Cricket 1902

394 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 4, 1902. not very well be left out of a team that pro- I fesses to be representative of Indian cricket, and the inclusion of the best native players would be both desirable and just. The selection committee, when that body is appointed, will hardly have an enviable task in choosing eleven players from the plethora of European and native talent available. As to the players available for All India, our contemporary mentions the following whose claims would require careful consideration :— Europeans: W. Troup, Wigram, H. S. Bush, A. P. Douglas, and the brothers H. F. and C. E. Bateman-Champain, will all be back in India from leave by the end of the year. To name a few others there are J. G. Greig, who, it goes without saying, would be one of the first choices, W. M. Turner, the Essex county player, S. If. Hignell, the Calcutta crack player, C. T. Studd, of Cam­ bridge University and Middlesex fame, E. B. T. Studd, the best batsman in the Behar Wanderers team, Q, P. Collins, J. B. Wood, B. N. Bosworth-Smith, M. R. Jardine, and H. D. Watson, all Oxford Blues, E. H. Bray, a Cambridge Blue, B. D. Richmond, A. H. Dewing, and S, D. Pears, three famous Madras cricketers, J. D. Guise, a crack Cal­ cutta player, G. S. Fowke, one of the finest all-round players ever turned out by Upping­ ham, and G. A. Akers-Douglas, an old Etonian and one of the best batsmen in Calcutta. The crack native players are not so numerous, but there are Mistry, Mehta, Ali Husan, Jayaram, Narayana Row, Seshachan, Baloo, and Ahsan-ul-Hak, the Afridi cricketer, who made his debut for Middlesex a few weeks ago, and who will be back in India about the same time the visitors are expected out. In one of his interesting letters to the Sydney Referee about the Australian team Mr. L. O. S. Poidevin tells of his own early failures in Eugland. Since that time he has proved himeelf the good cricketer that he was known to be :— The very day of my arrival in England I received a member’s ticket from London County Cricket Club, together with a very kind invitation from Dr. W. G. Grace to play with him in all his first-class engage­ ments this year. I accepted, of course, hence you see all my first-class cricket on this side of the “ blue ” has been for London County. Unfortunately for me, the only practice possible was what I could get in the matches themselves, and when I tell you that my first four innings realised only 12 runs, you have no need to guess the extent and usefulness of my practice. My scores were 5, 1, 1, and 5, extending over three matches, in none of which, however, did any batsman on our side exceed 40, nor the total 100. Still, I felt I should have done better. Whether it was because I had seen Victor Trumper get a couple of centuries with consummate ease and skill, or because I felt that I could discard one of my sweaters and my goloshes while batting, or—andprobablymorecorrectly—be­ cause in two second-class matches I had got some useful practice (scoring 38 and 79), I just managed to save myself from absolute failure by scoring 17 and 40 not out against Leicestershire. Three times stumped, more than once with my foot on the line, I’m told, caught in the slips once, and bowled clean on the other occasion. P ublicity has recently been given to the brilliant performances of the second eleven of Essex, who still retain the unbeaten record of the first year of their institution. But the full details of their four seasons’ successes have not been given before. Their yearly results have been as follows :— Played. W on. Drawn. 1 ost. 1899 ........... 6 ... 3 ... 3 ... 0 1900 ........... 6 ... 2 ... 4 ... 0 1901 ........... 4 ... 2 ... 2 ... 0 1902 ........... 8 .. 6 ... 2 ... 0 I n 1899 they were under the captaincy of O. R. Borradaile, the present secretary of the Essex County C.C. Since then, G. F. Higgins, a son of the E-aex treasurer, has had the command. I nformation has reached me from an old Oxonian who is going out with the party that the team which will represent the Oxford University Authentics during their tour in India this winter has been duly completed. They are to leave, as was stated in “ Gossip ” some time ago, at the end of October, and as far as I can hear, will be away some five months or so. T he eleven to represent the Players of England against the Australians, in the match which is to commence at the Oval on September 15, will consist of :— Abel Lilley Braund Lockwood Haigh Quaife Hayward Rhodes Hirst Tyldesley Iremonger Arthur Shrewsbury was invited, other­ wise the eleven will play as originally chosen. D. C. D avey , a member of the first South African team to visit England, and one of the leading