Cricket 1903

D ec . 31, 1903. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 473 young players who were tried did bette for the first team than for the second. There had been an increase of £41 in the subscription list, and the new members numbered 500, but a large number had retired. He appealed for larger subscrip­ tions, because the time had come when they would have to have a ground of their own for training young players. This did not mean that any matches would be taken away from the present towns. Lord Hawke was again elected president. ------ Me. W. G. N icholson , M.P., was re­ elected as president of the Hampshire County C.C. at the annual meeting. Although the report showed a balance of £478 due to the bank, it also showed that the income for 1903 exceeded the total for 1902 by £380. A suggestion was made that the committee should consider the question of life-membership. M r. A . G . S t e e l , K.C., the famous Lancishire and Cambridge University cricketer, has consented to contest the Leigh Division of Lancashire at the next election in the Conservative interest, in opposition to Mr. J. P. L. Brunner. T h e annual general meeting of the Hampstead C.C. was held at Lord’s, on December 3rd, Mr. F. I£. Spofforth presiding. Mr. W. R. Moon (hon. treasurer) presented his statement for the past year, which showed a con­ siderable decrease in expenditure. For the first time for many years, a profit was shown upon the Annual Dinner. Mr. Moon stated that owing to the kindness of the Hampstead Coons (a nigger troupe in connection with the club) the debt upon the Pavilion fund had been entirely paid off. The Coons gave two entertain­ ments in May last, which resulted in their being able to wipe oft' the said debt of nearly £23, while in addition they were able to contribute some £40 to local charities. It was decided to have a tour next season, and also the Annual Dinner in February next. F rom Georgetown, Demerara, comes the news that two separate inniDgs of a hundred in a second eleven match were played by A. H. Brebner, a cricketer twenty years old, who never played at school, and has only taken up the game for two years. The match took place on four Saturday afternoons; Brebner was batting on three of these days. The scores will be found on another page. T h e official umpires for 1904 are as follows:— •W. Attewell (Notts) *R. G. Barlow (Lancs) *J. Carlin (Notts) L. Hall (Yorkshire) *W. Bearn (Herts) A. Millward (Worcester) *J. Moss (Nottf) *T. Mycroft (Derbyshire) *J. Phillips (Middlesex) •A. Pike (Notts) *W. Richards (Warwick) A. Rogers (Oxfordshire) ♦Umpire in 1903. I t w i l l b e n o t e d t h a t t h e r e a r e f o u r c h a n g e s in t h e a b o ve f r o m t h is y e a r ’ s list, L. Hall, A. Millward, A. Rogers, and W. Shrewsbury replacing G. Bean, F. Martin, G. B. Nichole, and G. Porter. Two of the four, however, appear in the list of five extra umpires to be employed should occasion arise. This consists o f : S. Brown (Cheshire), F. Martin (Kent), F. Parris (Sussex), A. D. Pouerher (Leicestershire), and G. Porter (Derbyshire). T h e captaincy of the Sussex County C.C. has been resigned by K. S. Ranjitsinbji, who is now on his way to India, whence it is hoped he will return in time for next season’s cricket. His place as captain has been offered to C. B. Fry. ------ T h e remaining matches to be played in Australia by the M.C.C. team are as follows :— JANUARY. 1-5.—SECOND TEST MATCH, at Melbourne. 8,9.—v. Ballarat, at Ballarat. 15-19 —THIRD TEST MATCH, at Adelaide. 22—v. Tasmania, at Hobart Town. 28.—v. Launceston, at Launceston. FEBRUARY. 5- 9.—v. Victoria (return), at Melbourne. 12-16.—v. New South Wales (return), at Sydney. 19-22.—v. Bathurst, at Bathurst. 25 to March 1.—FOURTH TEST MATCH, at Sydney. MARCH. 4 - 8. — FIFTH TEST MATCH, at Melbourne. 12-16.