Cricket 1902

17 0 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a t 2 9 , 1902. than six members of last year’s team, to ■wit: G. T. Raikes, H. H. K. Worsley, G. C. P. Bircb, E. 8. Henderson, O. F. Granlnnd and E. H. I. Williams. The Brad field match, which this year is being played at Eadley, is down for June 18th. I n a match at Tottenham on May 24th a player j amed Boyle, for the Tottenham club, took the whole of the len wickets of the Walthamstow club and accom­ plished the hat trick. His performance, however, was not quite good enough to give his tide the victory in a most exciting game, Walthamstow winning by one run two minutes from time. The scores were 75 and 74. ------ W h a t e v e r , his claims to a place in the best eleven Australia can turn out, C. J. Eady, the Tasmanian cricketer, left a very favourable impression as a sports­ man and a tryer when he was over here with the Australian team of 1896. A combination of circumstances prevented him getting a really good chance of showing his undoubted capacity as an all-round player, and the tcur must have been disappointing to such a keen and enthusiastic ciicketer. S till , the many friends he made in England will find considerable satisfac­ tion in the knowledge that his reputation stands quite as high as an all-round player, if not higher in Tasmanian cricket than it did six years ago. Full details were given in “ Gossip ” a fortnight ago of his score of 566 for Break of Day v. Wellington, at Hobart Town, in the first week of April. The completion of the season shows that he has secured a double first in the averages of the Southern Tasmanian Cricket Association. He was, in fact, at the head of both the batting and the bowling tables. In the former he had the splendid average of 104-11 for ten innings. I n a recent match at Kingston-on- Thames, between Friends’ Hall C.C. and Kingston Adults School, A. G. Brad­ bury took eight wickets for the former for no runs iu seven overs. F ob Thursday, last week, eight first- class matches had been arranged, but in five of them no play was possible. Q uite a long time ago a story appeared to the effect that a cricket club in the neighbourhood of Hong Kong had imported some cricket material which the Chinese customs wished to tax. It was explained to them that the goods were agricultural implements used for sowing seeds, etc., and no further objection was raised. The same story has just cropped up again in several English newspapers, but some genius has substituted Valparaiso for Hong Kong, and all is well. V ery many of our readers will regret to hear that Mr. C. J. M. Godfrey is seriously ill at Horley, where he has a school. It will be remembered that for many years he was Captain of the Granville (Lee) Cricket Club, after he gave up playing county cricket for Sussex, and that owing to pressure of business he retired from the office at the begining of the present year. We offer our best wishes for his speedy recovery. It is so very seldom that the Hampstead C.C. is unable to hold its own with opposing teams that its downfall before Granville (Lee) last Saturday is worthy of note, more particularly as F. E. Spofforth was playing on the side. The old Australian bowler was, moreover, exceedingly successful with the ball, taking eight wickets for 38 runs. But F. G. Bull, the old Essex bowler, was on the other side, and as he took six wickets for 27 runs and H. T. Eichardson three for 15, Granville were enabled to win easily. Spofforth, with 20 runs, was the only man in the Hampstead team to score double figures. I f W.G. had dared, he would, without much doubt, have put the Australians in when he won the toss at Lord’s, for every­ thing pointed to an improvement in the wicket as time went on. But in his old age he has had. several lessons on the subject of putting the other side in first, and it is always admittedly a risky thing to do, so that he, no doubt, took the wiser part when he sent his own side in. T o -DAY, Thursday, a team chosen by Dr. W. G. Grace will oppose Mr. C. L. Townsend’s team, on the county ground at Bristol, on behalf of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Each side will bat for two hours and a half, and that the side scoring most runs will win. This will be the first appearance of Dr. Grace on the Bristol ground since he ceased to play for Gloucestershire. T here can hardly be a doubt in the minds of cricketers that, if it were legitimate for a veteran always to have a man to field for him, Dr. Grace would still be deserving of a place in an England team, although it is nearly a quarter of a century since he played against the first touring team in 1878. He has shewn that he can make runs against the present team, and now he has also shown that he can get wickets against them. It is a truly wonderful feat for a man who was born in 1848 to take five wickets in such a match as the M.C.C. against the Australians for only 29 runs, and the chances are that there will not be another bowler who will have as good an analysis against them in any innings during the tour. Vive le docteur / T here was a curious similarity between Surrey’s position in the match with Essex, at Leyton, at the tea intervals on Monday and Tuesday. On the first afternoon at 4.30 they had made 236 for the loss of three wickets. When the adjournment took place for tea on Tues­ day they had lost three wickets in the -'>'!ond innings for 143. This, with the' Ilead they got on the first hands, left them 237 to the good, again with three bats­ men out. M e r c h is t o n have made an auspicious beginning in the Scotch School Cham­ pionship matches, scoring 206 for six wickets to 48 of Watson’s College. The main credit of this performance belonged to W. Lovat Fraser and W. Scott Douglas, who put on 132 for the first wicket, Of that number Fraser con­ tributed 101, and he took several wickets at a small cost. His all-round cricket was the main factor in the opening victory of his side. Merchiston cricket has improved very much during the last five or six years. A statement appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on Monday to the effect that the editor had the highest authority for announcing that an English team would visit Australia in the autumn, and that Mr. Maclaren was making the neces­ sary arrangements for the tour. On Tuesday Mr. Maclaren told a representa­ tive of the Sportsman that the Sydney Cricket Association had approached him on the subject, but that nothing definite had been arranged. But he had replied to the Sydney authorities at Sydney that if they worked in harmony with the Melbourne C.C., and if he was not opposed by the M.C.C., he saw no reason why a team should not go out in Sep­ tember, 1903. We have received “ Surrey Cricket,” edited by Lord Alverstone andMr. C. W. Alcock, and published at 16s. net by Longmans, Green and Co. Also “ Alfred Shaw, Cricketer,” reminiscences of his career, recorded by Mr. A. W. Pullin. Cassell and Company, Ltd. 2s. 6d. A review of these books will appear in our next issue. THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY. [As the weather on Saturday began to improve, it may be stated that these lines were written last Friday.] The rain, it raineth every day, And every night as well; And secretaries’ hairs turn grey; Ducks come from out the shell. Now Ranji shivereth with the cold, And Clement hath a chill; And often not a hall is howled, And empty is thetill. The critic taketh up his pen, And saith that Apted’s ground Becuperatethnot, as when Warm days and nights abound. Reformers, each with little fad, Ts circumstances how, The men of yester year are sad— They make no hundreds now. But Billy M. and W.G. Stillrun up many a score, As well as Arthur Shrewsbury,— They have been there before, In times when seasons oft were wet, They made their lasting fame ; And now, when runs are hard to get, They play the same old game. W.A.B.