Cricket 1902

450 CRIOKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Nov. 27, 1902. Spcfforth and a boy named Young got the runs in thirty-five minutes, which, seeing that there were only two’s and three’ s as boundaries, was a decidedly good performance for little boys.” When he was at Oxford Mr. Smith played in almost all the trial matches in his first two years, but did not get his “ Blue ” until the third and fourth years. “ My first ’Varsity match,” he said, “ gave me a surprise with which I was highly delighted. During the trial matches I had gone in tenth and eleventh, not being regarded as a batsman at all, but at Lord’s I was put in first to force the pace on a sticky wicket. As it happened my score was twenty-two, and we were all out for forty-two. In the two years that I played we were un­ lucky in coming across verywarm elevens, including Sammy Woods, not to mention R. N . and J. Douglas. For all that we nearly won in the second year, for Berkeley got six of their wickets for very few runs, and there were eight of their men out when the match was a tie. But Sammy Woods came in, and, as we fully expected, hit the first ball to the boundary.” Do you remember the Gentlemen v. Players match at the Oval in 1895, when you and Mr. Pry made seventy odd runs for the last wicket in half an hour, and nearly won the match ? “ My good performances are not so many that I could afford to forget that. McGregor went in last in the first innings, and I in the second. In the fourth innings of the match we wanted about a hundred when my turn came, and we began to hit at everything. It was a desperate sort of business, and I don’t think I have ever enjoyed anything more in my life. When we were within 30 of victory, Pry was stumped through slipping in a big hole which some batsman or bowler had made.” “ But two of the most exciting raatchf s in which I have ever played,” said Mr. Smith, “ were both against Harrow for the Harlequins. In the first the school made 260 and declared with seven or eight wickets down. Webbe and someone else went in for us, and got runs so quickly that we began to see a chance of winning. In the end when the last over was begun we required seven runs to win, and when only the last ball remained the match was a tie. Of course the batsmen had a tremendous smack, and the ball rose straight up to a great height. The catch was not brought off, but in trying for a second run one of the batsmen was rua out. The second match took place this year. We g it them out in the first innings for 21, ana in the fourth innings of the match we had to make 37. But we could only collect 34, and were thus beaten by two runs, although we had a hot team, including Cunliffe, Lord George Scott, Berkeley, A Page and M. C. Kemp.” You must have had a rather trying ex­ perience for Yorkshire this year, for you began to play just when the weather was at its worst. “ I was supposed to be playing for Yorkshire for just a month, but as a matter of fact, there was only about ten days’ cricket. Had it not been for the absence of Lord Hawke and later of T. L. Taylor, I should not have been played at all, for there was absolutely not a place vacant. In Yorkshire they more or less choose their team at the beginning of the season, and stick to it, which is one reason why the county is so strong. If a man does badly for two or three weeks, he is not on thorns for fear he should be replaced, and consquently he generally gets in form again, whereas when he knows that be is always on trial he cannot possibly do himself justice. Last year when fiaigh got hurt I was asked to play in his place for tix matches, with the result that half one’s nervous­ ness went at once. I am sure it is one of the secrets of success to let a man feel sure of his place instead of always making him anxious. County cricket is too serious a game now for a man to be able to do himself justice if he thinks a failure or two will bring about his dismissal from the team. Are there any other secrets in the success of the Yorkshire Team ? “ Well, there are so many men in the team who are never better than when they are called upon for a great effort—I need only mention Jackson, Hirst and Haigh to prove this. One of the causes of the success of the team is that Haigh very rarely misse3 the wicket when the ball misses the bat; he has also, now and then, what is universally known as an ‘ unplayable ball,’ no matter how good the wicket may be, and this, although it may not show much on paper, often makes an enormous difference to the result of a match. Again Hunter seems to be keeping wicket better than ever. And I think