Cricket 1901

THE FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. J u n e 6 , 1 9 0 1 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 179 BUSSEY’S GO e o P S ' S £ CD BUSSEY’S A T T H E S IG N O F T H E W I C K E T . B y F. S. Ashley-Cooper. It is evident, so far as one is able to judge, that Middlesex will this year prove one of the strongest sides in the country. The team has always been a most popular one, probably on account of the number of famous amateurs who have at various times assisted the side. Probably no county, not even Gloucestershire, has been able to boast so many great gentlemen players during the past thirty-five years as Middlesex; certainly none has had the assistance of so many well- known brotherhoods. The Walkers, Hadows, Lytteltons, Studds, Fords, Douglasses and Webbes have all rendered good service to the side during the period named. A team consist­ ing almost entirely of amateurs is invariably more popular than one the majority of whose members are paid players. In the former instances, the play is free and unrestrained; in the latter there is always a great amount of caution displayed, as a few small innings in quick succession generally prove sufficient to lose a professional his place in the side. As Middlesex has ever been rich in great amateur players, it is easy to understand the popularity of the team. At the present time, the traditions of the county are being well upheld by Messrs. P. F. Warner, B. J. T. Bosanquet, H. B. Hayman, G. W . Beldam, and others, whilst Mr. R. O. Schwarz, a prolific run-getter in club cricket, has recently proved himself worthy of a place in the best company. Mr. H. B. Chinnery, too, gives promise of proving a proverbial “ tower of strength” to the side. The latter, always a pleasing player to watch, when at his best, is this year in finer form than ever before. Like Mr. A. G. Steel, Abel and a few others, he can evidently return to first-class cricket after a long absence and play a great innings immediately. The outlook for Middlesex is certainly very bright. When at its strongest the team should prove a very hard one to beat. The form shown by the side in the matches against Gloucestershire and Somersetshire should cause a great attendance at Lord’ s to-day when the county meets Yorkshire. Should the wicket prove hard and true, there should not be much to choose between the two teams, but if the ground give any assistance to the bowlers, the match can have but one result. The remarks made in this column last week regarding Sharp have been fully substantiated by the performance of that player in the match against Kent at Manchester. With Webb he bowled unchanged throughout both the completed innings of his opponents, obtaining six wickets for 38 runs in the first innings and five for 67 in the second. Feats of this nature seldom meet iwith adequate praise. When a side totals 600 runs in an innings half a column of small type is not found too much to describe the score, but when two bowlers do as Sharp and Webb did last week the feat is generally dismissed in less than half-a-dozen lines. And scores of over 600 are far more frequent than instances of two bowlers bowling unchanged through a completed match. But such is characteristic of the times. Nowadays, batsmen obtain almost all the praise : “ ’Tis true ’tis pity, and pity ’tis ’tis true.” The wicket at Man­ chester this year is reported to be not so “ satisfactory as it was last year. In other words, runs are difficult to obtain there, matches do not last three full days, and the “ gate ” suffers. Shall I be declared a van­ dal, I wonder, when I state that I wish all the big grounds in the county were in an almost similar state ? There would assuredly be a certain amount of danger in facing fast bowlers on very fiery wickets, but our fathers stood up bravely to Redgate, Alfred Mynn, Harvey Fellows and others. And is there not an old couplet which says :— N o gam e was ever yet w orth a rap, for a rational m an to play, Into w hich no danger, no m ishap, could possibly find its w ay ?” Keener fielding, it is stated by many, would banish further discussion on the subject of cricket reform, but it is equally true that if some airangement could be come to by which county committees would undertake not to bring their wickets to so unnatural a state of over-preparedness, games would be far more interesting and exciting to watch as bat and ball would be placed on more of an equality. Those who have frequented Lord’s during the past week have been fortunate indeed. In the first match everything was in favour of the batsmen, over thirteen hundred runs being obtained without a definite result being arrived at, whilst in the second the reverse was the case and scoring ruled low. Un­ doubtedly the brightest cricket of the week was seen in the concluding portion of the Middlesex v. Gloucestershirematch. Memories of the partnership of Messrs. Warner and Hayman on the Friday evening will long remain with those who witnessed it. Each batsman made runs at a great pace and played faultless cricket, whilst on the following day Mr. Jessop made over a hundred in character­ istic fashion. The second match of the week marked the first appearance at Lord’s of the South Africans, and, although beaten, the tourists will be able to look back upon the game with a certain amount of pleasure. It was no disgrace to be defeated by 53 runs by so strong a team as the M.C.C. placed in the field, especially as they lacked the services of Sinclair, their great all-round player. The result clearly showed that the visitors possess the ability of playing a great game. The surprise of the week occurred in the match at Edgbaston between Warwickshire and Lancashire, the former declaring their innings closed with the score 532 for the loss of only four wickets. Such a huge total against the Lancashire bowling came as a surprise, and furnished a capital instance of the glorious uncertainty for which the game is so remarkable. Such surprises constitute the greatest charm of the game. The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, and cricket would become monotonous if certain great batsmen always made cen­ turies and the best bowlers never played without obtaining many wickets. A line deserves to be given to a curious event which occurred in a match on the 1st inst. at Ore, near Hastings, between Ore and Clive Yale and Hollington. Ore and Clive Yale went in first, and after one over had been delivered the Hollington bowlers objected to the length of the pitch, which, upon being measured, was discovered to be four feet too long. The mistake was imme­ diately rectified and the match recommenced. Hastings cricket is responsible for a some­ what similar instance, as in the match at Icklesham between the Hastings Rovers and Icklesham on Whit-Monday, 1899, the length of the pitch was suddenly found to be two yards too short. Cases in which the distance between the wickets has been incorrectly marked are very scarce, and it is certainly curious that Hastings cricket should furnish two instances in two years. C R IC K E T Report Sheets, lOd. per dozen, post free. Order of G oing-in Cards, 7d. per dozen, post free. ricket Score B ooks, 6d. and Is. e a ch ; postage, 2d. extra.—T o be obtained at the Offices o f Cricket, 168, U pper Tham es Street L ondon, E.C.