Cricket 1904

S e pt . 1, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 377 I t was also quite fashionable to be a victim to lbw, and among the patients were H . C. McDonell, Langdon, B . H. Spooner, W . Findlay, Storer, Grimshaw, J. Douglas, B. B. Heygate, K . S. Ean- jitsinhji, P. H . Latham, C. E. de Trafford, K ing, Webb, A . C. Johnston, Lilley, and T. S. Fishwick. T h e follow ing team has been chosen to play for the Best of England against the champion county (Lancashire) at the Oval on September 12 : P. F. Warner (Middlesex) (capt.), G. L . Jessop (G lou­ cestershire), Lord Hawke (Yorkshire), B. J. T. Bosanquet (Middlesex), E. Smith (Yorkshire), Hayward (Surrey), Lilley (Warwickshire), Arnold (Worces­ tershire), Hirst (Yorkshire), Ehodes (Yorkshire), and Gunn (J.) (Notts.). O n the cricket notice-board in Sir W ilfrid Lawson’s park at Bray appears the fo llow in g :— There is only one game—that is cricket, There is only one life—that is farming, There is only one sport —that is fox­ hunting, There is only one drink—that is tea, There is only one country — that is England, There is only one county — that is Cumberland. A w r it e r in the St. James's Gazette suggests two methods which, in his opinion, would have a marked effect in brightening county cricket. His methods are :— 1. Let all newspapers agree not to publish the averages of individual cricketers, either in batting or howling performances. 2. Let the M.C.C. pass a rule that any batsman who remains at the wicket for two hours without making 40 or SO runs, or who takes more than three hours to make 100, shall he given out just as if he had been caught or bowled. L a s t Friday nearly all the daily papers contained cablegrams from their New Y ork correspondents announcing that Sir Mortimer Durand, the British Am­ bassador, had captained a cricket team which beat the Lenox C.C., Massachu­ setts. The Daily Mail correspondent, after announcing that Sir Mortimer’s team won b y twelve runs in one innings, states that “ His Excellency made seven runs before being bowled, and his playing elicited much applause from the large and fashionable assemblage.” On the other hand, the Daily Telegraph corres­ pondent, while discreetly avoiding any reference to Sir Mortimer’s score, says that his eleven won b y 56 to 53, “ Sir H. Mortimer Durand playing excellently.” T h e Evening News is responsible for the statement that in the provinces it is now the practice in making up the names of cricket teams, etc., to put down Bill Bailey instead of the hackneyed “ A . N. Other.” In the course of an article in the St. James's Gazette entitled “ Banjitsinhji, the Man who Stays in as L on g as He Likes,” there appears the follow ing comment :— Some days Ran;i is playing, sometimes he is not. There is apparently no chasing after big figures, but he gets them all the same, and in that inimitable manner of his, county has followed county this year, and he has played all bowling alike, until against the best the South Africans could put on, in­ cluding the lightning deliveries of Kotze, the supple limbs and the silken-corded sinews of the marvellous Asiatic prince remained unshattered. C ric k e te r s who like their statistics served up with diagrams will find some­ thing to interest them in the September number of the “ B oy’s Own Paper.” The diagrams are intended to illustrate an article entitled “ The Varsity match at a glance,” and they consist o f a sort of engineers’ rule with squares ruled on i t ; a cricket bat with numbers on its face and handle, and (apparently) two coins, and a tiny black and white ball. The whole thing is delightfully mysterious. J. H . K in g ,the Leicestershire cricketer, has accepted an engagement with the Western Province C.C. (Cape Town) for the com ing winter. The Sea Point Club and the South African College are also jointly engaging an English player to act as coach for the approaching cricket sea­ son at the Cape. T h e Standard Athletic Club of Paris follow ing its annual custom of late years, has sent a team over this week to the South Coast for a brief tour. The open­ ing match was against the Hythe Club, and yesterday they began their second fixture against the Koyal Artillery at Fort Burgoyne. The three other engagements are :— Sept. 2 and 3, at Walmer, v. Royal Marine8. „ 5 „ P, at Folkeatone, v. Folkeatone C.C. ,, 7, at Dover, v. Dover Wednesday C.C. The Standard A.C ., I may add, has just won the cricket championship of France. T h e K ing’s active interest in cricket is being practically demonstrated in the provision he is making to ensure fitting accommodation, with the requisite pro­ vision for the com fort of the members of the Boyal Household Cricket Club. By H is Majesty’s orders, two handsome pavilions are being erected on the royal cricket ground at Windsor, one for the use of the Eoyal Family and the house­ hold, the other for the servants. C apt. E. O’H . L iv e s a y , who has in K ent’s recent matches shown that bis military duties in the South African War have not in any way interfered with bis capacity as a batsman, has just Becured an appointment to an lostructorship at the Eoyal Military College, Sandhurst. The Captain, who got his D .S.O . iu South Africa, played half-back for England a few seasons ago at the Eugby Union game. The Kent football authori­ ties are looking forward confidently to a good deal of assistance from him during the com ing winter. C aptain G re ig , who has been playing a good deal of cricket at Poona, lately assisted the Poona Gymkhana against the Baronet C.C. in the middle of last month. The Baronets were lucky to get him out for eleven, but he made amends as a bowler, taking all the three wickets down of the B.C.C. in the second innings. A rem a r k a b le , indeed, one may almost say a unique bow ling perform­ ance at the beginning of the year has just seen the light through the agency o f “ M id-on,” the cricket critic of the Melbourne Leader. It took the form of all ten wickets in each innings of a match. The authenticity of the feat, which is said to be w ithout a parallel in cricket, has, too, been duly verified by players in the match, and may therefore be taken as absolutely trustworthy. The match, which was played at Coburg (Victoria) on January 23, 1904, was between the Eeynard’s Eoad Methodist Church, Co­ burg, and St. Augustine’s Chnrch, More­ land. Cyril Bashford, in each innings of the latter, took all the ten wickets. In the first he bow led 32 balls for 9, and in the second 54 balls for 20 runs. P e r h a p s the most interesting feature of this week’s cricket was the stand made on Monday, at the Oval, by Goatly and Stedman for the last Surrey wicket against the South Africans. The two men put on 129 in an hour and a quarter while together, and the runs were made by really good cricket, at a time when Surrey was doing very badly. O n e of those peculiar incidents, which while they are uncommon in first-class cricket are often met with in club matches, occurred at Hastings on Monday, in the match between Kent and Sussex. Alec Heame, when his score was 56, played a ball into the hands of Eelf at lon g slip. An appeal was made, but as it hap­ pened, the view of each umpire was impeded when the catch came off, and therefore no decision could be given, and Hearne continued his innings. There is not the slightest doubt that the catch was made clearly enough. Banjitsinhji in the D a ily M a il describes the appeal as a case of bluff, but if the batsman had a reasonable doubt in his mind whether the catch was made he was justified in appealing. S u p e rs titio u s cricketers w ill find something to interest them in the follow ­ ing notes by “ Eover ” in last Saturday’s C ricket S ta r: — I happened to be the third party in an argument as to whether the number 13 is truly unlucky. I heard the discussion pro and con, hut I cannot say that I was con­ vinced either way. Luck enters largely into cricket, more than any other sport, perhaps, but whether 13 plays an important or an unimportant part in dates, scores, or wickets 1 positively decline to say. However, the gentleman who supported the idea that 13 is decidedly an unlucky number so far as cricket is concerned quoted the case of the lowest total on record in the County Championship — 13 by Notts against Yorkshire in 1901. This