Cricket 1904

M ay 26, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 153 ground at Oxford, but H . H . Massie, the famous Australian, astonished English cricketers in the first match of the tour in May, 1882, by making 206 b y some of the most remarkable hitting ever seen. O ut of a total of 361 runs from the bat made by Oxford University on Thursday last for the loss of nine wickets against Yorkshire, four men scored no fewer than 339, leaving only 22 to the credit of the other six. A s im il a r contrast may be found in the scores of the Derbyshire men in their first innings against London County, for W right, Humphries, and Ollivierre made 205 out of 257 from the bat. A n old county professional went to play on a London County Council pitch for his church eleven. H e had success­ fully avoided being hit on the hand by a bowler who bowled from the off, and presently a ball from the bowler came about a foot off the wicket to leg. It pitched in a hole and shot furiously, but the wary old cricketer, mindful of the days when he was younger, brought his bat down upon it just in time. Arrived at the other end he said to the umpire, a clergyman whose only fault was that he was not a born cricketer, “ That was rather an unkind sort of ball ? ” To which the umpire pleasantly replied, “ Yes, it was, and if it had hit your leg I should have had to give you out leg-before.” T h e team which represented London County against West Herts last week included two Australians (W. L . Murdoch, and L. O. S. Poidevin) and three of the South African team (M . Hathorn, J. H. Sinclair and J. J. Kotze). W . G. made 58 and divided the wickets equally with Kotze, while Sinclair scored 41, and Poidevin 38. W ith the possible exception of W. M. Bradley and C. H . B. Marsham none of the cricketers who represented the Gentle­ men of England against Cambridge University would seem to have much chance of taking part in the match at Lord’s against the Players. But the match was interesting if only by the re­ appearance of W . H . Patterson in first- class cricket. He was one of the finest players of his day, and like A. G. Steel and the H on. Alfred Lyttelton (now the Col­ onial Secretary), was able to do himself justice in the cricket field without anv previous practice before a match. Until quite recently he used to play occasionally in the Kent eleven, nearly always with success, long after he had practically given up the game. I n the G^utlemen’s team was also included L. H . Bacmeister, who played for Middlesex in a few matches some years ago, and was for many years a prominent member of the Hornsey C.C. He was a bowler who, if he had been given a real chance, might have done very great credit to his county. He bowled with considerable success against Cambridge University. P rom Tonbridge School’s programme forthe season given below , it will be seen that a match against Haverford College has been included. MAY. 25, Tonbridge, y. The Town JUNE. 1. Tonbridge, v. Blue Mantles 4. Tonbridge, v. Hampstead 15. Tonbridge, v. Dulwich College 18. Tonbridge, v. Band of Brothers 25. Tonbridge, v. Oxford Harlequins 29. Tonbridge, v. Bickley Park JULY. 2. Tonbridge, v. M.O.C. 6. Tonbridge, v. Free Foresters 8. Tonbridge, v. Old Tonbridgians* 16. Tonbridge, v. "West Kent 20. Tonbiidge, v. Haverford College, U.S.A. 23. Tonbridge, v. Blackheath * Two-day match. T h e follow ing is the card of matches for the Harrow Eleven this summer :— MAY. 21. v. M. C. Kemp’s XT. 28. v. Free Foresters JUNE. 4. v. Harlequins 9. T. Household Brigade 11. v. Oxford Authentics IB. v. M.C.C. 18. y. Quidnuncs 25. v. I Zingari JULY. 2. v. Old Harrovians 8. Lord’s, v. Eton* 14. v. Haverford College • Two-day match. K. S. R a n jit sin h ji and Dr. Grace have joined the Daily Mail staff of pavilion journalists. I f the new cricket journalism has done nothing else, it has at least proved that if you only get enough of it you may get a little mixed up. Now Abel and D . L . A. Jephson were both in the pavilion at the Oval when Lord Dalmeny was bowled on Thursday last. In the Daily Mail Abel says Lord Dalmeny was bowled with a ball that broke a foot. On the other hand, in the Daily Chronicle, Jephson says:— Lord Dalmeny charged up the pitch, missed the ball, fell down, and the leather trickled very gently into the wicket. The one criticism implies that Lord Dalmeny had the misfortune to be bowled by an extraordinary ball, the other implies that he deliberately threw away hi 8 wicket. A t Lanhydrock, in Cornwall, the St. Breward C.C. failed to score a single run agaiust the I Dep 6 t of the D .C .L.I. Duiing the innings three overs only were bowled, Keveth doing the hat trick twice and taking eight wickets. The Dep 6 t made 37. L a st week G. L . Jessop played for the Crusaders, the Cambridge University Club, against Bedford Grammar School, and made 122 out of 250. T he Granville (Lee) C.C. had a par­ ticularly useful recruit in their ranks in the match agaiust Gravesend. The “ recruit” was P. Perrin, the Eisex batsman, who scored 121 out of a total of 239 for six wickets. It is always pleasant to find that a county cricketer who has ceased to play in first-class cricket for reasons of busi­ ness, etc., takes an active and successful part in the game. Therefore, one gladly notes that B. S. Lucas, whodid bo well for Middlesex a fewyears ago, made 103 cot out for Molesey against St. Thomas’s Hospital on May 14th, whileon May 18th he followed this up by scaring 112 not out for the same club against Richmond. S ince the beginning of the season, George Hirst has made the following scores in first-class cricket:—44, 60, 51, 102, 76, 25, 153and14. He also (between the 60 and the 51) made 50 and 13 not out for Yorkshire against Eighteen of Northallerton. Q uestions suggested by the new cricket journalists :— (1). How do you win the toss on (a) a wet wicket, ( b) a hard wicket, (o) a fiery wicket, (d) on any wicket at all. (2). What happens when a bowler success­ fully negotiates a wicket ? (3). Do you feel sorry or glad when you lose wickets cheaply ? (4). “ He ought to have been caught early on, but that was the only blemish that went to hand. ’ ’ Examine this sentence and explain how a blemish goes to hand. (5). Show how fielding may be superior to a previous day. R eference was incidentally made last week to the huge score of 438 by War­ wick Armstrong for Melbourne Club againstMelbourneUniversity. TheUni­ versity did not get a knock either on March 26th or April 9th, so that the eight wickets of M.C.C. represented the sumtotal of the cricket. As W. W. A.’s 438 beat all Australian records for the. highest individual score, it will be well to give the full details of the Melbourne innings:— Bruce, c Baird, b James ................. 8 Armstrong, b Bailey ........................ 438 Rainsford, run out............................... 42 Fry, c James, b Rainey........................20 Down, c Graham, b James................. 14 Monfries, c L. Miller, b Rainey..........123 Irwin, b James...................................... n Johnston, not o u t............................... ... Bowden, run out ................. ... 0 Murray, not out ... ... ................. 3 bundries...................................... 24 Total (for eight wickets) .. 699 Previous to this, J. Worrall’s 417 for Carlton against the University in Febru­ ary, 1896, held theVictorian record, with T. Warne’s 402, also for Carlton, v. Richmond, in December, 1898, a good second. C. J. Eady’s 566, for Break-’o- Day v. Wellington, at Hobart, onMarch 8th, 15th, 22nd and April 4th, 1902, is the best so far for Australasia. Bailey, who finally bowled Armstrong, is a son of the Tasmanian cricketer, G. H. Bailey, who came to England as a member of the first Australian team, in 1878.