Cricket 1903

A u g . 13, 1903. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 341 T H E G E N T L EM E N OF PH ILADE LPH IA . THE SURREY MATCH. SIXTEENTH OF THE TOUR . Played at the Oval on August 6, 7 and 8. Gentlemen of Philadelphia won by 110 runs. All through this match the Americans played up to their very beet form, and they may fairly claim to have outplayed Surrey. But it was not until ten minutes from time that they were able to claim a victory, for, driven to bay, the Surrey tail fought with desperation, and very nearly succeeded in bringing about a drawn game. The hero of the match was undoubtedly J. B. King, who, in addition to bowling well, only just missed the distinction of scoring two separate hundreds in the match. On the first day the visitors gave a splendid account of themselves, remaining at the wickes until stumps ■were drawn, and scoring 349 with seven men out. For the greater part of the time their batting was accurate and methodical, without being in the least enterprising, but their procedure was thoroughly justified by success. The methods of Sharpless, who was at the wickets for two hours and a half for 30, have come in for a good deal of adveree criticism, although it is not very easy to see why this should be the case, for he was only following the time honoured system by which Bannerman, Scotton, Barlow, "Willie Quaife, and dozens of other great batsmen became famous. He went in first, and served his side well by remaining there and leaving others to make the runs. At one time during his innings he was nearly 40 minutes without scoring a run, but even this is nothing out of the common. He and Graves put up 63 for the first wicket, and then he remained with Lester until the total was 119. Lester played a very pretty innings in a very attractive style, although he was not at all aggressive ; he was at the wickets an hour and fifty-five minutes. By the time that he was dismissed the edge had been taken off the Surrey bowling, which was never very dangerous, and King, Bohlen and Wood all took advantage of their opportunity. They were all in good form, and all played exceedingly go:d cricket. King was at his best, and he certainly played the most pleasirg innings of the day. Be had brought his total to within two runs of the hundred when, anxious for King to have the honour cf scoring his first hundred of the tour, his partner, A. M. Wood, called him for a short run. There would have been time for the run if King had started promptly, but he hesitated for half a second and was lost. He was batting for two hours and a quarter, and his innings included thirteen fours. His partnership with Wood pro­ duced 118 in seventy-five minutes. On the next morning the innings was brought to a conclusion at half-past twelve, the batting at this stage of the game being very tedious. The wicket was so good that there seemed no reason why Surrey should not make as big a total as the Americans, but they did not shape well against King and Clark, who both kept an excellent length, and varied their pace with judgment. The commencement of tbe innings was disastrous. Surrey went in after a very long inter­ val, a few minutes before one o’clock, and by lunch time they had lost six wickets for 81, the first three men, C»pt. Bush, Hayward and Hayes all being out when the total was 23. The batting was on the whole most disappointing, but Lord Dalmeny played a brilliant innings, which was all too short. His style is somewhat unconventional, and reminds one a little of that of the Webtes; it was pleasant to watch someone with methods entirely his own. After lunch another wicket fell in the first over, and there did not seem the remotest chance that the 132 runs required to save the follow on would be made. But at this moment Lees and Stedman in partnership made such a determined resistance that before they were parted they had increased the score by 61. So far, so good. But with two wickets to fall sixty- eight runs were still required, and before the next wicket fell Lees and Smith had exceeded this number by two. It was a great effort on the part of the two men, and Lees especially was to be congratu­ lated on the judgment which he showed during his innings, which lasted for two hours. Clark and King bowled exceedingly well. In the course of an hour’s play before stumps were drawn, the Ameri­ cans put on 81 for the loss of two wickets, Bohlen being not out 22, and King not out 37. They were thus 227 runs on. It might have been thought that with such a lead, and with eight wickets in hand, the Americans would make runs as quickly as possible, but for about an hour King and Bohlen moved along leisurely. But after this runs came freely enough, and by the time