Cricket 1904

S kpt . 15, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 405 Smith, Leacb, Newham and B. B. H ey­ gate were all effective at times, and Leach seems likely to be a very useful all-round man. The bow ling was neither very bad nor very good, but Cox stood out prominently. Neither the defeats nor the victories were brought about in the matches against the strongest coun­ ties, but Sussex had much tbe best of the two drawn matches against Yorkshire, and none the worst of those against Lancashire. Unfortunately there does not seem any great promise for the future. The results of the Yorkshire season must have been exceedingly disappoint­ ing to Yorksbiremen, notwithstanding that the county is second in the cham­ pionship table. On paper the record of 9 wins, 2 losses, and 16 drawn games does not look at all bad, although it is not by any means impressive; but the only victory against a county which has a place in th« upper half of the table was that against N«ttts, while most of the other victories wwe over counties at the very foot of the table. O f the sixteen drawn games only seven were drawn in favour of Yorkshire (against Leicestershire, twice, Lancashire at Leeds, Derbyshire, Notts, Essex and Gloucestershire); both matches against Sussex were drawn much against Y ork­ shire; while the other matches may be said to have been drawn evenly, viz. against Worcestershire (twice), Kent, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Middlesex and Lancashire. This is not by any means a satisfactory record for a team which contains as many fine players as Yorkshire. The cause of the want of success would seem to be in the weakness of the bowling, which, however one may look at it, cannot be considered as power­ ful as it was a year or two ago. It is tiue that Hirst and Bhodes have each taken over a hundred wickets for the county, and that Haigh only required seven to complete the hundred, but they do not impress batsmen as they used to do, although possibly H irst and Rhodes may regain all their old skill after a winter’s rest. Even on what are known as ideal bowlers’ wickets, the Yorkshire- men have seldom been as terrible as in former days. Perhaps the most inter­ esting feature of the season’s cricket was the way in which ihe bowlers so often got their side out of difficulties by excellent batting, and Hirst, Bhodes, H aigh and Myers have all fre­ quently distinguished themselves with the bat. W ithout much doubt Hirst is the best all-round player in England at the present time. Whenever he could get away the Hon. F. S. Jackson was a tower of strength to the side. Denton, luckiest of batsmen, nearly always made a fine score, and Ernest Smith and Tunnicliffe were often most UEeful. In Rudston the county has found a steady batsman, who is likely to be very useful. The value of Lord Hawke’s batting to his side is not by any means shown by his average; he has over and over again shown himself to be one of the best men in the country for a tight place. It is possible that if Kent had been able to put a strong side in the field during the earlier part of the season they would have been champions. Three of their four defeats took place before the end of June, and the other defeat, b y Middlesex by one wicket— towards the end of August, was without much doubt due to a premature declaration in the first innings, made with the object of bringing the match to a conclusion, for Kent men do not make a speciality of drawn matches. But an analysis of results shows that the victories gained by Kent, like those of Lancashire, were nearly all over counties in tbe lower half of the cham­ pionship table. Their defeats were at the hands of Lancashire (twice before the end of June), Notts (in their first match of the season, and Middlesex (one wicket) at the end of August. Of the drawn matches those against Essex, Notts, Sussex (at Brighton), Yorkshire, and Gloucestershire were not in their favour. Their victories were over Hampshire (2), Worcestershire (2), Middlesex, Gloucestershire, Surrey, Essex and Somerset (2), and it will be noticed that Middlesex alone of the defeated counties was in the upper half of the championship table. Thus the season’s record is really not as good as it looks on paper. The inclusion of J. B. Mason in the team in the middle of the season vastly strengthened it, and he comes out well both in the batting and bow ling averages. Day was exceedingly useful in the later matches and both Humphreys and Seymour greatly in­ creased their reputation. Alec Hearne is, as usual, a most valuable all-round man. With Blythe at his best and Fairservice, Fielder, Alec Hearne and Mason, all effective at times, Kent was much stronger than usual in bowling. In some ways Middlesex has as good a record as any other county, for among the defeated sides were three of the counties which were most difficult to beat, viz. Yorkshire, Sussex, and Notts, while they had an immense advantage in the drawn match with Lancashire. None of the drawn matches could be considered against them, while the second Yorkshire match was in their favour. As usual the team was much stronger in August than at any other time, and the record for the month was 8 matches, 6 won, 1 lost, and 2 drawn. At full strength the team was very powerful indeed. Bosanquet was, with­ out question, the best all-round man, and both in batting and bow ling he greatly distinguished himself. Towards the end of the season he was almost irre­ sistible with the ball, even on the best of wickets. Warner has well kept up his reputation, although in the middle of the season he was unfortunate. In the Beldams the side has two of the most difficult men to get out in the whole country, and G . W . Beldam especi­ ally played a defensive game with admirable skill. J. Douglas and C. M. Wells were both very useful indeed when they came into the team after the school holidays began, and Macgregor’s stub­ born play saved the team more than once. Several new men were tried, some of them meeting with a fair amount of success. In bow ling J. T. Hearue deservedly heads the list, but Bosanquet often did wonders, and Trott was at times most successful. A t present the county does not seem to possess any rising bowler who is likely to set the Thames on fire in the near future. I f the end and aim of county cricket were to bring matches to a conclusion, Somerset would easily head the champion­ ship list, for during the whole season they only drew two matches, both of them on account o f rain. But as things are, it is better, much better, for a weak county to draw matches than to Jose them, and Somerset managed to lose 11 out of 18 which does not look so well. Two of the five victories were over Surrey, and the others were over Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Hampshire. This year Somerset have not brought off any of the surprises with which in previous years they have delighted the cricket world. No doubt a great deal of the falling off is due to the disappointing form shown b y Braund, who like so many other men in previous years, has done badly after his Australian tour. In the batting averages of the county he is only tenth on the list with 19'77, and again in the bow ling he is only fifth with 63 wickets which cost him about 30 runs apiece. L . C. H . Palairet, who heads the batting averages, has played con­ sistently well through the season, but S. M. J. Woods was in poor form except for a short period in the middle of the season, while H . Martyn, who has been able to play regularly, has hardly done as well as was anticipated. Captain Poyntz, F. M . Lee, M ajor Hedley, and P . B. Johnson have at times been very useful, while Lewis and Bobson have often been the mainstay of their side. In bow ling Cranfield has done excellently, and but for him the county would indeed have fared badly. When a county falls pretty suddenly from a very high position, and can hardly ever win a match, many people jump to the conclusion that there must be something entirely wrong with the eleven and with the committee. Other counties may lose more matches, and may be lower in the championship table, but the general public shakes its head and demands a scapegoat, or it may be half-a-dozen scapegoats. Hence, during the past two seasons, the Surrey committee has come in for abuse of a kind which is fortunately not often met with in connection with cricket. But the real and unavoidable cause of the downfall of Surrey is to be found in the deterioration of so many fine players at about the same time — Abel, Richardson, Lockwood, Brockwell, etc. Take away Tyldesley, Hallows, Cuttell and Brearley, and where would the Lancashire team be ? Or the Yorkshire team without Tunnicliffe, Hirst, Rhodes and H aigh P Such men cannot be replaced in a moment, or even in a year or two. But it can give pleasure to nobody to see a famous county go down, and it is satisfactory to note that in the course of the past season several young players have been introduced into the Surrey team who may help to raise the