Cricket 1902

42 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ar . 27, 1902. experience in this way. They chose a coloured man named Snow, as a bowler pure and simple; he turned out to be about the best bat on the side, while his bowling was quite unsuccessful. Mr. Foster was regarded as nothing but a batsman; he made few runs, but proved to be the only bowler who gave the visitors much trouble. A p b o f it of nearly £1,250 on the past season was announced at the annual meeting of the Leicestershire County O.C. The deficit of last year (£860) has been wiped off. About £7,400 has been sub­ scribed towards the new ground. The home match against Warwickshire is to be played for the benefit of Whiteside. The photograph was taken by Mr. H. H. Cobb. After the dinner, the chairman, Mr. E. L. Marsden, announced that Sir Spencer Maryon Wilson, the club’s land­ lord, had extended the lease of the cricket ground to 1909 on the same terms as before, although the value of land in the district has gone up very much of late. The honorary secretary, Mr. F. C. Wheeler, stated that the financial position of the club was most satisfactory, and that new practice wickets were being made under the superintendence of G. G. Hearne. The arrangements for the dinner were well carried cut by Mr. R. Leigh-Ibbs and Mr. R. A. Hill, assisted by Messrs. W. it. Moon, C. Nicholas, S. S. Pawling, and F. C. Wheeler. B u c k in g h a m s h ir e had a small deficit on last season’s matches; but the outlook is, on the whole, encouraging. Mr. P. J. de Paravicini was again elected captain. The matches against Norfolk have been dropped, as this county is not taking part in the competition this season. Bedfordshire will take the place of Norfolk. A r t h u r S t o p f o r d F r a n c is , the solicitor who was sentenced on March 13th to five years’ penal servitude for frauds committed in his capacity as a trustee, made the following remarks in his appeal to the jury :— “ I wanted to retire to lead a country life. I am a sportsman. I am a bit of a cricketer, they tell me. At the very time I was per­ petrating these—frauds we will call them— I took an eleven down to Rugby to play against my old school, and Mr. Hall’s old school. 1 was equal to making 108 runs against the hoys at that very time. I wanted to lead a country life.” O n March 4th the Metropolitan Dis­ trict Cricket League of New York held its annual meeting. Nearly all the players in the district are either English­ men or from the West Indies, and the secretary of the League, Mr. Fred F. Kelly, was a well-known member of the Stoics and Emeriti some years ago. Two new clubs were admitted to the League, which is now a powerful organisation. The following delegates, some of whom have been well-known in England, were present at the meeting :— F. F. Kelly, C. H . E. Griffiths and A. Forbes (Knickerbocker A.C.). G. C. Boxill, S. B. Standfast and Dr. K. Boocock (Brooklyn C.C.). W. Adam, W. Battles and J. Flannery (Manhattan C.C.). F. J. Chadwick, A. E. Smith and H. G. Humphreys (Nelson Lodge C.O.). A. Nugent, G. W. Barnes and A. B. Lewis (Kings County St. George C.C.). R. T. Rokeby, R. St. G. Walker andM. R. Cobb (Livingston F.C.). F. G. Warburton, G. T. Frost and H. E. Davies (Paterson C.C.). T h e programme issued by the Hamp­ stead C.C. on the occasion of its annual dinner forms an interesting souvenir. A really fine reproduction of a photograph representing Mr. E. L. Marsden in the act of bowling appears on the front page. F. E. S p o f f o r t h , who is now on his way home after a brief visit to Australia, does not think much of our bowling, to judge by the following remarks to an Australian interviewer. As I know of no better judge of the game than “ Spoff.,” his opinions are sure to be interesting. He considered that the only first-class bowler in England was Rhodes. The old bowlers had fallen off and no one had come forward to take their places. There was a great deal of throwing. He knew fifteen or twenty good bowlers who threw at times. He never saw Jones, the South Australian, throw, but he was convinced that Mold threw at times. He did not see how they could well stop all throwing. He did not think that at present there was a wicket­ keeper in the same street as Blackham. “ Ranji.” was