Cricket 1904

M at 5, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 99 BUSSEY’S “DEMON DRIVERS. •< C C B « GEO, G. BUSSEY & GO Desire to inform Cricketers all over the world who may experience a difficulty in ob­ taining “ Demon Drivers ” that this difficulty arises in consequence of the ever-increas­ ing demand exceeding the supply. Readers of G eo . G. B ussey & Co.’s pamphlet, entitled “ Evolution of the Demon Driver,” are aware that a fea­ ture of the success of the “Demon Driver ” is due to a special process, occupying a long period, that the bats under­ go before leaving the works, and although there are always a large number of Bats under this treatment which could be placed on the market, G eo . G. B ussey & Co., in the interest of cricketers and their own repu­ tation, will not deviate from the system that has made the W The Finest Bat the World produces. GEO.G.BUSSEY&CO, 36 & 38, QUEENVICTORIASTREET, E.G. Manufactory— PECKHAM, S.E. Timber Mills—ELMSWELL SUFFOLK. AGENT8 A L L OVER TH E WORLD. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F. S. A sh ley -C o o per . Seldom has such interesting play been witnessed at the commencement of a season as that seen last week at the Crystal Palace in the match between London County and Surrey. For Sewell the match was a veritable triumph, inasmuch as he made his highest score (181) in first-class cricket and distin­ guished himself greatly in the field. Has any other player ever scored as many as 181 runs in an innings of the initial great match of a season? Until he had made 137 he was guilty of no mistake, but when he had scored the number stated he might have been caught by Lord Dalmeny—at long-on, 120 yards from the wicket—from a skyer. Everybody who saw his display had nothing but praise for it, for a brighter exhibition of cricket has rarely been seen. It is easy to understand now why he was always regarded as a perfect terror by bowlers in India, where he used to pile up century after century. Should he give frequent glimpses during the season of the magnificent form he was in at the Palace, the spectators at Leyton will have many a pleasant hour. Apart from his batting, how­ ever, he made five catches, bowled one, and ran out Jackson with a throw of about a hundred yards to Hesketh-Prichard, who put the wicket down. So it was quite “ Sewell’s match.” All who follow the game closely are aware that, when in India, he was not only the finest batsman, but one of the most effective bowlers in the country. Whilst qualifying for Essex he bowled with great success in Club-and-Ground matches, and also in club cricket, but for the county he has hardly been tried at all. Remembering his many great performances in previous years with the ball, it is extraordinary that last season he should have been put on to bowl on two occasions only—against Sussex at Eastbourne, when he was permitted to deliver one over for five runs, and against Nottinghamshire at Leyton, when he sent down four overs for 21 runs. If used judiciously as a bowler, he might prove of great service to Essex; but, if not persevered with (as he deserves to be), it is more than likely that the bowling skill he possesses will desert him. The match at the Palace, in addition to being rendered noteworthy by Sewell’s cricket, gave one plainly to understand that “ W . G.” was, thus early in the season, in capital form. His innings of 52 would have been a remark­ ably fine one for a person half his age, for there was not a single mistake in it, whilst his placing and the power he put into some of his strokes wtere reminiscent of his best days. May that display be the forerunner of many such from his bat! Cricketers generally do not appear to have taken kindly to the time-limit arrangement, which received a trial at Leeds this week in a match between Yorkshire and Notts., which had no bearing upon the County Champion­ ship. Should the idea ever become law— which Heaven and the gods forbid—many amusing “ victories” may be recorded. “ Match to be decided by the number of runs scored, irrespective of wickets lost,” is one of the rules concerning this particular style of cricket. Hence, if Gloucestershire scored 553 for nineteen or twenty wickets against Yorkshire, and the latter replied with 550 without loss, the match would have been won by the former. Doubtless such a result, which is within the bounds of possibility, would be palatable to a Saturday afternoon crowd at Bramall Lane ! If a premium were to be placed on fast scoring, bowlers would I naturally endeavour to keep down the run- getting as much as possible, and the off- theory might, therefore, become very pro­ nounced. A boundary so short as 60 yards from the nearer wicket would handicap all bowlers, and slow bowlers especially. This latter objec­ tion is important, for of late years it has been acknowledged, practically unanimously, by all cricket reformers, that what is chiefly required to make the game as interesting as it was years ago is some means whereby the bowler may hope for a greater amount of success to attend his efforts than is at present the case. The best cricket is seen only when bat and ball are on an equality: a score of 100 made on a billiard-table wicket cannot be compared to a similar total obtained against bowling which requires careful watching. The chief cause of the enormous scoring which has been witnessed during the last decade is undoubtedly the great care which has been taken in the pre­ paration of wickets. Everything, in fact, has been made to favour the batsmen, whilst nothing has been done to assist the bowler. Under the time-limit conditions it is probable that batsmen, in their endeavour to score at a faster pace than usual, would give more chances than formerly. Such a state of things might effect an improvement in field­ ing, in which case the originators of the scheme would deserve hearty congratulations. The recent tour of the M.C.C. through Australia has once again caused the question to be asked whether a week should not be set aside for every future Test match played in this country, in order that a definite result might be arrived at in each case. The mat­ ter was raised by Maclaren and Jessop at the meeting of the county captains at Lord’s in December, 1902, when the support accorded the proposal was fairly unanimous. It has been urged that such an arrangement would seriously interfere with the County Cham­ pionship competition, but this objection can have been raised only by those who now regard inter-countj matches as the be-all and end-all of first-class cricket. In all quarters it is granted that the Test matches are the great events of an Australian tour, and, this being so, it seems ridiculous that the conditions under which they are played should be such that there is a possibility of not even one of the five being brought to a definite conclusion. It would surely be pre­ ferable to allot a whole week to each game, and to play only these matches, than to arrange five three-day meetings which might not produce a single definite result. If this latter suggestion were acted upon, scarcely any interference with the County Champion­ ship programme would be necessary, as the Test matches would, at the most, occupy, but 18 days, or only three more than would five games to each of which three days were allotted. Not much importance need be attached to the argument that such anarrange­ ment would cause slow play to become general amongst English cricketers, for only three such matches would be played each time a team from Australia visited us—or, on an average, one a year. But whether, in the event of six- day Test matches being decided upon, either three or five meetings be arranged, the County Championship should surely be made of secondary importance. The increase during the past 15 or 20 years in the number of counties designated first-class, has caused several matches which at one time used to be regarded as features of the season, to disappear from the fixture list. Matches between representative sides of North and South, Gentlemen of North and Players of South, etc., were full of interest and always produced