Cricket 1903

404 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 10, 1903. class. Far from it ; the cricket, in fact, is very keen, whilst fortunately being devoid of that grimseriousnesswhich isnowadays associ­ ated with inter-county cricket. The weather experienced so far during the present festival has not, unfortunately alike for players and spectators, been quite so genial as that enjoyed in recent years, but as there are yet three days to come we may yet be able to chronicle an average amount of sunshine for the week. The wish, at least, is father to the thought. One could not fail to realize on Tuesday last that “ W .G.” is still the idol of the crowd, the reception with which he met on proceeding to the wicket and the cheers which greeted every scoring hit he made being most hearty. One tremendous stroke he made off Rhodes, past mid-on, which landed the ball on the luncheon tent, fairly brought down the house. Before the com­ mencement of play on the opening day the kindly champion might have been seen playing a friendly single-wicket match—a hundred years ago, it would have been announced for £1,000 aside!— with the youthful daughter of Mr. Ernest Smith (whose portrait, by-the-way, appeared in the November issue of Cricket). It is to be re­ gretted that no camera fiend was at hand to take a snap-shot of an interesting occurrence. Lord Hawke and Ernest Smith fielded for the fair enthusiast, off whose first delivery the great man was caught by her father. W. G. was eventually beaten hands down, but he took his defeat in very good part. The most noteworthy perform­ ance of the three days was undoubtedly Ranjitsinhji’s innings of 87 on the Tuesday. On account of the nature of the ground and the bowling against him his play was of a quieter and more careful character than one generally associates with his name, but the grace with which he met the attack was such that no other player, however great, could have shown. The display given in each innings by Tyldesley and Denton had a very great deal to do with the satisfactory position attained by their side. Like Braund, the Lancashire player is evidently in very good form at the present time, which fact is no doubt comforting those who wish success to the English team in Australia during the winter. At the moment, when the Hastings Week of 1903 is in progress, it is not out of place to draw attention to a small publica­ tion just issued by F. J, Parsons, Ltd., of Hastings, dealing with the history of the Festival since its inauguration, in 1887 The pamphlet consists of thirty-four pages, contains full scores of all the matches played during the past fifteen years, and is the eleventh production given to the world by the ever-busy Mr. Alfred D. Taylor, of West Brighton. The publishing price is twopence. LONDON AND WESTMINSTER BANK (2) v. HONG KONG BANK.—Played at Norbury on August 22. H ong K ong B ank . R. R. Whistler, b Dear 7 W . R. Rodolph, c and b Hartrea.................11 M. A. Murray, b Dear 4 H. M. Cantrell, b Har­ tree ........................ 8 W . Ross, b Dear..........11 K. F. Gordon, b Dear 4 V.M.Graybum, b Dear 8 L. and W. B ank (2). A. G. Kellogg, c and b Dear ................. 0 P. R. Dew, b Hartree 11 L. Evans, b Dear ... 0 F. B. Rlckett, not out 0 B 7, lb 1................. 8 Total . 72 W . H . Brown, b Gor­ don ........................ 7 H. D. Dear, lbw, b Gordon .................11 R. 8. Hartree, c Gor­ don, b Grayburn ... 53 H . E. Power, b Ross... 0 H.C.Boys, b Graybum 27 H. G. Wellborne, c Gordon, b Graybum 14 S. Bennett, not out... 30 C. J. Crossley, c and b Ross .................12 T. F. C. Pritchard, b Gordon ................. 6 G. O. Anson, not out 7 B IB, lb 1 ..........16 Total (8 wkts) 183 T H E B A T T IN G OF C. B. F R Y . [ Being an extract from a lecture delivered by Prof. Jimson before the Royal Cricketical Society]. “ The next illustration on the sheet, Ladies and Gentlemen, depicts the famous exponent of the willow, Mr. C. B. Fry (applause)—the greatest all-round athlete ever produced. Mr. Fry, as you are all probably aware, succeeded in registering his fiftieth century in first-class cricket quite recently, and I shall here deviite from my usual course by bringing before your notice some very remarkable sug­ gestions. There are, I notice, exactly fifty per­ sons in the first two rows of my audience. Now , for the sake of argument, we will imagine that the gentleman on the right hand of the front row had started the ball rolling b y subscribing for the first century the small sum of one farthing towards a presentation to be made to the famous Sussex batsman. Let us suppose that on the completion of Mr. Fry’s