Cricket 1901

O c t . 31, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 443 A D e t r o it cricketer writes :— A n incident happened in a game of cricket p layed betw een Cleveland, and D etroit, at C leveland, during this m onth, w hich m ay be w orth recording b y the side of the one m en­ tioned in the last issue (to hand) of Cricket. I am referrin g to the item of the pad on the wrong leg. T h e last m an was at the w icket (he had not played for years, and never before on this side). T h e bowler, who was bow ling around the w icket, decided to bow l over the w icket. T h e um pire notifies the batsm an that the bow ler w ill bow l the other side of the w icket. T h e batsm an, who is right hand , turned around to bat left h a n d ; of course, as soon as he began to handle the bat he noticed his m istake. G ood judges in India speak highly of the capabilities of the Hindoo, Baloo. He is a left-handed medium pace bowler very much after the model of Rhodes. He can vary his pace extremely well, and can bowl, so my informant says, “ for days ” without being tired. My corre­ spondent, who knows cricket thoroughly, claims for him that he is the best bowler in India. He is a soldier in the Bombay Infantry. T he communication sent by A. C. MacLaren, just as he was starting for Australia, to the hon. secretary of the Lancashire C.C., resigning the captaincy of the Lancashire Eleven, as well as the position of assistant secretary to the County C.C. which he had occupied for two years, naturally excited some feeling in Lancashire cricket. It will be best, perhaps, to give Mr. MacLaren’s letter, as it was sent to the newspapers, for publication:— Eastnop H ouse, Basingstoke, Septem ber 24th, 1901. D e a r M r . S w ir e , — I t is w ith the greatest reluctance th at a com bination of circum ­ stances causes m e to resign not o n ly the assistant secretaryship of the club, but also m y connection w ith Lancashire cricket. M y w ife ’s health is such th at it is no longer possible for me to leave her for an y len gth of tim e. She is very delicate, and her doctor has advised m e not to leave her. H er only sister lives at W okin g, and m y w ife is most anxious to be near her. She is only j ust able to get about after a lon g illness, w hich I hear w ill leave its m ark. F o r these p rivate- reasons, and no other, do I feel bound to relinquish m y connection w ith Lancashire cricket. L ast season the w orry and anxiety o f illness at home quite prevented m e at tim es from concentrating m y whole thoughts on the gam e. T h e kindness received at your hands, and others of the comm ittee, w ill alw ays be treasured b y me, no captain ever g ettin g better treatm ent than I did. H appi­ ness of home comes before m y county, and as it is m y w ife’s w ish for m e to be near her I h ave decided to take this step, and am n o tify­ in g the H am pshire comm ittee to the effect th at I w ill p lay for them n ext season. Y ou rs sincerely, A r c h ie M a c L a r e n . T h e annual general meeting of the Hornsey C.C. has been fixed for Novem­ ber 19 at the Broadway Hall at 8.30 p.m. Last season Hornsey had a programme of fifty-three matches. Of these six were not played, and of the balance eight were won, twenty-three drawn, and sixteen lost. In all the club scored 7,233 runs for 338 wickets (average 21*4), its opponents 8,900 for 358 wickets (average 24*86), while Hornsey declared their innings closed four limes, their opponents put the closure in force eighteen times; of the batsmen who played over eight innings, W. Talbot had the best average, scoring 424 runs in nine completed innings, which gave an average of 47*11; of the bowlers who took ten wickets or more, W. O. Nimmo’s average was the best. He bowled sixty- seven overs for 207 runs and fifteen wickets, an average of 13*8 a-piece. THE MELBOURNE C.C. T h e following extracts from the annual report of the Melbourne Club passed at tbe general meetiug of the club last month, will be read with interest:— C r ic k e t . — T h e Senior E leven played seven pennant m atches, losing one only, that against E ast M elbourne ; but this loss sufficed to put them out of the prem iership. T h e y scored 485 in the first innings, and 100 for three w ickets against South M elbourne, as against 86 and 50 for two w ickets by their opponents ; against St. K ild a, 399 and 89 fo r one w icket, as against 233 and 82 for one w icket by St. K ild a ; 314 against E ast M elbourne, who m ade 320 for seven w ickets (the m atch lo s t); 85 and 144 for three w ickets against F itzroy, who made 65 and 162 ; 267 against N orth M elbourne, and 36 for no w ickets, N orth M elbourne obtaining 202 and 100 in their tw o in n in gs; 570 for eigh t w ickets against H aw ksburn (last y ea r’s prem iers), who responded w ith 160 ; and lastly, 129 and 92 fo r three w ickets against Carlton, who made 125 and 105 for eigh t w ickets. A ltogether, 34 m atches were played b y the Senior team, 21 of w hich were