Cricket 1904

444 CRiCKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. O ct . 2?, 1904 A K E E N old cricketer aud charming old personality passed awayin themiddle of last week by the death of Canon Owen, for over fifty years in charge, first as curate, and then as vicar of Borough- bridge in Yorkshire. Though he was not, as far as I know, a Yorkshiremanby birth, he had all the sporting instincts of one, and was as proud of the county as if he had been a son of the soil. As a cricketer he had, I believe, played for Staffordshire, andwhen he came first to Boroughbridge, which was in 1845, he was awicket-keeperof morethanaverage skill. He captained the lccal team at Boroughbridge for many years, and it was in that capacity that he brought out George Freeman. That great Yorkshire bowler of the seventies owed in some degree his introduction into a betterclass of cricket to the late Canon. At all events, he was closely identified with Freeman’s early success, and was very proud, as everyYorkshireman has a right to be, of that splendidcricketer’sbrilliant triumphs for Yorkshire. O f lateyears he had resided in Greater London and with unabated love for the game was rarely absent whenever good cricket was ,to be seen at Lord’s, the Oval or Leyton. I can remember well his enthusiasmat the finishof the closing Test match of 1902, and certainly among the thousands who sawthat historic win there was no one prouder when the two Yorkshire players, Hirst and Rhodes, returned to the pavilionwith the honours of a hard-earned victory for England thick on them. I saw a good deal of himon that memorable occasion and can recall vividly a remarkable forecast he made of the result during the luncheon interval on the third day when the issue was still inthe balance with, if anything, slight odds in favour of the Australians. A charming companion, with an inex­ haustible store of cricket lore and anec­ dote, he will begreatly missed by a large sectionof the habitues of Lord’sand the Oval, as well as by a host of friends in Yorkshire, where his early cricket work will not easily be forgotten. It is stated in the N a ta l M ercu ry that the tour of the South African team resulted in a loss of £2,000, which will fall on the shoulders of Mr. Abe Bailey, who, in such a sportsmanlike manner, guaranteed the expenses of the tour. F rom ; the N a ta l M ercu ry : — Englishcricket experts discussing the tour of the South African Eleven in England, unanimouslypraisethe astonishing improve­ ment of South African cricket, as evidenced by the performance of the team, the South Africans having suddenlyjumped into first- class form. It is expectedthatwhenthenext team visits England, it will be possible to arrangematches on the same footing as for theAustraliancricketers. The improvement is ascribedlargelyto thevisit of the Austra­ lians to SouthAfrica in 1903. Attempts are being made toarrange avisit of an English teamto SouthAfrica in 1905. F r o m the B om b ay G a zette :— The abandonment of thereturnPresidency Match at Poona, Bombay v. Poona, without aball being bowled, on account of rain, the first timethis has everhappenedinthewhole series of games between the European cricketers of thePresidency and the Parsees, naturally caused very keen disappointment amongst the adherents of both teams, many of whomhadtravelledlong distances to wit­ ness the match. We think in view of the largenumber of peoplewhovisitedPoona for thematch, andthe factthatitwasnotpossible to arrange for it being played later on, that aneffort might have been made to play on Thursdayand extend the periodby oneday. As things turned out it would have been possible to make a start on Thursdayat 12 o’clock, the weather having cleared up and there being every prospect of the break lasting. There were difficulties, we under­ stand, in the way of extending the time by one day, several of the Presidency players only having leave up to Thursday, but the placesof thesetwo orthreeat the most could verywell havebeentakenbythereserveman, Mr. R. L. Sinclair, and one or two local players. The team would of course, have been weakened by this arrangement, but in the special circumstances it would have been worth trying. W r it in g in the D a ily C hronicle about Mr. A. E. W. Mason, the novelist and politician, Mr. Harold Begbie says :— Mr. Masonplays cricket, and he brings to the game of life the glorious uncertainty whichhe invariably takes