Cricket 1904

362 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 25, 1904. more this season, and as they have both to take part in several more matches on*) of them, or perhaps both, may beat F ry’s record of thirteen hundreds. A complete list of the men who have made five hundreds this season is given below. Hayward—116, 123, 127. 122 , 148, 203, 161*, 106*, 112 , 188 *............................................................ 10 C. B. Fry— 120 , 191*, 226,177, 105*, 160, 191, 181, 211,229 ............................................................ 10 Hirst—102,163, 152, 157.108, 103. 140,121 .......... 8 K. S. Ranjitsinhji—148, 166*, 142, 121,135, 152, 207, 178* ............................................................ 8 Tyldesley—146, 210,103, 225,196, 102, 108*.......... 7 Iremlnger-137, 189*, 272, 142, 197, 133 .......... 6 Quaife- 200*, 110 , 123, 131*, 193 ........................ 6 P. Perrin—100*, 1 ! 0,134, 343* 143 ........................ 6 R. H. Spooner—122, 126. 101, 102 *, 215 ................. 6 A. O. Jones—113, 119, 108, 187, 160* ................. 5 King-128, 117, 104, 109*, 186 ............................... 5 H. K. Foster-107,118,118,112, 119 ................. 5 Knight—111*, 140, 203, 118, 103 ........................ 5 • Signifies not out. F r o m the Southern Daily M a il: “ Last week a motor-car belonging to Mr. C. B. Fry, and driven by .the famous athlete, was speeding through Fareham in the direc­ tion of Mr. Fry’s residence at Botley, when it collided with Admiral Moresby, who was cycling slowly along the street. The gallant officer was somewhat violently knocked off his machine, but was promptly on his legs again. He did not appear much the worse for the mishap, but sustained a severe shak­ ing. As Admiral Moresby is well past the prime of life, the effects of his spill are ex­ pected to remain with him for some time. Admiral Moresby was able to proceed to his home at Blackbrook, Fareham, unassisted, after exchanging cards with the motorist. The car, it seems, was endeavouring to avoid a dog in the road when it ran into the admiral. The latter suffers from deafness, this, no doubt, contributing to the mishap. I n conuecli >n with the part, pi tye 1 by Kent during the mouth of August, the folio wing remarks from the Daily Chronicle are worthy of consideration :— Unhappily the County Championship is foredoomed invariably. Of the fifteen counties engaged more than two-thirds cflm- pose the chorus. This year there were but two “ principals,” and though Lancashire merit considerable praise for their immunity from defeat, it is difficult to resist the conclu­ sion that in the later months of the season, when all counties are at their best, the situa­ tion is so different from that in the first half that a championship confined to July and August would produce a far more satisfactory tournament. On present lines the County Championship is won—or rather, lost—in the early part of the season. Look, for instance, at Kent, who, as constituted, in May and June, were far below full strength, but who, now fully represented, are good enough to heat the best of their contemporaries. Lan­ cashire and a few others have been fortunate in the possession of regular teams, but the majority of the counties labour under heavy burdens of misfortune. T h e r e can be no doubt that the re-appearance of Mr. J . R . Mason this year in the Kent team has vastly added to the strength of the side. When opposed to Englishmen, Mr. Mason has been one of the best all-round men of his time, but like many other famous players he has not been at his best when opposed to the Australians. He has only once played an innings of over fifty against them during their tours in England, nor has he met with marked success with the ball. His record in batting against tbe Austra­ lians since 1893 is 14 and 18 (1893) ; 53, 7 and 7 (1896); 13 and 22, 0 and 6 (1899); 7 and 24, 34 and 18 (1902)—total 223, average 17. In bow ling he has taken fourteen wickets against the Australians for 343 runs, average 22. When he went to Amtralia in 1897-98 with Mr. Stoddart’s team he played twenty com­ pleted innings in X I . a-side matches, scored 514 runs, with an average of 25, and took twenty wickets for 502 runs — heading the bow ling averages. But in the five test matches his record was 10 innings, 129 runs, average 12; two wickets for 149 runs, average 74. O b v io u s l y with reference to the interview with Santall which appeared in Cricket on August 11, the Daily Tele­ graph says:— In the course of an interview the other day, Santall, the Warwickshire player, raised an interesting point, expressing his conviction that bowlers, and especially fast bowlers, have suffered by the change from four to five, and afterwards six balls an over. In his opinion the plan of having six balls tothe over puts a very severe strain on fast bowlers, more particularly those