Cricket 1902

THB FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. O ct . 30, 1902. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 437 BUSSEY’S CD BUSSEY’S C /3 2 & ^ &JO h -! a co •a C O CO H 09 P » S B o w Q D 7 CO £ CO I H P C3 3 ,^ s s AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F. 8. A p h l e y -C o o p b r . 'Jhe departure in the near future of Lord Hawke’s team for New Zealand marks anote­ worthy and interesting landmark in the history of the game. Thu possibility of such a visit was hinted in these columns several months ago, and it may be added that an effort was attempted to form a combination to make the trip some considerable time before Lord Hawke took the matter in hand. That the attempt was not a successful one is not a matter for lamentation, considering that so able and experienced a leader as I.ord Hawke has been able to band together a team for the purpose. At the time of writing it appears probable that the teamwill visit Australiaand playmatchesagainst the various States at Bris­ bane, SydneyandMelbourne, but finalarrange­ ments respecting this extension of the pro­ gramme have yet to be made. The question as to the amount of success which will attend the efforts of the tourists isan interesting one. The status of the game inNew Zealand is almost on a level with American cricket, and, this being so, some well-fought games should be wit­ nessed. The strength of the English side is not too great, although the p-esence of the two professionals should prove sufficient to enable the team to pull off the majority of the matches. Whatever the amount of success, however, which falls to the lot of the side, there cannot be any doubt that all will afterwards readily acknowledge that the trip was worth making on account of the beautiful scenery witnessed. The proverbial hospitality, too, of the Islanders will do much to make the tour a thing to remember in after years. A kind friend in Dunedin writes to me as follows: “ New Zealand possesses attractions of a kind that should make a visit here during the English winter a most pleasant one to gentlemen of leisure, for besides offering scenery of a varied kind— fiords that have been compared with those of Norway, cold lakes that are supposed to be not very far behind those of Switzerland, mountains that inspire the respect of experi­ enced Alpine Clubmen, and hot lakes that are unique—the colony’s rivers are well stocked with trout, there is good shooting to be had, and (as Mr. E. A. Leatham can bear witness) there is excellent deer-stalking to bo obtained. The New Zealand Cricket Council’s idea in inviting Lord Hawke to bring out an amateur team to the colony m as to give its members sufficient time here to combine sport with the rod and gun with sport in the cricket field. Whether the time the team will have in the colony, if Australia is also to be visited, will enable this programme to be carried out is, I am afraid, somewhat doubtful.” The Australians’ journey through South Africa has hardly been in the nature of a triumphal progress. When the programme was made for the team to visit the country more than one member of the side had the impression that but little difficulty would be experienced in defeating the teams placed in the field against them. So far, however, from the visitors having matters all their own way, they have had the worst in the majority of the games yet played. It would be unwise to attach to much importance to the displays given by the home tides, but there can be no doubt that the day is not far distant when both England and Australia will find it necessary to show their finest cricket in order to defeat a representative South African eleven. In Sinclair they possess a cricketer who, at his best, is in quite the first flight of all-iound players. When touring here, under the captaincy of Murray Bisset, he was not, for some reason hard to name, seen at his best, although occasionally- notably against Yorkshire—he gave usan opportunity of judging of his capabilities. Tho outlook for South African <ricket is ceitainly a bright one, as the popularity of the game out there is increasing by leaps and bounds, and tho majority of the chief players have still many years cricket before them. Once again a paragraph may be given fo draw attention to the fact that so long as the laws of cricket omit to state how much a bail shall weigh, so long will the code be incom­ plete. Since the paragraph on the subject appeared in these columns last month, seveial first-class cricketers have written to me expressing the hope that the legislators will see fit before the campaign of 1903 commences to lay down the law on the point. One famous player, who has taken part, and with success, in Gentlemen v. Players matches, goes so far as to suggest that the law shall state that the bails shall be made of wood. “ Nowadays there is nothing to prevent magnetised metal being used on the stump-tops and steel bails (so that when even a very fast ball hits the wicket the bails will not become dislodged), except the law which declares the umpires the sole judges of fair and unfair play, and states that all disputes shall be determined by them, but, as umpires seem reluctant to act in a case of emergency without the captains’ orders, not very much importance need be attached to the law.” During the present non-cricket season it is more than likely that we shall again be called upon to discuss the proposed alteration in the leg-before-wicket rule. Bearing in mind that the M.C.C. committee favoured the suggested change by a majority of eight to five, and that in May last the members of the club gave a similar verdict (‘259 voting for the proposition and 188 against), it is not surprising that those in favour of the altera­ tion are sanguine of eventually carrying their point, by obtaining a two-thirds majority when the question is put to the vote. The chief arguments of those who support the present rule are, that if the new law were passed scoring would become absurdly low, the game would be monotonous to watch, and the duties of the umpire would be rendered far more difficult than at present, and they add that the Philadelphians, who experi­ mented with the new law—“ not for one match or two matches, or for a season, but for several years” —found it unsuccessful. It may at once be added that the Philadelph­ ians cannot have found the scheme so great a failure as some would have us believe, or they would not have persevered as they did—“ not for a season, but for several years.” The proposed law was tried during Jast season, at the suggestion of the M.C.C., in the Minor Counties Championship and in a few first- class matches at Lord’s, but an authoritative report on the results arrived at has not yet been issued. The majority of the umpires, however, do not favour the chang3, although at the meeting at Lord’s, in May, Mr. K. A. H. Mitchell (who had had over thirty years’ experience of umpiring) and Mr. John Shuter gave it as their opinion that the umpire’s position, so far from being rendered more difficult, would be made easier. The argument that the proposed change would make scoring absurdly low has been falsified during the past year—a notoriously wet season—by the run-getting in the experimental matches alluded to above. It can be, and is, argued that but for the new rule scoring would have been higher in those games, but it must be remembered that those who advocate the change do so chiefly that