Cricket 1903

CRICKET, DEC. 31, 1903. S S b b e i c mi m t£W i t 1 t © %m UUU W t - ...._____________________Jiejc____ •*— ^— “ Together joined in Cricket’ s m an ly to il .” — Byron. No. 049. VOL. X X II. THURSDAY, DEC. 31, 1903. PRICE 2d. THE HERO OF THE DAY. By his magnificent innings of 287 in the first test match at Sydney, Mr. Ii. E. Foster created a sensation which took even his greatest ad­ mirers by surprise. His selection by the M.C.C. was in the nature of an experiment, for his reputation depended almost entirely on what he had done some few years ago, and not on recent play at all. As a rule experiments in selecting players forAus­ tralia are not attended with very great success, because the conditions of play in the colonies are so entirely different from those which ob­ tain in England, but the M.C.C. are to be heartily congratulated on their foresight in choosing Mr. Foster. He seems to have at once found the pace of Australian wickets, and to have found no incon­ venience from the bril­ liant light which upsets so many Englishmen new to the country, and long before the test match he had proved that he was an ex­ tremely useful man to have on the side. But to play an innings of 60 against moderate bowling is one thing, and to make an enormous score in a test match, when every man must feel a great strain on his nerves, is quite another thing, and it is delightful to find that the mother country possesses a man who is capable of beating all previous records for these matches. Mr. Foster has all the qualities which go to make up a great cricketer—quickness, suppleness of wrist, strength, endurance, pluck, a splendid eye, great skill in placing, and a keen appreciation of the right ball to hit. He can drive with enormous power, and he can play a strictly defensive game. During his great innings he showed wonderful adaptability to cir­ cumstances, and not the least brilliant part of his performance was the splendid way in which, when Relf and Rhodes were his partners for the last two wickets, he manoeuvred to get the bowling, and seized every opportu­ nity which offered it­ self of making runs as quickly as possible. Everybody remembers that, like Dr. W. G. Grace, he has three times during his career made two separate hun­ dreds in a first-class match, and that he alone has ever made two separate hundreds inGentlemen v. Players. It will also be remem­ bered that in this match —at Lord’s in 1900, where his scores were 102 and 136—he was making his debut for the Gentlemen, and that these two innings were preceded by 171 and 42 for Oxford v. Cam­ bridge. Since that memorable time he has often played very fine cricket, especially for Worcestershire, but he hardly kept up the great promise which he had shown, and it came as a surprise when his name was seen on the list of players chosen by the M.C.C. for their team to visit Australia. But never was a choice more happy. Let us hope that Mr. Foster will again rise to the occasion in one or more of the remaining test matches. W. A. B e tte s w o r th .