who take a fairly long run up to the wicket. The alteration from four balls to five was passed by the M.C.C. in 1889, and from five to six in 1900. Whether the changes are in any way responsible we would not venture to say, but allowing for variations in the weather, scores have gone on increasing year after year, and are vastly higher now than they were when the rule as to four balls an over was in force. Of course a great deal of time has been saved, but we hear more than we used to about the fatigue involved in a long day’s cricket, and the tea interval has on many grounds become a regular institution. “ A s no piiuciple of the game is con- C-trned,” continues our contemporary, “ it might be well to get an expression of opinion on the point from all the leading bowlers, amateurandprofessional, and so ascertain whether Siutall’s views are lirg ely shared. Everybody wants in these days to help the bowlers, and any general wish for a return to five, or even four, b ills an over woul 1, of course, be entitled to full consideration. Tne M .C.C. did not alter the old rule without ample deliberation, but there is no evi­ dence that the bowlers have profited, and some of those who advocated the exten­ sion of the over may, in the light of recent experience, question the wisdom of what was done.” L a s t week George Hirst brought his total for the season to more than 2,000 runs, a feat which has never been previously performed by a Yorkshireman. He still requires two wickets to bring his total of wickets for the season to a hundred. U p to Monday J. Gunr, Rhodes and Arnold were the only three men who had taken a hundred wickets and scored a thousand runs during the season. But to accomplish the feat Bosanquet only required 4 wickets, Haigh 87 runs, Hallows 5 wickets and 27 runs, Hirst 2 wickets, and Relf 8 wickets. Since then Bosanquet has added his name to the list. T h e follow ing will show the positions of the several competitors for the cham­ pionship of the Second Division of County Cricket up to Saturday la s t: — s £ ■3 'CJ O 60 d 3 no a © • a 5 rs -*2 5 5* S S *3 £ s s & ej o o g g s .fl u ■—« t>- t>- c J? 0 o <u >■ P PU CM P-4 North’pt’nshire 9 ... 8 ... 0 ... 0 ... 27 ... 24 ..88 88 Wiltshire......... 10 ... 6 ... 1 ... 0 ... 30 ... 19 .. 63*33 Glamorg’nshire 9 ... 4 .. 2 ... 0 ... 27 ... 14 .6185 Durham .. 6 ... 3 ... 0 ... 0 ... 18 ... 9 ..60 0 > Hertfordshire 10 ... 4 ... 3 ... 0 ... 30 ... 15 ...60*00 Yorkshire (2nd) 8 ... 4 ... 0 ... 0 ... 24 ... 12 .. 50 00 Bedfordshire ...11 ... 3 ... 5 ... 1 ... 30 ... 14 ...46 66 Staffordshire .. 11 ... 5 ... 0 ... 0 ... 33 ... 15 ... 45*45 Cambrigdeshire 7 ... 2 ... 3 ... 0 ... 21 ... 9 . 42 85 Oxfordshire ... 7 ... 3 ... 0 ... 0 ... 21 ... 9 .. 42.85 Devonshire ... 9 ... 3 ... 1 ... 0 ... 27 ... 10 ...37.03 Northumb’land 8 ... 2 ... 1 ... 1 ... 21 ... 7 ...33*33 Suffolk .. 7 ... 2 .. 0 ... 0 ... 21 ... 6 ...98.57 Buckingh’shire. 9 . 2 ... 1 ... 0 ... 27 ... 7 ...25 92 Norfolk ... . 7 ... 1 . 2 ... 0 ... 21 ... 5 23 80 MonmouthshirelO .. 1 ... 4 ... 0 ... 30 ... 7 . 23 33 Surrey (2od) ... 6 ... 1 ... 1 ... 0 ... 18 ... 4 .. 22*22 Berkshire......... 8 ... 1... 1 ... 0 ... 21 ... 4 1«*66 Cornwall........ 6 ... 0 ... 1 ... 1 ... 15 .. 1 ... 6 66 Dorsetshire .. 10 .. 0 ... 1 ... 1 ... 27 ... 1 ... 3 70 Threepoints for a win, one point for a match decided onthe firstinnings. Drawn matches—i.e., matches in which doth sides have not completed an innings—are omitted in calculating the ’‘ possible points.” Since then Durham has made a point for a win r.n the first innings at the expense of Northauts. W a r w ic k s h ir e , through their sec­ retary, Mr. R. V . Ryder, have already offered to play out and home matches with Northamptonshire next year, if that county is raised to first class in accordance with the recommendation of the M .C.C. Advisory Committee. E. L. M a r sd e n has this season taken over a hundred wickets and scored a thousand runs for Hampstead, a feat never before accomplished for the club. G. W . B e l d a m has played some of his very best innings against Surrey. In 1901 he made 150 not out for London County at the Oval. In 1902 his score was 155 not out for Middlesex at Lord’ s. In 1903 he made 118 at L >rd’s, and 112 at the Oval for Middlesex ; and last week he scored 98 at L ord’s for Middlesex. But he has also many times completely failed against Surrey. W h e n R injitsinhji went to the wicket on Monday against the South Africans, he required 177 runs to complete his second thousand for the season. Ou Tuesday he brought his score to 178 before the Sussex innings was declared closed. Thus he now joins C. B. Fry, Hayward, Tyldesley, and Hirst. Ire­ monger still requires 17 to reach the two thousand, and as he is a professional footballer he may not be able to get another chance of making the runs. Hayes, with 1,825 runs, is the only other batsman who has scored over 1,800.