that Lester felt justified in declaring the innings closed, the lead had now reached the formidable figure of 397. KiDg and Bohlen put up 130 in two hours for the third wicket, both playing pretty and correct cricket. King at last had the satisfaction of making a hundred during the tour. He hardly made a mistake during his stay at the wickets of two hours and a half, and he hit eighteen fours, the latter part of his innings being brilliant in the extreme. Surrey with about four hours’ batting before them were not very likely to make the 398 runs required to win, but as the wicket was still excellent they had a good chance of making a draw. They went in at about twenty minutes to two, and lost Bush before lunch. For some time afterwards the Americans seemed almost certain to win with very great ease. The score was taken to 42 before Hayes was finely caught and bowled by King, and then in rapid succession Dowson, Lord Dalmeny, and Moulder were out. Total, 73 for 5 wickets. Things were looking about as bad as they could well be for Surrey, but they were made even worse by two unfortunate and needless mistakes, which resulted in Walker and Lees both being run out. Seven for 117. Meanwhile Hayward had been playing perfect cricket, and he was now joined by Stedman, who helped him so considerably that it began at last to be a question whether after all a defeat might not be staved off. For an hour and a half the two professionals defied the Americans, not content merely to keep up their wickets, but scoring at a good round pace. It was not until ten minutes to six that Stedman was out to a fine catch at slip for the best innings he has ever played in first-class cricket. The partnership produced 134 runs. At six o’clock Smith was caught at slip, and then Richardson made a gallant attempt to keep up his wicket for the remaining half hour. It was an anxious time for the Americans, for they were naturally very keen to win this particular match, and they tried their utmost to induce Richardson to mske a mistake—they must long before this have given up hopes of disposing of Hayward, who had all alongr been playing with a precision which was worthy of all praise. The minutes passed by until only ten were left, and then at last King, to the intense delight of his side, broke through Richard­ son’s defence, and the match was over. Hayward carried his bat for 156, a beautiful innings, which had lasted for three hours and three quarters. G entlem en of P h il a d e l ph ia . First innirgs. Second innings. N. Z. Graves, b Smith ... 33 lbw, b Hayes ... 11 F. C. Sharpless, b Richard­ son ...............................30 J. A. Lester, b Richardson 52 not out...............24 F. H. Bohlen, b Hayes ... 40 st Stedman, b Hayes ...... £8 J. B. King, run out ..........98 not out..............113 A. M. Wood, c Dowson, b Lees ...............................50 b Richardson ... 10 C. C. Morris, not out......... 24 P. H. Clark, c Dalmeny, b Hayes...............................10 lbw, b Hayes ... 19 H. A. Haines, c Hayward, b Richardson ................. 0 E. M. Cregar, c Moulder, b Lees............................... 12 c Dowson,b Hayes 8 T. C. Jordan, c Smith, b H ayes............................... 8 B 25,1b 4,n b l..........30 B 5, lb 1, w l,nb 1 8 Total.......................387 •Innings declared S ubbet . First innings. Capt. H. S. Bush, c Morris, b Clark ........................ 4 Hayward, b Clark ..........10 Hayes, b King .................14 E. M. Dowson, b Clark ... 6 Lord Dalmeny, c King, b Clark .............................. 35 Moulder, b Clark.................10 L. Walker, b King ..........12 Lees, b Sharpless.................68 Stedman, c Jordan, b King 38 Smith, c Morris, b Sharpless 36 Richardson, not out .......... 0 B5, lb 2, n b l .......... 8 Total (5 wkts) *251 closed. Second innings. b Clark................. 4 notout.................IE6 c and b King ... 14 c Jordon, b Clark 0 b Clark................. 0 b King................. 8 run out................ 14 run out................. 4 c Graves, b Clark 57 c Graves, b Clark 3 b King.................12 B7, lb3,w 1, nb 4 15 Total.........241 Total .........287 G entlem en of P h il a d e l ph ia . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W . O. M. ft. W . Dowson ... ... 12 0 42 0 ... ... 5 0 19 0 Lees.............. .. 39 16 74 2 ... ... 12 5 85 0 Richardson ... 44 13 87 3 ... ... 12 1 35 1 Smith ... ... 21 4 52 1 ... ... 9 1 44 0 Hayes ... ... 29 4 75 3 ... .. 19 2 82 4 Hayward . . 4 0 27 0 ... Walker ... !!! 3 0 28 0 Hayward and Walker each delivered a no-ball and Dowson a wide. SUBBEY. O. M. R. W . O. M. R. W . King .......... 25 3 89 3 ........... 24 3 2 98 3 Clark .......... 27 3 102 5 ........... 29 5 112 5 Cregar .......... 