certainly the best batsman in England, Fry was next and Maclaren third. To h e a r of H. H. Massie once again in the field and, what is more, in run- getting form, will be welcome news to those who remember that most brilliant of Australian batsmen. Two other Aus­ tralians with a high reputation in their time on English ground—Dr. R. J. Pope and W. Camac Wilkinson—were repre­ senting the Union Club against the Australian Club in Sydney in the match in which H. H. M. took part early last month. The Australian Club, who were sent in by their opponents to bat, declared with half their wickets down for 279. Massie and Dr. W. C. Wilkinson, who played for Middlesex some fifteen years ago, opened the batting for the Union Club with a little over an hour left for play. In this time they hit up 120 without loss, Massie scoring 50 and Wilkinson 63. A g o o d deal, and rightly, has been made by the Australian press out of Mr. Maclaren’s refusal to play the match at Bathurst if Marsh, the aboriginal, was allowed to play for the local team, and also of the action of his deputy, Mr. Robson, in closing the innings at Mel­ bourne at the commencement of the second day of the match against the Country team. Without in any way entering into the facts of the former case one can only express regret in the interests of cricket, and particularly of the reputation of English cricket, that several things were done during the tour which might well have been left undone. Certainly recent events justify a strong expression of opinion that there ought to be some definite understanding and some uniform action in respect of umpiring in the inter-change of visits between Eng­ lish and Australian cricketers. I t is hardly necessary to remind Cricket readers that Marsh is the aboriginal fast bowler of New South Wales who was no-balled nineteen times by R. Crockett, the umpire in the return match with Victoria 1ast year “ Not out,” of the Sydney Referee, calls atten­ tion to the fact that all the Sydney umpires passed Marsh this last season, adding that as far as he could see Marsh had in match cricket discarded the fast- curving ball to which exception had, in ‘ Not out’s ” opinion, been rightly taken. Anyway, Marsh’s record for the Sydney club this winter until February 12th was particularly good. 2 for 27 and 7 for 19, v. Leichhardt Balmain. 5 for 114, y. Paddington. 2 for 74, v. North Sydney. 5 for 31, v. Glebe. 7 for 27 and 3 for 32, v. Central Cnmberland. 8 for 34, y. Burwood. In the Burwood match at one time he had taken five wickets for no runs. In Inter-State cricket in 1900-1 he took twenty-four wickets at an average cost of 22-37. I n d iv id u a l scores of over two hundred are not so plentiful that the snapper up of unconsidered trifles can afford to overlook one. Curiously enough, both the innings which have come under my notice this month were recorded in Tasmanian cricket. Savigny’s 214 has already been mentioned. The other was C. W. Patrick’s 242 not out for D. and W. Murray v. Bierae and Co., at Brisbane, early last month. In his score, which was made, so it is said, in a little over two hours, were forty-two 4’s. That he is a gentle tapper is further confirmed by the fact that just before this, in anothermatch, he scored 109 for his club in fifty-five minutes. Another instance of fast scoring about the same time, also at Brisbane, was P. J. Carew’s 103not out, for Toowong v. Valley. He was only in while 142 were added, and his 103 contained four 5’s and seventeen 4’s. I t is now definitely settled that the Gentlemen of Philadelphia will be seen in England next year and with a repre­ sentative side. Their last visit was in 1897, and their idea is to play most of the first-class counties, with M.C.C. and Ground, the two universities, and, if possible, the Gentlemen of England. So far arrangements have already been made for matches with the Marylebone Club and Ground, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and Warwickshire. As there is every reason to believe that the other counties concerned, as well as the two universities, will extend a hearty wel­ come, a thoroughly satisfactory pro­ gramme should be assured. T h e defeat of New South Wales by Mr. Maclaren’s team was the more satis­ factory to the Englishmen from the fact