Cricket 1903

410 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Sept. 10, 1903. Mb. A lf r e d D. T aylok has prepared the scores of all the matches in the Hast­ ings Week since its institution. The book has just been published at the price of twopence. D espite the difficulties which have been placed in the way of batsmen this year, no fewer than 33 of them have scored over 1,000 runs. Fry has made Dearly as many runs as in his very best season, and his aggregate is now 2683, that is to say nearly 600 runs more than Hayward (aggregate 2102). It does not seem at all likely that anyone else will reach the second thousand this year. S ixteen men have taken over 100 wickets and Rhodes on Saturday had an aggregate of 175, Blythe with 142 being nearest to him. A p a m p h l e t entitled “ TheNew South Wales Wednesday Cricket Association ” has reached me. The object of the Association, which was established in August, 1900, is the promotion, control, and management of Wednesday cricket throughout the State of New South Wales. In the present year on January 7th and 14th C. Barnes scored 331 not out, and his average for the season was 91. The honorary secretary of the executive committee is Mr. Wilfred J. Goold, W ith such bowlers to take as Richard­ son, Lockwood, Rushby and Lees on a fast wicket, Strudwick, the Surrey wicket-keeper, only allowed a single bye in an innings of 600 by Sussex last Thursday and Friday. This is a very remarkable feat, and is all the more noticeable because, although he went back for Richardson, he stood close up to Lees and Rushby, who were both bowling their fastest. On August 20th I quoted in “ Gossip ” an announcement which appeared in the New York Herald, August 8th, to the tffect that, although few details had then been arranged, Sir T. C. O’Brien had accepted an invitation to take a team to the United States this month. A few days after this extract appeared in Cricket some of the Irish papers gave precise details of the financial arrange­ ments which had been completed for the tour, but Sir T. C. O’Brien now states that he was reluctantly compelled to give up the tour as long ago as July. I t is announced that a South African tour, promoted by Mr. Abe Bailey, will be made in England next year, and that Lord Hawke has undertaken to arrange the programme. It is proposed to play nothing but first-class matches, and to meet the full strength of England at least once, if such a match can be secured, which at present hardly seems probable. O nly two first-class matches remain to be played this year, viz., Gentlemen v. Players at Hastings this week, and the Champion County v. Rest of England next Monday at the Oval. The large crowds which attended the Sussex and Surrey match at the Oval last week are a conclusive proof that given fine weather, people will still go to see cricket matches even when there is no interest in them from the point of view of championships. A t the annual meeting of the New South Wales Cricket Association on July 27th, the Hon. W. J. Trickett, who presided, presented Mr. John M. Gibson (who is now Principal Under Secretary for the State) with a piece of plate on behalf of the Association, and a gold- mounted walking-stick, as mementoes of his services to the Association for a period extending over 30 years, during which he occupied the positions of hon. secretary, hon. treasurer, and vice-president at different periods. Mr. Gibson has alio been managing trustee of the Domain ground for 25 years. T h e result of the first day’s play in the match between Canada and the United States at Toronto, on August 24th, was a lead of 120 on the first innings by the Americans. The scores were Canada 47, United States 167. The match was to be continued on the two following days. From the Bombay Gazette :— It has been remarked as one of the outcomes of the recent Presidency- Parsee cricket match which ended so disastrously for the Presidency team, that European batsmen cannot play the Parsee howling on anything hut a perfectly true wicket nowadays. The critics, who favour this idea in support of their contention, point to the easy victories obtained by the Parsees at Bombay during the last three years, and to the severe defeat inflicted on the OxfordUniversity Authentics last Novem­ ber by a Parsee team. Admitting that Messrs. Mistri, Mehta and Bulsara arehowlers of quite exceptional ability, and, as far as Indian cricket is concerned, in a class by themselves, it strikes us as being rather a sweeping condemnation of the methods of European batsmen to give colour to such an idea. T h at the Presidency batsmen were by no means happy when facing the two bowlers named there is no denying, con­ tinues our contemporary, but in view of the fact that no less than six of them were playing in this match for the first time, and that five of them had only been a few months in the country, and had had little or no opportunity of accustoming themselves to the conditions of Indian cricket in general and the Bombay wickets in particular, we hardly think it fair that their failure to win the match for their side should be attributed to any lack of ability. A n accident of a very unusual kind recently occurred on Peckham Rye com­ mon during the progress of a cricket match. A boy aged nine years was play­ ing about on the common when he was knocked down by two men who were running after a cricket ball. He was removed to the Camberwell Infirmary, where he has sicce died. I t was announced on Tuesday evening that R. H . Spooner had sent the follow­ ing telegram to the M.C.C. in the morn­ ing :—“ Greatly regret, owing to business claims, unable to accept invitation to Australia.” I n his “ History of the M.C.C.,” Mr. A. D. Taylor points out that between,.50 and 100 years ago players whose names began with the letter B were able to oppose the Rest with a reasonable amount of 8ucc8ss. Just at present the B ’swould hardly have a chance against England. Perhaps their best team would be as follows: — Braund, Burnup, Bosanquet, Brann, Butt, Brown, J. T., Beldam, G. W., Blythe, Barnes, Bowley, Brearley. I n a discussion on the question of “ Girls’ Physique,” which has just been opened in the Daily Telegraph, the following are given as the opinioLS of a lady on the staff of the London School Board who has devoted many years to the study of physical culture and the well-being of her sex :— “ My experience teaches me that girls, generally speaking, are not adapted for men’s exercises, such as cricket, and if they must have it they should be extremely moderate, and not tempt misfortune by competing with their brothers. And herein lies the difficulty. Girls are naturally more enthusiastic than men, and in recent years they have shown an undoubted tendency to go beyond their powers.” B tjt while this is undoubtedly true, I think that if school girls would only play cricket with a ball which was not as hard as a cricket ball and not quite as large, the game would be eminently suitable for them, and quite as enjoyable. It is the danger of playing with the hard and full-sized ball which makes cricket un­ suitable for girls, who cannot afford to be knocked about like their brothers. In the Sportsman “ Wanderer” states that 334 different cricketers have been engaged in the Championship Competi­ tion of the fifteen leading counties this season, though a couple of them, in T. A. D. Bevington and W. L. Knowles, did not have the pleasure of batting. Gloucestershire enlisted the services of the largest numbar, 30, Somerset utilised 28, Lancashire and Worcestershire 27, and Surrey 26. The central five consist of Hampshire with 24, Notts and York­ shire with 22, Middlesex with 21, and Leicestershire with 20. Next in order come Essex and Kent (19 apiece), and Sussex with 17, Derbyshire and War­ wickshire making least change by only calling upon 16 players. Y e s t e r d a y the Kent team sailed from Liverpool in the Oceanic for a short tour in America. The following players started no the voyage:—C. J. Burnup, E. W.