Cricket 1903

J u n e 11, 1903. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 201 for Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge against Notts in 1898. But not only did lie bat w e ll; he took nearly all the Gloucestershire wickets in the first innings, and had the satisfaction of disposing of the redoubtable Jessop by a c and b. The Doctor will be 55 years old on July 18, and has been before the public as a great cricketer for about thirty seasons. F e w things this seascn have been more noticeable than the score made by Worcestershire in their first innings against Cambridge University. The total amounted to 191, of which no fewer than 151 were made by Arnold and Wheldon, while there were 9 extras—that is to say the remaining eight batsmen were respon­ sible for only 31 out of 191, not one of them reaching double figures. The score is worthy of a place in “ Gostip,” and is as follows :— W OEOEfcTEBSHIBE. Bowley, b May ............................... ... 4 ■Wheldon, c and b Ktigwin .......... ... 60 Arnold, not out ................................ ... 101 H. K. Foster, c Dowson, b Keigwin ... 3 W . B. Burns, c Eyre, b Roberts ... 8 Cuffe, lbw, b D ow son........................ ... 7 R. 8. Brinton, b Dowson ................. ... 6 G. 8. Tomkinson, c Hirsch, b May... ... 1 A. W. leases, c and b May................. ... 0 Burrows, b Dowson ......................... ... 0 Solly, b Dowson ................................ ... 8 Lb 7, w 2 ................................ ... 9 T otal......................... ... 191 T w ic e on Saturday was the feat per­ formed of making two separate hundreds in a first-class match. For Worcester­ shire against Cambridge University Arnold scored 101 not out and 128, while for Essex against Notts P. Perrin made 170 and not out 102. Neither of them had previously had this^distinction. T he breakdown in the Yorkshire batting at Lord’s after lunch on the first day of Yorkshire v. Middlesex, was as surprising as anything that has taken place this season. The bowlers were Albert Trott and J. T. Hearne, whose analyses after play was resumed were as follow s:— O. M, E. W . Hearne ........................ 6 1 4 2 4 Trott... ......................... 6 3 6 1 Ball by ball, Hearne’s analysis reads thus:— 1. • • . • -I « B l y t h e ' s analysis after lunch at Old Trafford on the second day of Kent v. Lancashire was almost as remarkable aB that of Heame’s. It was as follows:— O. M. R. W. Blythe ......................... 8 0 5 4 T he Standard Athletio Club de Paris paid its annual visit at Whitsuntide to Antwerp to play a cricket match against the Beerschot Club. In the end the French club won by 9 runs, the scores being, Antwerp 94 and 69, Paris 74 and 98. The only big innings of the match was 50 by M. Herbert Potts, a name which does not strike one as being par­ ticularly like that of a Frenchman. Y o r k s h ir e have for so long enjoyed an immunity from defeat, except at the hands of Somerset, that their downfall before Middlesex and Sussex, coming just after a drawn game not at all in their fa­ vour against Lancashire, took the world more or less by surprise. But just at pre­ sent everything seems to go wrong with the champions. Oneof theirtwo best bow­ lers is hors de combat, and the other cannot get a wicket, while two or three of their men are injured. Such are the ups and downs of county ci icket. S in c e the last issue of “ Cricket ” the “ nineties” have again been greatly in evidence. Thus C. fl. M. Etden made 90, B. M. Dowson 94, C. D. M’lver 99, K. S. Ranjittinbji 93, J. A. Lester 96, F. L. Fane 90, and Langdon 91. O n Monday last, Percy Perrin followed up his two innings of 170 and 102 not tut for Essex against Notts by making 102 not cut against Derby shire. This is by no means a record, for C. B. Fry made four sueceetive hundreds in 1900. W. G. has five times made three successive hundreds, and other men who have done so once are K. S. Kanjitsinbji, A. C. Maclaren, Major Poore, R. E. Foster, W. M. Chin­ nery, Abel, Storer, Tyldesley, Hayward, Hirst and W. G. Quaife. A. C . M. C b o o m e , the old Oxford University and Gloucestershire cricketer, is one of the men who have been chosen to go to America in August with the Oxford and Cambridge golf team. O n Menday E. M. Dowscn headed the battirg averages, having played con­ sistently good cricket all through the Beason as far as it has gone. But his splendid performances in Australia for Lord Hawke’s team seem to have given him an impetus which, it is to be hoped, will take him right to the front rank of batsmen. I t is quite a new thing to see Yorkshire half way down the championship tablewith minus something percent, to their credit. On Monday, Sussex, Middlesex, Notts and Hampshire were all bracketed equal ■with 100 per cent., none of them having lost a match. Sussex, perhaps, held the best position, with three winB and three drawn games, for Middlesex, with three wins and no drawn games, might easily lose a match before they have played as many as Sussex, and then down they would go. B u c k e n h a m , who has been bowling with so much success for Essex this sea­ son only took two wickets in 1901, and scored 67 in four innings. Last year he made 245 runs in 20 completed innings, and bowled 186 3 overs for 660 runs and 18 wicketp, average 36 per wicket. Up to Monday this year he had bowled 138 3 overs for 364 runs and 23 wickets, average 16 per wicket, and had scored 183 runs in seven completed innings. T h e r e is so much bad fielding about nowadays that it is pleasant to be able to refer to a few brilliant catches. One of them was that by which C. F. Kort- light disposed ol A. E. Lawton in the slips; he stopped the tall—a very fast one—with the left hand, and managed to catch it on the rebound with the right hand. Other fine catches were two made at Hastings by C. B. Fry, running at full fpeed. T h e epidemic which is not catching, it is a little comforting perhaps to find, is not confined to the old country alone. Even in Australia, which one is used to regard as the synonym for accuracy in fielding, the dropped catch is causing trouble to the critics, to judge by the following remarks from the pen of “ Felix” of the Australasian :— Taking our own pennant and league matches during the season just closed, writes “ Felix,” I find that very nearly 200 chances were missed. This number is on record in the newspapers, and 1 daresay there were a good many chances given which were not reported. Seldom, indeed, is a big innings played absolutely free from chances, and season after season the same thing happens. The fact is that, with so much net practice, our cricketers have little show of developing their skill in catching. It is true that now and then you will see players on summer evenings at Melbourne and East Melbourne throwing to one another, and hitting out for the purpose of giving ca'ching practice, hut this is merely spasmodic, not systematic, and to have any good result there should be system. You never see a short-slip or extra­ slip or point at evening practice, and it is no exaggeration to say tV-at pretty nearly two out of every three chances missed are missed in the slips. T h e remedy suggested by “ Felix ” is simple enough. “ Why not,” he adds, “ take down the off-side net and the hack net one or two evenings a week, and give fieldsmen a chance to improve? I have seen baseballers in America do wonderful work in the catching line, and they have attained their marvellous skill chiefly hy persistent and well-directed effort day after day. The fielding that our men do on Saturday afternoons is not enough, and so long as the present supineness is continued we shall have the big debit of hundreds of chances missedchronicled against us again and again. In baseball the errors in catching count against a man, and there­ fore the men strain every nerve to become as efficient as possible in the field. Our players should endeavour to emulate the Americaihs, and this can only he done hy regular practice.” It may be of interest to say in this con­ nection that the authorities at the Oval have during the last fortnight had all their ground staff, young and old, out every m o r n iD g when the ground has been free, for a regular game of some two hours before the usual practice at the nets has commenced. What is more, it is satisfactory to be able to add that the games have been very warmly taken up and been greatly eDjoyed by the players for whom they have been instituted. T h e announcement that Mr. Livy Walker has been definitely appointed to the captaincy of the Surrey Eleven for