Cricket 1901

4 2 6 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, S e p t . 19, 1901, ■the northern climate, is the reason for his reluctantly giving up an excellent engagement. Me. J. M c L o u g b lin , one of the vice- presidents of the Melbourne Cricket Club, who has been in England for the last few weeks on a pleasure trip, saw the last ball bowled in the present season at the Oval yesterday. A member of the committee of the Melbourne Club for the last twenty years, what he does not know about Australian cricket must be hardly worth knowing. He is remaining in England, I believe, till the end of the year. As far as one can hear, the English amateur team which is going to the West Indies will, in all probability, leave England about the middle of January. Several of our best amateur cricketers have already promised, and there is no doubt that a strongish side will be got together. It is expected that they will be absent from England some three months. C a p i . D ouglas , who bears the repu­ tation of being the best bat at the present time in the Bombay Presidency, will be familiar to a large number of Cricket readers as A. P. Douglas, who represented Dulwich College in the early eighties, and subsequently played on a few occasions, before his military duties took him out of England, for Surrey. A. P. is the elder brother of R. N. and J. Douglas, who graduated in Surrey cricket, though both are now found in the Middlesex eleven. A. P., as will be «een from the score which appears in another part of the paper, was the prin­ cipal scorer for Bombay Presidency in its recent match against the Parsis. T he interesting history of Parsi cricket written by a frequent and valued contri­ butor to Cricket, M. E. Pavri, shows how much the Parsis have been indebted to the batting of B. D. Gagrat, who was rightly known for many years as the Parsi champion. His record shows no less than eight hundreds for the Parsis in all matches :— *108, v. Poona Gymkhana, 1889. 144, v. Nagar Gymkhana, 1893. 105, John Bright’s C.C. v Prince of Wales’ C.C. *100, Parsi C,C. v. Poona Gymkhana, 1887. 123, John Bright’s C.C. v. Lord Bentinck’s C.C. 114, John Bright’s C.C. v. Hindoos. *103, Ralli Bros. v. City of Bombay. 113, Bombay C.C. v. Poona Gymkhana, 1900. * Signifies not out. T he development of Parsi cricket will come as a surprise to the majority of Cricket readers who have little knowledge of the hold the game has taken on the native races of India. The following list of the principal Parsi cricket clubs in Bombay, given by M. E. Pavri in his book, will show how heartily ciicket is now supported by the Parsis:— PROMINENT PARSI CRICKET CLUBS IN BOMBAY. The Ashty Eden, started in 1888; The Baronet, start*d in 1682; The Bolton, started in 1884; The City of Bombay, started in 1887 ; The Elphinstone, started in 1872 ; The Friendly Union, started in 1884 ; The Gladstone, started in 1888; The Imperial, started in 1885; The Independent, started in 1889; The John Bright, started in 1884; The Juvenile, started in 1880; The Ilbert, started in 1836; The Liberal, started in 1890; The Mars, started in 1860 ; The Noble, started in 1891; The Oriental, started in 1848; The Parsi, started in 1876; The Parsi Gym­ khana, started in 1885 ; The Persian, started in 1870 ; The Prince of Wales, started in 18S8; The Reay, started in 1889; The Bipon, started in 1886; The Bising Star, started in 1889; The Spartan, started in 1865; The Victoria, started in 1884; The Young Zoroastrian, started in 1869; The Zoroastrian, started in 1850. BOMBAY COLLEGE CRICKET CLUBS. The Elphinstone College The St. Xavier’s College The Grant Medical College The Wilson College Besides these there are fifty minor cricket clubs in Bombay. Besides these there are the Bombay school clubs (seven in all) and fifteen clubs outside Bombay as follows :— THE BOMBAY SCHOOL CRICKET CLUBS. The Elphinstone School The Proprietary High Shi. The Esplanade School The St. Mary’s tr'chool The Fort High School The St. Xavier’s School The New High School THE PABSI CRICKET CLUBS OUTSIDE BOMBAY. The Ahmedabad High School. The Ahmednagar Independant. The Baroda High School. The Broach High School. Thp Indore High School. The Karachi Parsi Gym. The Karachi Rising Star. The Karachi Independant. The Mhow High School. The Naosari High School. The Naosari Independant. The Poona Parsi Gymkhana. The Poona Zoroastrian. The Surat High School. The Surat United, O w in g to the fact that three of the captains of the first-class counties are leaving for Australia on the 27th inst., it has been decided to hold the captains’ meeting, usually held in December,. to