Cricket 1903

102 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 30, 1903. this. For small-size bats there are no definite weights corresponding to each size. But as small-size bats are usually made from the lighter kind of willow you are not likely to go wrong if you look after the size and chance the weight; that is, as long as you deal with good makers. SOFT OK “ GREEN ” BLADES. When you have got your bat you are liable to disappointment. Not one bat in a hundred feels pleasant to play with until it has been some weeks in use. Sometimes the blade is too soft (or “ green,” as the maker would call it), and gives you the feeling that it is alto­ gether lacking in fibre and drive. Generally, however, a new bat is hard and jars your arms as it meets the ball. HOW TO “ BREAK I N ” TOUR BAT. Blades which are soft at first often turn out to be beauties. But you must be careful how you “ break in ” this sort. The thing above all to avoid is using them against new balls, which are not oaly hard but have, as a rule, protruding seams. By far the best way to put a face on a soft bat is to practise with it at a swinging ball. For this purpose get an oldish ball, make a hole with a bent awl under the seam, string it on a pieoe of cord, and suspend it about a foot from the ground from any convenient beam or branch overhead. You will find much more entertainment than you would expect in tapping the swinging ball with gentle forward or back strokes; and you may even improve your style considerably if you are careful to make each little stroke in good form. But, in any case, you can soon bring a soft bat into good condition by this means. You ought to wipe the face of the blade with an oily rag every day. And the best oil is, I think, a mixture of linseed and olive. Linseed oil neat, unless very sparingly used, seems to make bats too hard. HARD BLADES. Hard bats can only be got into condi­ tion by continual use. They are not at all satisfactory for some time, but when they do come into tune they drive better than any. Anyone who possesses a well- balanced, good-looking bat, which, how­ ever, “ stings like futy,” is advised to persevere with i t ; for it is almost sure to be really an extra good one. It is a mis­ take to oil hard bats much; they need use, not oil. It is worth knowing that practically every bat, provided it is of the proper willow and is not too terribly ill- balanced, can be worked into a good one if persevered with. Dozens of good bats are abandoned as failures simply because their owners do not care for the trouble of breaking them in. The Editor regrets that the pressure of scores during the summer only allows him to guaranteeinsertion of scores of clubs arranging for publication of all their matches. A charge of Is. a match, with a minimum of 21s., is made for the insertion of scores. Odd scores are inserted at 2s. each if space permits. Scores must reach “ Cricket ” Offices, 168, Upper Thames Street, E.C., by first post on Tuesday following the match. W IN T E R A T L E Y T O N . At a few minutes after one o’clock on Thursday last, the Essex County Ground presented a dreary spectacle. True, there were nets in a corner of the ground to remind one that the time of the year was not actually winter, but they seemed quite out of place. Indeed, but for their look of freshness one might have come to the conclusion that they had been for­ gotten by the groundman when he was clearing up last autumn. There was no other sign of life, for even the growing turf seemed to have struck work on account of the cold winds. But in the pavilion there was warmth and life, not to mention an excellent luncheon. In the afternoon, the scene outside changed. Behind the nets two or three solid rows of spectators were sitting, huddled up and shivering, but happy in the knowledge that they were about to see something for nothing—an irresistible attraction to the average man. Presently cricketers in flannels, which looked strangely out of place on such a bitterly cold day, brightened up the scene, and practice was in full swing. The crowd behind the nets soon noticed that Alfred Shaw and Mead, two of the three bowlers who had been specially engaged by Mr. C. E. Green to give the Essex team some early practice, were absent. The former, it appeared, had received a sudden call to visit Arthur Shrewsbury, who was said to be danger­ ously ill, while the latter was not well enough to turn oat. But nearly all the Essex eleven were present, with the exception of Mr. A. P. Lucas, Young and Mr. Tosetti. The past