Cricket 1901

410 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. Sept. 12, 1901. S y d n e y crick e t A u th o r itie s . T h e A s s o c ia ­ tio n ’s a ttitu d e in th is m a tte r is on e th a t, in th e in te re sts of N e w S o u th W a le s crick et, o u g h t to h a v e been ta k e n y e a rs a g o . C lose u p o n £10,000 w a s ta k e n a t th e S y d n e y m a tc h e s o f th e la s t E n g lis h te a m , y e t th e N e w S o u th W a le s A ss o c ia tio n , n o t o n ly d id n o t re c e iv e a p e n n y o f th e m o n ey, h u t a b s o lu te ly lo s t h e a v ily o w in g to th e in te r­ co lo n ia l m a tch es fa ilin g to a ttr a c t a n y ­ th in g ap p ro a ch in g th e u su a l a tte n d a n ce s th a t y e a r. T o th e fa c t th a t a ll th e le a d in g clu b s b e in g in te re s te d in th e fin a n cia l su ccess o f th e A ss o c ia tio n is la rg e ly due th e a w a k e n in g , ta r d ily as it h a s com e. A n irreverent correspondent writes: “ I see that the big matches in Australia are again to be played to a finish, so I don’t wonder that Maclaren won’t go up country. He’d never get there.” I n the Sussex E vening Times, Mr. Alfred Taylor makes the following com­ ments on the effects on Sussex cricket of winning or losing the toss this season :— I n the tw en ty-seven m atches fough t this season, Sussex had choice of innings on tw elve occasions, and in the dozen instances in w hich our captain won the spin of the coin, he alw ays decided to bat first. T h e result w as that no few er than seven of the engagem ents w ere w on, four resulted in unfinished gam es, and one (that w ith Y orksh ire at Bradford) lost. T h e spin of the coin was lost in the rem aining fifteen fixtures, the results bein g tw o victories, four defeats, and nine draw n gam es. L a n ­ cashire was the on ly side to send Sussex in a fter p rovin g successful in the spin of the coin, and lon g before the d ay had closed M r. H acL aren had come to regret h is decision. F oe Bombay Gymkhana against the . 21st Bombay Infantry, Mr. C. M. Ward took seven wickets for 6 runs, three of them with successive balls. T he following may be a chestnut, but it is new to me : “ Colonel B., the moving spirit of a well-known excellent border club, was not only a keen cricketer but an enthusiast of enthusiasts at the game. At one period in the history of the D ------ club he had j ust engaged a player named P. to fulfil the double function of ground-man and umpire. P.’s first appearance in the character of what Robert Thoms calls a humpty dumpty was not altogether a success. D .’s opponents numbered one D.—a well- known cricketer of the West of Scotland team—a bowler with a leg-break. The Colonel, as usual, opened the batting for his side, and the first ball of the leg- breaker curled into his wicket. Retiring a little chagrined after looking inquir­ ingly at the pitch, the Colonel, approach­ ing the umpire, said, ‘ P., how was it that ball took my w icket?’ ‘ Well, Colonel,’ was the prompt reply, ‘ you see it was like this. Mr. D., he breaks from leg, and the ball pitched in a hole on its way to the stumps. And this, combined withthe rotundity o f the earth's surface . . .’ The sentence was never finished. Audibly consigning P. to Hades or a kindred place of a more up-to-date stamp, the Colonel growlingly retired a sadder if not a wiser man.” So iCBEy cricketers have been famous on the running path, and so many others go m for training, that we make no apology for calling their attention to a little book by Mr. Harold Graham, the Cambridge Blue, entitled “ Athletics of to-day.” It is published at one shilling, by Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co., and contains com­ mon sense hints which any cricketer might read with advantage. Of course the names of C. B. Pry, H. C. L. Tindall, and other well-known cricketers, are to be found in it. We have only one fault to find with the book, viz., that if a cricketer were to run towards the boundary after the ball at the leisurely pace shewn by the two figures on the cover, the crowd would become remark­ ably facetious. A CURIOUS thing happened at Banga­ lore in the match, on August 14 and 15, between Civil and Military. The Military batted first and scored 93. The Civil did next to nothing until the ninth and tenth men got together and increased the score by about 80. The eleventh man was a substitute, and being a harmless native ground bowler was allowed to bat, with the result that he knocked up 50 in a few minutes. The result was a total of 235— a lead of 142. As things turned out the Military made 273 for 4 wickets in their next innings