Cricket 1903

370 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 27, 1903. M.C.C. I hit the middle stump five times out of six. I think that the reason why I strained myself was partly the hard wickets, and partly because I have never become quite accustomed to wearing thick, nailed boots. The result is that if one stops suddenly when called for a run, or for any other cause, and tries to turn quickly, there is great daDger.of receiving a sprain. It might be alt right for a youngster, but I am thirty-six years old now. In Holland we always play in rubber shoes.” “ Did you begin to play cricket when you were a boy ? ” “ I first played when I was twelve years old, at Haarlem. Very soon after­ wards an English team came over. At that time overhand bowling was unknown in Holland, and I, like everybody else, bowled lobs. Mr. W. Rashleigh (now the Rev. W. Rashleigh), the old Kent player, advised me to try to bowl over­ hand. I tried it at once in the same match, and was hit all over the placa. But I stuck to it, and when the Dalston Alberts came over the next year I could bowl slow overhand twisters pretty accur­ ately. After that time I played against every English team that came over, but as the fielding in Holland was so bad I soon came to the conclusion that it was better to go for the wickets, and I took to bowling fast. The wicket-keeping was bad in Holland as well, because there were so very few men who had the time or inclination to practise. Even now we have not a single good slow bowler in Holland, and the reason for this is entirely the bad fielding, which again is due to the rough grounds. But at the Hague Mr. Van Brienen has an excellent private ground of his own. The first English wicket that I ever took was on a very rough ground indeed. The ball got up very much and the bats­ man ducked his head to get out of its way, with the result that it dropped on his back and rolled into the wicket—a very lucky commencement of my cricket career. But you want a little luck now and then at cricket. I remember that at that time wa had some very exciting matches with an English team. We won the first match by a run, the next match was a tie, and the third we won by two runs.” “ What club do you play for when you are in Holland ? ” “ I still play for Haarlem, the town where 1 live. I was captain of the club for a long time, but as I don’ t think it is a good thing for a captain to be a bowler, I resigned. You put yourself on too soon or too late, and so do harm to your side. Haarlem has now a prof js - sional from one of the English minor counties, and I hear that the youngsters are coming on. Unfortunately the schools hardly ever have a cricket ground, and although individuals play at the Universities, there is no such thing as University cricket as played in Eng­ land. I hope that the time will come when all the schools will take up cricket, but land is exceedingly dear in Holland, and the schools could hardly afford the price. One of the drawbacks occasioned by the scarcity of ground is that the distances which many players have to go to reach them is almost prohibitive.” “ Do you think that you will ever get really good turf wickets in Holland ? ” “ I doubt it very much. The grass grows well enough, but it never makes the kind of wicket which is required, probably because the soil is so sandy and loose. In the north of Holland there is a lot of clay, but there is no cricket played there, unfortunately—only at Rotterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Leiden, Schiedam, Delft and Amsterdam. I am going to try experiments with Nottingham marl to see what that will do, but I am afraid that we shall never succeed in getting good turf wickets in Holland. At the same time I can’t help thinking that we get better sport on our matting wickets than we should if they were made of turf as excellent as that which you have in England. You can make a lot of runs on matting wickets, but after all a bowler is not entirely harmless on them; he can always get some sort of a break. Although we play on matting there is grass in the outfield—too much of it generally, but not of the right hind. There is only one ground in Holland which has a good mowing machine, and that is at The Hague.” “ What do you think of the future of Dutch cricket ? ” “ I think that the all-round play will improve slowly in Holland—very slowly. There are so many drawbacks to progress, one of them being the entire want of interest taken in the game by the outside public. We hardly ever get more than a hundred spectatois to watch a match. But when the older players of the present day retire they will become spectators and will induce their friends to follow their example, so that the rising player will feel some encouragement. Person­ ally, I used to be very nervous a few years ago if I had to play before many people, but I don’t mind it at all now. They don’ t expect much of me as a bats­ man, and a bowler is never nervous. If I had been born in England I am certain that I should never have baen a bowler— there is not enough fun on modern wickets. I can quite understand how it is that you have only such a few really good amateur bowlers, for the wickets