Cricket 1903

66 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. A p r il 16, 1903. had a serious loss this year, for C. D . Fastnedge, who has been our captain for the last three or four years, is now living at Stamford, and cannot get away regulaily. But his pi ice will be taken b y H . J. H ill, who was the amateur tennis champion of Auslralia a few years ago, and we have great hopes of him, which, I am sure, will not be dis­ appointed. ” “ Y ou hold your meetings in London ? ” “ We are obliged to do so. Indeed, if you want any representative meeting of Hertfordshire men, there is hardly any other way of bringing it about; for, for all practical purposes, London is the capital o f Hertfordshire. I had a great idea once of creating for the Club more of ‘ a local habitation and a name,’ by holding its meetings in the various towns inside the county in rotation ; and in the first year, when I was joint secretary with Capt. Grimston, the committee did actually meet once or twice at St. A lbans; but we had to give it up, so inconvenient was it found by the gener­ ality of members. But it is naturally a serious disadvantage to any institution when it has to hold its meetings outside the radius of its sphere of influence.” “ What did Hertfordshire men think of the proposed l.b.w . rule, as tried by the second class counties last year ? ” “ We all found that it did not do what was claimed for it, and we therefore voted it a failure. Our experience (I am not speaking for myself) was that it was never brought into operation on a fast wicket, but frequently made itself felt when the wicket was altogether in favour of the bowlers and there would naturally be a low score. Its chief objects were to bring about a greater proportion of finished matches and to cut down long scores; and this jt distinctly failed to do.” “ Did you think that the new system of scoring used b y the second-class counties last year worked well ? ” “ Exceedingly w e ll; and I am sure that it would be a splendid thing if the first- class counties adopted it. It added any amoi n ; of interest to our matches all through the season. I f you had come on to the county ground when Bucks was playing here, you would have thought from the excitement of the spectators that a desperate finish was in progress. And yet the match was only half played out. Bucks made 292 in the first innings, and b y lunch time on the second day it was evident that the game could not be played out. Under the former method of scoring a dreary afternoon’s cricket would have ensued, with no earthly interest to ei ther plaj ers or spectators. But as there was a point to be fought for—to go to the side which led on the first innin s—each team played its hardest, and when the last man, Budd, went in we only had to make 3 runs to gain the point. Budd, who is now qualifying for Surrey, had been placed hors de combat on the previous day by a sunstroke, but he pluckily went in, although it was a question whether he could hold his bat straight enough to stop a ball. The excitement was intense. Somshow or other Bu Id managed to keep up his wicket while the other man made the runs, and the point was ours. Again, when we were play ingDorset at Blandford, there was practically only a single day’s cricket. Dorset made 140, and we fol­ lowed with 141 ; and if it had not been for that one point, to be lost or won, there would have been absolutely no interest whatever in the game, as from the first it was plain that it could not be played to a finish. Again, both our matches with Ox­ fordshire furnished instances of the excel­ lence of this new system. In the first match (at Bishop’s Stortford), where play was limited to a single day on account of rain, we had first of all to fight for the one point, which we gained ; and then it became a question as to whether we could convert this one point into three, which we just managed to do, with very few minutes to spare. So here the new rule created an interest which was con­ tinuous all through the game. And in the return match (at Oxford), where again the first day was wholly a blank and there would have been nothing for either side to play for under the old conditions, the new rule came to our rescue and turned a dull day’s cricket into one of keen excitement. For there was the one point to fight fo r ; and we went for it and won it, scoring 183 ourselves, and then getting our opponents out for 100, only just upon time. These all came within my personal knowledge, but I believe