashire cricketer, was among the last of the lawyers who became Queen’s counsel during th e reign of the late Queen. T h e latest recipient of a “ presenta­ tion ” is Mr. J. Mason, the Kent cap­ tain. At a dinner given by the County C.C. to the county team the latter pre­ sented their captain with a silver tankard, on which was engraved a list of his scores for 1900. F o r want of sufficient money the com ­ mittee of the Leicestershire County C.C. has been compelled to delay the oate of commencing the new pavilion buildings on the new ground. But, although a considerable amount has still to be sub­ scribed, the committee now feel justified in making a beginning. I n the return match (of which the full scores have not yet reached us) between South Australia and New South Wales, the former scored 157 and 156, whereas N .S.W . ran up a total of 918 (Iredale 118, Noble 153, Duff 119, S. E. Gregory 168, and Poidevai 149). This total is a record in first-class cricket, the next highest totals being as follows :— 918—New South "Wales v. South Australia, at Sydney. January, 19 1. £87—Yorkshire v. Warwickshire, at Birmingham, May, 1896. 84':—Australians v Oxford and Cambridge Past and Present, at Portsmouth, July, 1893. 811 - Surrey v. Somerset, at the Oval, May, 1899. 807—New South "Wales v. South Australia, at Adelaide, December, 1899. 803— Non-Smokers v. Smokers, at Melbourne, March, 1887. 801—Lancashire v. Somerset, at Taunton, July, 1896. I t must be remembered that (owing to the closure system) teams in England have of late had very little chance of making huge totals. One can hardly feel surprised when one reads of huge figures in Australia; indeed, the game is played there under such exceedingly favourable conditions for batsmen that it is remark­ able that enormous scores are not more frequently made. I t is believed that the proceeds of the match played for the benefit of W . Mead last year, together with subscriptions, will amount to about £800. A STUDENT of St. Stanislaus College, Bathurst, about 145 miles from Sydney, named Jas. J. D owd, clean bowled seven wickets with consecutive balls in a match between the college and St. Barnabas C.C. on December 8th. Had the whole ten wickets not fallen, Dowd m ight have continued his work of wicket-destruction, for it was with the last seven balls that he was successful. On the same day Mr. W . E. Forsyth, the honorary secretary of the Petersham (Sydney) C.C., playing for the Petersham Veterans against the Cintra, at Norwood, on a turf wicket, clean bowled the whole ten wickets at a cost of only fifteen runs. A feature of thiB performance is that in each case the wicket was hit by the bowler. I t is stated that Mr. F. S. Jackson will return in a few days to his duties in South Africa. Mr. Frank Mitchell who may not have to return to South Africa has been gazetted a Lieutenant in the Imperial Yeomanry. T h e members of the Notts County C.C. at their annual meeting on January 19th were able to congratulate themselves on the improvement shown b y the members of the team, as well as on the financial state of affairs. It was announced that a sum of £300 had been granted as a supple­ mentary testimonial to Arthur Shrews­ bury. In the course of a speech the Duke of Portland, the retiring president, referred to the fact that one of the county matches was to be played at Welbeck in August, and stated that he hoped one of the Welbeck cricketers would be sufficiently capable to be included in the county team on that occasion. W it h regard to the action of the County Captains, the committee of the Hampshire County C.C. have unanimously passed a resolution confirming the action of their captain, Mr. C. Hobson, at the meeting of the County Captains. The Notts committee has also passed a resolu­ tion as follows That the committee approve of the action taken by the captain of the team, Mr. A . O. Jones, on the question of bowlers throwing, which was recently brought before a meeting of the captains of county cricket clubs, and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Mr. Lacey, secretary of the M .C.C.” T h e worst of the present position of affairs with regard to the question of throwing is that if an umpire is honestly convinced that such and such a suspected man does not throw, and so does not no­ ball him, he is accounted dishonest or incapable. There must be thousands of Moderate umpires in various parts of the world, and surely it is the height of absurdity to assume that they are all incapable or dishonest because their opinions do not coincide with those of some half-dozen Progressives. A mis- chevious thing about the present state of chaos is that a single umpire with a fad m ight go about the country and ruin the reputation of dozens of bowlers whose action had been hitherto unsuspected, for to many cricketers a man who has once been no-balled for throwing is accursed. In order to ensure the success of the match which is to be played this year in July between Kent and Lancashire at Tunbridge Wells, a meeting of gentlemen interested in this favourite health resort was recently held in the ante-room of the Great Hall. It was suggested that a “ Week ” should be inaugurated, not in any w ty to compete with the well-known Tonbridge Week. Am ong the speakers v. ere Major Spens, Mr. Tom Pawley and the Mayor, and so favourably impressed by their arguments was the meeting, that it is practically certain that a great effort will be made to make the new “ W e e k ” a brilliant success. It was sugg?sted that the second match of the week might be against the M .C.C., or the Gentlemen of Sussex. I t is interesting to find that even among the natives of India there are collectors of cricket books. In a letter to Messrs. Duke and Son, an Indian gentleman named Tata writes from Bombay as follows :— ‘ ‘ I have a library of cricket books of over 300 in number. These I shall some day present to our Gymkhana club, which at present does not boast of any library at all. Advancing years are having their effect, and added to the cares of business, leave no time for a game which once was a passion with me. It is a curious fact that some of my very earliest cricket was played in your neighbour­ hood a quarter of a century ago. I remember playing against Penshurst, either in 1876 or 1877, for Brenchley or Yalding, I forget which, to both of which clubs I then belonged. I am sorry to say that the only recollection of that match that lingers in my mind is some roast beef which I had at lunch ! I have also very pleasant memories of a match played at Yalding against the Eev. Mr. Harboard’s team.”