Cricket 1904

D ec . 22, 1904. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 473 cable message fromMr. K. E. Lacey (secre­ taryof the Marylebone C.C.) as follows :— “ No replyhas been receivedto the invita­ tion from the M.C.C. to the Australian Cricket Associationsto senda representative team. It is essential to have a reply by JSovomber 21st, when fixtures must be arranged. Please repeat to the associations concerned.’ MajorWardill sentthemessage on to the associations. He says that the Melbourne C.C. is pleased to know that a welcomewill beaccordedto a representative team, but it did not think the circularletter sent outfast Julywas in the nature of an invitation. The Melbourne C.C. will cable to Mr. Lacey regarding the position of affairs, and the various associations will probablyarrangeto dothe same. («) Mr. Bowden (secretary to the New South Wales CricketAssociation) states that on September 19th he wrote to Mr. Lacey (secretaryto theM.C.C.), thanking that club for the invitation to anAustralianElevento visit England, and for its assurance of welcome, andstating theassociationendorsed the proposals with regard to the arrange­ ments for testmatches. Mr. J. A. D ix o n , the well-known Notts cricketer, has resigned the cap- captains Bhould toss only in the first and fifth test match. He said:— The arrangement, if adopted, would, he thought, tendto equalisematters, and would probably prove to be agoodthing, although there might be some argument against it, of which hewasnot at present aware. Person­ ally, hehad considerable doubt whether the Australians would like to banish the very goodfortunewhichhadattendedtheminpast years in the matter of choice of innings. If such an innovation wereadoptedhebelieved it wouldinvolveanalterationinthe Laws of Cricket, which now provide that the choice of innings must be decided by tossing. A general meeting of the M.C.C. might there­ fore have to be called, and whether such a meetingwouldpassthealterationornot,hedid not know. He wouldlike to seetheproposal tried inthetestmatches, andhebelievedthat, if it weretried, it wouldprobablyfinditsway into countymatches. A p e c u l ia r incidenthappenedrecently in a match at Melbourne. Armstrong was the batsman, Carkeek the wicket­ keeper. The latter appealed for stump­ ing and the decisionwas not out. While the bails were off the batsman walked enthusiasm than at Taunton during the last five years. A m e e tin g of cricketers was held at Hastings onNovember 28th to consider the question whether the Cricket Week should be abandoned or retained. Mr. W. Carless, the honorary secretary, gave a short history of the Week from a financial point of view, and stated that the loss on the past two years wasnearly £600. He said that unless there was a guarantee of £700 the festival could not be continued, although the guarantee would be less if county matches were played. Dr. Gray proposed that the committee arrange for two consecutive county matches, as late in August as possible, and also that the committee be asked to arrange a match between a South of England and the Australians, to take place in September. This pro­ posal was carriedunanimously. Of E. Cotter, the New South Wales bowler of whom so much is hoped by Australians, the Sydney Referee says: A PICTURESQUE PAVILION.— TORQUAY CRICKET GROUND. Photo by] S. Ashley- ooper . taincy of the Notts Amateur C.C., a positionwhich he has filled for the last twenty years. The members of the club, to show their appreciationof his services, have made hima presentation. C. J. E a d y , thewell-knownTasmanian cricketer, who came to England with one of the Australian teams, made 163 not out for Break o’ Day Derwent at Hobart at the beginning of November. He hit two 5’s and eighteen 4’s. The total of the innings of his side was 298, and Eady went in third wicket down. With J. Byfield as a partner he helped to put in101runsforthetenthwicket. When Byfield joined Eady three runs were re­ quired by Break o’ Day towinthematch. A n o t h e r Tasmanian cricketer of high repute, the Northerner, A . E. Windsor, to wit, has also openedwell, scoring 127 of a total of 227 for Cornwall against Esk about the same time. S p e a k in g at the annual dinner of the “ Yorkshire Post ” C.C. the Hon. F. S. Jackson referred to the proposal that the away fromhis crease, andCarkeekpulled a stump out of the ground, but this time the umpire saidhe did not see what had happened. No one thought of appealing to the other umpire, and so Armstrong continued his innings. A t the annual meeting of the Somer­ setshire County C.C. it was announced that there was a balance of £420 Ids. 6d. against the club on the season’s work. This is about £8 in excess of the deficit last year, and a call of £2 17s. 6d. will be made on eachof the guarantors. Mr. Murray Anderton stated that he would be abroad during the greater part of next summer, but the memberswerevery anxious that he should continue to act as honorary secretary, and he consented to accept office again. I n the course of the abovemeeting one of the speakers said that he defied any­ one to find a town of the size of Taunton which was more enthusiastic in its sup­ port of cricket. Another speaker said that he had seen cricket matches all over the world, and he had never seen less “ Cotter bowled very fast, maintained his pace, and showed grit in coming at Victor Trumper after the latter had guided the ball from the sticks to the fence a few times in his inimitable way. The yorker which bowled Trumper was one of the sort which upset the Vic­ torians, and also sent T. Hayward’s stump flying last season.” E d it e d by Mr. W. E. Weir, A yres’ Cricket Companion for 1905, the fourth year of issue, has just made its appear­ ance. Its price is 6d. It is printed on good paper and contains much that will be of interest to cricketers, including a veryuseful record of first-class cricket in 1904, week by week, an article onWin­ chester College cricket, and various statistics. The photographs are those of someof thepublicschool cricket captains. M r . E d w in B r o w n e , who for some years was secretary of the Notts County C.C., recently died at Nottingham at the age of sixty-two.