Cricket 1901

404 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 12, 1901. TH E HAST INGS FE S T IV A L . Y O R K S H I R E v. A N EM G L A N D E L E V E N P layed at H astings on Septem ber 5, 6 and 7. D raw n . A s tbe w eather on the first d ay of this m atch w as very favourable the prospect of seeing the fam ous Y o rksh ire team attracted a large num ber of visitors, who saw some excellen t p lay. E x cep t th at M r. M itchell (who had le ft E n glan d for Am erica w ith M r. B osanquet’ s team) was absent, Y o rksh ire was at fu ll strength, w h ile the E n glan d team was quite strong. A t the last m om ent M r. F ry found th at h e w as unable to p lay and his place w as taken b y A b el. O n the first day th e Y orkshirem en showed to great advantage, fo r although th ey did n o t m ake a h u ge score several members of th e team w ere in fine form , w h ile w hen the E n glan d X I . w en t in fo r h alf an hour’s b attin g, H irst and Rhodes disposed of tw o of them for ten runs. A t one tim e it looked as if the Y o rksh ire score w ould be but sm all, for fou r w ickets w ere down fo r 48 w hen H irst join ed M r. T a ylo r. T h e tw o m en increased the score to 74, and then W a in w rig h t and H irst put on 72 runs in partnership. A fterw ard s Rhodes played very w ell for 36. W h en the E n glan d team w ent in A b el, w ho on ly w anted 9 runs to equal R a n jitsin h ji’s record fo r a ^season of 3,159, and M r. Jones w ere both out w ith th e total at 8, A b el still bein g 5 runs behind the record. T w o m ore w ickets fe ll soon on F rid a y and fou r w ickets w ere down for 42, w hich was even w orse than the score m ade b y the Y orksh irem an for the same num ber o f w ickets. B u t H ayw ard and R an jitsin h ji th en came together and quite altered the appearance of th e gam e. R an jitsin h ji, when once he had become settled, p layed in his v e ry best form , and showed a com plete m astery over the bow lin g. H e very soon caught up H ayw ard , and w hen lunch w as taken the total was 146, R a n jitsin h ji h avin g scored 67 not out. H a y ­ w ard le ft at 156 fo r an excellent innings of 56. T h e partnership had produced 116 in an h ou r and a h alf. M r. Jessop cam e in , but p layed a m uch quieter gam e th an usual at first, leavin g R a n jitsin h ji to do m ost of the scoring. Presen tly he let him self go and w hen th e partnership w as ended b y his dis­ m issal he had made 51 out of 89 in three quarters of an hour. R an jitsin h ji w as not lo n g in follow in g h im ; he had played a beautiful gam e for tw o hours and tw en ty-five m inutes. T h e innings w as b y no means over, fo r D r. G race and V in e played w ell. In the end th e E n glan d X I . had a lead o f 92, six of w h ich w ere knocked off b y Y orksh ire before stum ps w ere drawn. O n Saturday M r. T aylo r and H irst played splendid cricket, after four •wickets had fallen for 78, and before th ey w ere parted there w as practically no chance th at Y orksh ire could lose ; th ey p u t on 157 w h ile together. M r. T a y lo r was at the w ickets fo r tw o hours and three quarters for his very fine innings of 135. T h anks to th is fine stand L o rd H aw ke was able to declare w hen eigh t w ickets w ere down, although there was hardly an y probability th at the E n glan d team could be disposed of in the short tim e w hich rem ained fo r cricket. B u t there w as tim e for A b el to beat R a n jitsin h ji’s record, and he did so w ith com pleteness, w hile T yld esley and D r. G race both batted v e ry w ell indeed. Y ob k sh ib e, First innings. Brown, sen., c Vine, b Field 33 Tunnicliffe, c Hayward, b Field ...............................10 Denton, run out ................. 0 T. L. Taylor, c Vine, b Field 17 E. Smith, b Mason .......... 5 Hirst, lbw, b Mason ......... 54 Wainwright, b Mason .. 31 Bhodes, c Lilley, b Mason 38 Lord .Hawke, b Mason ... 10 Whitehead, c Vine, b Field 8 Hunter, not out ................. 2 Extras ........................ 8 Second innings, c Lilley, b Mason 16 b Field.................22 c Jessop, b Mason 16 notout... c Hayward, Field........ b Mason b Mason not out.......... ...135 b ... 8 ... 72 ... 1 ... 17 B 10, lb 8........... 18 Total ........................214 Total (6 wkts)*303 * Innings declared closed. A n E n g la n d XI. Abel, b Hirst .......... 5 G. L. Jessop, c Hirst, A. O. Jones, c Tunni- b Rhodes................51 cliffe, b Rhodes ... 2 W.G.Grace.stHunter, Hayward, c Taylor, b b Rhodes................ 24 Brown .................56 Lilley, b H irst............ 4 Tyldesley, b Hirst ... 13 Vine, not out ..........25 J.R. Mason, c Hunter, Field, b Brown........... 0 b Rhodes................. 1 B 3, lb 7 ..........10 K. 8. Ranjitsinhji, c — W a in w r ig h t, b T otal...................206 Rhodes .................115 Second innings: Abel, not out, 69; Tyldesley, c Smith, b Whitehead, 46; W. G. Grace, lbw, b Den­ ton, 2C ; B 4, lb 2. —Total (2 wkts), 141. Y obksh ibe . