Cricket 1901

A u g . 29, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 3?9 done a great deal of good in the way of bringing young cricketers to the fron t; nor can it be disputed that the Doctor is a wonderful hand at getting together a useful side. For this match he had drawn on Surrey, who did not require the services of Brockwell and Mr. Walker, on Derbyshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, and the South Africans—of whom he had not selected the three weakest men. The bowling at his disposal was not very strong on paper, but since he ran the London County team, he has had a remarkable knack of making a very little bowling go a very long way. O n Tuesday afternoon Tate did the hat trick for Sussex against Surrey at the Oval, his victims being Hayward, Baker, and Holland. I n three of the matches on Monday, cricket was played for about an hour and a quarter. Surrey in that time scored 73 for one wicket against Sussex, Lanca­ shire scored 112 for one wicket, and Kent 79 for one wicket. T h e young Surrey professional, Goat- ley, has played three times for Twicken­ ham Town this season, on each occasion carrying his bat through the innings, and scoring over a hundred. His last hundred was made against Mortlake on Saturday, when he also took five wickets. On Monday in the seven first-class matches which had been arranged, the total number of hours during which cricket could be played was only a little over seven, giving an average of an hour for each match. © o r r c s f p o n i i c n a . The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the opinions o f his correspondents. JOHN BOWYER. To the Editor of C r ic k e t. D ear Sik,—In your paper of August 1st I find that Mr. Ashley-Cooper refers to a statement in my “ Echoes from Old Cricket Fields ” about the late Mr. William Ward’s scores, as retailed by John Bowyer to me. In that book I took down old Bowyer’s words, which I subsequently read over to him in proof, and 1 said “ nothing for him ” which he did not say to me, and I never referred to Mr. Ward’s doings in “ Scores and Biographies ” or any other book. The “ Gentleman of Mitcham ” can, if he pleases, find old John’s coffin in Mitcham churchyard with a cricket bat nailed on the lid. Yours faithfully, London. F eed G a le . August 13. P L A Y I N G TO W IN . To the Editor of C r ic k e t . D ear S ir ,— Judging from the results of Saturday afternoon cricket matches, one would imagine that efforts to win the game on hand were generally put aside to devote the few hours of play to care­ fully piling up an average and “ making a draw of it.” Drawn games in these matches have become quite a disease, and one that every cricketer should put forth his best endeavours to eradicate. As an object-lesson in this connection, I should like to mention three matches which I have had the great pleasure of witnessing quite recently on the Hornsey C.C. ground. On August 3 the Old Cit’ zens made 166 all out, leaving Hornsey one and a half hours to get the runs, which would be fast scoring, yet not only did Hornsey do this, bnt they made 237 runs in the time, S. L. Clarke making 120 and H. W. Edmunds 78. On August 17, Northbrook made 167 for five wickets, leaving Hornsey one hour and five minutes to bat, but they made a great attempt to win, scoring 151 in the time ; G. S. Duval made 28 in ten minutes, and P. W. Oscroft (42) and G. H. Swinstead (55) put on 114 in fifty minutes. Had the ground been a little faster on the day many threes would have reached the boundary and the match would probably have been won at the call of time. Last Saturday, thosa who were fortunate in being present on the Horn­ sey ground witnessed a splendid per­ formance, in fact I doubt whether such a sporting afternoon’s cricket has taken place lately. Upper Clapton was the visiting team, and they declared with nine wickets down for 154, leaving Hornsey just one hour to get the runs (a safe draw for Clapton one would think). However, Hornsey went for the win. P. W. Oscroft and S. L. Clarke did a truly wonderful perform­ ance, actually scoring 160 runs in fifty min tes, thus winning the match with ten minutes to spare entirely off their own bats. They hit with great determination and ran every run possible, and it seems to me that