—v. South Australia (return), at Adelaide. I n a match at Magersfontein for Mr. Logan’s X I. against a South African team, Irving Washington, the Yorkshire cricketer, who is in South Africa with the object of recruiting his health, scored 103 not out. ------ T h e special correspondent in South Africa of the Sportsman gives the following list of names, from which he thinks most of the South African Team to visit England next summer will be selected. F. Mitchell (probably capt.) (‘Wanderers, Johannesburg). f*E. A. Halliwell (Wandrs., Johannesburg). *J. H. Sinclair (Wanderers, Johannesburg). *Allan Reid (Western Province). *J. J. Ketze (Western Province). R. O. Schwarz (C.S.A.R., Johannesburg). *M. Hathorn (Wanderers, Johannesburg). J. H. Shepstone (Wandrs., Johannesburg). *L. J. Tancred (Wanderers, Johannesburg). *W. A. Shalders (Wandrs., Johannesburg). B. Wallach (Wanderers, Johannesburg). t*G. Rowe (Western Province). G. White (Pirates, Johannesburg). W. Nieumeyer (Pretoria), and C. J. E. Smith (Wanderers, Johannesburg) * Visited England in 1901. t Visited England in 1894. T h e president of Haverford College states that he has received an invitation from Lord Harris on behalf of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, and other public schools, to send a cricketing team to England next summer. The invitation will most probably be accepted. T h e names of umpires for the second- class county competition next season are given below :— N o rth (6).—*C. E. Bartiam, *D. Bookless, *W. Copeland, *J. Gregory, G. P. Harrison. M. Myers. M id la n d s 18).—*il. Briscoe, *T. W. Cherry, J. Clifton, *H. Coulson, *A. Stockwin, *R. Rogers, *G. Rye, *8. Wiigley. S outh (13).—*R. Barber, C. E. Brown, F. Gladwin, •— Griffiths, *Wm. Heame, *J. Holton, *R. Hum­ phrey, W. Jennings (second half only), *A. W. Mason, C. Mills, H. F. Rogers, S. E. Whitelaw, F. G. Willoughby. ^Officiated last season (19C3). L a s t season Mr. Percival Cooke made four scores of over one hundred in six consecutive innings for the Big Fib Club, Castleton, viz., 105 not out, 104 and 53, 115, 136 not out and 201. W r it in g to the Daily Mail on December 10th, the day before the first Teat Match, F. A. Iredale says :— It would be unfair to shelter ourselves under the plea that our State teams are not in calibre what they were a few years ago, but it must be said in justice to them that there is some truth in the statement, though the falling oil may be found to be only temporary. What is nearer the truth is that none of our great batsmen have yet struck form, notably Trumper, Duff, Noble, and Armstrong. When they do, which may be in any match, Warner’s attack may not appear so formidable as it does at present. It is strange however that Iredale should have overlooked the fact that Duff and Noble had each scored over 200 against South Australia. O t h e r points of interest in Iredale’s letter are as follows : — It was early seen the policy Rhodes in­ tended to adopt throughout the tour. I think it wise, too, on his part to trust to accuracy and length rather than to try for the spin which is so difficult to get on our hard wickets. Arnold is the one bowler who has been picked out as likely to he more than useful, and so far he has more than justified the hopes entertained of him. But of all the English bowlers perhaps the one most feared is Bosanquet, and if he could only invoke the aid of some power to enable him to be con­ sistent I am sure that Warner would have the pleasure of talcing home the “ ashes ” which are supposed to be in Australia, though no one to my knowledge has yet seen them. But Bosanquet is not consistent, and therein lies his weakness. Foster’s beautiful style is freely commented upon, and though home comment has not been altogether in his favour as a batsman for the tour, it would not be a great surprise to Australians if he were a huge success. Warner shows a want of versatility, and appears weak behind the wicket. His clever­ ness, however, is shown in placing to the on. In the field the team show themselves a side taking no chances. They are going to take every ounce out of themselves. Without being a great batting side they have a lot of good solid men who want getting out; their bowlers are excellent and of splendid variety; and they field well, but they are not a great fielding side, and do not compare in this respect with Maclaren’s team. P. F. W a r n e r told a good story against himself while responding to the toast of his health at Sydney. He said when it was proposed that he should captain the M.C.C. team it was objected that he was too youthful to succeed. “ Just after I arrived here,” he added, “ my hat fell off one day when I was getting into a cab, and then a small boy immediately called out, ‘ Good Lord, he’s bald.’ ” ’ o . xu. rucnarason (Lei­ cestershire) *A. Shaw (Notts) W. Shrewsbury (Notts and Eton) *V. A. Titchmarah(Herts) •J. E. West (Middleeex) *W. A. J. West (North­ ampton and Warwick) •A. A. White (Sussex) *W. Wright (Kent)