Cricket 1904

10 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME J an . 28, 1904. you ever seen a paralysed native bear trying to climb a tree ? ” “ Can’t say I have, but why ? ” said the drawer of tanglefoot. “ Because,” said the cus­ tomer, “ he’d seem like a streak of greased lightning after seeing Laver and Jim Horan batting.” T h e complete weather statistics for last year have now been made up, and the follow ing is a return month by month for 1903. I t will be noticed that by far the wettest months were June, July, and August, when cricket was at its height. Average of Excess ( t ) Inches. 50 years, or Deficiency (—) January .. 2-12 .. 1-99 .. + -13 February., 1-36 .. I "48 .. — "12 March .. 2-22 .. 1-46 .. + -76 April .. 1-84 .. 1-66 .. + -18 M ay.. .. 1-95 .. 2'00 .. — ’05 June.. .. 6-07 .. 2-02 .. +4-05 July.. .. 5'27 .. 2-47 .. +2-80 August .. 4-81 .. 2-35 .. +2-46 September 2-23 .. 2-21 .. + 0-02 October .. 4-44 .. 2-81 ... +1-63 November 2-09 .. 2-29 .. —0-20 December 1-31 .. 1-77 .. —0-46 S u b jo in e d is a list o f th e years sin ce 1841, w h en th e am ou n t o f rain has been reg istered as e x ce e d in g th irty in ch es, b y w h ich it w ill he seen th a t 1903 easily com es o u t on top . Inches. 1811 .. .. 33-26 1848 1852 1860 30-10 34-01 31-90 1866 1872 1879 1903 Inches. 30-72 30-02 31-36 37-95 W r it in g to the St. James's Gazette about the West M aitlind match, B. J. T. Bosanquet says :— Their bowling and fielding got very slack towards the end of our innings, and Foster had to remonstrate. Unfortunately for him I also had been unable to get a length when bowling, and at the end of the match their captain came up to him and said . “ At any rate, our bowling was not much worse than Bosanquet’s.” To which there was no adequate reply. In a cricket match recently played in Australia, says the Sydney Bulletin, the players decided to lend a little additional interest to the result b y arranging a sweep, the whole of the money to go to the man drawing the highest individual scorer. Towards the finish things grew exciting. When the last batsman of No. 1 side went in, his side wanted ten runs to win. The crack bow ler at the same moment discovered that he had drawn the batsman in front of him, and twelve runs would bring the sweep his way. The sweep came his way, but he had to fight most of his colleagues afterwards, and sweeps are now off. H . G r a h a m , the old Victorian batsman, who has visited England with Australian teams, has accepted a post in New Zealand as cricket coach to the Dunedin H igh School. S o m e time ago F. G. Roberts, the Gloucestershire bowler, contracted blood- poisoning through blistering his feet in waiting. He has since been laid up at his residence at Bristol with the compli­ cations that ensued. He has had to undergo an operation which has left him very weak. It is feared that he will not be able to assist Gloucestershire in the com ing season. I n a bill before Parliament, the Man­ chester South J unction Railway Company have scheduled a strip of land lying between their land and the playing por­ tion of Old Trafford Cricket Ground. The effect o f the scheme, if sanctioned, would be to lessen the playing portion of the cricket field along one side by twenty yards. The county club naturally offers the strongest opposition to the proposal, and points out that on the other side of the line there are acres of open agri­ cultural land. C. T . B. T u r n e r , the famous old Australian bowler, has again taken to cricket. He is now playing for a new Sydney club called the Ramblers. C. J. A l l e n , who visited England with the Haverford College team in 1900 and made 109 in his first match, was married on December 11th to Miss Henrietta G. Benson, of Providence, R .I. At about the same time Newbold Etting, a member of the Philadelphian team which came to England in 1889, was married to Miss Claudia L . Mock, of North Carolina. F ro m the livening News. The second Test Match has been started by _Mr. Warner’s team in fine style, but while the English players seem to be find- ieg Australian methods very effective, one cannot resist the feeling that the man who reads in his newspaper of 221 for two wickets as the result of a day’s play is better off than the man who actually witnessed the feat. M r . H . B . M a r r io t t W a t s o n , the novelist, writes indignantly to T.P's Weekly as follow s: “ On the day that Herbert Spencer died the principal item on the broadsheets of the papers was a cricket match in Australia. The irony o f the situation is irresistible. One Italian journal appeared in mourning borders, another devoted seven columns to the exposition of Spencer’s work and aim ; and here in the city in which he lived and laboured nearly all his life, people were asking each other, ‘ Who was he ? ’ and reading of the famous scores at the Antipodes.” T h e cabled reports of the second test match at Melbourne, whether from the agents of Reuter and the Central News or from Iredale, contain almost as many references to missed catches as commas. The Englishmen seem to have been especially to blame, and, to take the lowest estimate, that of Iredale, Trumper was pretty badly missed no fewer than four times in his first innings. It seems to be generally recognised in Australia that in the matter of fielding the present M .C.C. team cannot be compared with other English teams which have visited Australia in recent years. I n t e r v ie w e d immediately after the third test match the Eagland captain said that “ the overpowering personality of Trumper, Duff, Noble, H ill, and Gregory won the matc'a for Australia.” I t may be quite true that as far as cricketers at present in Australia are concerned these five famous batsmen overshadow any other five, but would anyone care to back them heavily against Pry, Ranjitsinjhi, M iclaren, F. S. Jackson and Jessop, who are not in Australia ? C a p t a in H . S. B u s h , the Surrey County cricketer, has passed the final examination of the ordnance course at the College, Woolwich. The captain’s battalion is under orders to leave Shorncliffe for Malta iu a few weeks. “ J a v e l in , ” o f the Melbourne Leader, has worked off what a contemporary calls two little jokes. The one is :—“ ‘ Plum ’ Warner always goes iu first for England, and R eg Duff for Australia. I f they were both on the same side the opposing bowlers would find ‘ Pium -Duff ’ a pretty hot combination to start w ith.” The other is a conundrum .-—“ Why is the letter T like the effect of a hot day on one of the English team ? ” asked a Mel­ bourne pressman, as he watched the play. They gave it up, and he explained— “ Because it will make Hirst th irst! ” T h e Adelaide Observer records the death of P. F. McNamara, as the result of a blow from a cricket ball. He was batting for Crafters against Mylor in a match connected with the Mount L ofty Ranges Cricketing Association, and was struck between the eyes by a ball, which rose quickly from the bat. The knock was severe enough to cause hemorrhage, and the poor fellow died four days later. A m il d prophecy that England will win one out of the two remaining test matches has taken the place of the cock- suredness which was a characteristic of the articles written by many critics after the first two victories. It is now generally recognised that on a perfect wicket the Australians are as formidable as ever, and that if rain plays no part in the remaining matches we may find a difficulty in holding our own. L ord B r a y b r o o k e , the late master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, was in the Eton X I. of 1844, as a bowler. He was then known as the Hon. Latimer Neville. Against Harrow he took six wickets in the first innings and two in the second, while his record against Winchester was four wickets in the first innings and five in the second. I n a recent interview, A. C. Maclaren returned to his strictures on the M .C.C. He said : “ Well, I hope that in the future more players of the England team will be allowed to express their views as to who should play