Cricket 1903

258 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J uly 9, 1903. offer to go out, and when the field told me that a catch had been made I appealed to Thoms. He replied, ‘ Out. You know you’re out, Mr. Charles.’ But all the game I didn’t know. I don’t think either a batsman or a wicket-keeper can always know whether a ball has been touched or not. I once caught L. C. H. Palairet at the wicket, and he said nothing but went out. Afterwards he told me that he didn’t think he touched the ball, but I was quite sure he had, and the umpire gave him out without any hesitation or doubt whatever. But I asked Llewellyn, who was bowling at the time, what he thought about it, and he said he was sure that Palairet had not touched the ball.” “ What do you think about the various proposed reforms for lowering the scores ? ” “ I thought that the proposed widening of the wickets was quite wrong, for it would not have affected batsmen on plumb wickets, but would have done so when wickets were bad and runs very difficult to make. It seems to me that a higher wicket would help the bowler a lot in fine weather, but would not do so very much when the pitch was slow, and for this reason it would be an innovation which would be much more likely to give all-round satisfaction. On the other hand, a higher wicket would be danger­ ous for wicket-keepers, and speaking as a wicket-keeper, I think we ought to be considered a little. I am not at all sure whether it would be a good thing for professionals to become law makers, but I think that when there is a proposal to alter a law they should be consulted. Their opinions would most certainly be worth a good deal more than those of some of the old cricketers, who, however famous in their day, never see anything of first-class cricket nowadays. For most of the modem professionals are sensible and practical men, and many of them know a very great deal about the game. By all means it would be a sensible move to consult them. But the question is whether it is advisable to legislate for first-class cricket only, or for all cricketers. As for drawn matches there is no doubt in my mind that a great number of them are due to the tremendous amount of cricket played nowadays. Men get slack and tired, and naturally enough the fielding then becomes poor.” “ Do you think it would be of any use for men to practise fielding ? ” “ I don’t quite see how you are going to do it, during the season at any rate. For where are you going to find the time for it ? Men have quite enough to do to play two county matches a week. But I have no doubt that if more notice were taken of fielding in the Press it would gradually improve. At piesent. no one, not even players themselves, seems to take any great interest in fielding, and I can say that, as captain of the Hampshire team, I was frequently advised to try men on the ground that they were fair field* as well a* moderate bats. Fair fields! Of what use are they in first-class cricket, or any other kind of cricket for the matter of that ? I may perhaps add that when a man has made a really brilliant attempt to bring off an almost impossible catch he feels it a little hard when he reads in the paper the next morning that he badly missed So and So. Just after one of the test matches in Australia a representative of a paper came to me—one of the best critics in Australia—and said, ‘ It was Jones who missed that catch at slip, wasn’t it ? ’ I said, ‘ You’re a sensible man and will understand. If you say that Jones made a splendid attempt to make the catch and missed it, but that hardly any other man on either side could have got near it, you would be accurately describing what happened.’ He afterwards told me that he found I was quite right. Again, in a Hampshire match against Surrey Lockwood hit at a ball wide of the wicket and turned it a lot. On the next morning I read that ‘ Lockwood was badly missed at the wicket by Robson.’ I have often been asked to give advice as to the best way in which to learn to keep wicket, and I reply that I once asked Blackham how he accounted for a man being a brilliant wicket keeper. He said, *I can’t tell you more than Adam. For myself, I only know that I take the ball by a sort of instinct.’ ” “ Some people seem to think that many modern batsmen only get runs by instinct P” “ Perhaps they do on plumb wickets. But it is a very different thing when the bowlers have the upper hand. One of the best innings I ever saw in my life only amounted to 36 runs. It was by Tyldesley, in Australia, on a terribly difficult wicket; he never made the slightest mistake of any kind, and played perfect cricket from first to last. I think that in some measure long scores are due to the statisticians, who make so much of averages. Men go in with the idea of getting set and increasing their averages; not of helping to win the game. I have heard fine batsmen bemoaning their fate in the most pitiful manner because they happened to make only twenty or thirty in three or four innings, and yet their side had been winning all its matches.” Mr. Robson tells an amusing tale about an up-country match in Australia. “ In the match before this one,” he said, “ the up-country team had won the toss and kept us in the field for a day and a-half in intense heat. I said to Maclaren, ‘ Archie, this will never do. If you lose the toss this time your team won’t be a bit of good in the next big match. You must really win the toss.’ He replied that he didn’t quite see how he could do that for certain. ‘ Let me toss,” I said. He agreed. The up-country captain tossed, and I called ‘ Woman.’ The coin came up ‘ heads,’ whereupon I said that we would go in. He thought a moment and said that he didn’t quite understand about ‘ woman.’ So I said, ‘ Well let’s toss again. He tossed and I called * head.’ It came up ‘ tail.’ So I said ‘ Well, honours are easy.’ We therefore tossed again, and this time I won, and saved the side from disaster.” W. A. B e t t e s w o r t h . INCOGNITI V. MOOR HALL.—Played at Harlow on June 27. M oor H a l l . H.C.Tebbutt,bThring 22 J. E. Mellor, c Flem­ ing, b Mann ..........28 G. E. Winter,b Mann 31 W. P. Robertson,lbw, b Thring.................28 R. H. Green-Price, c Johnson, b Thring 14 C. Tasker-Evans, b Mann ................. 3 N. Partridge, c Flem­ ing, b Mann ..........21 M. Dawson, lbw, b Fleming ................. 6 E. Lowes, not out ... 44 J . Balfour, b Fleming 7 W. E. Deards, c Tod- Hunter, b Thring ... 24 B 14, lb 3, w l ... 18 Total.. ...246 J. J. H. Orman, c Winter, b Tasker- Evans .................71 C. H. M. Thring, c Dawson, b Lowes ... 25 Major Fleming, b Partridge.......... ... 75 I n c o o n it i . P. B. Vanderbyl, c& b Tasker-Evans ... 81 Major Orman, b Teb- butt ........................ 23 S. L. Mann, not ou t.. 3 B 13, lb 2, w 2, nb 3 20 Total B. Todhunter, D. Johnson, E. Johnson, S. John* son, and Capt. Wood did not bat. ALLEYN (2) v. HONOR OAK (2).—Played at Honor Oak on June 27. A lle y n (2 ). L. White, b Adamson A. White, b Adamson C.Hud8on,b Adamson S. Wood, b F ry.......... R. Vining, b Fry L. S. Emms, b Fry ... Green, b Fry .......... Thompson, hit wkt, b Gatehouse, not out .. Gates, b Adamson ... Bolton, b Adamson ... B 2 ,lb 1 .......... Total H onor O a k (2). T. J. Gracey, b Gates 108 S.J. Dickason, b Gate­ house........................41 E. Holford, c and b Emms .................60 C. D. Hayes, c and b Emma ................. 6 D. Bennett, run ou t.. 42 H.C.Worth,cL.White, b Gates ................. 6 F. Tobitt, c Gates, b Thompson ............ 56 W. Woodroofe, c Thompson, b Green. 0 R. K. Crump, b Green 3 H.W.Adamson,notout 6 F. Fry, b Gatehouse... 0 B14, lb 1, nbl... 16 Total ...........333 NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK v. UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA.—Played at Lower SydeDham on July 4. N a tio n a l P eo vin cial B a n k . J. W . Richards, b E. Innocent, not out 61 Willis........................61 C. Hughe?, n otou t... 7 A. Harrison, b Willis 25 Extras .................10 A. D. Phillips, c D.ivis b Willis .................45 Total (3 wkts) *199 A. King, E. H. Stocks, J. Price, W . File, 0. Pennington, and A. F. Ayten did not bat. * Innings declared closed. U nion B a n k of A u str a l ia . Wilson, b Stocks ... 14 Hepper, b K ing.......... 0 Beck, b Innocent ... 23 Verrall, b Innocent ... 6 Gardner, b Innocent... 3 Willis,c and b Harrison 10 Dawson, b Harrison... 6 Langford, absent ... Baose, jun., not out... Sioae, sen., b King ... Davis, b King .......... Extras................ Total .......... 0 6 4 1 7 80 QUERNMORE SCHOOL v. SELHURST PARK OLD BOYS.—Played at Quernmore on July 4. Q u b r n m o r b S c h o o l . G. Davies, not out ... 0 Extras................. Total (4 wkts) 179 H. J. Green, b Lough 45 J. Zimmerman, lbw, b Feaver .................95 B.H.Tucker, b Feaver 29 A.F.Meier, c Watts, b Lough ................. 2 E. Patrickson, 8. D. Carpenter, A. C. Jepson, C. K. Sheridan, F. G. Scott and F. P. Jepson did not bat. S e l h u b st P a r k O ld B o t s . Watts, c Carpenter, b Patricks jn .......... 2 S. Air, b Patrickson 33 L. Feaver,1b Carpenter 2 Z. Lough, c Carpenter, b Patrickson.......... 4 Elliott, b S cott..........14 R. Air, b Patrickson... 2 K. Page, b Scott ... 12 P. Clank, c Carpenter, b Scott ................. 4 Merrill, b Patrickson 1 Garwood, not out .. 4 Sandall, b Patrickson 0 Extras ..........12 Total , 94