Cricket 1904

428 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 22, 1904 REVIEW OF THE SEASON, 1904. It is sometimes, but not very often, difficult to decide at the end of a season who has been the batsman of the year, but Hayward has had such a remarkable record this summerthat fewwill be found to deny that he was the batsman of 1904. It does not necessarily follow that the batsman of the year is the greatest batsman, and with Ranjitsinhji, C. B. Fry, and Tyldesley in the field, no one will claim that Hayward holds that position. But nearly all through the seasonhe has made runs with wonderful consistency. He has made few very large scoreB, but in match after match he has ma^e a hundred or thereabouts. He has played for a side which has been under such a dark cloud all through the season that he has nearly always gone to the wicket knowing that a vast amount of responsibility rested on him. If he succeeded, his side might or might not g iin a victory; if he failed, it would almost certainly be beaten. In con­ sequence of this he has been obliged to playsuch a strictly cautious game that, if hiBstylewerenotalmostperfect, hemight have baen considered a tedious player to watch, if it cm be tedious to watch a man who is straining every nerve to put a betterappearanceon thegame. Despite the difficulties with which he has had to cmtend, he has made not only the highest total of the year, but has beaten every other previous total with the exoeption of that of Robert Abel in 1901. Decidedly Haywardhas beenthebatsman of theyear. Last year C. B. Fry had not only the best record, but was undoubtedly the greatest batsman. He cannot be said to have fallen off ia any way, for he has played splendid cricket under all sorts of conditions, and has never played better than when a great effort was required of him. True he has had one or two short periods of bad luck, which have lowered his average a little, but take him all rcund he is as great a cricketer now as he was last season, when he played so many magnificent innings on most diffi­ cult wickets. Englishmen may look forwardwithcontideace to a series of fine scares fromhis bat next year against the Australians if they visit us. But while Fry has nobly held his own, Ranjitsinbji has simply excelled himself, and one is forced to the conclusion that he is at the present time absolutely the greatest bats­ man in the world. He is at the head of the averages, but averages arenothing to him, and if he had chosen to play for his own hand instead of his Side, he might have had Alaextraordinary record. It is noticeable that tfWijitsinhji seldom dis­ tinguishes himself to any very great extent on occasions when his side is in such a position that it does not matter twopence whether he makes runs or not; in such cases one often reads in the next day’s paper that “ Ranjitsinhji played a brilliant innings of 40 (or 50 or so), but was missed onceortwice.” But let there come a time when the other side begins to think of the most convenient train to catch—if ever such a time comes before Ranjitsinhji and Fry are both out—or let his side be in difficulties, with the bowlers in such fine feather that they are twenty par cent, above their usual form, and then Ranjitsinhji plays an innings which astonishes everybody who sees it. He fails now and then, as even Dr. Grace failed occasionally when he was in his prime, but he is a marvellous cricketer. The third place in the list of averages is held by Tyldesley, who, as usual, has played brilliant cricketnearly all through the season. He is one of the few great cricketers who are at theirverybestwhen agreat effortis mostneeded, andasusual, he would be a very safe card to play in a representative team. Neither A. O. Jones and Iremonger couldbe left out of a representative teamontheirformof the past season. They have done wonderful things ia partnership. Hirst, who is seventh on the list, is undoubtedly the best all-round man of the day, for although his bowling is not quite as terrible to batsmen as it was a year or two ago, it is still very effective, whilehis batting is Bafeas well as brilliant; it is to be noticed that he does not owe his position to any verygrdatscores, for with an average of 54 36 his highest innings was only 156. But he is a man v»ho hardly ever fails. The only two other men who have averages of over fifty are Perrin and Quaife, who have each been the mainstayof their county. Perrin was helped by his famous ianings of 313 not out against Derbyshire, but hehas played a splendid game on manyoccasions when things have looked badly for Essex. It is almost with surprise that one finds Quaife so high up in the list. True he has played an innings of 200 not out, but his speciality is to make a long series of veryuseful scores, rather thangreat ones ; his wicket is always most difficult to get. R. H. Spoonerhasmore than justified the gosd opinions which were formed of him last year, and, if all goes well with him, he is decidedly one of the men of whom England may exp:ct themost in matches agaiust Australiain the next ten years or so. His partnerships with Tyldealey for Lancashire have been among the most noteworthy things of the year. The Rev. F. H. Gillingham,W.H. B. Evans, andJ.F. Mar.-h have only playedin a few innings, but they are three of the most promising players of the day, although unfor­ tunately for Essex cricket, Gillingham may not be seen much more in first-class cricket. It is a pity that A. J. L. Hill has only been able to play so seldom, for he has been in brilliant form. Next comes a South African cricketer, L. J. Tancred, who has proved himself to be the best batsman on the side. If he were anEnglishman he would without much doubt be chosen for the Gentlemen at Lord’s, as would Sinclair, who, although he hasnot madeasmanyrunsas one feels that he ought to make, is a splendid all­ round man. P. F. Warner, J. Douglas, A. C. S. Glover, Knight, Denton and J. R. Mason are all on the same mark at 40 and have all upheld their reputations. Masonwas in splendil all-round form in July- August, and until he broke a bone in his handKnight did great things. Denton’s cricket was of immense value to York­ shire; he is one of those menwho nearly always make a good score, while they very seldom increase their averages by huge scores against weakbowling; thus Denton’s highest score of the season is only 119. Raphael is perhaps the most promising player of all among the rising generation, and great things may be expected of him in the near future. Among other young players who have come to the front are Humphreys aud Seymour of Kent, Rudston, F. B. Wilson —a good man for a situation which requires pluck—A. C. Johnston, R. P. Keigwin and G. Curgenven. Of the veterans, “ W. G.” and W. L. Murdoch have each played an innings of a hundred this season, but they have neither of them been quite at their best. Lord Hawke and Newham can still keep up their wickets when their side is in difficulties. W. Gunn has not played much and has fallen off a little, while Abel, although he played several fine innings, was not theAbel of formerdays. Jessop, as last year, was not seen at his best except on a fewoccasions, when be astonished the cricket world as of old. Maclaren has sometimes played almost as well as in the days when he was at the height of his fame, while Sprot has played some splendid innings under most disheartening circumstances. Both Bo­ sanquet andRhodeshavevastly improved as batsmen, and G. W. Beldam has shown all his splendidpowers of defence. Among the players who have improved are L. O. S. Poidevin, Hallows, J. H. King, S. H. Day, Carpenter, C. A. Olli­ vierre and Whittle. Some remarkable ianings were played by E. H. D. Sewell, but likemost hitterswho donot carryout their systemthoroughly, he hashad some bad days. Enough has been said to showthat as far as batting is concerned England can look forward to the future with some crafidence, but when one comes to con­ sider the bowling, things are not altogether satisfactory. A great many men have taken a hundred wickets, but can anyone be found to say that any of the bowlers on whom we ohiefly relied when the last Australian teamwas here are as good as they were then? What of Rhodes, Hirst, Brauud, F. S. Jackson, Lockwood, J. T. Hearne, Tate and ArnoldP Is even oneof themas goodas he was in 1902 ? On the other hand, what bowlers have we to take their places ? The man who created the greatestimpressionduringthepast season was Kotze, the South African. Perhaps the bowler of the year was Dennett, for although hedid not takeas manywickets as otherbowlers andwas more expensive, it must berememberedthathepractically had to keep up one end for Gloucester­ shire all through the Beason, and every bowler of experience knows how difficult it is to shine under Buch circumstances. Bosanquet, on his day, will bowl out anybody, and he may be one of our most valuable assets in the future. J. N.