Cricket 1903

Sept. 3, 1903. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 395 is by Lucien Davis at his besf, but because of the position of the man who is running for a friend. The batsman, according to the story which accompanies the illustration, is in the act of forcibly —very forcibly—hittirg a ball which is outside the leg stump, but in the picture his unwary runner, instead of standing at some distarce behind the wicket as he ought to do, is a yard out of his ground and within a few feet of the batsman. The reader has it on the authority of the story that the ball went out of the ground and over a stable, but how on eaTth the runner got out of the way of it is a mystery. No wonder that he seems to be frightened! I n the annual tournament of the North Western Cricket Association (America) three teams tied for first place, viz.:— Manitoba, Pittsburg and Chicago. The matches took place at the end of July on the ground of tbe Wanderers C.C. at Chicago. The following is a summary of the tournament results :— Won. Lost. Pet. Manitoba.......... 3 .. 1 ... *750 Pittsburi? ......... 3 ... 1 ... '750 Chicago .......... 3 ... 1 ... *750 St. Louis .......... 1 ... 3 ... -250 Minnesota ... 0 ... I ... '000 C o m m e n tin g on the recent tour of the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, the American Cricketer says :— “ The one disappointing feature in the tour has, according to our reports, been the field­ ing of our team. The bowlers have more than exceeded our expectations, while our hatting has been much better than we could reasonably have hoped for. Our representa­ tives went to England with the determination of playing their best game. Their whole time, energy, and thought were expended to reach this end, and the results which they have attained must have more than repaid each and every member of the team. Let everyone interested in cricket show his or her appreciation of the good work accomplished by our representatives of 1903, by according them a warm welcome on their return home, and by encouraging them in their matches with the visiting team in September.” I t has several times been stated during the past year that G. L. Jessop is about to retire from the captaincy of the Gloucestershire eleven. The report has again come to the front, and it is said that although Jessop will cease to be captain next year he will still play occa­ sionally in first-class cricket. Business responsibilities are given as the reason for his decision. B y scoring 138 on Monday for Sussex against Kent at Brighton, C. B. Fry brought the total of hundreds which he has made during his career in first-class cricket to 50. It was also his eighth hundred of the present season. His other hundreds this season are 174 against Worcestershire at Brighton, 181 against Lancashire at Manchester, 234 against Yorkshire at Bradford, 200 against Surrey at Brighton, 232 (not out) for Gentlemen v. Players at Lord’s, 160 against Hamp­ shire at Brighton, 101 against Kent at Brighton (his second hundred in the match), and 127 (not out) against Leices­ tershire at Brighton. In addition to this he has also made scores of 99, 98, 89, 83 and 80. T h e Kent team, which is about to visit America, is due to sail next Wednesday, September 9th, on the ss. “ Oceanic.” S. H. Day will not be available on account of his scholastic duties. The team will consist of C. J. Burnup, E. W. Dillon, J. JR. Mason, K. L. Hutchings, H. Z. Baker, W. M. Bradley, H. C. Stewart, G. J. Y. Weigall, Hearne (A.), Huisb, Seymour, and Blythe, with Mr. T. Pawley as manager. The programme is as follows:— SeptemT er 18, 19 and 21, v. Colts of Philadelphia. September 25, 26 and 28, v. All Philadelphia. September 29 and 30, v. Baltimore. October 2, 3 and 5, v. All Philadelphia. The team sails from New York on the return voyage on October 7th, on the ss. “ Germanic. F rom Brighton Mr. W. S. Hopson writes:—“ I see by the papers that Middlesex will play the Rest of England at the Oval on September 14th, for the benefit of the Cricketers’ Benevolent Fund. Would not a match, say— ‘ Sussex v. Middlesex’ , be one of the greatest draws that could possibly take place ? I quite believe that it would draw a record gate, and be at the same time the most interesting match of the season.” I n the two matches against Surrey this season G. W. Beldam has met with quite remarkable success. At Lord’s he made 89 and 118, while at the Oval his score was 112—a total of 319 for the three innings. Altogether he has batted for about eleven hours for Middlesex against Surrey this season. It will be remembered that he made 80 and 54 at the Oval in July for Gentlemen v. Players. A lthough it was officially announced that the M.C.C. team for Australia would consist of fourteen men only, it has now been decided to take fifteen, a place being given to E. H. Spooner, the Lancashire amateur, who has done very well indeed this season. The team as now completed (if Mr. Spooner decides to go) is thus as follows:— P. F. Warner (Middlesex) captain, E. E. Foster (Worcestershire), B. J. T. Bosanquet (Middlesex), E. H. Spooner (Lancashire). Hirst (Yorkshire), Ehodes (Yorkshire), Hayward (Surrey), Tyldesley (Lancashire), Braund (Somerset), Strudwick (Surrey), Arnold (Worcestershire), Ilelf (Sussex), Fielder (Kent), Lilley (Warwickshire), Knight (Leicestershire), T he match between the Bombay Presidency and the Parsees has resulted in a victory for the latter by 149 runs after a game in which the totals were small. This result was entirely unex­ pected, for it was thought that the Presidency team was one of the strongest of recent years. K. M. Mistry, who made 56 and 40, and took eleven wickets in tha two Presidency innings for 68, was largely responsible for the victory of the Parsees. T h e Hastings Rovers, the strongest club in the south-eastern portion of Sus­ sex, have recently had a short tour in Kent. Of the six matches played four were won and two lost. C. Wallace during the week obtained 43 wickets for 180 runs, while C. F. Adamson in five completed innings scored 204 runs, aver­ age 40 08, his highest score being 61 not out. Against Lamberhurst, on August 22nd, the latter went in first and carried his bat through the innings for 52, which was a goodly proportion of the 73 runs the venture realised. This is the second occasion this season upon which he has carried his bat through an innings, and as he has also placed two centuries (159 not out and 119) to his credit he appears to be a batsman of more than ordinary ability. So far he has obtained over 1,200 runs this year in Hastings cricket, which is by no means a bad performance in so wet a season as the present. It may be of interest to add that he was educated at Charterhouse and was for­ merly identified with the Epsom C.C. T he following letter has been sent to the Press by Mr. C. A. Stein, the acting honorary secretary of the Surrey County Cricket Club :— As there seems some sort of idea still that the committee are not desirous of availing themselves of the valuable services of Eobert Abel, perhaps the following extract from the committee minutes may set the matter once and for all at rest: ‘ ‘ The honorary secretary reported that in reply to the instruction of the Match Committee that Abel should play in the match against Middlesex, he had seen Abel, and Abel had said that he did not feel equal to playing county cricket during the present season.” T h e Notts County C.C. committee and the Leicester Eugby Union Football Club have each presented a wedding present to Mr. A. 0 . Jones on the occasion of his marriage yesterday at Dudley to Miss Howat. The bridegroom has arranged to play at Hastings during tbe Week. I n last week’s Vanity Fair Mr. David Christie Murray, the well-known author, gravely discusses a scheme of his own which he thinks would do away with drawn games in first-class cricketmatches. It is a little disappointing to find that this scheme is neither more nor less than the familiar “ cricket by compartments,” which had apparently died a natural death long ago. I n the first innings of Surrey against Leicestershire at the Oval on Tuesday, three men out of the first five were leg-before-wicket, all to different bowlers, and the fourth was run out. All five men were out on appeal, as Hayes, who