Cricket 1903

S ept . 17, 1903. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 427. the secrets of the success of the wicket. We have usually paid one of our men to look after it. We could go within about ten yards of either of the boundaries on the field, and be certain of getting a good wicket. John Lockwoodwas one of the earliest groundsmen. We paid the groundsmen a shilling a night in turn. John Lockwood, I may say, was Ephraim Lockwood’s cousin. He could knit turf together as if it were finedrawn, lie went from Lascelles Hall to the Oval, and was employed there a number of years.’ ’ I t is stated that K. S. IUnjitsinbji is going in for coursing and that he h«s two puppies, Mascara and Flierhly, ruuning in the Plumpton Oaks, at Plumpton this week under the nomination of Mr. A. Child. F or Newhaven last week, W. G. Quaife scored 107 not out against the St. Peter’s C.C., Brighton, who managed to bring about a drawn game. St. Peter’s has not lost a match this season, its record being 28 matches arranged, 15 won, 9 drawn and 4 abandoned. I n the final match of a league game in Preston Park, Brighton, St. John’s C.C. beat St. Bartholomew’s C.C. by one run, and thus retain the league cup. There was a tremendous lot of excitement at the finish. A lt h o u g h Middlesex did not quite succeed in pulling off the match against the Rest of England at the Oval they had all the honours of the game and are to be congratulated on a splendid display of all-round cricket. It is pleasant to find the captain of the M. C. C. Aus­ tralian team making a hundred in the last match of the season. On the whole the members of his team who were playing in the match did credit to themselves, although one has an uneasy feeling that if some of the Middlesex men had not practically thrown away their wickets in the second innings in trying to make runs as quickly as possible his bowlers would not have had very flattering analyses in either inniogs. THE CHAMPION COUNTY (MIDDLE­ SEX) v. REST OF ENGLAND. Played at the Oval on September 14,15 & 16. Drawn. Clad in overcoats, and shivering in a cold wind, some four thousand spectators were so much interested in this match as to put in an appearance at the Oval on Monday, a typical autumn day, although the summer is not yet supposed to be over. On the Rest of Eng­ land side seven members of the M.C.C. Australian team were making their final appearance in English cricket before starting on their adventurous voyage, but Fry, Maclaren, and other well - known players were not to be seen in the combination, which, while it could by no means be con­ sidered representative, was wonderfully strong for the time of the year, when it is generally very difficult to induce men to play. The good fortune to win the toss fell to the lot of Middlesex, who at the end of the day’s play had no reason to be dissatisfiedwith their position, for they had scored 230 runs on a slow wicket against bowlers who are considered particularly formidable under such a circum­ stance, and had dismissed two of their oppo­ nents for 58. At the commencement of their innings Middlesex did so badly that Warner and Moon were both out when the total was only 16, the latter being dismissed by a bril­ liant catch at square leg by Rawlin, who was fielding as substitute for Ranjitsinhji. But Beldam and Douglas completely altered the appearance of the game, and before they were separated 94 runs were put on in an hour and three-quarters. Three wickets for 110. Bo­ sanquet carried on the good work and the score was increased by 56 in less than half- an-hour, chiefly by his attractive batting. Beldam was then dismissed after a stay at the wickets of two hours and a half for 57, an innings which had a great deal to do with the good position of his side at the end of the day. When he was once disposed of the bowlers began to take the upper hand and the last six wickets only added 64 runs. In his fine innings of 56, which lasted for a little more than half-an-hour Boeanquet hit eleven 4’s, his driving being brilliant in the extreme. The only bowlers who met with success were Braund and J. Gunn. When the Rest of Eng­ land went in they lost Hayward before a run had been scored, but Hayes and Tyldesley put on 49 for the second wicket. The weather was more pleasant whenthe game was resumed on Tuesday, but it was still very cold. It was soon seen that Middlesex had a good chance of coming out on top, for Arnold and Hirst both failed. Nor was Ranjitsinhji much more successful; he was not himself, and it took him nearly three-quarters of an hour to make his 12 runs. He left at 89, and at the same total Tyldesley was caught at point for an excellent 44. Six wickets were now down and the outlook was very bad for the Rest of England. When J. Gunn and Lord Hawke also failed and eight wickets were down for 99, Middlesex looked