Cricket 1904

O ct . 27, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 443 very serious, that is if M. A. N. was able to captain the side he had arranged to take to Balmain on the following Satur­ day. The team he was to take had at least the nucleus of an international combination, withVictor Trumper, R. A. Duff, A. J, Hopkins, S. E. Gregory, A. Cotter, J. R. Mackay, and A. McBeth in it. T he final match in the Philadelphia Cup Competition, which was between Belmont andMerionCTeam,was inaway remarkablethat theformer teamincluded no less than four brothers Graham. These were Dr. Archibald H.,C. Mervyn, Willard and Donald of that name. A fifth brother, Kenneth, the junior of the quintett,was first reserve on the occasion, so that the family is pretty well repre­ sented in the playing strength of the Belmont Club. T h o u g h the annual report of the New South Wales Cricket Association for 1903-4 seems a little belated in its appearance, the record of which Mr. Percy K. Bowden, the secretary, has been good enough to send me a copy, contains a lot of very useful information. In addition to the report and balance sheet of the association, it gives the position of the different clubs in the first, second, and third-grade competiton, with the average for the first-grade, as well as the full scores with analysis of the Inter-State matches, and the matches played by New South Wales against the M.C.C. English teamlast winter. W r i t i n g to the D a ily M ail about a football match Dr. Tinsley Lindley, the old International, says :— It beinganideal summer’safternoon, and I afewminutes late, I turned more or less unconsciously into the cricket pa-pilion at Trent Bridge andran intoWilfrid Flowers. “ Well, Wilfrid, what’shappened?” I said. “ Oh, nothing,” he replied, “ but Middles- booughhave made some fine leghits out of the ground.” Th e subject of the cartoon in Vanity F a ir on September 22nd was Lord Dalmeny, the Surrey cricketer, who appears in cricket costume, although his connectionwith cricket is only inciden­ tally mentioned in the letterpress which accompanies the cartoon. W. C. Wool’, a son of the old Glou­ cestershire professional, sailed at the beginning of October for South Africa, where he has an engagement with the ChristianBrothers Higher Grade School at Kimberley. Last winter he was coach at Kimberley High School. In the last five years, says the Irish F ield , the Leinster C.C. has only lost eight matches out of 101, and in 1903 the two defeats experienced were in games in which the club was weakly represented. The following table of results will be readwith interest:— M atches played. W o n . L ost. D raw n . 1900.. . ... 20 ............. 16 ... ... 0 . ... 4 1901.. . ... 18 ............. 9 ... ... 2 .. . ... 7 1902.... ... 20 ............. 10 ... ... 4 .,........... 6 1903............. 23 ............. 14 ... ... 2 .,........... 7 1904,............ 20 ............. 13 ... ... 0 ., ........... 7 101 62 8 31 O n the second day of the match between Monmouthshire and Stafford­ shire at Stoke (June 21st) the Mon­ mouthshire captain made an assertion that the pitch had been watered at the end at which Barnes would bowl. As a result of this assertion, and a complaint by the Monmouthshire County C.C., the Emergency Committee of the Minor Counties Association made an inquiry into the matter, and at the end of Sep­ tember the Monmouthshire Committee made a communication to the Secretary of the Staffordshire County C.C., in which they unreservedly withdrew all the charges made against Staffordshire. A n eleven consisting entirely of Kent county cricketers played a footballmatch onWednesday, October 12, atTonbridge, against the town club, and won by five goals to nothing. The cricketers’ team was as followsHuish (goal), Fair­ service and Munds (backs), Preston, Hardinge, and Humphries (half-backs), Skinner, S. H. Day, R. N. R. Blaker, Hubble, and Seymour (forwards). T h e Blackpool Festival cricket week is to be continued next year, and it is intended that there shall be no repetition of the laxity which prevailed during the festival this summer. It is proposed to arrange a match between Lancashire and an England XI., andanotheragainst the Australians. Commentikg on the Halifax Cup matches at Philadelphia, the Am erican Cricketer says:— “ The interest inthe game has been very great amongplayers alltheyear, andmatches havebeen finished promptly in most cases, thanks to theactiontaken by theAssociated Clubs at the beginning of the season. Another feature of the season has been the almost total absence of rainon matchdays. Ononlyoneoccasiondid rain interfere, and eventhen some of thescheduledmatches had well progressedbeforerainstoppedplay.” A f t e r the teamrepresenting the Gen­ tlemen of Philadelphia, who toured in England last year, returned home, an organisation was formed consisting of men who have played in International matches against English, Irish or Aus­ tralian elevens, andwhose play has been sufficiently good to warrant their selec­ tion inmore than onematch. This team was called the Pilgrims, and answers to the Harlequins at Oxford and the Quid­ nuncs at Cambridge. As there were no International cricket at Philadelphia this autumn, the follow­ ing matches were arranged :— S eptem ber 17.— P ilgrim s v. B altim ore, a t B alti­ m ore. S eptem ber 24.— P ilgrim s v. B est o f th e U n ited States, a t M anh eim . O ctober 1.— P ilgrim s v . H a verford C ollege (E nglish T eam ), a t H averford . O ctober 7 an d 8 .— G erm antow n an d P hiladelphia v. B elm on t an d M erion, a t M anheim . W a r w i c k s h i r e ’ s programme for next summer bids fair to be much more im­ posing than any the county has had of late years. Sussex and Somersetshire will add considerably to the attractions of Warwickshire’s card, whichwill again include a fixture with Cambridge Uni­ versity at Cambridge. In addition, the Australians will visit Birminghamonce if not twice, as the authorities are hopeful, if not fortunate enough to get one of the five Tests, that the Australian team will play the Midland Counties as well as Warwickshire at Edgbaston. W i c k e t - k e e p e r s , as far as present appearances go, will be well represented in the benefit matches of next season. T. Russell, the sturdy stumper of Essex, has already beenpromised the proceeds of a county match at Leyton. It is rumoured too, that Huish will have a similar recognition at the hands of the Kent Committee, a fitting return for years of arduous and distinguished ser­ vice. Of all players wicket-keepers, if onlyby reason of the risks of theposition, deserve the most substantial apprecia­ tion of the authorities. Both the cricketers here named have earned the highest order of merit as thorough triers and big-hearted players. T h o u g h generally the county clubs seemto have hada fairly good time of it financially last summer, Leicestershire, in a great measure due to the unfavourable Whitsuntide, did not come out so well as had been expected. There was, in fact, a loss of between £100 and £150 on the year’s working, and this though the total receipts were in excess of both 1903 and 1902. With a proper neighbourly feeling Leicestershire has given ahelping hand to the newly elect shire. Home and home matches are to be playedwith Northants, assuming, of course, that the latter qualifies with the requisite number of fixtures, which is, I understand, no longer doubtful. It is more than prob­ able that the Australian teamwill appear at Leicester onWhit Monday. D i p l o m a t i c relations between Somer­ setshire and Surrey have, one regrets to hear, been interrupted, with the result that the two counties will not meet during the coming season. Somerset­ shire’s engagement of W. Montgomery, the young cricketer who played for Sur­ rey in most of its county matches at the end of last season, witn a view to his qualification after the requisite period of two years’ residence, was regarded by Surrey authorities, in view of their forcible protests, as “ anunfriendly act. ’ Hence the suspension of the fixtures between the two counties.