that people are beginning to realise what a great factor in the success of the team is the captaiccy of Lord Hawke. With him at the head of affairs, every­ thing seems to go smoothly, and natur­ ally; if, for instance, a bowler is taken off, he regards it as a matter of course, and does not go to another man and say that he ought to have been kept on longer; and what this means every cricketer who has had experience of bowlers can fully appreciate.” Mr. Smith had an unfortunate ex­ perience at Scarborough last year. “ I was in with Rhodes,” he said “ and we were level with 95 each, and as anxious as possible to get our hundred. At this stage of the game Mead was bowling to Rhodes, who returned the ball hard on the ground to my wicket. But I was backing up, and Mead touched the ball, without stopping it, and it broke the wicket, so that I was run out, much to my disappointment, for when you only play about half a dozen matches a year you rather look forward to a hundred when it seems likely tobsc lining your way. I think that during this innings I made the biggest hit of my life, over the pavilion—I believe they have not got the ball back yet, although, of course, I do not mean to imply by this that it was lost because of the distance. The year before last, Lord Hawke hit a sixer through a window in the row of houses outside the ground, and I well remember seeirg a startled lady come to the window to take bearings. The mention of hits reminds me of one made at Harrogate by Sin­ clair, the South African ; the ball went to an enormous height, and decended out­ side the entrance gate on to the shoulder of a cabman who was perched on hi* seat. I believe that the cabman sent in a claim to the County Committee fir damage. I remember also that at Hastings, Sinclair hit a ball back, when I was bowling, with such force that I couldn’ t have moved out of its w ay; happily it was about a foot off me. Denton was fielding on the boundary, about five yards from the line in which the ball was moving, but couldn’t get near it.” Once Mr. Smith bowled an interesting over to Mr. Jessop at Lord’s. “ The first ball,” he said, “ was a good length on the off stump ; Jessop hit it for four in front of square-leg. Another ball went for four past point, a third straight over my head to the boundary, a fourth to the boundary past cover. The odd pirt of it is that each of these balls was as nearly as possible alike—all a good length on the off stump, and there was certainly not a foot of difference between the four. It almost seemed as if Jessop was amusing himself at my expense for the sake of variety. I once saw him get 220 iu an hour at,d a half or thereabouts, the quickest scoring I ’ve ever seen; he made about a dozen hits clean out of the field.” As a bowler Mr. Smith was much struck this year by the increasing number of men who get in front of their wickets to play a straight ball. “ Before this year I wa3 greatly against any change in the l.b.w. rule,” he said, “ but I am not at all sure now that I should not welcome it. I notice that lots of men get in front of the wicket nowadays, even before the ball is bowled, so that you can’ t see a single stump. I dm ’ fc mean that they play the ball with their legs; on the contrary, they never seem to miss it with the bat.” W. A. B e t t e s w o h t h . YORKSHIRE COUNTY C.C. 1902. The following is a l;st of the match receipts and expense* of the past Yorkshire season:— Ex­ penditure. £ 8 d. 443 10 11 344 2 1 . 320 5 10 292 3 0 .251 2 1 Receipts. £ s. d. 650 9 11 352 18 4 v. Lancashire (Sheffield) v. Somerset (Sheffield)... v. Warwickshire (Sheffield) 287 6 1 ~ * "* " 238 8 3 159 13 0 v. Kent (Bradford) v. Middlesex (Bradford) . v. Essex (Bradf rd) ... . v. Sussex (Leeds).............. v. Surrey (Le°ds) ... ... . v. Gloucestershire (Leeds) . v. Notts (Hull) 262 19 3... 310 7 10 153 11 3... 28* 18 4 233 0 6... 313 19 3 83 1 8 1 3 6. v. Leicestershire (Buds’field) 131 19 0 . v. Derbyshire (Dewsbury) ... 7116 6 v. Worctstetshiie (Har’gate) 229 0 (2nd) v. Surrey (2nd) 15 lfi Harrogate)........................ 16 16 (2nd) v. Northumberland (Balifax) 2 5 6 5 ,503 5 10 . *17 14 4 189 14 0 6 ... 268 11 7 3 ... 138 11 10 18 15 9 . (2od) v. Northant8(Barnsley) 13 2 3 . (2nd) v.Lancs. (2nd) (B’nsly) 33 12 4 . (2nd)v.Durham(M>ddlesbro') 23 11 9 . v. Cambridge Univ. (grant) 55 0 0 . Colts’ Practices (Leeds) ... ------ Yorkshire v. Notts Colts ... ------ v. M.C.O. and Ground.......... ....... 130 10 6 0 . 126 8 135 13 . 131 11 76 5 . 156 0 61 18 . 10 15 Totals..............£3820 5 11 £4939 14 1 The cost both of out and home matches is included in the above.