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Vine ......... . 11 2 35 0 ... ... 12 5 30 0 Field ......... 301 11 75 4 ... ... 16 4 67 2 M ason........ 25 8 64 5 ... ... 31 8 94 4 Ranjitsinhji.. . 1 0 3 0 ... ... 14 2 69 0 Grace ........ 4 0 29 0 ... Jones ... !!! 3 0 25 0 Field delivered six no-balls. A n E n g la n d XI. First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W . O. M. R. W. Hirst .......... 34 7 73 3 .......... Rhodes.......... 42 15 92 5 ........ Brown .......... 23 4 67 2 ......... 5 2 15 0 Smith .......... 14 1 64 0 .......... 8 0 30 0 Tunnicliffe ... 5 1 13 0 D enton........ 7 1 31 1 Whitehead ... 75 2 33 1 Hunter........ 2 0 13 0 H AM LET ON A QUEER W ICKE T . T o h it, or not to h it, th at is the question :— W h eth er ’tis better on this pitch to shrink from T h e risks and chances of J — ss— pian slo gg­ in g, O r take one’ s stand against all kinds of trundling, A n d , b y opposing, tire it? T o p lay ,— to h it,— N o m ore ;— and, b y a h it, to say w e check T h e yorkers, an d the countless aw kw ard breaks T h is p itch gives rise to— ’tis a consummation D evo u tly to be sought. T o p la y ;— to h it ;— T o h i t ! perchance to score ; a y , th ere’s the r u b ; F or in those hits to le g w hat fours m ay come, W hen w e have steer’d them round the oppos­ in g field, M ust give us g lo ry ; there is the respect T h at m akes calam ity of too slow b a ttin g ; F o r w ho would bear the style th at p lays out tim e, T h e critics’ w rong, th e crow d’ s contum ely, T h e pangs of despis’ d pokes, tea- tim e’s delay, T h e blockin g of fu ll pitches, and the jeers T h a t barndoor cricket from spectators gets, W h en he him self m igh t settle his ow n fate W ith a few off-drives ? F . C . M . R ichakds. TH E RAM B LER S C.C. (BLOEM ­ FONTEIN ). It will be seen from the analyses which follow of last season’s cricket that the game in Bloemfontein did not lose much through the war; and if some of the younger players improve, as they are sure to do, Bloemfontein will give a good deal of trouble in future Currie Cup tournaments. Of course the Ramblers have had the assistance of the Garrison, and after the settlement will still receive valuable help from military cricketers stationed here. The Garrison X I. should always prove a good team, and with one or two additional teams here more interest would be shown in the game. With such sound batsmen as Captain Sheppard, Major Legge, and several other players from the ranks of the military, next season’s Garrison team will require some beating. Bloemfontein lacks first-class bowlers, but is strong in batsmen. G. A. Hill, who heads the list in the battiDg, has not played in many matches, but has had no less than six not outs. Hill is a sound bat and a smart field, but did no bowling during the past season. K. B. Barlow is one of the most correct bats­ men the Ramblers have, and has shown remarkable form during the season. His average of 60 for thirty innings is really good ; he also made the highest score for the old Ramblers—190. H. Barlow is the youngest player in the Ramblers’ Club. He heads the list in the number of runs made (1,406), and his average of 50 is good, considering he played no less than thirty-six innings. He made a hundred on more than one occasion. McDonald, Bloemfontein’s crack bowler, has proved himself a much better bats­ man than bowler, and his average of 34 for 18 innings is good—for the bowler. He fields well, and if he were only to use a little judgment in his bowling would do much better. Capt. Sheppard’s aver­ age of 89 was made by first-class cricket. He also made in one afternoon’s play 265 runs. This score is the highest individual score ever made on the Ramblers’ ground. Capt. Sheppard is an awkward batsman to bowl to, owing to the remarkable way in which he awaits the delivery of the ball. For straight driving he is the best seen on the Ramblers’ ground, and can do a bit of lifting too. As a fieldsman (especially in the deep field) he will take a good deal of beating, and if a ball is hit within his reach the batsman can safely retire without waiting to see if he is caught or not. He did a good bit of bowling, but his analysis is not given. Nothing need be said about the one and only A. B. Tancred, as he is known well enough throughout South Africa. He made over 1,000 runs, and his average of 51 might easily have been better. He took 19 wickets at 17 runs apiece. Major Legge comes third for the all-comers. As a steady batsman he will be hard to beat, and his total number of runs (575) could easily have been better if he had only hit out a little more. An average of 28 for 20 complete innings is good. In fielding he has shown what can be done,