Cricket 1903

186 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 4, 1903. had died and had been resuscitated, with 85 young members. “ 1 intimated to the secretary ” he says:— “ That this number was in itself a source of danger, as eleven men only would be required each Saturday, and thus a large proportion of the members would be idle, and, if keen, would be anxious to be playing. Besides, supposing in that number you have three wicket-keepers, one of whom is far and away tie best of the three; your selection committee or captain will always be wanting to play him, and the other two will always be wanting to play too, and that may lead to friction and unpleasantness.” “ Well,” he said, “ you have exactly described our case. We have three wicket-keepers, and one of them is ever so much better than the others. But we won’ t have the least difficulty. No,” he added, thoughtfully, “ I’ m sure we won’t, quite sure.” I failed to see how that could be. It was a problem wholly beyond me. I told him that I thought he was mistaken, but he still adhered confidently to his own view of the case, and then, with the utmost gravity, explained the matter thus: “ Well, you see, sir, it’ s just like this. The fellow who is our best wicket-keeper is the amateur champion boxer. We won’t have any trouble with the others. No, I ’m sure we won’t —quite sure ! ” In this week’s Punch there is a most effective cricket cartoon by Barnard Partridge. Apsrt from its obvious merits as a drawing it has the unusual advan'age of being perfect in detail, and it ought to be framed in every cricket pavilion as an example of what may be done by an artist who understands the game. The legend baneath it is as follow s:— DURING THE INTERVAL. Right Hon. J. Ch-mb-rl-n. “ I say, Arthur, don’t you think we might declare our innings closed now ? ” Eight Hon. Arth-r B-lf-r. “ Oh, fielding’s such a bore. Let's lose a few more wickets first! ” [ “ It is rumoured that Mr. Chamberlain is in favour of an early dissolution.” Daily Paper.] E. W . M a n n , who made 64 in the second innings of Cambridge v. Yorkshire last week was in the Harrow X I. for three years. His scores against Eton were 44 and 3, 4 and 16, and 69. Last year he did well for the Freshmen at Cambridge, and for the Sixteen against the X IL , bat in the trial matches he only made 89 in eight innings. W hen C. B. Fry had made 78 for Sussex v. Gloucestershire at Brighton on Tuesday, he played a ball to mid-on and ran a single. But the wicket-keeper appealed, on the ground that in making the stroke Fry had broken the wicket. The umpire, T. Mycroft, ruled that he had completed the stroke before doing this, and Fry continued his innings. A case like this is often a v .ry nice question to decide; and the umpire can only act on his own judgment. Q u it s a lot of men j ust failed to make their hundred in the matches at the beginning of this week. Denton made 98 and 84, Knight 95 (ran out), Iremonger93, Hayes 95, E. I. M. Barrett 92, E. M. Sprott 96, C. B. Fry 83, while G. L. Jessop was within 14 of his third hundred. A. J. L. Hill was not out 98 on Tuesday evening, but brought his total to 150 yesterday. ------ F. S. J ackson has so far only played in two matches for Yorkshire, but in the second match, against Lancashire this week, he showed that his value as an all­ round man cannot be over-estimated. In the second innings when things were going very badly for his side he played beau< i'ul cricket for 48, and in the first innings of Lancashire he brought about a startling change in the fortunes of the game by taking six wickets for 20 runs after lunch. “ I gnoramus ” writes from Dublin. Last week T. C. Ross, who played for Gentlemen v. Players last year, and whose peculiar run when bowling attracted much comment, took nine wickets for 10 runs for Phoenix Park v. Clongowes College. The total of the innings was 29, of which 21 were made by one man, while there were seven byes. F u tu re historians may be glad to note that in the matches on Monday, Blythe was bowling for two hours at a stretch, Dr. Grace and Kermode for two hours after luncheon, while Barnes bowled unchanged for Lancashire at Old Traf- ford for three hours and a quarter. Q u ite a lot of new men have already come to the front this year, among them being the Rsv. F. H . Gillingham, the curate of Leyton, who has played with such success for Essex this year, Bucken- ham, who has created almost a sensation, Sewell, who did very little last year, Gill, who has done far better for Leicester­ shire than he ever did for Somersetshire, A. W. Isaac, and one might almost say Lord Hawke, who is batting almost as well as he did twenty years ago and more. I t is so seldom that a professional manages to distinguish himself when a benefit match is being played on his behalf that William Gunn may be highly congratulated on playing a splendid innings of 112 on Monday, against Surrey —Whit Monday at that. It will be remembered that Gunn’s first benefit match was quite spoiled by rain, as was his second last year, and that the com­ mittee decided that he should have a share of the gate in Surrey v. Notts this year. A lthough John Gunn’ s innings of 294 still holds the field against all comers this season, G. L. Jessop’s 286 is un­ doubtedly the more remarkable. It was made in less than three hours and practi­ cally with only a tingle partner, Board, who helped him to increase the score by 320. Jessop hardly made a mistake throughout the innings. His previous highest innings was 233 against York­ shire. T h e r e was some very noticeable con­ trasts in the scoring on Monday. At Lord’s 537 were made for the loss of II wickets in Middlesex v. Somerset; at Trent Bridga 420 for 6 wickets in Notts v. Surrey; at O il Trafford 405 for 11 wickets in Yorkshire v. Lancashire; at Brighton 480 for 9 wickets in Gloucester­ shire v. Sussex; at Leicester 377 for 11 wickets; and at Southampton 442 for 11 wickets with a total of 2,661 for 59 wickets, or an average of over 40. On the other hand at Leyton in Essex v. Kent 20 wickets fell for 357; at Worces­ ter 20 for 309 in Worcestershire v. War­ wickshire, a total of 666 for 40 wickets, average 16. I n the Lancwhire team which opposed Yorkshire at Old Trafford there were no fewer than eight amateurs, and, for the first time for many years, not a single Yorkshireman, although for a time Albert Ward came out to field for W. Findlay. A lthough it is not very easy to beat records nowadays, I do not suppose that an uncle and a nephew had, in succession, ever scored a hundred each in the same innings in two first-class matches before W. Gunn, the uncle, and J. Gunn, the nephew, accomplished the feat at Notting- ham against Leicestershire and Surrey. I n their last two county matches Notts have scored 1,381 runs for the loss of sixteen wickets. A t this time of the year the first-class averages are, perhaps, more amusing than interesting, for the greit players have often not settled down, while there are generally some curious surprises. Among the batsmen, C. B. Fry, who headed the list on Monday, R. E. Foster, W. G. Quaife, and W. Gunn are almost the only bats­ men who, on the public form of the past few years, might be expected among the first twelve, while Rhodes and F. B. Wilson have forced their way among the select few. In the bowling list, which is headed by Hargreave, Rhodes comes seventeenth, and Haigh thirty-eighth. F a ir se r v ic e , who played for the Kent Eleven at Leyton on Monday, made his debut for the County last season against Notts. At the end of last week, he had the distinction—for it is still a distinction —of bowling W. G. twice for Kent v. M.C.C. He took seven wickets in the match for 96, and against Essex did very well. He is a Surrey man by birth, and bowls right hand medium pace. S a t u r d a y last was Mr. Charles Abso- lon’s eighty-sixth birthday. Readers of Cricket will be very glad to hear that the old gentleman is still strong and well, and that although he can no longer take an active part in the game, he still follows all its varying phases with great interest, and still manages occasionally to get to Lord’s, which is the nearest first-class ground from his home near Finsbury Park.