Cricket 1901

380 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 29, 1901, TH E Y O E K S H IR E SEASON . From the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. The season which sees Yorkshire once more well at the top in the struggle for the championship, and also in popular appreciation, is also a triumph for two members of the team in Rhodes and Hirst. To these first, and, next, to Mr. Frank Mitchell, (he side has owed more of its success even than figures prove, and leaving the bowlers for the moment one may fittingly congratulate the old Cambridge captain upon a re-appearance on the side since his experiences in South Africa, which has been attended with absolute and splendid success. It is use­ less to attempt to disguise the fact that takf-n as a whole the Yorkshire batting has not always been that of a great side. It is true that in very many instances early failures have been remedied by batsmen at the lower end of the list, but whilst one may warmly compliment those later ones on their success and their pluck, one must also deplore the necessity tor such strenuous efforts on their part. When Mr. Mitchell came back from the war we all hoped he would be able to display the same splendid steadiness at the wicket, coupled withthe robustermethods which had characterised his cricket for Yorkshire during 1899. He has done so in an even more marked degree, and although he is not going to Australia, that is not because he is not good enough. What has been good enough for York­ shire this season is quite a sufficient hall­ mark of excellence, and the Malton amateur knows that, although his excel­ lence is apparently not appreciated in Lan­ cashire, it is acknowledged to the full in his own county. He lias had more to do with the retention of the Championship than is shown even by mere figures, and whilst he on Friday afternoon last carried his aggregate to the highest point yet touched by any Yorkshireman, even his mere aggregate does not give a due idea of the worth of his season’s work. That work has been hard enough. He has had laid upon him too oft n the task of retrieving early failures on his side, has consequently had to curb his desire to play his naturally free and vigorous game, and it stands to his abundant credit that in such circumstances he has been so successful. Had the early bats­ men been as consistent as of old, and had he gone in second wicket down, with the sting of the bowling worn off, as Hayward often does, h s aggregate must have been higher than it is to-day; as it is, he haB proved himself the one man of absolute consistence on the whole side. Always very powerful to the ofl, he has also made \ery many runs on the leg side during the season, and also developed rare strength past point and through the slips, and although he unjustly missed a place in the Players’ match at Lord’s, biB work even up to then amply demonstrated his claims, and not only critics in his own county, but those of the Metropolis, held that an injustice had been done in bis case, as also in that of Mr. Lionel Falairet. The season has seen a bowling triumph such as was impossible to anticipate when we began at Lord’s last May against the M.C.C. And yet the keynote of what was to come was struck in that match in the very first over. Last year, those of us who watched Hirst closely, saw that he at times palpably made the ball swerve in the air; on the morning of May 6th, sending down the first over of the York­ shire season to Mr. W. L. Murdoch, he virtually bowled the old Australian skipper six times, and yet failed to get him out. Every ball the batsman tried to play, yet failed, and afterwards he declared that never in the whole of his career had he faced such an over. What we saw then we have seen repeatedly since. Deadly to tbe point of absolute destructiveness for the first ten overs or so of an innings, and unquestionably helped by the seam on the ball, Hirst gained more and more power over this swerve, and there stand to bis credit very many wonderful achievements during the summer. For weeks he stood alone as the only man in England to accomplish the dual honour of scoring 1,000 runs and taking 100 wickets, for whilst this dis­ tinction fell to him as early as July 6th, Braund, the next player to do so, only made up the honour on August 8th, or nearly five weeks later. A more loyal, unsparing player no captain ever con­ trolled than Hirst. He has sacrificed his batting very largely because so much was rtquired of him with tbe ball, he has fielded with an agility and a brilliance not surpassed in the team, and even though his batting at times has suffered, as stated, he has iound time to play many very fine innings indeed, and to demon­ strate clearly enough his claims to count as the ablest all-round cricketer in the country. Undoubtedly one of the main­ stays of the team with the bat, he knows no fear, and seme of his best innings have been played under the worst conditions. The third of this great triumvirate, and most brilliant of all, is Wilfred Ehodes. Season after season one wonders whether we have come to the end of his improvement; it is difficult to say even now that such is the case. As a rule a slow bowler’s methods lose their efficacy after practised batsmen have faced them two or three years, and yet Ehodes is again the first bowler of the year to take his 200th wicket. It has, moreover, to be remembered that he has had few wickets really to his liking on which to operate. One can only wonder what measure of success would be his if he had a wet season to bowl through, such as once came to Emmett and Peate. It is sufficient to point to Ehodes’ position, clear at the head of the averages, as justi­ fication for the remark that he still has no peer in the country as a bowler. The opinion of his colleagues is that even his length has improved, whilst his mastery over the spin of the ball remains unim­ paired, and even on hard wickets, though success may have been denied him, he has always commanded respect, by the unvarying excellence of his length and his perfect management of the flight of the ball. For a bowler of his pace to secure 200 wickets in such a season as has been passed through is splendid testimony to his cleverness, and he, along with Mr. Mitchell and Hirst, have borne the brunt of the year’ s work, and done their part magnificently. Unhappily many of the best reputed batsmen have kept their best work for matches against the smaller counties, and against those whose bowling is not counted tbe strongest. It is this which has compelled so much extra work to devolve upon others, and the number of times the middle and the tail-end has had to pull the team out of trouble is larger than one cares to see. There have, on the other hand, been instances when the early batsmen have done magnificent service, notably the determination of Brown aud Tunnicliffe at Brighton on the last day, when all was against them, and when called upon to play a game quite foreign to their traditions. But neither of the two named has been at his best during the season, taking it as a whole. Tunnicliffe played very fine cricket against Kent at Sheffield, and again at Canterbury showed the same appreciation of the Kent bowling, whilst Brown was seen to much advantage in the games at Leicester (where he showed great patience and care on a mud patch), at Lord’s, and against Warwickshire, whilst his second innings at Brighton I have already alluded to. Denton has had a curious season, and not a single three-figure score stands to his credit, although he has played many fine innings. Of these mention may be made of his 78 against Middlesex, his brilliant 64 at Bournemouth, and his equally fine 62 against Lancashire at Leeds, when all was going wrong with the side. Still amongst the most brilliant fielders in the whole country, Denton has a safe place in the team for very many years to come, and there is no other batsntan of equal fascination on the side. Mr. Taylor last seaeon stood second on the list with an average of 49 33, this time he is fourth with an average of 30'11. The injury which he sustained during the Somerset match at Leeds undoubtedly spoiled him for a little while, but he has, like every other member of a wonderfully good team, done some very great service to his courrty during the season. He opened well with his 97 at Taunton, played an altogether admirable 50 at Lord’s, when care was greatly needed, so well was Hearne bow ling; hit with great success and power for bis first three- figure innings of the season, at Scar­ borough, against Leicestershire, and played invaluable cricket at Leyton, when we had one of the many early collapses. He and Mr. Mitchell have come together very often when all the attributes of caution and ability combined were demanded, and, by their pluck and determination, have helped their side on to victory. A year ago there was no man on the side had a more disappointing time, as a whole, than Wainwright, though he several times came to the relief of the team in splendid fashion, and made his reputation even more established as one