in whole or half-day matches if the fast and aggressive batsmen were always put in early on each side, brighter cricket would result and pro­ bably more games be finished decisively; the slow batsmen could come in and save the game when needful. I only mention Hornsey because I happened to have been present on the ground, but Hampstead, Streatham, and one or two other clubs have also a great reputation for knocking off runs against time, and if batsmen would only take a few more risks on the improved modern wickets, the number of drawn games would be greatly decreased and the cricket would be far more interesting to watch. I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, A L over o f C ricket . A SUGGESTION. To the Editor o f C ricket . S ir , —The extraordinary match at Brighton, for Tate’s benefit, makes one think. A fairly full day’s play to get Yorkshire out, and two men stay there and keep their wickets intact. Now, Sir, I never was a bowler (unless I w as cap tain ), bu t as a w icket­ keeper I could detect in a few overs a b atsm an ’ s w eakness. W e ll, here is a tip for bow lers w hen th ey have tw o batsm en p la y in g the “ old so ld ie r” gam e. B o w l at their rig h t le g — the batsm an cannot p la y back, he m u st p la y fo rw a rd --a n d have a m an placed as in m y diagram for disposition of th e field. T h e len g th of the b a ll should b e slig h tly shorter than a g o o d len gth , b u t, o f course, n o t a lo n g h o p . Y o u rs, etc., C . M . K e n n e d y . Bowler. m Mid-off. Extra Mid-off. Mid-on. Cover Point. Sq.-leg. Point. Sq.-leg. | | | Wicket-keeper. Sip. Third Man. F A M I L Y C R IC K E T . To the Editor of C r ic k e t. D e a r S ir ,— R eferrin g to you r rem arks in la st w eek’s Cricket re the R obinson F a m ily X L w e n o t on ly played C lifton b u t also tw o m atches again st F la k - B ou rton , particulars o f w hich I now enclose.* I t m a y interest you to kn ow th at w e have played o n every A u g u st B an k H o lid a y since 1878, an d th at w e have played in all 76 m atches, w on 43, lost 28, draw n 5. A m o n g st som e w ell-k n o w n cricketers w e have m et from tim e to tim e a re : W . G . G race, E . M . G race, J. J. Ferris, J. C ranston, B . D . B an n on , A . P . W ick h a m , C . A . B ernard, N ich ols, etc., etc. I t w ou ld be interesting to kn ow how m an y m atches th e H em sley fa m ily have p layed . Y o u rs faith fu lly, W r o u g h t o n W . A . R o b in s o n . 99, Stam ford H ill, N . August 22, 1901. * These scores will be found on another page. T h e fo llo w in g are som e o f th e latest hundreds :— AUGUST. 21. C. R. Creaaey, Mr. W . J. Seward’s X I. v. Southgate Adelaide ..................................141* 21. F. Bryan, Mr. W . J. Seward’s X I. v. South­ gate Adelaide .........................................131* 22. C arpenter , E s 9 ex v . D erbyshire .................144 22. R ubsell (E.), E ssex v . D erbyshibe ...........100 22. R obson , S omerset v . H ampshire ................. 102 22. C. B F ry , S ussex v . M iddlesex .................. 149 22. P. H. L atham , S ussex v . M iddlesex ...........172 22. A bel , S urrey v . G loucestershire ...........163 22. H. D. G. L.-G ovver , S urrey v . G loucesteb . 1(0 22. B owley , W orcestershire v . L eickstersh . 134 22. W .W . L owe ,W obce 8TBRSH. v . L eicester S h . 164 23. C apt . G reig , H ampbhibe v . S omersetshire 113 23. E, M. S pbot , H ampshibe v . F omebbetshibe 147 23. L lewellyn , H ampshire v . S omebbetshibe 153 23. R. W . R ice , G loucestershire v . S urrey ... Ill 23. T yldesley , L ancashire v . N otts ...........161 23. C. J. B. W ood , L eicester v . W orcester ... 131 24. P. F. W abner , M iddlesex v . S ussex ...........112 24. R. E. M ore , M iddlesex v . S ussex ...........101* 24. G. L. J essop , G loucestershire v . S urrey 126* 24. C. J. Parton, Streatham v. Richmond...........102* 26. F. M archant , K ent v . M iddlesex ...........100 26. C. A. B ernard , S omerset v . G loucestersh . 101* 26. A. C. M ac L aben , L ancashibe v . L eicebteb . 114 28. C. B. F by , S ussex v . S ubbey .........................106 28. C. M c G ahey , L ondon C y . v . W abwickshibe 115 28. D bvey , W abwickbhibe v . L ondon C ounty 155 * Signifies not out.