players in Natal for many years, is just returning to South Africa after a short visit to the old Country. While here, he made arrange­ ments with Lees, of Surrey, to go out to Natal for a winter’s engagement at Durban. Lees, who will leave England in about a fortnight, is due home again at the end of April, or in the first week of May. S u r r e y ’ s victory over Middlesex at the Oval on Saturday must have been a very pleasant experience, considering that the last win credited to the eleven was over Somerset on July 26th. That was also at the Oval, where, by the way, five of the seven matches which have ended successfully for Surrey this season were decided. All the five inter­ county matches lost by Surrey this summer have been off the Oval. A b o l d reader of Cricket asks us the following inconsequent question’: — “ What would you do if Jessop hit a ball near your ankles P” and himself supplies the answer as follows : “ Jes’ ’op off.” Th ere is a very interesting article in Pearson’ s Magazine for September, from the pen of Mr. Hesketh-Pritchard, the Hampshire cricketer. It is entitled, “ Hunting the Guanaco.” Mr. Hesketh- Pritchard has written a book, “ Through the heart of Patagonia,” which is to be published at the end of this month by Mr. William Heinemann. It will be illustrated by Mr. J. G. Millais. M r . S t a n t o n in the Sportsman has hunted up Braund’s bowling record against Yorkshire this season. It is a remarkable record. Runs.Runs. Wks. Somerset y. Yorkshire (Sheffield) ... 31 ...... 30 ... 6 Somerset y. Yorkshire (Sheffield) . . 34 ...... 41 ... 9 Somerset v. Yorkshire (Taunton) ... 43 ...... 26 ... 4 Somerset v. Yorkshire (Taunton) ... — ...... 18 ... 0 M.C.C. v. Yorkshire (Scarborough) . 44 ... 77 ... 6 M.C.C. y. Yorkshire (Scarborough) . 11 ....... 34 ... 6 163 226 31 Average .................................... 32*607*29 U n t il Friday, Braund alone bad the honour of scoring a thousand runs and taking a hundred wickets this season. He has now been joined by Arnold, the Worcestershire professional. M in d f u l of the fact that the world is full of people who will collect anything, from a post»ge stamp to a farcophagus the Daily Express has issued an appeal to well-known cricketers to give up one of their bats with which they have made a big score to be sold on behalf of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society. Below will be found a list of the bats, together with the highest bid offered for them up to yesterday (Wednesday):— Bats. Bids. V . Trumper............ ...................£10 0 0 Record : Made his 2,000th run with it this season, highest for an Australian in England, and 127 against eleven players of England. Shrewsbury.......................... ... 6 0 0 Gunn .................................. ... 1 2 6 C. B. Fry .......................... ... 2 17 6 A . C. M aclaren................... ... 3 3 0 Abel .......................... ... ... 1 3 0 Hayward ........................... ... 1 10 0 Brockwell .......................... ... 1 5 0 Tyldesley ........................... ... 2 0 0 J. B. Mason.......................... ... 1 1 0 Clem Hill .......................... ... 2 0 0 C. I. Thornton .................. L. O. 8. Poidevin ........... 1 5 0 Alec Hearne ................... ... 1 0 0 S. E. Gregory ................... ... 1 1 0 G. L. Jessop.......................... ... 2 2 0 P. F Warner .................. ... 1 1 0 Braund.................................. ... 1 6 0 S. M. J. W ood s.................. ... 1 1 0 K. S. Ranjitsinhji ........... ... 2 0 0 Fuller Pilch.......................... ... 1 0 0 W . G. Grace.......................... ... 2 0 0 L. C. H. Palairet ........... ... 1 1 0 V. F. 8. Crawford ........... ... 1 5 0 Scotton.................................. B arn es.................................. !!! i 0 0 Lilley .................................. i 0 0 Major W . C. Hedley........... ... i C 0 Quaife .................................. ... i 1 0 Hayes .................................. B a rton .................................. i 5 0 Storer .................................. O n being told, a short time ago, about the feat of George Brown, at Lord’s, in bowling a ball which, after passing clean through a coat, killed a dog instan­ taneously, an enthusiast replied :—“ This reminds me of a still more astonishing performance with the ball in a recent match between two Yorkshire clubs. As a bowler, locally known as the ‘ Demon,’ sent down one of his teriffic balls, a pheasant which was flying across the ground unfortunately got in its way, and not only was it instantly killed, but so great was the force of the impact that the bird was carried a distance of a dozen yards and lodged in the pocket of an