like winning with the utmost ease. But Braund and Rhodes then came together and played such good cricket that at about the rate of a run a minute they scored 69. Thanks to their plucky effort the Middlesex lead was not as great by any means as it promised to be. During the partnership between Rhodes and Braund, Trott, in stopping a very hot return of the former, hurt one of his fingers badly and had to retire. When Middlesex went in again Warner was in great form. He and Moon put up 54 for the first wicket and things looked uncommonly well. At five minutes past five, when stumps were drawn because of the bad light the total was 130 for one wicket, Warner being not out 73 and Beldam not out 25. Middlesex were thus 176 runs to the good. Yesterday morning both batsmen played excellent cricket, and made runs pretty fast. They were in no difficulties with the bowling, and they might very likely have remained together until it was time to declare if Warner had chosen to play carefully. But towards the end of his innings he hit boldly, realising that now was the time to make runs as quickly as possible. He had been at the wickets for about three hours when his fine innings came to an end. Most of the rest of the batsmen sacrificed their wickets in endeavouring to score fast, and at 254 for eight wickets the closure was put into force. Beldam still survived, having been at the wickets for two hours and three-quarters for an invaluable 8 8 ; when he began his second innings he still required 30 runs to bring his total to a thousand. The Rest of England now had to make 301 runs in three hours and a half, and there was j ust a sporting chance that they m ight succeed in doing this. As in the first innings, Beldam dismissed the first batsman of the Rest for 0, and lunch was taken with the score at 4 for one w icket. Afterwards H ayward and Tyldesley batted extremely well, and the second wicket partner­ ship produced 83 runs. Tyldesley was then dismissed for a beautiful innings of 60, which brought his figures for the season to 1955. The innings had now been in progress for about an hour and tw enty-five minutes, and at this rate of scoring a victory was quite out of the question. T he only question was whether E ngland would play out time, and although H ayward was soon dismissed after playing a patient innings of 39, H irst and R anjitsinhji played so well that a drawn game was assured. B utM iddlesex deserve the greatest credit for m aking such a brilliant display against a very powerful team. M iddlesex . First innings. Second innings. P. F. Warner, b Hirst ... 6 cArnold,bBhodesll5 L. J. Moon,C8ub.,b Braund 6 b Braund ...............21 G. W . Beldam, c Rhodes, b Gunn ................. ........67 not out...............88 J. Douglas, b Arnold....... 41 c Hirst, b Rhodes 9 B.J.T. Bosanquet, c Hawke, b Gunn ...................... . f8 lbw, b Rhodes ... 4 C. M. Wells, b Braund ...10 b Arnold.....1 E. A. Beldam, b Braund ... 10 c Hiret, b Arnold 0 G. Macgregor, c Rhodes, b c Strudwick, b Braund ...................... 12 Arnold ................... 0 Trott (A. E.), b Gunn ... 10 not out............... 0 J. H. Hunt, run o u t ......... 4 st Strudwick, b Rhodes .......... 4 Hearne (J. T.),not out ... 5 B 5, lb 6, w 1 .......11 B 8, lb 4 ... 12 Total ............. 230 Total (8 wkts)*2I4 * Innings declared closed. R est of E ngland . First innings. Second innings. Hayward (5urrey), c Trott,b Beldam ........................ 0 b Wells .............. 39. Hayes (8urrey), c Trott, b c Macgregor, b Hunt ...............................17 G. Beldam ... 0 Tyldesley (Lancashire), c c Moon,b Bosan- Wamer, b Trott ......... 44 qu et..................... 60 Arnold (Worcestershire), c Trott, b H u n t................. 4 not out.................. 0 Hirst(Yorkshire), cWarner, c Bosanquet, b G. b Wells ........................ 2 Beldam ... ... 76 K. S. Ranjitsinhji (Sussex), lbw, b Hearne ............... 12 run out ...........42 Braund (Somerset), not out 38 notout..................10 Gunn (J.) (Notts), c G. W. Beldam, b Trott .......... 4 Lord Hawke (Yorkshire), lbw, b Trott ................. 5 Rhodes(Yorkshire),bHearne 36 Strudwick(8uirey),bHearne 9 B 6, lb 9 .................15 Leg-byes... 2 Total ..........184 Total (5 wkts) 229 M iddlesex . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. Hirst ... 22 5 62 1 ... ... 23 4 Braund ... ... 16*2 3 32 4 ... ... 16 2 Rhodes ... ... 14 5 27 0 ... ... 16 1 Arnold ... ... 14 1 48 1 ... ... 16 1 3 Gunn ... 11 2 50 3 ... ... 8 1 Rhodes bowled a wide. R est of E ngland . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W . Beldam ... , ... 5 1 14 1 ... .. 12 2 37 2 Bosanquet ... 4 0 15 0 ... ... 13 0 53 1 Hearne ... ... 19*3 10 24 3 ... ... 20 9 35 0 Hunt ... ,... 24 8 56 2 ... ... 12 2 55 0 Wells ... ,... 18 3 33 1 ... ... 10 1 32 1 Trott ... ... 11 0 27 3 ... ... 6 1 15 0