are so good that unless a man is com­ pelled by necessity to bowl he is not encouraged to do so.” “ How do you manage about umpires in Holland ? ” “ Umpiring in Holland is by no means as bad as you might thiuk. All the umpires are of necessity amateurs, but they all know the rules. I remember a curious incident which happened in the early days of cricket in Holland. A Dutch team went to Antwerp to play an English club which had its home there, and naturally the mere mention of Eng­ lish cricketers filled us with reverence. When I went on to bowl I was promptly no-balled because my right foot went beyond the second crease. Then they gave Shroeder out leg before, because when, after blocking the ball, it screwed back towards his wicket, he stopped it with his foot. There was a good deal of discussion about these things at the dinner which they gave in our honour, and I said that unless they admitted that the decisions were wrong, I would write to the Sportsman about them. So after dinner they produced the rules and frankly owned that they were wrong. The fact is that they had been so long away from England that, not being very experienced cricketers, they had forgotten the rules.” W. A. B e t t e s w o b t h . LONDON COUNTY. Matches played, 12; won, 4; lost, 4 ; drawn, 3 j abandoned, 1. BATTING AVERAGES. No. Times Most of not Total in an inns. out. runs. inns. Aver. L. O. S. Poidevin ... 14 ... 1 ..., 592 .,.. 172*.. . 45-60 W . L Murdoch........ . 11 ,... 1 ... 3 2 .,.. 166 .. . 35 23 Braund . ................ . 6 ... 0 ... 164 .,.. 68 ... 32-80 Sewell (E. H. D.) ... 6 ... 1 .. 152 .... 90 ... 30 40 C. J. B. W ood ......... . 7 ,... 0 ... 206 .. 78 ... 29 42 C. R obson................ . 5 ... 2 ... 78 .... 69 ... 26-00 Dr. W . G. Grace . 18 ... 0 ... 457 ... 150 ..,. 25-38 W . Smith ............. . 12 ,... 1 ... 266 ..,. 123 .. . 24-18 B oard ....................... . 5 ... 0 ..., 94 .,.. 59 ... 18-80 T. T. Brewer ......... . 6 ... 1 . 8J ... 69 ... 17*20 Vine ........................ 4 ... 0 .... 61 ... 30 ... 16 00 D. Reefe ................ . 6 ... 0 .... 82 ... 45 ..,. 1366 J. H. W. T. Douglas.. 10 ... 1 ... 115 ... 54 ..,. 12 77 W. W. Odell .......... 8 ...3 .. 60 ... 16 ..,. 12 00 Kermode ................ . 3 ... 0 . 31 ... 16 .. 10*81 P. R. M a y ................. 6 ... 2 ..., 1 8 ..,. 25*... 950 W. G. Grace, jun. ... 3 ... 0 ... 28 .. 20 ... 933 J. Gilman ................ . 3 ... 0 ..,. 24 ... 24 .. 8 00 C. J. Bosthuma......... . 6 ... 0 .. . 45 ... 29 ..,. 7-60 G. W . Beldam .......... 3 ... 0 ..,. 15 ... 10 ... . 6 00 N. F. Norman ........ . 3 ... 0 . 14 ... 7 ..,. 4-66 C. H. Richards......... . 8 ... 0 .... 12 .,.. 8 ..,. 4-00 The followiog also baited : - K. 8. Ranjitsinhiji, 22, 7*. 132 and 69* ; Gamble, 1,0.0* and 21*; H. Hesketh- Piichard, 0, 0 and 0* ; R. M. Bell, 3* and 0 ; Brock­ well, 11 and 0; T. M. Drew, 7 and 0 ; Gill, 2l and 7 ; R. B. H-*ygate, 0 and 61* ; J. G. Hirseh, 0 and 0; B. Jayaram, 5and 3 ; Knight, 41 and 28; R. H. Lambert, 46* and 38 ; A. E. Lawton, 1 and 12# ; Llewellyn, 26 and 12*; Murch, 6 and 1 ; R. Z h . Voss, 6 and 6; E. A. Beldam, 62 ; G. Gordon Black, 1: W. M. Brad­ ley, 0; R. B. Brooks, 14; Cranfield (B.),12; Hayes, 30 ; Lees, 18 ; Quaife (W. G.), 75; Robson (E.), 20 ; Stedman, 9* ; and L. Walker, 12. “ CENTURIES” FOR. Dr. W . G. Grace, v. Gloucestershire, June 4 ... 150* W. L. Murdoch, v. Lancashire, June 18 ..........1 5 L. O. S. Poide/io. v. Lancashire, June 1 8 ..........172* K. S. Ranjitbinhji, v. M.C.C. and G., July 20 ... 132 W. Smith, b Derbyshire, July 1 6 ........................ 123 * Signifies not out. BOWLING AVERAGES. Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. G. W . Be’dam 19-3.,.. 6 .. . 52 .,.. 4 ... 13-00 C. J. Poathuma 107*2 .. 22 ... 346 .,.. 23 ..., 15-04 H.Hesk’th-Prichard 41-2 .. 10 ...1 4 . , .. 8 ... 15-50 W. G. Grace, jun.... 50-1.,.. 17 .... 109 .,.. 7 ..., 15-67 Gamble ................. 38-3. .. 6 ..,. 114 ,. 6 ... 19-CO W. W . Odell.......... 186 2.,.. 58 ..,. 516 .,.. 24 ..., 21-60 V in e ........................ 95 ., . 12 ..., 250 .. 11 ... 22 72 J. H. Douglas 28 .,.. 3 ... 118 .,,. 4 .., 2960 Kermode................. 89 2.,.. 26 ..,. 304 .. ,. 10 ... 30-40 Braund ................. 67-2 .. 13 ... 222 .,.. 7 .... 3171 W. L. Murdoch ... 11*1... 2 ... 37 ., .. 1 .., , 37"CO Dr. W. G. Grace ... 116 ... 18 ... 401 ... 8 ..., 5012 P. R. May .......... 47 ... 12 . . 159 ... 3 ..,, 63-00 The following bowled in two innings: Cranfield (B.) (36-1-151-10), T. M. Drew (5-0-21-0), Gill (G.) (43-3-161-9), Llewellyn (71-14-184-9), C. H. Richards (8-1-28-r), Robson (E.) (30-7-104-5), and Sewell (E. H. D.) (9-3-22-0). Those who bowled once only were: R. M. Bell (11- 0-60-5), G. Gordon Black (23-3-70-0), W . M. Bradley (17-7-42-2), Brockwell (4-1-18-0), Hayes (8-2-18-0), J. G. Birsch (3-0-20-0), B. Jaya Ram (4-0-12-0), R. H. Lambert (U-l-64-0), Lees (28-11-46-2), L. O. S. Poidevin (3-0-10-0), Q,uaife (W. G.) (1-0-7-0), D. Beese (l-'-3-0), Ci Robson (4-0-20-0), W . Smith (3-:- 6-1), and R. Z. b . Voss (5-1-22-0). Gilldeliveredeight no- Dalis,May two, and Hesketh- Prichirdone. Posthuma bowled five wides, Llewel­ lyn three, G. W . Beldam two, and Gamble one.