Cricket 1901

D e c . 1 9 , 1 9 0 1 . CRICKET ; A. WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 4 7 3 to have brought Ranjitsinhji, Fry, and Foster with me,” and that Rhodes and Hirst had been prevented from making the visit by the Yorkshire Committee, is distinctly an original way of putting things. A m e m o r ia l with a suitable inscription has been placed over the grave of Richard Daft at Radcliffe-on-Trent. Mr. Shelton, of Nottingham, has been kind enough to forward me a copy of the inscription, which runs as follows :— Ifttdjarti 2 Daft. Born JNov.12,1836, Died July 18,1900. For Dearly 20 years Member of the All -E d gland X I. and Captain of the Notts County XI. This memorial ■wasplaced hereby personal friends as a tribute of deep regard and in admiration of his career as a Cricketer. The cross is not fixed upright and not exactly flat, the upper portion being raised some inches from the ground. A. Smtjts, a well-known Transvaal cricketer, who is now a prisoner in Ceylon, did a remarkable bowling per­ formance in a recent match in the island. For the Boer first eleven again st the next Eighteen he took thirteen wickets in the first innings for 11 runs and seven in the second for 9 runs, bowling sixteen of his victims. O n the eve of his departure for Johan­ nesburg on private business Mr. Frank Mitchell was presented with a gold watch by the members of this year’s Yorkshire teem, together with a gold chain by the Yorkshire committee. Mr. Mitchell left Southampton on the follow­ ing day, December 1st, by the Union Castle liner “ Carisbrooke Castle.” A SPEECH made by the chairman, Mr. J. C. Moberley, at the annual meeting of the Hampshire County C.C., has, naturally enough, given rise to much discussion. After stating that it had been found impossible to get good pro­ fessionals to qualify for the county, Mr. Moberley announced that Mr. A. C. MacLaren had^been appointed assistant treasurer at a salary. He added that Mr. MacLaren hadnot been ‘ 1approached ” by the Hampshire committee, but had himself offered to play, having a year or two ago expressed his intention of retiring from Lancashire cricket. O n Monday, December 2nd, a telegram in the daily papers announced that George Lohmann, the famous old Surrey cricketer, had died at Majesfontein on the previous day. I t will be noticed from the list given on another page of the first-class matches arranged for next season that the follow­ ing matches have been discontinued for the present year: Yorkshire v. Hampshire and Worcestershire; Lancashire v. Hamp­ shire and Derbyshire ; Gloucestershire v. Essex and Derbyshire. On the other hand the Hampshire v. Warwickshire match will be revived. U p to the present benefit matches have been arranged for the following professionals:— T. Hayward (who 'will probably choose Yorkshire y. Surrey, at the OTat). A. Ward, Yorkshire v. Lancashire, at Old Trafford, on the August Bank Holiday. W . Storer, Derbyshire v. Another first-classcounty. Victor Barton, Hampshire v. Another first-class county. W. Gunn, half the proceeds of Notts v. Surrey, at Nottingham, on Whit Monday (second benefit match). G. Hay, Middlesex v. Somerset, at Lord’s, on Vt hit Monday. A t the annual general meeting of the Minor Counties Cricket Association it was proposed by Mr. A. M. Miller, and carried unanimously, that points in the second - class competition should be reckoned aB follows : “ Three points shall be scored fora win in a completed match ; should the match not be completed, the side leading on the first innings shall score one point; should a result on the first innings not be arrived at no points shall be scored ; in the event of a tie in a completed match, or in a match decided on the first innings, the points Bhall be divided.” T he following umpires have been chosen to act in the Second Division competition next year: Bookless, Rye, Gregory, R. Barber, A. Stockwin, S. Wrigley, W. Copeland, W. Hearne, Tuck, Woof, R. Humphrey, Powell, R. Rogers, H. Coulson, Hanson, O’Connor, C. E. Brown, Briscoe, Gummell, T. C. Brown, Cherry, Yeadon, C. E. Bartram, Marshall and Luff. T h e dates for the four remaining test matches to be played by the English team in Australia are as under:— January 1-6.—Second match, at Melbourne. January 16-20.—Third match, at Adelaide. February 14-19.—Fourth match, at Sydney. March 1-6.—Fifth match, at Melbourne. I t is quite one of the most remarkable things in the history of the game, that the Australians in choosing their side for the first “ test” match against Mr. MacLaren’steam, should[not have thought it advisable to go outside the team which visited England in 1899. It would seem almost incredible that not a single new man should have risen up during the intervening years worthy of a place in the team, and we are afraid that it does not promise well for Australian cricket that such things should be. “ To show that it is sometimes as easy to make a reputation at cricket as in a more serious occupation,” writes a well- known London doctor, “ I may, per­ haps, relate my own experience. I was some years ago a doctor in the P. and O. service. I had never played cricket be­ cause in my younger days I had to walk three miles to school, and my first ac­ quaintance with the game was in deck cricket on the vessel. Arrived at our destination on one of our voyages, we found a r^val ship anxious to play us at cricket, and we accepted their challenge. Our champion batsman—he was really a first-class cricketer—was dismissed second ball, and our opponent’s great bowler began to mow down our wickets. I was sent in fifth, because it was considered infra dig. for an officer to go in after non-commissioned officers. My partner was in great form, and making runs quickly. I waited for the sound of falling wickets, for I gave the bowler what was practically an open wicket, but somehow or other the ball missed it, and at last I began to lunge out, sometimes being lucky enough to find the bat hit the ball—once right out of the ground. Even­ tually I made 25, the second score, and we won easily. I have good reason to believe that even now on that boat it is sometimes said : “ Oh ! if we only had D octor------ in the team.” In a letter to the St. James’s Gazette, in answer to a question from the editor “ whether or not it is desirable for gen­ tlemen playing cricket as amateurs to receive payment for their services from the clubs they represent ? ” Lord Harris says:— I f the author objects to am ateurs receiv­ in g any rem uneration for p layin g cricket, and his article m igh t he so construed, then I cannot agree w ith him . I should be incon­ sistent if I did. F o r instance, m y travellin g and hotel expenses, as also those of th e other am ateurs in both team s, w ere paid when I w ent to Canada in 1872, and to A ustralia in 1878, and, in the few county m atches I have played since I returned from Bom bay in 1895, I have taken m y expenses on the same scale as the other am ateurs. I f, on the other hand, he would allow some compensation for playing matches but none for clerical w ork, I see extrem e difficulty in drafting the definition w hich is to distinguish between the two classes of “ A m ateu rs,” and both of them from “ Professionals.” I n another part of his letter Lord Hanis says :— W h en I first began to p lay county cricket no K en tish am ateur, so far as I know, took a n yth in g tow ards expenses; but some could afford to p lay on ly a few tim es in con­ sequence— e.g., m y poor friend W illiam Y ard ley played w henever he could, but e x ­ penses w ere a serious tax on a v e ry meagre incom e. N ow adays the public expects the best am ateurs to p lay as often as possible, but they cannot afford to unless th ey get some assistance. T o th at I understand th e author replies, “ T h en th ey m ust p lay as profes­ sionals.” I th in k I can hear the very flat “ W e w on’t .” The matches between Western Pro­ vince and Cape Town are among quite the most popular cricket gatherings