Cricket 1903

362 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 20, 1903. discussed. The Marylebone Club had stated tbat they -wished to play under the Marylebone rules, one of which re- laling to the follow-on had not been adopted in Australia, and that they pro­ posed to take out James Phillips as umpire. They also expressed a wish that the Cricket Associations of the different States should extend to them the invita­ tion to take out the team. Mr. W. Bruce said that the principle of an umpire travelling around constantly with a team was bad. He was always hearing the grievances of players as to decisions, and one-sided opinions, and umpires had told him that players with whom they were constantly in company expected to be treated more favourably than strangers. He thought it would be best to state, in rtply, that the Association had decided objections to Phillips, after what had occurred, and considered the system of teams bringing their own umpires generally undesirable. They might offer the English team their own choice of the Australian umpires. T he chairman then suggested that, while expressing this view, and holding to their objections to Phillips, they should not persist in the objection to a viBiting umpire if the Marylebone Club made it a vital condition. Mr. Johns explained that, while both the New South Wales and South Australian Associations expressed strong objections to Phillips, they were not opposed to another English umpire being brought out. The meeting unanimously adopted a resolution con­ veying a cordial invitation to the Mary­ lebone Club to send a team to Australia, objecting to Philiips as visiting umpire, and expressing also general disapproval of the system of an umpire travelling constantly with a team; approving of the rule as to no-balling from either end, and pointing out the proved unsuitability of the follow-on rule. T he New York Herald of August 8th contains the following announcement:— Sir T. C. O’Brien, the well known old Middlesex cricketer, has accepted the invita­ tion of the Philadelphia cricketers to take a team to the United States next month. While few details have as yet been arranged, the following schedule has been submitted, and if it can be arranged will meet with the approval of the visitors :— September 18,19 and 21, v. the Gentlemen of Phila­ delphia (touring team), at Philadelphia. September 22 and 23, v. Baltimore, at Baltimore. September 25, 26 and 28, v. All Philadelphia, at Philadelphia. September 29,30 and 31, v. All New York, at Ho­ boken or Staten Island. October 1, 2 and 4, v. the Philadelphian Colts, at Philadelphia. October 8, 9 and 11, v. All Canada, at Toronto. Sir T. C. O’ Brien’s team will probably be an exclusively Irish eleven, and be known as the Gentlemen of Ireland. D oubtless the day will come when the first-class counties will adopt a system of scoring similar to that now used by the second-class counties. In the mean­ time, drawn games are still absolutely wasted as far as a county’s position is concerned. The Daily Mail on Monday gave some interesting tables with the object of showing how wasteful it is to ignore drawn games entirely. Thus :— Based on the second- els s i county method of cilculation, the positions of the two leaders in the first-class competition would ba (if based on the system now used b y the second-class counties): Won on Per- Matcbes. first Points. cent- P. W .inns. D n. Posa. Obt. age. Yorkshire ... 23 ... 13... 6 ... 1 ... 69 ... 44 ... 63 37 Middlesex ... 14 ... 7... 0 ... 2 ... 42 ... 21 ... 60 00 The actual position under the present system is :— Per- P. D. L. D. P. centage Middlesex .......... 14 ... 7 ... 1 ... 6 .. 6 ... 75 00 Yorkshire .......... 23 ... 13 ... 4 ... 6 ... 9 ... 62'91 How the ignoring of drawn games virtually won has adversely affected Yorkshire’s chances of premiership, con­ tinues our contemporary, is shown by the appended list of drawn games played by both Middlesex and Yorkshire :— M iddlesex . Middlesex.................137 Lancashire..................176 ............................ 168 Kent ............................323 ,, (3 wkts) .. 31 Sussex.........................267 .............................— Notts (6 w kts)............ 77 „ ................. — Essex .................No play. „ ................. 233 Notts ........................355 Won none on first innings; drawn two. Y o rk sh ire . Yorks (1 wkt) .......... 