6 0 27 0 ........... 5 0 21 0 Lester .......... 3 1 8 0 ........... 6 0 17 0 Sharpless ... 1*50 7 2 .......... 4 2 6 0 Graves .......... 5 0 18 0 Clark delivered two no-balls and one wide and King three no-balls. SOMERSET v. SUSSEX. Played at Taunton on August 6, 7 and 8. Drawn. In this match Bland came into the Sussex team in place of Tate, while S. M. J. Woods and F. A. Phil­ lips were unable to play for Somerset. This gave a chance to G. C. Vassall. the well-known Association footballer, and O. M. Samson, the Cambridge blue. Somerset were batting during nearly the whole of the first day, but only scored 236 runs. Even L. C. H. Palairet, who went in later than usual, was content to play an exceedingly cautious game, and indeed the only time during the entire innings when the cricket was really attractive to watch was during the part­ nership of Lee and Johnson, when 60 runs were put on in 50 minutes. Sussex went in for half-an-hour and scored 38 without being separated. Fry was not out 26 and Vine not out 8. On the next day these two men took the total to 121 before Braund bowled Fry, who had played with his usual precision. The part­ nership had lasted for an hour and 50 minutes. For the rest of the day the bat had the mastery over the ball and when stumps were drawn tbe innings, which had just come to an end, totalled 386. The best innings was the 90 made by Brann, who made his runs out of a total of 150 while he was at the wicket; he was batting for a couple of hours, and at times hit with great boldness. Vine played a very patient innings and Killick made a pretty 44. It was c'early evident when the third day’s play began that unless Somerfet failed completely to do themselves justice, the game could not be finished, for the wicket was in excellent order. As things turned out, Somerset had no difficulty in knocking off the adverse balance of 150, but on the other hand although they made a big score they did not feel inclined to give Sussex apossible chance of losing the match. Consequently, they contented themselves with remaining at the wickets all day for the loss'of eight wickets. It was a most unsatisfactory day for the Sussex bowlers who had nothing whatever to hipe for, and it hardly seemed a wise policy on the part of Somerset. S omebset . First innings. Second innings. Braund, b Relf .................... 4 c Fry, b Killick111 Lewis, c Smith, b Cox ...20 c Butt, b Killick 12 P. R. Johnson, b Relf ...50 c Heygate,b Relf121 F. M. Lee, c Butt, b Belf... 28 b Bland ........... 0 J. Daniell, c Fry, b Relf ... 19 O. M. Samson, run out ...16 c Butt, b Cox ... 31 L. C. H. Palairet, c Relf, b Cox ...............................54 b C o x .................46 Robson, b Cox .................11 notout................ 62 A. E. Newton, b Relf......... 17 not out.................13 G. C. Vassall, b C o x ............. 1b Bland ........... 1 Cranfield (B.), not out ... 0 b Cox .................. 6 B 6, lb 6. w 2, nb 2 ... 16 B 15, lb 1 ... 16 Total (8 wkts) 419 Cox, b Cranfield ... 20 C. L. A. Smith,c Rob­ son, b Braund ... 18 Butt, not out .......... 3 Bland, c Daniell, Braund .......... B 18, lb 4 ... 1 , 22 Total Total ................. 236 S ussex . C. B. Fry, b Braund... 80 Vine, c and b Lewis... 55 Killick, b Lewis......... 44 K. S. Ranjitsinhji, c Lee, b Braund ... 25 G. Brann, b Braund... 90 R.B. Heygate, c and b Braund ................. 22 Relf, c Palairet, b Braund ................. 6 1 S o m e r set . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W . O. M. R. W. Relf .......... 36 13 71 5 ........... 29 5 84 1 Cox ............... 46*1 17 85 4 ............... 43 7 125 3 K illick.......... 21 2 49 0 .......... 25 4 108 2 Bland .......... 2 0 15 0 .......... 16 5 53 2 Fry... 9 0 33 0 Killick and Relf each delivered a no-ball and Cox two wides. S ussex . O. M. R. W. CraDfield.. 49 10 139 1 I Vassall . Braund ... 68’2 19 122 7 Palairet. Robson ... 12 2 35 0 |Lewis O. M. R. W. 4 0 16 0 2 0 11 0 12 3 41 2 ESSEX v. NOTTS. Played at Leyton on August 6, 7 and 8. Notts won by an innings and 2 runs. At the end of the first day’s play in this match it seemed almost certain that Essex would suffer another defeat, for while they could only make 129, Notts scored 236 for the loss of only three wickets. The Essex batting was most disappointing, and Douglas alone could rise to the occasion; he earned his bat after a stay at the wickets of a couple of hours, always waiting for someone to come in and make runs. For Notts, Jones and Iremonger put up 48 for the first wicket, the professional, who leit first, scoring 36 of them. A loDg stand followed by W. Gunn and Jones, the score being raised to 169 before Gunn was dismissed, after batting for an hour and a