Cricket 1902

Nov. 27, 1902. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 459 from the following :—C. T. Studd, R. A. Studd, L. P. Collins, E. H. Dewing, S. F. Gosling, E. D. Richmond, H. C. King, S. D. Pears, C. H. Richards, R. C. M. Strouts, E. R. Ross, J. B. Bar- stow, B. Cayley, E. H. Hudson-Kinahan and A. Edgington. “ A JOLLY game, cricket,” was, if I remember, rightly the reflection of the gentleman in Punch “ who ’ad a hover of Jackson.” But at least he had something, if not a run, for his money. But this was not the luck of Thompson, one of the Natal Fifteen, who played against the Australians at Durban at the end of last month. It was his fortune to be bowled not only for a “ balloon,” but by the first ball in each innings. More­ over, he had not even a chance of atoning for his failure by his out cricket. As a matter of fact only thirteen of the Natal Fifteen were allowed to field and he was one of the two who had to stand down. Jolly game, cricket! Nothing in connection with the tour of the Australian team in South Africa is calculated to give more gratification to English cricketers than the complete success which attended J. H. Sinclair, the brilliant all-round player who came over with the last South African team. In that tour he was a bit of a disappoint­ ment as a bat, though he made some good scores. Unfortunately he never got really into run-getting form, and it was more as a bowler than a batsman that he made a name here. His great powers as a bat have been fully proved against the Australians. The only innings of three figures scored against the Australian bowlers were from his bat. There were three of them, too, and as he only played in four matches against them his must be a record. Two of the hundreds were made for South Africa, the other for the Transvaal, as the following will show :— October 15, at Pretoria, Fifteen of Transvaal... 108 „ 18, at Johannesburg, South Africa ... 101 November 8, at Cape Town, South Africa ... ...104 A CONTRIBUTOR of the Tatler, in whom I fancy I recognise a very well- known amateur cricketer who knew the subject thoroughly, wrote the following appre­ ciation of Sinclair a few weeks ago :— On his day he is one of the longest hitters I have ever seen, and some of his rapid scoring feats in South Africa will bear comparison with almost anything Jessop has done. Play­ ing at Harrogate for the South Africans v. Yorkshire he drove Rhodes clean out of the ground, the ball hitting the driver of a hansom cab who was sitting on his box on the rank outside the ground. Sinclair has always been a thorn in the side of English teams which have visited South Africa, arid he was particularly successful against Lord Hawke’s last team, which went out in the winter of 1898-9. As was pointed out when he was here Sinclair served throughout the first 18 months of the war as a scout in General French’s force and wan taken prisoner by De Wet, for whom he acted for a short time as interpreter. He however managed to escape after six weeks hard trekking, for at the time the British Army were hard on the heels of the renowned Boer general. When he got back to the English forces the first person he met was, curiously enough, Frank Mitchell, the Yorkshire cricketer—himself a Johannes- burger now—who had played several times against Sinclair for Lord Hawke’s team. T h e Sydney Referee of October 15th, gave prominence to the batting of J. R. Mackay, the Uralla cricketer, who has begun the season in very sensational style. Up-to-date he had made scores of 210, 128 not out, and 108, in his only three efforts with the bat, the first and third innings being ended by his retiring. The Adelaide Observer gives some interesting tables showing the relative successes of ClemHill and Victor Trumper. The figures it may be stated, only take in the most important cricket, that is the inter-state matches for the Sheffield Shield and against English teams in England andAustralia. The Observer pointBoutthat both batsmen curiously made their first appearance in the same season, 1894-95. Trumper, however, was not regarded as of much account at the outset and was not included in the best cricket for two years: cle tt HILL. Against English Teams. No. Times Most of not Total in an inns. out. Runs. inns. Aver. 1891-5........ ................ 3 ... 1 ... 226... 150*.. 113 1896 ... ................ 46 ... 3 ...1196... 130 .. . 27-81 1897-8 ....................... 12 .. 1 ... 829... 200 ... 