and declared, but could only leave a short time for the Civil to bat, and the match was drawn. A souvenir of the North Western Cricket Association Tournament (Chicago) has been sent to me by Mr. D. C. Davies, the honorary secretary. It is neatly got up and well illustrated with photographs of the various teams playing. The Tour­ nament lasted for a week, during which there was a dance and a club smoker. The result of the year’s Tournament was as follows:— W anderers beat St. Louis b y 12 runs. M anitoba beat M innesota b y 73 runs. W anderers beat M innesota b y 85 runs. M anitoba beat St. Louis b y 84 runs. M innesota beat St. Louis b y 37 runs. F in a l g a m e . W anderers beat M anitoba by 56 runs, thus w in n in g championship for 1901. T he above association was organised in 1896, with the object of fostering and encouraging the game of cricket, more especially in the territory covered by the affiliated clubs (Manitoba, Minnesota, Omaha, Denver, St. Louis, andWanderers, Chicago), and also to meet once annually at the different centres to play a series of matches. These reunions bring together the cricketers, who are all amateurs, from widely separated localities. The winners of the toumment are as follows :— 1896.— Chicago, at Chicago. 1897.— M anitoba, at S t. Paul. 1898.— Om aha. M anitoba and Chicago tied at Omaha. 1899.— M anitoba, at W in n ip eg. 1900.— M anitoba. M innesota and Chicago tied at Chicago. 1901.— W anderers (Chicago), at Chicago. T he Old Citizens had a curious ex­ perience during their match with the Hon. Artillery Company last Saturday. The Artillery Ground is within 30 or 40 yards of the two large timber yards in Bunhill Row which, while the game was in progress, were destroyed by one of the fiercest fires of recent years. The heat from the closely packed burning timber was tremendous and oppressively felt by the pity era, while the flames, rising a score of feet and more above the warehouses surrounding the ground, cast a curiously ruddy yellow light over the pitch. The unusual distraction, however, did not prevent the “ Old Citizens ” from putting on 206 for the one wicket that fell. P. W. Hale took his third century of the season for the Old Boys, and E . Booker, the St. Jobn’s Cambridge Fresh­ man, followed with 65. In the Athletic News this week, Mr. Fry says : “ When a batsman is criticised for the slowness of his play in compiling an innings of about 40 runs one must not necessarily condemn him as a slow player, since potentially he may be quite a fast scorer. That is to say, had he stayed in his rate of scoring per hour would at the end of a century or so be considerably increased.” This seems a little rough on the slow player, but possibly by the word “ century ” Mr. Fry means a hundred runs instead of a hun­ dred years. I t is stated that Mr. MacLaren’s team will, after all, consist of fourteen, and that it will be completed by the inclusion of Mr. Bradley. T he following interesting reminiscence of Hirst appears in the Sydney Referee from the pen of Worrall, who was one of the members of two Australiam teams:— T h e secon d tim e w e stru ck h im in E n g ­ la n d w a s a t B ra d fo rd , w h e re w e h ad a g re a t gam e a g a in s t th e co u n ty o f b road a cres an d b ro gu e. W e b a tte d first on a go od w ick e t, w ith ju s t a sh ad e o f fire in it. H is b o w lin g p ro v id ed a sen satio n to m ost o f us. H e h ad w o n d erfu l p ace, an d th e b a ll flew o ff th e p itch lik e lig h tn in g , besid es sw e rv in g g re a tly . H e g o t e ig h t w ick e ts fo r 48 runs, clean b o w lin g H ill, G re g o ry, N o b le, an d M cL e o d . In th e seco n d in n in gs h e w a s p u n ish ed so m ew h at fre e ly , b u t to o k fiv e fo r 101. F o r th e secon d tim e h e clean - sk ittle d th e w ick e t o f H ill, w h o m ad e o n ly 6 an d 2. 1‘ M y w o rd , G e o rg e ,” said C lem ., to h im , “ I m u st h a v e re v e n g e o u t o f y o u fo r th is b efo re th e trip is o v e r.” “ N o fe a r.’, said H irst, in h is Y o rk s h ire d ia lect, “ I ’v e g o t to g e t y o u lo ts o f tim e s y e t to m ak e up fo r A u s tr a lia .” I n all probability the programme of the team which is going to the West Indies will include four matches against the full strength of the West Indies, to take place- at Jamaica, Trinidad, Dem- erara and Barbados. P rince A lbert Y ictor of Schleswig- Holstein, a younger brother of the late Prince Christian Victor, has received his commission as Captain of the Hussars of the Kaiser’s bodyguard. The Prince was in the Charterhouse eleven, and is still a very keen cricketer. He is very often at Lord’s or the Qval.