71 Worcestershire............ 24 „ (6 w kts)..........417 Somerset .....................318 ,, ........................ 261 Warwickshire ..............193 „ ........................ 360 Lancashire.....................230 .................................518 Worcestershire..............278 „ ........................ 220 Derbyshire (3 wkts)... 53 Won five on first innings; drawn one. T he first day’s play at Weston, Bath, in the match between Somerset Juniors v. Wiltshire Juniors, produced 590 runs for six wickets. The following is the score:— S omerset J uniors . E. W. Burdett, lbw, b E. O. Evans, c Smith, b Methuen ............. 53 R. Banks, lbw,b King 131 W . W. H.NaBh,bKing 81 E. A. Gresswell, b S. Mathews..................354 J. W. Little, notout... 96 S. Mathews E. J. Rowlandson,bB. Mathews...................90 Extras.................46 Total (6 wkts) *590 *Innings declared closed. O n e at least of the members of the Artists C.C. has employed his holidays to some purpose as far as cricket is con­ cerned. Since the beginning of August G. Hillyard-Swinstead, as will have been seen from a reference to the match scores in Cricket , has made 308 runs in four innings for Hampstead. Thus:— August 1. Hampstead v. London Scottish ... 100* 7. Hampstead v. Birchington House, Bexhill ...................................... 103 „ 8. Hampstead y. Bircbington House, Bexhill ....................................... 24 „ 15. Hampstead v. Bushey ................. 81* * Signifies not out. For the same club W. E. Moon, the famous old International Association footballer, made a hundred against Wood­ ford Wells on August 8th. A p o in t was scored on Saturday by the Daily Express, which was the only newspapsr to announce that C. B. Fry had at last been able to inform the M.O.C. that he could not accept the invitation to accompany their team. Thus the M.C.C. have now received replies from all the cricketers whom they invited. T hose who have accepted the M.C.C.’s invitation are as follows :— P. F. Warner (Middlesex) captain, R. E. Poster (Worcestershire), B. J. T. Bosanquet (Middlesex), Hirst (Yorkshire), Rhodes (Yorkshire), Hayward (Surrey), Tyldesley (Lancashire), Braund (Somerset), Strudwick (Surrey), Arnold (Worcestershire), Relf (Sussex), Fielder (Kent), Lilley (Warwickshire), Knight (Leicestershire). T hose who have declined the invitation are:— C. B. Fry (Sussex), Hon. F. S. Jackson (Yorkshire), A. C Maclaren (Lancashire), G. L. Jessop (Gloucestershire), L. C. H. Palairet (Somersetshire), E. M. Dowson (Surrey), H. Martyn (Somerset). I t will hardly bB disputed that among those who have declined are several of our very bast players. For all that the team as it stands is strong in its way. Perhaps the most notable point about it is that while it is well provided with equivalents to Noble, Armstrong, Hop­ kins, Howell, Gregory, Kelly, Jones, etc., it does not include a Trumper or a Hill or a Duff (on his last season’s form in Australia). Unfortunately it is the highest class which tells in Australia as a rule. But perhaps this team may have all the luck that is about, and may come home victorious, for you can never tell what will happen at cricket. But as far as appearances go there will have to be a good deal of luck if it is to pull through. T h e averages of the players in the M.C.C. team up to last Monday, with their position in the average lists, were as follows :— Batting. Bowling Position. Aver. Aver. Position. 43‘52 . P. F. Warner.. 49-37 . Hirst................ 4«'4o . Knight ......... 44*82...Tyldesley .......... — — 37'68..B. J. T. Bosarquet. 18 69 (18) 36 93...Hayward . 31'15 . Arnold ... . 28-89 ..Braund ... . 27*21...Rhodes ... . 24-13...Lilley ... . 21-26 . R e lf........................ 18 40 (16) — ..Fielder ................... 1780 (18) 8 } (20: (2!; p . (46) (57) 73) 1232 17-9! 21*07 14'79 (1) (14) (28) (3) T h e names of Strudwick and R. E. Foster do not appear in the lists, the former not having made enough runs, and the latter not having played enough innings. It will be seen that the team includes three players only who are in the first ten of the batting averages, and only two who are in the first ten of the bowling averages. A n article on the river Kennet appeared in the Star of August 12th, from which the following is an extract:— No record of Hungerford would be com­ plete without some mention of its bygone generation of famous cricketers, a team of