won, 10 drawn, and 3 lost. T h e distinction of being placed on the M erit Board was won b y Air. H . G raham , who obtained an average of 48 runs per inn­ ings for seven innings played. M r. G raham has thus secured a sim ilar position on the M erit Board for three "years in succession. M r. H . Trum ble had an average of 81*13 per innings for four innings played. T h e best individual scores w ere made by M r. W . Bruce, 158, and M r. A . C . J. Russell, 116 not out, against South M elbourne (pennant) ; M r. W . Arm strong, 109, and M r. D . Suther­ land, 81 against St. K ild a (pennant) ; M r. H . Trum ble, 114, against E ast M elbourne (pen­ n a n t); M r. H . G raham , 111, and M r. L . R ainey, 91, against the Associated P layers ; M r. H . Trum ble, 210, and M r. E . R. Jacobs, 108, against H aw ksburn (pennant). Other fine scores were made b y M r. W . A rm strong, 155 not out against D en iliq uin and D istrict; and b y M r. C. B aker, 109, against the W oolbuyers, and 102 against the V ictorian R ailw ays. M r. H . G raham also scored 101 out of 205 against the Chem ists. F or bowling, M r. W . Bruce secured a position on the M erit Board b y gettin g nine w ickets for an average of 13 runs per w icket. M r. H. Trum ble obtained eighteen w ickets for 13’83 runs per w icket, C ave (pro.), tw enty-four w ickets for 17'04 per w icket, and M r. W . A rm strong, seventeen w ickets for 17'64 per w icket. T h e best perform ance was b y Cave, six for 30, against South M elbourne (pennant). C o u n t r y M a t c h e s .— M atches w ith several country teams w ere played during the season, both at home and abroad. D u rin g the E aster holidays the Senior E leven visited E ch u ca and D eniliquin, w in ­ n in g in both instances against local fifteens. Junior team s also visited W arinam bool, Frankston, K yabram , Slaw ell, Y e a , and B allarat, w in ning four and losing tw o of these gam es. S e c o n d E l e v e n . — T h e Senior Second were an unbeaten team in the pennant com petition, and w on an extra m atch against E ast M el­ bourne, the record bein g 8 matches played and 8 won. A m on gst the m ost successful mat< hes p layed b y the Juniors w ere those against W arrnam bool (six w ickets for 341), and seven for 341 against U n iversity H igh School, and 314 against the B alaclava Social Rovers. T h e high est innings of the season b y the Senior X I . was 570 for eigh t w ickets against H aw ksburn last yea r’ s prem iers. T h e best individual score w a sH . Trum ble’s 210 in that m atch. E n g l is h E l e v e n .— T h e M arylebone C .C . h avin g w ritten to say that th ey were unable to send a team this com ing season, the Com­ m ittee at once cabled to M r. A . C . M acLaren, the well-know n Lancashire captain, and who also captained the A ll-E n glan d E leven in four of the test m atches played against the last A ustralian E leven in E ngland, to ask him to select and bring out a team . M r. M acLaren undertook the v e ry onerous position, and has succeeded in g ettin g a very pow erful side, w hich, w ith the exception of him self and H ayw ard , are composed of new men on A u s­ tralian wickets. T h e team is certain ly very strong in batting, as w ill be seen from their perform ances. T h e figures stamp the side as being a first- class battin g team, w hile L ille y as the w icket­ keeper cannot be surpassed. M r. Robson, captain of H am pshire, is the second w icket­ keeper o f the team , and is also a sound bat. E n glish bow ling seems this year not to be up to the usual standard, but M r. M cLaren’a team includes tw o of the best bow lers, who are alm ost am ongst the very finest of batsm en— n am ely, J. G unn and L . C . Braund— w hile C. B lyth e is the o n ly first-class bow ler of the team who is not also a batsm an. T h ere are also four change bowlers, who have done w ell on E n glish w ickets. Seven of the num ber selected p layed for E n glan d against the A ustralians in the Test M atches in 1899, and the rem ainder are all leading county m en, and, w ith one exception, w ere all selected b y th eir counties against the Australians. T h e exception is M r. H . G . G arnett, a you n g left-handed batsm en, who has come rapidly to the fron t, and now plays for Lancashire. L . C . Braund, who was q u a lifyin g for Som ersetshire from S u rrey when the A u stra­ lians were in E n glan d , had the second best E n glish battin g average against the A u stra­ lians, p layin g in five innings for an average of 54 runs per innings. M r. J . M cL augh lin , one of the vice-presi­ dents, is now in E nglan d, and in personal comm unication w ith M r. M acLaren, so members m ay be assured th at the best team available w ill represent England. TH E CLA88IC3 OP CRICKET: The Young 1 Cricketer’s Tutor. By John Nyren. l6mo, ;80 pages, and Frontispiece representing Lord's Cricket Ground in 1833 Price, 1/-; post free, 1/2 .—Cricket Offices, 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C.