75-26 1899 ........ .............. 23 ... 1 ... 879... 160 ... 39-9 1901-2 ........ . ... ... 14 ... 0 ... 771... 107 ... 55-7 1932 ........ ............... 52 ... 1 ...1614... 136 ... 3164 Totals .................IcO 7 5515 200 38-56 Against New South Wales. 1694-5 to 1901-2......... 30 ... 3 ...1697... 365*... 62 85 Against Victoria. 1891-5 to 1901-2 .. .. 26 ... 1 ..1128 .. 135 ... 4512 Again t Australian Eleven. 1896 ... .,............... 2 ... 0 ... 50... 74 ... 40 Against Hest of Australia. 1699 ........ ............... 5 ... 1 ... 261... 101*... 65 25 1900 ....................... 2 ... 0 ... 76... 69 ... 38 Totals .,............... 7 1 337 101* 56*16 Grand Totals . 215 12 8757 365* 43*13 VICTOR TRUMPER. Against English teams. 1897-8 ........................ 4 .. .. 0 . .. 32... 23 ... 8 1899 ....................... 48 .. . 3 . .1556... 300*... 34 57 1901-2 .............. .......... 14 .. ,. 0 . .. 868... 67 ... 26*28 1902 .............. „. .. 53 . . 0 . ..2570 .. 128 ... 48-40 Totals ... ,.........119 3 4526 300* 39*.1 Against South Australia. 1891-5 to 1901-2 ........ 18 .. 0 ... 628... 166 ... 34’88 v. Victoria. 1897-8 to 1901-2......... 14 ... 0 ... 594... 230 ... 42 42 v. Australian Eleven. 1899 ........................ 6 ... 0 ... 190... 75 ... S3’16 Against Rest of Australia. 1900 .......... .......... 2 ... 0 ... 90... 49 ... 45 Grand Totals... 169 .. 3 .. 6037... 30.*... 38'£9 A t W o rces te r on M onday , Mr . P. H. F o le y , th e secre ta ry o f th e C oun ty C .C . announced d u rin g th e gene ra l m ee tin g th a t th e ba lance aga in s t th e c lu b am oun ted to £3 076 11s. 6d. A b a z ia r is to be he ld in M a y on beha lf o f th e c lu b fu nds , and g re a t thing s are expected o f it. T h e Hertfordshire County C.C. has a balance in hand of £3 Is. lid ., whereas in 1901 there was a deficit of about £7. The gate receipts, when compared with those of some of the first-class counties, seem hopelessly small, amounting only to £15 3s. 5d., a slight falling off on the previous year. On the other hand match expenses have increased from £272 to £276. At the annual meeting on Monday there was a long discussion as to whether the county ground at St. Albans should be continaed, and eventually it was decided that the committee be in­ structed to enter into an agreement with the St. Albans Town Council for one year. I n the first match cf their tour the Oxford University Authentics were beaten by 46 runs by the Bombay Presidency, for whom Captain Greig scored 204 in the second innings. A t the annual general meeting of the Hampstead C.C. on Thurslay last, Mr. S. S. Pawling nominated Mr. F. R. Spofforth as his successor in the vice­ presidency, and in doing so, mentioned the wonderful services Mr. F. R. Spofforth has rendered the club as a player, during his twelve years of membership. His record is :— BATTING. No. Times of not Total inns. out. runs. Aver. 130 ... 13 ...2116 ... 1808 BOWLING. Overs. Mniddns. Buns. Wickets. Aver. 2515 ... 802 ... 2467 ... 746 ... 7 32 Mr. Spofforth was unanimously elected. Mr. F. C. Wheeler was unanimously re­ elected hon. secretary, and Messrs. L. J. Moon, S. S. Pawling and R. Leigh-Ibbs were elected on the committee. The club unanimously elected Mr. A. E. Stoddart a life member of the club as a mark of their appreciation of his invaluable ser­ vices for so many years. I t was shown at the annual meeting of the Middlesex County C.C. that the match receipts for 1902 exceeded the expenses by about £47. A sum of £4,500 is invested, but the balance in hand has been reduced from £777 to £28S. IR IS H C R IC K E T IN 1902 . (By A C o rre s p o n d e n t.) Continued from page 444.) The one first-class team which visited us— Worcestershire—was as usual brought over by Dublin University. As the Fosters, Simpson-Hayward, Lowe, Wilson and Gauk­ rodger were not playing, it was scarcely a representative county team, but it was too much for the University who were beaten by sevenwickets. Six or seven years ago Dublin University were the strongest Irish cricket eleven, containing such splendid bats as Lucius Gwynn, and his brothers the late A. P. and R. M. (the former a most brilliant hitter and superb wicket-keeper, and the latter a very steady batsman, useful bowler, and still the finest short-slip in Ireland), A. D. Comyn, J. H. Branskill, the late A. M. Porter, and others. The last few years however has seen asaddeteriorationbothinbattingand bowling,