Cricket 1903

CRICKET, JULY 2, 1903. “ T oge th e r jo ined in C r ick e t ’s m an ly t o i l .” — Byron. h o . 0 3 3 . v o l . x x i i . THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1903. p r i c e a a . CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. ME. A. M. MILLER. As captain of the Wiltshire team, Mr. Miller may be proud of the success last year of his county, which was at the head of the second-class championship — a success which was not a little due to the able way in which the eleven was led. Mr. Miller was at Eton, but hardly played any cricket at all until he went to Cambridge, where he was in the Trinity Hall eleven. He was also a member of the extinct and exclusive Magpies C.C. For some years after leaving Cam­ bridge he played club cricket at Thombury, the home of Dr. E. M. Grace, and about eleven years ago he began to play for Wiltshire under a residential qualification. He had come under the notice of the committee by his many fine feats with the ball for the well-known Lans­ down C.C. Perhaps his best all-round performance for Wiltshire was against Bucks at Bletchley, when, in addition to scoring over seventy runs out of 153 on a crumbling wicket, he dis­ missed seven batsmen for twenty-seven. His highest score for Wiltshire was 114 not out against London County. As Mr. Miller has often played at Thornbury, the home of the ever-enthusi- astic Dr. E. M. Grace, he has often enjoyed the plea­ sure of listening to the Doctor’s inimitable tales. “ E. M. tells a tale,” he said, “ that an officer named F. A. Jones, who was in a Welsh regiment, was on his side. In putting down the order of going in, E. M., who did not know the officer’s initials, merely put Jones, and the4 list was then given to a reporter. Now F. A. Jones—it may have been some, other name—was a member of I Zingari, and was wearing the club colours. In the account of the match in a local paper it was stated that ‘ next to appear was the mysterious Jones, wearing the well-known City of Glou­ cester colours ! ’ Another tale which E. M. tells with much pleasure, though it is against himself, is that the umpire on the other side had given three shockingly bad lbw decisions against the you goin’ to give any of ’em out to-day, Doctor F’ ‘ No,’ replied E. M. firmly, Not till I’ve given three in ! ’ ” ) y ° second-class counties, approve of the re s i “ Do ou, like the other captains of HB. A . M. HILLKR. (From a photo Elliott it Fry, Balter Street, London.) side of the Doctor, who was himself one of the victims. Now in those days it was customary for a man after he had had his innings to stand as umpire, and almost as soon as E. M .’s turn came there was an unanimous appeal for a catch at the wicket. 1Not out,’ said E.* M. The man who was bowling turned to him and said, ‘ What, ain’t method of scoring now used in your com­ petition P” “ I am an ardent advocate of it; indeed, I proposed it. It was a very great suc­ cess last year. But I must admit that the new system imposes a great responsi­ bility on a captain, though I hardly think that its possi­ bilities are quite realised yet. Let me give an example. Let us say that Surrey Second had to play Dorset, and that it was very important to them to win the match in order to gain their three points. Let us also suppose that the weather was settled, and that rain was not likely to fall. It would be better for Surrey if they won the toss to put their opponents in, because by so doing they would have a far better chance of winningthe match. I have, of course, instanced Dorsetshire as being a team whichwould almost certainly be beaten by Surrey Second if the match were played out. But how often in similar circumstances has a captain put the other side in first ? Not often, I think.” “ Had you an opportunity of doing this yourself ? ” “ I am convinced that Wiltshire won the second- class county championship last year simply because we put Monmouth in first when we won the toss. We knew that if we could get the threepoints we should be top, and as we had beaten this county four or five times in succession, we were naturally not much afraid of defeat. We won by four wickets, and it was worth the risk. The system of scoring makes each member of a team play more for his side than for himself, and this alone is a great consideration. The interest ia a match is maintained