Cricket 1902

106 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M at 1, 1902. A prominent Australian cricketer has described the batting of Mr. Jessop as “ North, South, East and West.” O n the occasion of the departure of Sir Edwin and Lady Smith from Adelaide on a holiday to England, senior cricket in the city was abandoned to enable the cricketfrs to be present, at the farewell. Sir Edwin has been five or six times Major of Adelaide, and hss made him­ self universally popoular with Australian cricketers as President of the South Australian Cricket Association, snd as a generous supporter of the game. The following ii a list of highest scores made for each wicket in the various “ Test ” matches since their institution :— Jackson and Hayward, Oval, 1699 ... lit wkt. 185 A . B.nnermanand Lyons, S jd ., 1892... 2nd „ 174 Brown and Ward, Melbourne. 1895 ... Srd „ 210 8. E. Grf gory and Trott, Lords, 1896 ... 4th ,, 221 Maclaren and Peel, Melbourne, 18^5 ... 5th „ 162 Gregory and Graham. Lord*’, 1893 .. 6th ,, 142 liill and Trumble, Melbourne, 1868 ... 7th „ 165 Bonnor and Jones, Sydney, 1885 ........... 8th ,, 154 Gr* gory and Blackham, Sydney, 1894 9th „ 154 Duff and Armstrong, Melbourne; 19C2 10th „ 120 I n a school match between small boy* at Camberley (Melbourne), one of the teams (got together by Miss Macnamara) was dismissed in the first innings for 3 runs, and in the second for 0. The three runs were all made by one boy lam td Murdoch. The other team was the sen by Miss Tindall and scored 35. F rom the Sydney M a il :— One of the most amusing matches it has been my good fortune to witness, was played at Sandringham on Saturday, and was between the municipal bodies of Kogarah and Eockdale on the one hand and Burstville and Bexley on the other. Some of the players appeared never to have handled a bat before, while there was scarcely two or three men on either side who were conversant with the line points of the game. If there were, they wisely remained silent when they saw most ludicrous, yet withal mirth - provoking, incidents. For instance, one bowler sent down several deliveries before the vacancy at his end was filled. Had he secured a wicket, there would have been the unprecedented sight of two batsmen out at once. Onanother occasion a batsman was clean bowled, but after retiring a few yards towards the crowd, he returned and told the fieldsman that the umpire had called “ no-hall,” and, stranger still, the fieldsmen accepted his word without reference to the bowler’s umpire. A ' w h it e r in an Australian newspaper thus describes an incident in a match in which he took part:— A ticklish point—Our side were batting, and our best man was in, with a few runs to get, and amid great excitement we got up to a tie. As in the previous case, the ,backing up was inclined to be over zealous. The bowler went through the action of delivering the ball, and went over the crease, turned round, and threw the ball back into the wicket. Of course, the batsman was out, hut how about the score? was it a wide, or was it a no-ball ? Whichever way it went it must score a run, and that run gave us the match. Unfortunately the umpire simply gave it “ out,” and the match was a tie, but we un­ doubtedly won by one run ” A c o r r e s p o n d e n t writes from Toronto: “ A bit of information which might be of interest to your readers is the method of practice adopted by our club (the Gordon- Mackay C.C.) this winter. A bowling alley lighted by electricity! The reflected light is very pleasant to the eye, and to be able to have a knock at the nets in any weather, and at any hour of the day or night, is both convenient and novel.” In the course of a conversation with a representative of the Westminster Gazette, the Australian captain said that “ this season we shall prove to be stronger in bowling than when we were over here last. We have all our old bowlers; and Howell, who was missing then, will add greatly to our strength . . . . We don’t worry about Jones. He was not at his best at home during the past season, but he is not done with yet. In a couple of weeks, when he once gets into form, Jones will be as good as ever ! ” It is never quite safe to prophesy, but we should not be at all surprised if Darling proved to be right in his estimation of the bowling strength of his team. W r it in g to a Manchester paper, Mr. A. C. Maclaren attributes the erroneous impressions concerning his intentions, which have