and present captains took no part in the practice, but watched the doings of the rest of the team with the greatest interest. Mr. Owen is notoriously an optimist, and he was the only spectator on the field who tried to convince himself that the weather was suitable for cricket; he boldly faced the breezes without an overcoat, and in a blazer did not shiver much more than other people. Mr. Borradaile and Mr. C. E. Green were among the spectators, both looking hearty and particularly cheerful. The wickets were of the sort which modem cricketers have tacitly agreed to describe as “ not very clever ” ; they had all sorts of paces and required as much humouring as a motor car. It was therefore, only natural that Peel should have been quite in his element, and as he passed from one batsman to another, one heard occasional grunts which sounded like “ Good Lord ! ” from the spectators, who thus expressed their astonishment at some particularly awkward ball of his. Not only Peel, but every other bowler was able at times to do brilliant things— to bowl shooters which broke nearly a foot, to defeat a batsman by a ball which came off the ground twice as fast as anything hitherto had done, to delude him with another ball which stood almost still after it pitched instead of hurrying on as it ought to have done. Eager enquiries were made of Mr. Perrin by the new captain whether he would like to go on as first or second change in the matches, and the bowler, after stating that he thought first change would suit him, tried to explain to an unbelieving world just how it was that such and such a ball of his had done exactly what he intended it to do. Everyone was anxious to see how Mr. A. J. Turner would shape after a season’s absence, and for any trace of weakness that he showed he might have been steadily practising against the best of bowling for a month. Both he and Mr. Perrin batted in the outside net, so that a spectator, without fear or trembling, could stand at silly point as it were, the very best place in the world for seeing exactly what is in a batsman’s mind when a ball is coming to him. To a timid or nervous batsman it is not at all pleasant to feel that a dozen critics are steadily gazing at him from the distance only of a few feet, but there is not much timidity or nervousness about either of the Essex batsmen. Mr. Ramalu, a Clifton College boy from Eastern lands, also batted at this net, and was not quite as comfortable as the two experienced hands. He has shown great promise at school, and as far as one can judge from seeing an Asiatic batting on a beastly cold day, which must be miserable to him, he ought to be very useful to Essex in years to come. He is not very big, but puts power into his strokes and has evidently a good eye; he is said to be a first-rate field, a point which is not likely to be urged against him when it comes to be a question whether he shall appear in the Essex X I. or n o t; for fielding is not the very strongest point of the team at present. A good deal of interest was taken in the doings of a new wicket-keeper. As it happened, the batsmen seldom let a ball pass them, and although Mr. McGahey went on with his leg breaks he could not succeed in giving the wicket­ keeper much to do. It was not an ideal day for wicket-keeping, but the recruit, who has two or three faults which can easily be eradicated, shaped well enough. Altogether, this early practice — the second enjoyed by the team this year— was highly interesting, and from the point of view of Essex cricketers, quite satisfactory, W. A. B. LONDON COUNTY v. ANERLEY.—Played at the Crystal Palace Ground on April 23. A n e r l e y . P. Hodes, b Gamble... 20 G. F. Newton, c W. G. Grace, b Greenway,. 6 L. Walker, b Green­ way ........................ 9 D. G. Newton, c Hay­ wood, b Greenway... 18 R. M. Bell, b Grace, jun.......................61 V.R. IJromage, notout 47 G.Pullen, at Haywood, b Grace, jun............. 0 P. H. Jennings, c Gale, b H.-Pritchard ... 2 Lawrence, c and b Grace, jun................ F. Olman, b Hesketh- Pritchard................. W . Pullen, b Hesketh- Pritchard................. H.8timson,bHesketh- Pntchard................. Extras ... ... ,, 3 Total ...177 W. G. Grace, jun., c Lawrence, b Pullen 21 W. L. Murdoch, b Oldman .................15 R. Kenward, c Bell, b Lawrence.................68 P. G. Gale, c Bell, b Hodes........................18 L on don C o u n t y . Greenway.b Walker... 48 C. T. A. Wilkinson, c Lawrence, b Hodes 30 C. Haywood, not out 6 Extras ... .. ... 10 Total (6 wkta) 222