Cricket 1902

J an . 30, 1902. CRICKET ; ATWEEKLY .RECORD OF THE GAME. 9 were in the eleven which represented Buenos Aires against Flores on Decem­ ber 15th. Only three of themhad batted when the innings was closed, but two, A. (80) and J. O. (72) laid the foundation of a creditable score of 220 for five wickets by putting on 155 for the first wicket. The following are the remaining engagements for Mr. MacLaren’s team: Feh *5 |Syfoey- v- NewSouth Wales (Return) „ 7-8.—Bathurst, v. 18 of District Union „ 14-19.—Sydney, Fourth Test Match „ 22-26.—Melbourne, v. Viotoria (Return) Mar. 1-5.—Melbourne, Fifth Test Match ., 11- 12.—Broken Hill, v. 18 of Barrier Ranges Cricket Association „ 14-19.—Adelaide, v. South Australia (Return) On March 20th the team are booked to leave Adelaide in the B.M.S. “ Omrah ” for England. A n Australian paper puts the case very clearly. “ Off the sixteenth over Brown made three by sending the ball over the wicket-keeper’s hands by a straight drive.” Where is “ the Harrow drive” of yester’een F The following answer to correspon­ dents from the Sydney Mail gives some interesting information relative to the promoters of the first visit of Engliah cricketers to Australia at the end of 1861: Messrs. Spiers and Pond brought out the first English team. They laid out £7,000 or £ 8 , 000 , and are said to have made fully £10,000 by their enterprise. They do not appear to have been in business prior to embarking on the cricket venture. Both were hotel keepers. In 1861 Felix Spiers kept the Koyal Hotel and Cafe de Paris, where the Englishmen were driven to on their arrival at Melbourne in the last week in December, 1861; Christopher Pond kept the Piazza Hotel, at the corner of Spring and Little Bourke Streets, where the Englishmen were guests of Messrs. Spiers and Pond. The names donotappear in the 1861 Melbourne Directory as a firm of caterers, though they had a large booth under the grand stand of the Melbourne Ground when Stevenson’s team played 18 of Victoria. I t has come at last. But where has dear old Punch been to allow himself to beforestalledby anAustralian humourist ? This is how the Sydney Mail puts it. “ A German gentleman, who is also a cricket enthusiast, on hearing of the splendid score of 151 not out made by L. O. 8. Poidevin in the second innings of New South Wales v. Mr. MacLaren’s team, exclaimed, ‘ By Kaiser ! Dot’ s der Poy- ter vin de match.’ ” A ch! A. H. M e h t a , the Parsi bowler who, according to report, is coming to England, next summer to qualify for Gloucester­ shire or some other county, did a good performance in the way of hitting in a match between Mr. Homee D. Mehta’s team and the John Bright C.C., at Bom­ bay on December 8th last. He scored 69 in fifteen minutes, and 30 of them were got in an over by three 6’s and three.4’s. The Bombay Gazette erroneously claims this as a record. There are, indeed, several instances of an over of five balls producing 30 runs. Moreover, there is a good deal of reason for believing that W. H. Caldecourt made 36 off an over of six balls for Watford v. Hertford­ shire in a match between 1828 and 1832. O u t at the River Plate they evidently have two orthree batsmen who can score freely and consistently. The aver­ ages in the Argentine championship matches up to the end of last year show five cricketers with 59 runs and over per innings. They are givenj below:— No. Times Most of not Total in an inns. out. runs. inns. Aver. J. O. Anderson............11 ... 4 ... 672 ...106* ... 81 74 H. A . Cowes ... ... 7 ... 1 ... 388 ...221* ... 61-66 J. B. Campbell........... 6 ... 4 ... 122 ... 42* ... 61 C0 R. W . Rudd ........... 5 ... 0 .. 295 ... 92 ... 59 00 •Signifies not out. A c r ic k e t critic in one of the most influential Indian journals, expresses regret th^t no attempt has been made to invite an English amateur team out to India this winter in view of the number of really good cricketers out there at the present time. Certainly, to judge from the players who are in Calcutta just now, the Bengal Presidency would be able to put a strong eleven into the field. There are E. H. Bray (Charterhouse, Cambridge and Middlesex), J. B. Wood (Marlborough, Oxford and Leicester­ shire), W. Troup (Gloucestershire), H. Reynolds (Middlesex), C. 