recently been in circulation, to a certain section of the northern Press, which he accuses of being “ most unfair.” Mr. Maclaren says he did not tender his resignation to the Lancashire C.C. until his wife’s medical advisers seriously counselled him not to be away from home so much. He then thought of giving up cricket altogether, but on more mature consideration believed he would be able to play in Hampshire’s home matches. Mrs. Maclaren has benefited greatly by her trip to Australia, and most of her husband’s fears have vanished. He will, therefore, play for Lancashire this season, but only as a “ free lance.” A t Lord’s on Monday last the umpires : for the test matches were settled by j ballot as follows :—The Birmingham match, William Hearn and J. Phillips ; the match at Lord’s, C. E. Richardson and Titchmarsh ; the Sheffield match, J. Phillips and Eichards ; the Manchester match, Moss and Mycroft; the Oval match, C. E. Eichardson and White. T here has been so much discussion in the press of late years about the payments made to professionals and amateurs— much of the discussion being very wide of the mark—that the following pronounce­ ments by Major Wardill to a repre­ sentative of the Evening News are of interest:— He could not understand why the Australians were regarded in some quarters in the light of professionals. We have no great leisured class in the Colonies as you have here, and in order that the best men might come to England it is necessary to conduct each tour strietly on business lines. The players take all the risk, and if the tour should break down from any cause the loss is theirs. Should profits accrue after defraying all expenses they are divided equally among the members of the team to recoup them for loss of time and salary during their eight months’ absence. If you call the Australians professionals, Major Wardill continued, with a smile, then the English amateurs who come to the Colonies are even more so. Take the last team, for instance. The Melbourne C.C. paid everything—steamer passages, rail and hotel expenses, tips, &c. In addition, each man received a sum, running into three figures, as pin-money. And, indeed, in the case of one of the amateurs, the Melbourne C.C. were debited with the cost of the outfit he bought before embarking. We ventured to prophesy some time ago that the expression “ pin-money ” was destined to make its way in the world. In the course of a match on Saturday, at Thames Ditton, between the local club and the Stoics, Mr. H. Jordan hit a ball bard into the long field. It arrived on the grdUnd a fraction of a second after a thrush had chosen this exact spot for a resting place—which was unfortunate for the thrush. I t is stated that Mold will play for Northamptonshire this season if he feels well enough. E d it e d by Mr. P. L. Bartholomeuz, the edition of 1902 of “ the Handbook of Ceylon Cricket and Field Sports,” has just made its appearance. It contains a complete record of the cricket played last year in Ceylon, with the full scores of the principal matches, averages, etc. Also a list of the chief Ceylon cricketers of the year, with a short description of the style, etc., of each man; cricket in the Boer camps, and much otheruseful information, including articles on athletics, football, and hockey. Its price is Is. 6d. post free, and it may be obtained from the author at the office of the Times of Ceylon, Colombo. C o n s id e r in g the generally unseason­ able weather that has prevailed this week, the scoring in the opening match of the first-class season at the Oval must be accounted fairly good. Nineteen runs more would have taken the aggregate into four figures. As it was, 981 runs for thirty-one wickets is not a bad per­ formance by way of a start before the regular county season has begun. As the runs were got in eleven hours and three-quarters of actual play, the average rate of scoring was about 84 an hour. T he Australian cricketers have accepted an invitation to dine with the Surrey County C.C. at the Oval on May 12th, the opening day of the match against Surrey, which will be the first appearance of the team on a metropolitan ground. It is now pretty well settled that the only vacant dates (September 1st, 2nd and 3rd) will be given to St. Helen’s for a match against a first-class eleven. Whether the tour will be prolonged beyond the 6th of September, is at pre­ sent undecided, though the cricket fathers at Bournemouth are hopeful that