second century, the next gentlemen had doubled the sum.presenting one halfpenny, and that for the third century the sum had again been doubled, and one penny contributed. D o you follow me ? ” “ Thus on the completion of his third century Mr. Fry would have received tbe small sum of one penny plus the three- farthings already subscribed. This, I may remind you, would total one psnny three-farthings. Let us suppose that the next gentleman had forfeited two­ pence, the next fourpence, and so on. Now this appears to be an insignificant sum to have tendered to the great bats­ man, but before we carry this doubling process very far the result will be astounding. Thus, the twentieth gentle­ man would have had to find considerably over five hundred pounds, whilst the gentleman who occupies the seat at the end of the front row on the left—the twenty-fifth— would have been expected to part with over seventeen thousand pounds. By the time ‘ Charles ’ (excuse the familiarity) had scored his tnirtieth hundred, he would have been enabled to bestow a golden sovertign upon every living person in greater London, and still remain a millionaire.” “ Ladies and gentlemen, you smile, but, believe me, the details I am setting before you are absolute facts, and can be proved by mathematics. On the attain­ ment of his forty-first century Mr. Fry would have received sufficient to wipe off the national debt of the country and still remain a multi-millionaire. To be brief, the last gentleman on the left of the second row (the gentleman with the mouth agape) would, on the completion of Mr. F ry’s fiftieth century, have been expected to part with five hundred and eighty-six thousand five hundred and thirty-four million, two hundred and one thousand, four hundred and eighty pounds, ten shillings and eightpence. Oh, you need not be alarmed, my dear sir, for I am sure that Mr. Fry would never expect you to comply with such a request! “ Thus the great Sussex amateur would have received in all one billion, one hun­ dred and seventy-three thousand and sixty-eight million, four hundred and two thousand, lin e hundred and sixty-one pounds, one shilling and three pence three ferthings ! The next illustration will show the actual figures —er-er-hm ! Mr. Smith ! W ill some one oblige by rousing the lime-light gentleman ? I believe he’ s dozing. Thank you, sir. Next plate, please, Mr. Smith. Thanh y o u ! £1,173,068,402,961 Is. 3fd. “ A farthing— the smallest coin of the realm—doubled fifty times ! “ Again, let us imagine that Mr. Fry expended his stupendous fortune in pur­ chasing Duke’s treble-seamed cricket balls at seven shillings and sixpence apiece (this is not an advertisement), we discover that he would become possessed of over three billions of cricket balls, the weight of which would sink every vessel afloat flying the British colours. If Tom Richardson were deputed to open the attack with these balls, bow ling at the rate of one ball a minute, day and night, it would take him over two thousand one hundred and seventy two million years before he exhausted his stock. Even if thirty thousand bowlers were engaged, nearly two thousand years would be required to send the balls rolling, at the same pace. Assuming that the popula­ tion of the world is one thousand five hundred million, each person would receive three thousand cricket balls, while if Mr. F ry’s generosity permitted him to present every child between the age of five and ten with a million cricket balls each-------” The follow ing report appeared on the next morning in the local daily paper :— A c c id e n t a t W i n k l e w o r t h .— An accident occurred at the Winkleworth Assembly Rooms last night, which fortu­ nately was not attended with serious results. During the course of a lecture delivered b y Prof. Jimson the platform suddenly and unaccountably collapsed, precipitating the lecturer among the debris. We understand that the collapse of the platform was due to the weight of an enormous number of cricket balls with which the professor was experimenting. The unfortunate gentleman was immedi­ ately conveyed to the Eastern Dispensary, where it was discovered that he was suf­ fering from slight concussion of the brain. Hopes of a speedy recovery are enter­ tained, and it is highly probable that Prof. Jimson will find it possible to appear at the Ficklewick Town Hall on Wednesday, when, as announced in another column, he intends to deliver his second lecture on “ Cricket.” L a t e r . —We have just received official intimation that the Ficklewick Town Council have re-considered their de­ cision, and refuse to grant the use of the Town Hall for lectures of any kind. A. D. T.