Cricket 1903

THE FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. M a y 14, 1903. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 131 BUSSEY’S = 0 9 C D BUSSEY’S M iJ O Ut ta c o D - OQ UJ _ (J h " »J LU W LU fa p= i s w CO a oq £ 2 s ^ ua> LU S LU .5 CO « * CO CO H 3 GO CO CO o w ou £ o -+Ja 0 S s AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F. S. A sh lb y-O oop h r. The meeting at Lord’s on the 6th inst. to decide whether the size of the wicket should be increased, created much inter­ est in cricketing circles. So divided was opinion on the matter that it was gener­ ally considered that the proposal to enlarge the wicket, although recom­ mended by the General Committee and the Cricket Sub-Committee of the M.C.C., would not receive sufficient support at the Annual General Meeting to become law. This view proved to be the correct one, for although 215 members of the club favoured the alteration and 199 dis­ approved of it, the two-thirds’ majority required in order to effect a change in the rule was not forthcoming. There can be little doubt that the decision to continue with the 27-inches-by-8 wicket has given general satisfaction, especially as it had been previously announced that the alter­ ation, if sanctioned, would come into force on the 1st prox. Why the Com­ mittee of the M.C.C. did not suggest that the larger wicket, if approved, should be experimented with in a few matches at Lord’s ere being incorporated in the laws is difficult to imagine. It is also not easy to conjecture why only 414 members voted on the matter, considering that the names of 4,847 appeared on the roll of the club for 1902. Were the members as a body so little interested in the subject that they did not trouble to record their votes ? If so, should the decision of such vital matters be allowed to rest with such a body ? It is universally recognised that the members of the M.C.C. do not con­ stitute as perfect a tribunal as cricketers generally would desire; the Club cer­ tainly is not respected by cricketers as the Jockey Club is in the racing world. One cannot fail to recognise, however, that the M.C.C. has always had the best interests of cricket at heart, and has always striven its utmost to do good for the game. But to state that the voting of 414 members —less than ten per cent, of the numbers on the books—recorded the exact feelings of the Marylebone Cricket Club on the matter under discussion would be inaccurate and absurd. Mr. Steel’s speech, in which he strongly recommended the members present to vote for the proposed alteration, and so support their Committee, was most inter­ esting, although one could not help feel­ ing that his case was not a very strong one, nor his arguments convincing. His opinion, which, by-the-way, was shared by Lord Harris, that fielding is to-day as good as it was thirty years ago, evidently came somewhat as a surprise to the majority of those present. Three de­ cades ago many of the grounds, including Lord’s, were rough and bumpy, and the fieldsman, when after a ball, could not judge its course as one would be able to do on the smooth out-fields of to-day. Yet, despite the difficulties with which the players of a past generation had to contend, one very seldom indeed heard it said, “ The fielding was very slack.” Dropped catches are nowadaysresponsible for thousands of runs, which remark could not have been made with truth 30 years ago. The perfect wickets of modern days are, no doubt, responsible for some of the poor fielding witnessed, as they are the means of keeping before the public veterans who can still score well but whose fielding ability has sadly deterior­ ated. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Steel said—presumably with reference to the subject of fielding: ‘ ‘ I tell you what we did not have; we did not have statis­ tics in the Press.” Did Mr. Steel infer that more notice is taken nowadays than formerly by statisticians concerning dropped catches and blunders in the field ? If so, the statisticians are surely not to blame for pointing out a man’s failings in a department of the game to which he devotes but scant attention and one in which he is capable of very great improvement. Or did Mr. Steel wish one to suppose that present-day matches are reported in greater detail than formerly ? If the latter, some of the excellent descriptions which appeared forty, fifty and even sixty years ago in Bell's Life, would astonish him owing to their wealth of detail. Can even Mr. Steel deny that the exhibitions of catch­ ing—or, rather, non-catching—occasion­ ally seen on county grounds, are enough to make a vessel’s heart bleed ? First- class cricketers, by which is meant those taking part in the great exhibition matches, never practise catching, and possibly never have done so. And how can a man expect to excel in a matter to which he devotes little (if any) attention ? Compared with the past, there is another point upon which present-day cricket does not appear in a favourable light. I refer to the importation of colonial players. Llewellyn (Hants), Trott and Boche (Middlesex), Kermode and Mehta (Lancashire), and Cuffe (Worcestershire) are a few instances. Are good - class players in England really so rare that the aid of imported men must be resorted to P More attention is given in Australia to bowling and fielding than is the case here; hence the great number of good players out there. But for the time and thought Australians bestowed on bowling and fielding, a country, whose whole population falls considerably short of that of London, would never have been able to defeat England at her own game. The importation of Colonials to take part in county cricket should be condemned strongly. Mr. W. J. Ford, in his book on Middlesex cricket, says— “ If the cases of Albert Trott and Eoche be cast in our teeth as instances of the importation of cricketers, the retort is obvious and fair, namely, that if Middle­ sex had not made haste to secure their services, some other county would only have been too glad to do s o ; it was the instinct of self-preservation in days when only one county, I believe, can boast of a purely native eleven.” Such a confession on the part of Mr. Ford is an acknow­ ledgment of the existence of a very un­ desirable feeling in present-day cricket. At the present time a laudable attempt is being made to bring Devonshire cricket to a higher standard of excellence than