'Wigram (Win­ chester and M.C.C.), F. M. Luce (Chel­ tenham and Gloucestershire), S. B. Hig- nell (Malvern), H. L. W. Norrington (Clifton), A. W. Watson (Rugby), A. H. W. Bentinck (Harrow), E. B. T. Studd (Harrow), T. B. Sellar (Fettes), C. P. Beachcroft (Uppingham), J. D. Guise (Merchiston), A. J. Biscoe (Chel­ tenham), A. C. Patterson (Loretto), and N. Bonham-Carter (Clifton). T h e trade have been quick to seize upon the chance offered to them by Eudyard Kipling’s words—“ flannelled fools ” and “ muddied oafs.” One reads in advertise­ ments : “ Kipling calls cricketers ‘ flan­ nelled fools ’ and footballers ‘ muddied oafs,’ but you will be something worse if you don’t buy ‘ Smith’s ginger pepper­ mint.’ ” N or are the clergy behind the times in taking note of what happens in the world of cricket. A recent announcement in one of the London suburbs was to the effect that a lantern service would be held, the subject being, “ A Test Match.” Ix is stated that Mr. F. S. Jackson— now Captain Jackson—left Cape Town on the s.s. “ Tintagel Castle ” on January 13th, on his way to England. F r o m Tarkastad, Cape Colony, Mr. Percy Arnold writes:— I have been expecting for some months to see a reference in “ Pavilion Gossip ” to the death of an old and well-known cricketer, i.e., Mr. George Knight. According lo “ Wisden” he was born in 1835, and his death took place at Petworth, in Sussex, on January 8 th last year. He kept wicket occasionally for Sussex in the sixties and toured with the old All England eleven. He took a prominent part in the match, Sussex v. Kent, played in 1867 at Gravesend, when Kent were dismissed for 18 runs, Knight getting four at the wicket. For many years he was one of the mainstays of cricket in Petworth (thenapowerfullocal club)andWest Sussex generally. In addition to being smart behind the stumps, he was an excellent and tricky lob bowler. A l t h o u g h the new “ dead ball ” rule would seem to be simple enough, it has not yet been comprehended by umpires and wicket-keepers in all parts of the world. In a rtcent match at Cape Town, Mr. J. B. Cormack, while batting, touched a ball which lodged in the top of his pad, between the pad and the trousers. For some reason or the other Cormack did not try to dislodge the ball by shaking his leg, but asked the wicket-keeper to remove it, thinking that if he touched the ball with his hand he would be out for “ handling the ball” under rule 29. The wicket-keeper took the ball out, and on the suggestion of one of the side that it was worth appealing for, appealed for “ a catch at wicket.” The umpire gave the man “ out.” T h e following letter from E. A. Halli­ well, the South African cricketer, on the subject of George Lohmann, reached us just after the last number of Cricket was published. Though not sent for publica­ tion I feel sure that E. A. H. will not take exception to its appearance in “ Gossip.” It is dated from Gordon’s Bay, Cape Colony, December 8th :— Possibly the wire has flashed the news of the death of poor George Lohmann. He died at Matjesfontein last Sunday, December 1st. Poor fellow! he was taken suddenly very ill on theprevious Tuesday, and although everything was done that was possible for his comfort, he gradually grew weaker and weaker and died from exhaustion on Sunday last. To me it did not come as a great surprise, for, being in daily contact with him for many months, I naturally saw the rapid ravages that fell disease was making. This was one of the reasons he did not go about more during his visit to England last summer. You knew him as a powerful man, and he purposely refrained from allowing you to see his shadow. He had his faults (and who has not ?) but at heart he was one of the best and I feel his death muchly. I am glad to say that I heard the news in time to be present at the funeral. I n t e n s e indignation was expressed by cricketers of all classes at an expression used in a poem entitled “ The Islanders,” which appeared in the Times of January 4th, by Mr. Budyard Kipling. The lines which include the offending expression were as follows:— Then ye returned to your trinkets; then ye contented your souls With the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals. We do not suppose for a moment that by his little piece of alliteration Mr. Kipling