withhim(muchto Mr. Barrie’sconcern) to thewickets. Hehas thepower to do much, and while the game interests him will, I believe, do verymuch; but politics, I think, will have to enliven themselves alittlemore if theydesiretokeep himfora lifetime. A t the beginning of October, Mr. A. J. Darnell, the honorary secretary of the Northamptonshire County Cricket Club had succeeded in getting promises from five first class counties to play Northamptonshire in the Championship, so that it may be taken as practically certain that the county will be eligible to compete in the Championship next year. The five counties are Surrey, Warwick­ shire, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. It wouldnot bethe greatest surprise intheworldif Northamptonshire were to come out at the top of the list, and this would not be altogether a dis­ advantage, as it would ia all probability bring about some change in the scheme for the better. C h a r l e s L a w r e n c e , the old Surrey professional who, with Caffyn, had so much to do with the training of the first notable Australian cricketers, is badly crippled with rheumatismat Melbourne, where he has resided ever since hevisited Australia with H. H. Stephenson’s team in 1862. In 1868 he brought over a teamof Aboriginals to England. He is now seventy-five years old, and has two sons living at Portland, Oregon, viz., Holmes Lawrence and Charles W. Lawrence, who are principals of the Holmes Business College. T h e final position of the clubs in the Philadelphia Cup Competition is as follows :— "Wen. Lost. Aver. M o o r e s to w n ....................... ... 12 ... 4 .. . *750 fc adnor ................................ ... 30 ... 6 .. . *825 D elaw are Field C lub ... ... 9 ... 7 .. -563 F ran k fort ....................... H ... 8 .. . *600 B elm on t.................................. ... 8 ... 8 .. . -5 0 G erm a n tow n ....................... ... 14 ... 18 .. . *438 M erion ................................ ... 6 . .. 1 ) .. . 375 P h ila d e lp h ia ...................... ... 5 . .. 11 .. . *313 Germantown having two teams, started the season with two wins and two losses. A t the annual dinner of the Hastings and St. Leonards Association, Major Freeman Thomas appealedto large land­ owners in the neighbourhood to assist in theprogressofHastingsandSc.Leonards. He mentioned that the S ups x County Committee were going to hold a week of county cricket there, because theyrecog­ nised the keen interest taken in the matches by the borough. The usual fes­ tival will be held at the endof the season. J. T. B r o w n , theYorkshireprofessional, who sent in his resignation to the County Cricket Club this summer on account of ill-health, has undergone treatment at theinstitutionof Dr. KingscoteinLondon. He has greatly improved in health, and it is hoped that he wiil be completely cured. ------ A lth o u g h B. Jayaram, the Hindu cricketer, who was in England during the past season, and was given several opportunities of distinguishing himself in London County matches, did not succeed inmaking a reputation here, he began to make large scores as soon as he returned to India. In his first match he made 127 against the Essex Regiment for Bangalore, against Madras he scored 133 for the same club, and in another match he made about 70. This would seem to point to the conclusion that cricket in India is much below the standard of that which is played in England. It will be remembered that Jayaram was regarded by Indian cricketers as likely to be the shining light of the teamwhichwastohavecome to England. FoRRobertAbel’sTeamv. Twenty-two of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, Tom Hayward, the famous Surrey cricketer, made 83 out of 111 while he was at the wickets, in little morethanhalf-an-hour. His hits included four drives out of the ground (Southwark Park) and ten 4’s. Abel made 66 in an hour, 44 of them being made by four’s. O n September21st, LordHawke enter­ tainedthemembers of theYorkshire team at Wighill Park, as he has done for many years. The only absentees were Mr. H. Wilkinson and Mr. Ernest Smith, whose scholastic duties prevented them fromattending. LordHawkegaveHirst a pair of silver photograph frames, in memoryof his feat inmaking the highest aggregate for a seasonof any Yorkshire cricketer. He also gavea similar present to David Hunter, whohasbeenthemeans of dismissing over a thousand batsmen during his career for Yorkshire.