Cricket 1902

M ay 1, 1902. CRICKET : ^WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 105 Cricket: A W IS E L Y RECORD O f TEE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, L0 ID 0 I, E.C. THURSDAY, MAY 1 st , 1902. $a\niiott Gossip. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. M r . A. C. M a c la r e n landed at Plymouth on Friday last, after his return from Australia, and was promptly inter­ viewed. He stated that the Australian wickets were, in his opinion, not as good as when he went out before, more par­ ticularly at Melbourne; that Saunders is a perfectly fair bowler; that the Australians have no new bowling to speak of, while their batting has not improved; that he intends to continue to live in Hampshire; that the question as to whether he should play for Hamp­ shire or Lancashire was not yet settled (he has since then stated that he intends to play for Lancashire); and that he was perfectly satisfied with what his team had done in Australia. Two remarks made by Mr. Maclaren to his interviewers seem a little contra­ dictory. They are as follows:—(a) “ My bowling was as good as that of any team which has visited Australia,” and ( b) “ Braund was our only bowler most of the time.” M r . F . S. J a ck s o n opened a three- day bazaar on Thursday last on behalf of the Ilkley Cricket Club. He said it seemed to him so long since he figured in cricket that he was beginning to think he had reached the age limit, and that he ought to take a place in the honourable class of “ has-beens.” (Laughter.) He had not made up his mind as to whether he should be able to play regularly or not with the county eleven this season, although a good many friends of his had settled the matter for him, and had declared emphatically that he would. (Laughter.) He should like to do so very much, but had not yet been able to decide. *------ F o r Mr. C. Rogers’ X I. against Hals- well Park, Mr. S. M. J. Woods, who has just returned from Australia, took all ten wickets for 25 runs on April 24th. T h e annual report of the committee of the Derbyshire County C.C. shows a loss on last year’s matches of £361, and there is now an adverse balance at the bank of £1,087. The bazaar which was held at Easter at Derby has up to the present produced about £1,300, after all expenses have been paid. The prospects for the coming season are a little brighter than they have beenfor some time past, and it is greatly to be hoped that the county may soon be 'at the end of its troubles, and sailing in smooth waters. W it h the exception of Mr. Whatman, who remained in Demerara with the object of getting some shooting, the members of the team which has been playing in the West Indies, arrived in England last week. They were Messrs. E. M. Dowson, B. J. T. Bosanquet, F. H. Hollins, F. L. Fane, E. C. Lee, C. E. Wilson, T. H. K. Dashwood, E. N. E. Blaker, and L. Arbuthnot. With them came the two professionals, White and Kirk. During the tour in the West Indies, nineteen matches were played, of which thirteen were won, five lost, and one drawn. M r . G. L. J e sso p made his first public appearance on Thursday last, after his return from Australia, at the annual meeting of the Gloucestershire County C.C. The chairman announced a loss cn last year’s matches of £675. A motion to rescind the resolution to increase the annual subscription was lost by 227 votes to 135. lt was pointed out by Dr. E. M. Grace that although about 140 members had resigned in consequence of the in­ creased subscription, the subscriptions from present members would produce £200 more than last year. A co m p lim e n ta ry dinner was given last week at Cambridge to T. Hayward, the famous Surrey professional, on his return from Australia. An illuminated address as follows was presented to Hayward in the course of the evening :— “ To Thomas Hayward, on the occasion of your arrival home, after a most successful cricketing tour in Australia, your many friends and well-wishers in your native town of Cambridge, take the opportunity of showing their appreciation of your services to the national sport of cricket, and of the lustre you have added to a name prominent in cricketing annals, by assembling at this public dinner, arranged in your honour, and asking you to accept it as a slight token of high personal esteem and regard, and of the interest taken in your great career. They trust you may continue for many years to add to your cricketing reputation.” T h e first 1rial match at Leyton was a great success. Arrangements had been made that batsmen shonld retire when they had made twenty-five luns, with the result that everyone had an innings except Mead. Nine men in all made sufficient runs to retire. Sewell’s innings of 28 (retired) was short, and included only seven hits, one of them out of the ground. O n Saturday morning the s.s. “ Omrah” arrived at Tilbury, bringing J. J. Kelly, W. P. Howell, J. V. Saunders, and S. E. Gregory of the Australian team, which is now completed by the arrival of Hugh Trumble, who landed at Marseilles from the s.s. “ Oceana,” which sailed a week later than the “ Omrah.” Mr. B. J. Wardill also arrived on the “ Omrah.” D e s p ite his years, Dr. W. G. Grace has begun the season in a remarkable manner. In his first three matches against clubs he scored 103 (retired), 101 (retired) and 60 not out, while in his first big match he made 10 and 97 for London County against Surrey, besides taking three wickets for 56 in the first innings, and five for 33 in the seeond innings, a record of which any man in the world might be proud. He also made 61 and 12 in the return against Surrey. A t the annual general meeting of the Essex County C.C. last week, Mr. C. E. Green was in the chair. In the absence of other nominations, the four retiring members of the committeewere re-elected, viz., Messrs. Gerald Buxton, F. E. Pelly, E. Cook, and Dr. Holton. In the even­ ing, the annual dinner was held at the county ground, Leyton, Colonel Mark Lockwood, M.P., being in the chair. The chief items in the report of the com­ mittee have already appeared in Cricket. T he following players have already been chosen for the Lord-Lieutenant’s Irish cricket eleven to tour in England in May. Those selected are E. H. Cam- lost (Leinster), T. C. Boss (Phoenix), L. H. Glynn (Phoenix), W. Harrington (co. Kildare), B. Hamilton (Phoenix), A. D. Comyn (co. Galway), F. H. Brown­ ing (Phoenix), S. D. Camlost (Dublin University), and Sir T. C. O’Brien (Middlesex). Or the choice of the above nine men, the Irish Field says:—“ So far as this selection has gone, it is satisfactory, and doubtless S. C. Smith, E. E. Adair, and O. Andrews are well in the running for the vacancies. Of this trio, we think that Smith and Adair, as two of the best all-round cricketers we have—Smith we regard, apart from his batting, as abso­ lutely the most brilliant fielder in Ireland—should have figured amongst the lot already chosen. With these men in the side, it would be a remarkably strong all-round combination of amateurs, good alike in batting, bowling and field­ ing, and with two wicket-keepers of considerably more than average ability.” I n a match at Hobart (Tasmania) between Break o’ Day and Wellington, C. J. Eady for the former club took seven wickets for 87 in a total of 277, and then (in an incompleted innings) scored 130 runs out of 214 for 2 wickets. For the other side Kenny Bum made 161. I t is stated that C. McLeod, who formed one of the Australian team of 1899, has decided to give up cricket entirely. I HAVE long wondered, says a writer in the Sydney Referee , why cricket is so much better suppoited in Sydney than in Melbourne, but have at last discovered the reason. At the final Test Match I overheard a conversation between two spectators. They were discussing the attendance, and speculating is to what it might have been had it been the deciding match of the rubber, when one remarked that there were 42,000 present at the recent match in Sydney. To which the other replied: “ Well, I am hardly surprised at that. You see, the Sydney people want somewhere to go to. Their suburban homes are rn no way attractive.”