Cricket 1903

44 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M au . 26, 1903. of bis keenness for the game, though his professional duties long since necessitated his withdrawal from first-class cricket. He was an interested spectator of the recent match between New South Wales and Victoria at Sydney. With him was his son, a youngster of a dozan summers or thereabouts, who is regarded as a colt of more than ordinary promise. A c c o r d i n g to reports in the New Zealand papers and from correspondents, an incident, which had unpleasant conse­ quences, took place during the match between Canterbury and Lord Hawke’s Team. The incident is thus described in The Press :— ‘ ‘ The usual harmony of the cricket field was somewhat disturbed yesterday afternoon by an occurrence that is to be regretted. Pearce was batting, and a curly ball from Bosanquet—so the Englishmen assert— bowled him round his legs. At any rate a bail was displaced. On appealing to the umpire at the bowler’s end, Mr. Bannerman said he did not see the ball, and he referred the matter to the other umpire. Mr. Spencer had also failed to see the ball dislodge the bail, but instead of giving a verdict “ Not out; did not see it,” he simply declined to give a decision, s'ating as his reason that he had not seen Pearce bowled. The onus of giving a decision was thus thrown on the other umpire. The Englishmen argued the point with the umpires and batsmen, until Pearce said they could have the wicket, and started for the pavilion. His partner, how­ ever, persuaded him to go back, and after further disputing play was resumed.” B u t apparently the incident did not end here, and accusations of ungentle- manly behaviour have been freely made against the Englishmen. The Press describes the situation as follows :— “ For English gentlemen to so far forget them­ selves as to openly dispute such a decision and to say that it was the worst decision they had ever heard, was strange con­ duct. If Canterbury men had done such a thing ‘ shockingly bad form ’ would be the mildest comment to exp9ct from Uni­ versity trained players. Bat that is not all. Sims was told that it was a disgrace for him to suggest an appeal to the um­ pires, though in doing this he was not only within his legal rights but he was in no way transgressing the very strictest etiquette of the game. Hopes were audibly expressed by the field that he would be bowled, and he was subjected by the wicket-keeper to a running fire of disconcerting remarks.” Ix is greatly to be hoped that the members of the English team will be able to give a satisfactory explanation of their share in this incident, for it is above all things necessary that the members of an amateur team touring abroad should behave as gentlemen. It must be remembered that up to the present the reports have all come from one side. I n the course of an interesting lecture in the Newington Baths on “ Parks and Open Spaces,” Mr. Piggott, the chairman of the L.C.C. Parks Committee, said that in 1901 there were 147 cricket pitches provided, and in 1902 there were 8,382, and on Bank Holidays, when extra pitches were provided, there were 9,167. They had had applications for allotment of pitches from 1,473 clubs. M b . T. H ebbebt W arbin , President cf Magdalen College, Oxford, has written a life of Prince Christian Victor, who was so well known to cricketers. The book is published by Messrs. Murray. T h o u g h he has latterly been up country in Victoria with very few opportunities for practice, Cricket readers who remem­ ber G. L. Wilson as one of the most use­ ful all-round cricketers in the Sussex eleven, will be glad to find that his batting has lost none of its pristine vigour. He came down as one of a Northern District term to pl*y the Melbourne Club in Mel­ bourne in January. His 56 was the chief score on the side, and J. M. Blackham, who captained the Melbourne team, was loud in his praises of G. L .’s all-round play. S p e a k in g at the annual dinner of the Scarborough C.C., Lord Hawke referred to the secret of success in cricket as follows:— “ I believe there are counties who go into the field on a day when, we will say, there is a plumb wicket, and say, ‘ we shall be here until half-past six.’ That is not the way to play cricket, or the way to begin to play a cricket match. It has not been the secret of Yorkshire’s success. (Applause.) They know that often I have said, ‘ Now boys, buck up ! ’ (Laughter.) I think that is a favourite expression of mine, and I think it goes a long way, and there is no doubt it is very successful. It is not golf ; it is not jockeyship ; it is not individual success that is going to win a match. As in the old Eton boating song, it is *Swing, swing, swing together,’ so in cricket it is ‘ Pull, pull, pull together.’ That has been the secret of our success, and it is not only the secret in county cricket, but it is also the secret of success in local cricket, too.” At the same time the Hon. F. S. Jackson said that when he asked Mr. Macgregor, who was responsible for the original resolution, what a wider wicket would do, he said, “ I don’t expect it will affect the big players, but it will affect the ‘ rabbits’ ” —(laughter)— the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh men. He very much doubted that. What the average spectator wanted to see was a big score. It was ignorance, no doubt— (laughter)—but the average spectator would sooner see a man get a hundred runs than see Rhodes do a magnificent performance and get five wickets for 30 runs. He agreed that the game needed reform. It was not a wider wicket, but a quicker game. He did not altogether know himself how that was to be done, but he was certain that what was wanted was something which would encourage runs being made really fast. They would then finish their matches and considerably improve the game. (Cheers.) I ILLY WHITE’S “ SCORES & BIOGRAPHIES,” L vols. 1 to 4 ; in good library condition; what offers “ X .X .,” Holicot, Harewcod Road, Merton, Surrey. T H E O X F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y A U T H E N T I C S I N I N D I A . T H E B E H A R W A N D E R E R S M A T C H . ( seventeenth of the tour ). Played at Mozufferpore on Feb. 5, 6 and 7. Authentics w on b y 345 runs. This match was altogether in favour of the visitors, and except for some good bow ling by Hudson and Lang, and a fine partnership between Luce and Marsham, the form of the Wanderers was poor. Chinnery and H ollins made a big score seem possible in the first innings of the Authentics, and Chinnery played an excellent second innings. OXFORD AUTHBNTICS. First innings. Second innings. A. H. Hornby,b Hudson... 32 lbw, b Lang ... 28 H. B. Chinnery, c Hudson, b Pratt ........................89 cBentinck.bLarg 69 A. H. Hollins, not out ... 65 c Bentinck.bLang 36 G. H. S.-Hayward, b Lang 10 c Luce, b Watson 38 R. H. Raphael, b Lang ... 4 b Lang.................18 K. J. Key, c Bentinck, b Hudson ........................21 bLang...................18 F. G. H. Clayton, c and b Hudson ........................ 2 b Hudson ..........25 R. A. Williams, c Pratt, b Lang ............................... 10 c Garrett, b Lang 5 J. N. Ridley,Ibw, b Hudson 6 cHudson,bLang 5 H. J. Powys-Keck, c Pratt, b H u d son ........................ 3 notout.................15 J.B Aspinall.cand bHudson 0 notout.. .... ... 8 Extras ........................ 4 Extras .......... 8 Total .................246 Total (9 wkts) 273 * Innings declared closed. B bhab W anderers . First innings. Second innings. A. H. Bentinck.b Williams 3 b Williams..........19 R. Warden, b Powys-Keck 0 c &bPowys-Keck 9 F. Luce, b S.-Hayward ... 46 cHollins.bPowys- Keck................. 0 H. Marsham, b S.-Hayward 86 lbw, b P.-Keck 4 G.H. Garreit, b S.-Hayward 0 b Williams.......... 1 E.P.Chapman.b S.Hayward 2 b S.-Hayward ... 0 P.B.Hudson,bPowys-Keck 11 runout .......... 0 S. Lang, b S.-Hayward ... 8 b S.-Hayward ... 4 R. M. Maddox, not out ... 6 notout................ 0 O. A. Pratt, b S.-Hayward 3 b Williams.......... 0 A. H. Watson, run out ... 0 b S.-Hayward ... 6 Extras........................13 Extras ............ 5 Total... ...128 Total .......... 47 B ehar W anderers . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. P o w y s-K e e k 10 1 39 2 .......... 11 4 17 3 Williams .. 102 37 1 ................ 53 2 11 3 S.-Hayward ... 9.2 1 22 7 .......... 8 2 14 3 H ornby.......... 3 0 17 0 .......... O xford A uthentics . First ionings. Lang Hudson ... Watson ... Pratt Luce......... O. ... 16 ... 16.5 ... 10 ... 11 ... 1 M. R. W . 1 74 3 ... 1 61 6 ... 0 54 0 ... 0 44 Sccond innings. M. R. W. 2 116 7 1 ... 9 0 ... Marsham O. 24 15 5 4 2 8 THE OUDH MATCH. ( e ig h t e e n t h o p t h e to u r ). Played at Lucknow on Feb. 12, 13 and 14. Authentics won by an innings and 227 runs. Against weak bowling, nearly all the visitors scored largely, and as the home team could make nothing of Simpson-Hayward’s lobs in the first inuings, very little interest remained in the match. O xford A uthentics . H.B.Chinnery,cMack- rodt, b McPherson .. 25 A. H. Hornby, c Rich­ mond, b Tweedle ... 70 F,H.Hollins, c Percy,b McPherson ........ 74 G. H. S.-Hayward, b Blunt..........................50 F.C.H.Clayton,cPercy, b McPherson......... 85 K.J. Key, c Richmond, b McPherson ... - 1 2 R. A. Williams, lbw, b Blunt......................... 0 J. E. Tomkinson, c Hewett. b Blunt ...39 C. Headlam, c and b McPherson .......... 1 F.Kershaw.notout ... 20 H. J. Powys-Keck, c Newnham, b Mc­ Pherson ................. 0 B 5, lb 5, nb 4 ... 14 Total ...390