Cricket 1903

Deo. 31, 1903. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 471 T h e 287 by E. E. Foster in the first test match is a record for test matches, whether played in England or Australia. The previous record was 211, by W. L. Murdoch, at the Oval in 1884, while S. E. Gregory ran this close with 201 at Sydney in 1894-5. The previous record for England was 175, by Rarijitsinghi, at Sydney, 1897-98. Foster’s innings is not the highest ever made in matches between Englishmen and Australians, Trumper’s 300 against Sussex in 1899 still holding the field. £ BufibH fc- -------- F os t er made his first fifty runs in two hours and a half; his first 100 in three hours and three-quarters; his 150 in four hours and fifty minutes ; his 200 in in five hours and three-quarters ; and his complete score of 287 in a few minutes less than seven hours. T h e partnership between Foster and Ehodes for the tenth wicket produced 130 runs in about an hour, thus beating the previous Australian record by Arm­ strong and Duff at Melbourne in 1901-2 by 10 runs. DlTRMG the first day’s play in tbe first test match at Sydney an advertisement kite fell on the field of play. It was captured by Relf. F k o m the Evening News : — Mr. E. E. Foster gained several “ Blues ” during his Oxford career; these, however, are nothing to the blues which he has heen giving to the Australians. A c cordi ng to F. A. Iredale, the Daily Mail correspondent, who may be trusted to know what really happened, the wicket on the second day of the first test match at Sydney was difficult at first, soft and not so difficult afterwards, although occasionally bumpy. But all through the day the M.C.C. batsmen had to exercise the greatest caution. Warner altered his order, sending Arnold in earlier than usual, because he seemed the most likely man to keep up his wicket while the pitch was slowly improving. I t was distinctly hard lines on A. C. Maclaren that in several reports of his speech on December 11th at the annual general meeting of the Lancashire County C.C. he was made to say that “ Out of his three visits to Australia he had not made a halfpenny. This was the one thing which had cut him to the quick.” What he actually said was that it had cut him to the quick when he was accused of making money by the trips. A f e w years ago Clement Hill seemed marked out to take the place of Dr. Grace as the greatest batsman of all times. He seemed to have no rival either in England or Australia. Then came Ranjitsinbji like a brilliant meteor. For a time it seemed that nothing could stay his triumphant progress. But in another year the world was talking of C. B. Fry, who, in his turn, was blotted out by Victor Trumper. Never was seen such a great batsman as Trumper. Yet he did very little when he went back to Aus­ tralia, and so far this season, except for his famous innings in the test match, he seems to have done nothing. At present Fry holds the field against all comers, and if ever anyone is to oust W. G. in the near future he would seem to be by far the most likely man. T h e following table will show the final positions of the clubs in the Metropolitan District of New York League. New Jersey again won tbe pennant, and it is worthy of remark that the champions under thecolours of tbeNew Jersey C.C., the Knickerbocker C.C. and the present New Jersey C.C., in turn have captured the pennant no less than eight times in fourteen years. Played Won Lost Drawn P.C. New Jersey ... 12 ... 30 ... 0 ... 2 ... 1*000 Paterson ........... 12 .. 6 ... 4 ... 2 ... *600 Manhattan ... 12 .. 5 ... 5 ... 2 ... *500 Brooklyn ........... 12 ... 3 ... 5 ... 4 .. *375 Kings County .. 12 .. 0 ...10 .. 2 ... *COO Kings County forfeited one game to Paterson. L a s t year Cornell founded a Cricket Association, and with such success that it has decided to petition for entrance into the Intercollegiate Cricket Association, composed of Haverford, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard. As there should be little doubt about their admis­ sion, the Intercollegiate Association next year will be made up of teams from Harvard, Haverford, Pennsylvania, and Cornell. The step taken by Cornell it is hoped will in the near future be followed by others of the large colleges of America. T h e Germantown Club succeeded in establishing a treble first in Philadelphian cricket by landing not only the Halifax Cup, but the Philadelphia and Eadnor Cups as well. This is the first time that all three trophies have been won by one club, and Geimantown’s performance is the more remarkable from the fact that so many of its best players were with the Gentlemen of Philadelphia in England. W. H. Walker’s 140 not out for Phila­ delphia v. Frankford was the highest individual score in the Halifax Cup Competition. Q u it e r cently among some passengers returning from Cape Town was J. O’Halloran, the Australian cricketer, who was for a short time engaged at Lord’s. Owing to plague all hands had to be examined by a health officer before the vessel was allowed to leave. Curiously the medical man on whom the duty devolved was Dr. J. E. Barrett, the stonewaller of the Australian team some years ago. The doctor is now practising at the Cape. A ccordi ng to the Sydney Referee two separate hundreds have only once been made in Senior Club cricket in Sydney. That was twenty-one years ago, and the successful batsman was A. C. Bannerman. On October 28th Bannerman’s record was in serious danger from B.W. Farqu- har, who scored 108 not out and 92 for Central Cumberland against Leichardt Balmain. I r is h cricket during the last few years has shown so little enterprise that one must cordially welcome the signs of greater activity for next season. At a recent meeting of the Irish Cricket Union with delegates from Leinster, Ulster, and Munster Clubs present, the following matches were announced for 1904 : June 27, 28. 29.— Dublin University v. South Africa. June 30 & July 1.—Cork, Gentlemen of Ireland v. South Africa. July 11, 12, 13.—Cork, Gentlemen of Ireland v. East Indians. July 14,15,16.—Dublin or Belfast, Gentlemen of Ireland v. East Indians. In addition, the Gentlemen of Ireland will also in all probability play an eleven brought over by Mr. G. L. Jessop or Mr. H. D. G. Leveson-Gower. Mr. D. F. Gillman, who has succeeded Sir John Kennedy in the secretaryship one hears, has also approached the cricket authori­ ties in Philadelphia with a view to a possible visit of the Gentlemen of Ireland to America next autumn. T h e committee which has in hand the arrangements to send a team of native Indian cricketers to England for the cricket season of 1904, has received a letter from Mr. A. H. Mehta in which he ex­ presses his regret at beingunable toaccom- pany the team owing to ill-health. With a view to test the form of the most likely candidates for places in the team, a strong Past and Present team of Aligarh College under the captaincy of Mr. Ahsan-ul-Hak in Bombay were to play in Bombay in the Christmas holidays. Matches against the Parsee Gymkhana on December 25th and 26th, the Hindu Gymkhana on 28th and 29th, had been arranged in anticipa­ tion of the test match on December 30th and 31st. Passages have been booked provisionally for the team by the P. and O. mail steamer “ Caledonia,” sailing on April 2nd. H. B. E ic h a r d s o n , wh represented Surrey four or five years back, j ust recently paid a flying visit to England from California, where he has been located the last two or three years. Mention of Californian cricket reminds me that the Championship series of the Californian Cricket Association for this year ended as follows :—San Francisco County first, Alameda second, Pacific third, Santa Cruz fourth. In a match between San Francisco County and the Pacific Cricket Clubs, which the former won by 219 for eight wickets to 99, Welding carried his bat through the innings for 40. V ic to r T r u m p e r was the recipient of an illuminated address and a handsome gold medal on Oct. 13th, given by the people of Newcastle (N.S.W.) in recog­ nition of his brilliant performances for Australian cricket. The address, which was presented by the Mayor of Newcastle, was as follows : Dear Sir,—We, the undersigned, on behalf of the residents of Newcastle and district, hereby tender you a most cordial welcome on