Cricket 1902

THE FINEST BAT THE WOULD PRODUCES. J u n e 26 , 1902. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 227 BUSSEY'S CO « J o E m fa Dco J a w 5 co a ► j w J. 00 3 a fci 43 CO « 8 CO CO 0 9 G 0 BUSSEY’S u M CO p e r sa < i S I a w CD flu ! CO 5» CO s-o 2 3 o G O 3 § s AT THE SIGK OF THE WICKET. By F . 8 . A s h lb y -C o o p b r . The form which Tate is exhibiting this year is good enough to secure him a place in any representative eleven. During the presentseasonhehasbowledmostconsistently, obtaining wickets whenever he has been called upon. His feat at Lord’s last week in obtaining fifteen wiickets for 68 runs must be ranked as his best performance of the year. Very rarely indeed does a bowler take as many as fifteen wickets in a match, for Tate is but the seventh man to do so for Sussex, and, as the scores of matches played by the county go back as far as 1815, the rarity of the feat can be understood. Tate’s perform­ ance possesses more distinction than would ordinarily be the case, as he obtained his wickets at Lord’s, the headquarters of the game. But few bowlers can claim to have taken as many as fifteen wickets in a match at Lord’s, as the following list will show :— BOWLERS WHO HAVE OBTAINED AS MANY AS FIFTEEN W ICKETS IN A GREAT MATCH AT LOAD’S. Year. 19 for *, R. Holden, Gents, of England v. M.C.C. 1818 16 for • Binkly, E., Kent v. England.................. 1848 16 for * Wisde », J.. M.^.O. Giound 8t*ff (with Box and Wisd«*n) v. XV.Gents. of MiddleB-x 1850 15 for 67, Witden, J.. U .E.E v. X V . of Oxford and Cambridge Universities ... ...........1854 16 for 93, C. D. Marsham, Gents, of England v. Gents, o f M.C.C.................................... ... •• 1865 15 for 71, Wisden, J., U.E.E. v. X V I. o f Oxford University ........................... ................... 15 for 91, Jackson, J., N^rth v. South........... 1857 15 for 63, C. D. Marsh <m X V I. Oxford Univ. v. Eng'and ... .......................... • 1858 15 for 49, Hayward, T., sen., England v. X V I. of Ktnt ...................1860 15 for 126, Reynold*, F.,U .E.E. v .X V .o f M C.C. and G rou n d ............................... .. .. 1863 16 for 98, Tarrant. G., England v. X III. of Kent 1863 15 for 95, S. E. Butler, Oxford Univ. v. Camb. Univ....................... .. •• • 1®^1 16 for 182, A. Appleby, English Team to Canada in 872 v. X V . Gents, of M.C.C. (with R y lo t t )..................................................................1873 16 for 62, Southerton, J., South v. N o rth ...........1875 16 for <0. W . G. G ace, M.C C. & G. v. Notts ... 188> 15 for 184, C. L. Townsend, Gloucs. v. Middsx. 1898 15 for 187, Trott, A. E., Middlesex v. Subsex ... 1901 15 for 68, fate, F. W ., Sussex v. Middlesex ... 1902 • No analysis preserved. The match mentioned above between the Gentlemen of England and Marylebone, in 1818, has but flight claims to be considered first-class, as the arrangement was that Mr. R. Holden should bowl against the M.C.C. at both wickets and have ten picked fieldsmen. He therefore continued bowling through both innings. Mr. F. Ladbroke was absent in the second innings of Marylebone, so Mr. Holden captured nineteen wickets. An old cricketer, now in the seer and yellow leaf, who appeared in his day for the Gentlemen against the 1'layers, has sent me the following note concerning a query made in this column last week. “ Go to ! ‘ Spar- rowed out ’ is a printer’s error for ‘ stumped out,’ you bet your bottom dollar. The word was probably written very badly by a bad writer like myself. But I suppose some of you statisticians will invent a cock-and-bull story explaining it beautifully ! ‘ Sparrowed out’ ! Go to !” My correspondent should know that the history of cricket is a subject worthy of serious consideration, and the flippant manner in which he deals with it is both unseemly and undignified. Ach . Another cricketer sends me the following, and more rational, solution of the riddle :■ “ Clark*, against 8. Parr, made 0 (ow) runs. ---------Sparr-----------ow. Whenco *Sparrowed *! <4,. Hi. u. Or did the ball pitch on a sparrow flying by, and then bowl S. Parr ? ” In “ Les Sports et Jeux d’Exercise dans l’Ancienne France,” par J. J. Jusserand, published in Paris last year, the author makes the following interesting remarks (p.p. 298-9):—“ Les cricketeurs d’Angleterre des- cendent des anciens crosseurs de France, et le nom meme du jeu est fran^ais; criq'/et designait un baton plante en terre, qui servait de but dans une des formes du jeu. Des textes fran^ais,fort anterieursauxplusanciens textes anglais, ne laissent aucun doute a cet egard : ‘ Le suppliant airiva en un lieu oil on jouait a la boule, pres d’une attache ou cri­ quet* ; annee 1478. Le plus vieux document anglais ou le mot figure est seulement de 1598.” It will be observed that the name of the game which was being played is not mentioned, “ criquet ” meaning a staff set in the ground. It is, therefore, difficult to see what claims the French can advance as being the pioneers of cricket. The game referred to in the document of 1478 may well have been club-ball. Mons. Jusserand, it is worthy of remark, ignores the phrase “ ad creag et alios ludos,” which is to be found in the published Wardrobe Accounts of King Edward the First for the year 1300. Mr. H. S. Johnstone, the well-known Sussex club cricketer, writes to me as fol­ lows :—“ I wasplaying yesterday (21st June) for Horsham in a small match against the local Y.M.C.A., when a somewhat interesting and remarkable feat was performed by Mr. L. J. Stevenson. The latter only returned from South Africa last Tuesday, and, bar one game out there—when he made 117 out of 125!—has had no cricket for over two years. At practice on Thursday he was greatly struck with the leg-break bowling of the local professional, and, previous to start­ ing cricket yesterday, tried to bowl medium- paced leg-breaks at one of the sticks while the men were being allotted their positions. He was subsequently put on to bowl first change, and though he had never attempted leg-breaks before, he kept a good length and, with considerable break, obtained seven wickets for 16 runs—not a bad analysis for the first time of trying. He told me that he used always to bowl with an off-break in for­ mer times, which makes his feat even more remarkable.” Such a performance must be almost unique. Some years ago Mr. H. B. Biron, of the old Kent eleven, told me of a case of a cricketer at Canterbury who had never delivered a ball in his life being called upon to bowl, when everybody else on the side had tried in vain to effect a separation, and when three wickets had still to fall. The new bowler obtained those three wickets with the very first three balls he delivered! An analogy may be drawn between the feats recorded above at Horshamand Canterbury. Considering how close a game the first meeting of Yorkshire and the Australians provided, the result of this week’s match can hardly have been a surprise. In the recent match the county lacked the assistance of Lord Hawke and Jackson, whilst the Austra­ lians had a stronger teamthan on the previous occasion on account of Trumble being able to appear. How useful the latter proved to be the score readily shows. The result will do much to give our visitors confidence for the Test match, which commences at Sheffield on the 3rd prox. It is always a remarkable thing for any team to defeat Yorkshire, and the Australians are to be heartily congratu­ lated on their success. The Champions can still claim to have been undefeated by any county away from home since August, 1899 ! •Dans Du Cange au mot Crieia. Une attache est un baton, un 6chelas ; ce sens, qui est certain, ne laisse aucun doute sur celui de criquet.