nearly every other couuty secretary could tell you of similar experiences. Most decidedly our new system of scoring proved an unqualified success throughout a wet season: let us hope we may have a chance this year of seeing how it will work in a dry summer.” “ Y ou are a great advocate for a scheme o f promotion for second-class counties ? ” “ I believe that the future success of county cricket largely depends on whether a scheme can ba found by which a deserving minor county may be pro­ moted. I don’t kn w how such a scheme is to be worked, but some way out of the difficulty must be found. The bast of the minor counties feel that it is dis­ heartening work to go plodding on year after year with no prospect whatever of becoming first-class. As things go now, it is simply a matter of courtesy whether any second-class county can gain admit­ tance into the ranks of the first-class. Something possibly might be done on the sirne lines as the sandwich-boat in the boat races at Cambridge. But the draw­ back to any scheme of that sort is that it involves the degredation of first-class counties, for there is obviously no room for another team among the first-class counties —their ranks are already over full. And it is not in human nature for a county which is not first-class to agree to any proposal which m ight briog it down to second class. Still, if second- class cricket is to be a vital factor in the game,— I will go further and say, if county cricket is to retain its position and its popularity, there must be devised sooner or later some authoritative scheme of promotion by merit, which will find acceptance with first-class and with minor counties alike.” LONDON COUNTY v. SYDENHAM XVITT. Played at the Crystal Palace on April 11. Drawn. L ondon W. G. Grace, c Swaf- fleld, b Serth ......... 40 W. L. Murdoch, b Kenward................. 6 B. Jaya liilll, c W il­ kinson, b Page ...118 C. B. Grace, b Qirin- nell ........................ 9 L. O. 8. Poidevin, b Stafford-Webber ... 40 E. H. I). Sewell, cand b Kenward ..........95 N. F. Norman, c Page, b Hayward .......... 20 C o u n t y . L. Walker, c Barker, b Hayward .......... 1 T. T. Brewer, c Addi- stone, b Quinnell ... 40 P. G. Gale, b Staiford- Webber ..................18 Miles Townsend, e Woodfall.bQuinnell 0 W . T. Samson, not out ........................ 0 Extras .................25 Total .412 S y d e n h a m XVIII. T. B. Woodfall, b Townsend................ 0 H. Allistone, c Nor­ man, b Townsend ... 0 P. G. Page, c Sewell, b 8amson................. 0 A. Dummock, run out 2 G. Sertb, b Townsend 2 W. Farrance, not out 10 W. Hhallis, b Samson L. E. Rixon, b Towns­ end ........................ S. J. Swaffield, b Samson ................. C. Hayward, not out Extras ... ... Total (8 wkts) 28 S. J. White, Quionell (J.), G. O. Hayden, C. T. A. Wilkinson, G. Cuff, W . Parker, Kenward, and H. Stafford*Webber did not bat. L ondon C o u n t y . Hayward Kenward Quinnell Serth ... Farrance O. M. R. W. .. 14 ...23 ...16 ...14 0 1 69 2 75 0 47 1 26 O. M. R. W . Wilkinson 4 0 S.-Webber 10 1 Page ... 4 0 Shallis 3 0 18 S y d e n h a m XVIII. O. M. R .W . O. M. R .W . Samson ... 5 2 10 3 1Townsend 5 2 14 4 CRICKET IN TASMANIA. BREAK O’ DAY y. DE11WENT. A good performance marked the finish of this match at Hobart Town on February 28th. Break o’ Day having declared with 295 up for seven wickets, the brothers Hawson went in for Derwent. By very fine batting they put on 214 before they were parted and ultimately, when the game was drawn, Derwent were only 59 behind with nine wickets in hand. B r e a k o ’ D a y . C.J.Eady,c Paton, bR. Hawson .................82 W . Gill, b K. Bailey... 16 H. Denne, b Paton .. 0 H. Hale, c 8. Hawson, b R. Hawson..........38 N. Douglas, c Arnold, b Paton .................31 F . Cooper, b Brooke.. 39 E. Lucas, b Paton ...14 W. Abbott, not out... 28 F. Chancellor, not out 22 Extras.................25 Total (7 wickets)* 295 *Innings declared closed. D e r w e n t . R. Hawson, c Eady, b Chancellor ..........117 S. Hawson, not out .. 104 J. Hudson, not out Extras Total (1 wicket) 236 O. D. Paton 37 K. Bailey 21 E Brooke 15 B r e a k o’ D a y . M. R. W. O. 13 80 3 18. Hawson 7 4 50 1 R.Hawsonl5 4 43 1 j H.Teague 11 M. R. W- 2 21 0 2 35 2 2 41 0 D e r w e n t . M. O. C. J. Eady 20 H. Hale... 13 0 53 0 P.Chan­ cellor 16 6 45 1 R. W . O. M. R. W . 74 0 1W. Abbott 4 0 16 0 N.Douglas 7 0 H. Deune 2 0 R ICHARD DAFT’S “ Nottinghamshire Marl.” — Particulars, apply Radcliffe-on-Trent, Notts. [A dvt .] #