appoint umpires, &c., at Lord’s on Tuesday next at 3 p.m. In addition to the appointment of umpires for 1902, the captains will, it is stated, consider the recent decision of the Marylebone Club on Law 48, which I need hardly add, relates to the vexed subject of l.b.w. T he Maharajah of Jodpur, who is over on a visit to this country, was an interested spectator of the latter part of Surrey’s innings on Monday on the occasion of Lockwood’s benefit, as well as of the finish yesterday. He was present with Capt. W. Bannerman, his political officer, and three members of his suite. The heavy rain of Tuesday deprived him, as it did thousands of others, of the enjoyment of seeing Yorkshire bat on that day. T h e steamer “ Haverford,” which carried Mr. Bosanquet and the rest of the English cricketers who are accompanying him on the tour to the States and Canada, arrived safely at New York about five o’clock on Sunday afternoon. The opening match against a team of Colts at Wissa- hickon, fixed for Monday last, was post­ poned in consequence of the national mourning over the death of the President. “ C r i c k e t ” readers interested in rising talent may feel inclined to visit the Oval to-morrow, when the Mitcham and Sutton Schools play the Rest of the Metropolitan District and Separate Schools’ Association. Play will begin at one p.m. At the close of the match the Westminster Shield will be presented to the Holbom Schools, Mitcham, the champion team of the year. I t is now stated that Mr. W. M. Bradley has not been asked to go to Australia with Mr. MacLaren, and that the four­ teenth place has been filled by S. Barnes, the professional of the Burnley C.C., Lancashire. Barnes is said to have done great things for his club as a fastish bowler. According to the Sportsman, report speaks very highly of him, and the English captain entertains a big opinion of him. He was not, on the occasion of his recent successful appear­ ance for Lancashire, absolutely new to this class of match, as when engaged at Smethwick he assisted Warwickshire twice in 1895, v. Surrey at the Oval and Derbyshire at Edgbaston, and in 1896 v. Essex at Leyton. He was subsequently asked to play several times, but he strongly objected, it is said, to his treatment by the management and the attitude of his brother-professionals, and declined, and turned his attention to League cricket on behalf of Rishton, and later Burnley, who have now entered into an arrangement with the Lancashire County C.C., by which he will be avail­ able for the county, which he twice assisted in 1899. A n effort to combine the games of cricket and lawn tennis has recently been made. The new game is called tennis-cricket, and is thus described in the Queen :— T h is gam e can be played b y a n y num ber of players from six to tw en ty-tw o, alth ou gh for thorough en joym en t eleven on each side, as in cricket is necessary. Instead of w ickets tw o nets are placed on the course 22ft. apart, the len gth of a cricket pitch. Th ese are kept tau t and in place b y poles and ropes lik e a tennis net. T h e players take th eir places exactly as in a cricket m atch, bu t in this gam e each is provided w ith a tennis racquet, thus the bow ler serves the b a ll instead of bow lin g it, th e batsm an’s object bein g to defend his net, and to send the b a ll w ith such force as to gain runs. T h e fielders m ay catch the ball w ith the hand, but m ust return it to the bow ler or w icket keeper w ith th e racquet. I f one of the fielders is able to h it th e b all sent b y the batsm an before it touches th e ground, th is counts as a catch and the p layer is out. T h e scoring is kept exactly as in cricket. Doubtless the gam e w ill find favou r am ong the fair sex as tennis balls are used, not hard cricket balls, w h ich have a n asty kn ack of h ittin g and dam aging dainty finger tips if not caught properly, and serving th e b a ll instead of bow ling w ill do aw ay w ith th e difficulty ladies have in bow ling. A picture accompanies the above descrip­ tion, and we should judge that the net is about fivefeethigh. Query:—If a player like W. G. Quaife were hit on the nose when batting, would he be leg-before- wicket ? T h e more one reflects upon the experi­ mental nature of Mr. MacLaren’s team the more one becomes interested. Hay­ ward and the captain himself are the only two men who have previously gone to Aus­ tralia with a team, and of these Hayward alone is almost certain to do himself jus­ tice, for although Mr. MacLaren can still play a great game on occasions, it must be admitted that his reputation is not what it was when he returned from Aus-