Cricket 1904

F eb . 25, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 25 Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY , FEB. 25 t h , 1904. NOTICE TO OUR READERS. Six numbers are issued during the Winter, from October to March inclusive, as follows: No. 647.—THURSDAY, OCT. 29. No. 648.—THURSDAY, NOV. 26. No. 649.—THURSDAY, DEC. 31. No. 650.—THURSDAY, JAN. 28. No. 651.—THURSDAY, FEB. 25. No. 652.—THURSDAY, MARCH 31. Subscription for the above series, 1/3 post free. R esults of the S eason and A verages of the P rincipal C lubs can be inserted in Criekft at the rate of 3s. 6 d. a column, with a minimum charge of 2s. 6 d. To ensure insertion in the following number, particulars must be re­ ceived not later than the Saturday previous to the day of publication at the Offices of Cricket, 168, Upper Thames Street, E .C . ^a \)tlton Gossip* The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet T h e scheme propounded by F. H. Bacon, the Hampshire Secretary, for a competition originally intended for the First Class Counties alone, on what is called the knock-out system, even with the able and powerful advocacy of C. B. Fry has had to be given up for this year at all events. In any case putting aside the merits or demerits of the proposal, there was really little or no chance of the counties, with heavier programmes, being able to enter the lists even if they had felt so inclined in view of the fact that their cards for the com ing season had already been practically arranged when the idea was first mooted. Whether it will in Ihe future secure the support of a sufficient number of the counties necessary to make it a success, remains to be seen. The promoters themselves, it is fair to say, are confident that next year will see the competition a going concern. S in ce the article on the supject of the abandonment of the Indian trip to England was written, further information has come to hand strengthening the doubts as to the advisibility of the course adopted, at all events, on financial grounds. The Bombay Gazette of February 6 th reverts to the subject in the follow ing terms : — The Committee which had in hand the arrangements to send a team of native cricketers to England this year seem to have had no luck with the scheme and abandoned it practically on the eve of success. The statement placed before the Committee last week showed that the total sum subscribed and guaranteed in India and in England amounted to only Rs. 27,000. Six members of the Committee were of opinion that in the ®vent of its being decided to send the team to ■England, and an announcement to that effect being made, the sum required to meet the expenses of the tour would be forth­ coming. Since the statement mentioned above was prepared, several fresh subscrip­ tions and guarantees have been promised, and these with a sum of Rs. 2,000 which a member of the Committee offered to raise, would have brought the total up to Ils 35,700. leaving only another nine thousand rupees to make up the requisite sum of Rs. 45,000. Had the Committee met a week later the scheme could hardly have been abandoned on the ground that the financial position was unsound. “ N o t - otjt ,” the cricket critic of the Sydney R eferee chronicles the fact that Victor Trumper completed his thousand runs in test matches with his fine innings at Melbourne at the commencement of January. Among the members of the present Australian team he is the third who has run into four figures in these matches, Clem. Hill having scored 1622, and S. E. Gregory 1522, up to the match above named. M. A. Noble had then made 895, and R . A. Duff 537. U p to th a ttim e Victor Trumper’s first appearance in a Test Match was at Nottingham in 1899, when he had the infelicity of making a blob. It was the match in which Ranjitsinbji, by a super-excellent display for 93 not out, in the second innings saved England from defeat. That, too, was the first Test Match in which J. T. Tyldesley, the most brilliant of the present English party, ever figured. Tyldesley, “ N ot­ out ” adds, is getting on rapidly in the direction of a four-figures aggregate. A t the Annual Meeting of the W ilt­ shire County C.C., held at Trowbridge some ten days ago, the Committee were able to give a satisfactory report of the cricket played by the County eleven last year. Only one match was lost of the sixteen played, and though according to the system of scoring adopted in the competition, they were only third for the Minor Counties Championship, on paper they were in no way inferior to the two Counties which headed them in the table. The income of the Club, too, had in­ creased, although a deficit of £486 had to be reported. With Sir Audley Neeld, President ; Mr. A. M . Miller, Captain and Hon. Sec.; and Mr. Herbert Harris, Treasurer ; Wiltshire cricket is certain to go strongly in the com ing season. ------- DU T h e offer of Sir Malcolm JEacharn to provide a trophy valued at 250 guineas, to go to the winners of the rubber in Test matches between England does not seem likely to commend itself to the governing bodies of Australian cricket. A t a meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association held at Melbourne on January 12 th, it was decided to write Sir Malcolm thanking hitu for his generous offer, but pointing out that there did not appear to be any need for instituting such a trophy, and that there would be a difficulty in the way of its proper custody. T h e Madras Times gives the score of a match played on January 30th at St. Thomas’ Mount, between the Queen’s Jubilee and the St. Thomas’s Mount Clubs. In this A. Jagannatham made 109, not out of 201 for seven wickets for the former. The team was completed by the follow n g :— A. Anthimoolam. A. Narayanasawmy. M. Ethirajalu. B. Subramaniam. C. Thandavaroyan. A. Kamasawmy. M. Manavalan. A. Thiruvangadam. T. A. Jacob. C. Ponnambalam. I n an interesting letter on the subject of cricket in Anligua, the Hon. J. S. Udal, in referring to the bow ling averages which appear in another place, humorously suggests that they do not suggest any need, at all events at the present, either for raising or widening the wickets. The tropical grass; and the Antiguans do play on grass, does not make for b ig scores, hence the pre­ dominance of the ball. Though his figures are only modest, it is of interest to note that the Old Incog. (J. S. U.) is himself at the head of the batting Averages. A creditable performance for a cricketer not many months the junior of W . G., and one with only few oppor­ tunities for cricket of any sort, it will be admitted. A n o t h e r Foster to the fore in cricket. This time it is N. K . of that name. He bails from Queensland, and recently signalised his first appearance in an Inter- State match by a fine score of 131 against New South Wales. An Australian critic in analysing that performance gives one a good idea of his methods. He has a crouching, watchful stand at the wickets, and possesses solid defence. His cricket was very plucky, though distinctly lucky. He has few good clear crisp strokes, and no forcing ones, as far as one could see. His best executed stroke, I thought, was the pull, hard in front of short-leg. At times he drove very nicely on the off. It was a singularly valuable innings, for the runs were got in an uphill struggle with the runs on the book against his side. It is the second highest innings ever played for Queensland in a representative match. In his form and strokes Foster is likely to improve; in this match he showed himself to he a keen player; keenness is a great thing in any class, and indispensable in first-class cricket. T h e collectors of cricket curios will, I hope, be grateful to me for recording a small innings though the match took place as lon g ago as June 26th last. The opposing elevens were St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, and the Government College. As the follow ing score will show, the latter were dismissed for two runs from the bat, both of them got by B. Ramappa. G overnment C ollege . T. Soans.c Krishnappa b Castelino .......... U. B. Subba Rao, b Krishnappa .......... B. Ramappa, b Krish­ nappa ................ K. P. Keshava Rao, b Krishnappa .......... N. Umanath Rao, b Caateliao................. K. Ramichandra, b Castelino................. N.Narappa ICastelino B. Koosaya, not out .. N. G. Ramappa, b Castelino................. H. Karat, b Castelino M. Saroothama Pai, b Castelino................. B ye........................ Total .......... E. G. H a y e s , the Surrey cricketer who has been wintering in South Africa fo