Cricket 1904

74 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A pril 21, 1904. there is a keen competition for the position of outfield on the side nearest the sea, for the lucky “ fieldsmen” are able to stand waist-deep in the water, and cool themselves at their leisure. M r . J. A. M a c k writes “ W ill you or one of your contributors kindly in­ struct me on the origin of the phrase ‘ yorker ’ ? I f I remember lightly, the Rev. J. Pycroft, in “ The Cricket Field,” classified all bow lin? a<i good length, or length balls, and bad length, or ron - length balls, and divided the latter into the follow ing L've kinds :— 1. The toss or full pitch. 2. The tice, a ball which pitches upon or close to the popping crease. 3. The "half-volley. 4. The long hop. 5. The ground ball. A ll these terms, save the second, are used or understood now -a-days; but I think that if a modern cricketer were asked the question ‘ What is the meaning of a tice ? ’ the answer would be either a modest confession of ignorance or a supercilious denial of the existence of the word, so thoroughly has it been super­ seded by the usurping ‘ yorker.’ ” In reply to the above, I may say that various efforts, more or less unsatis­ factory, have been made to determine the origin of the word “ yorker.” The only really satisfactory explanation of the word that has ever been given is, perhaps, that of the old player—was it Tom Emmett ?—who, on being asked why the word was called “ yorker,” replied, “ Why, what on earth else could you call it ? ” In an article in the Westminster Gazette of Monday last, Mr. Warner, referring to Bulli soil, says :— Those of you who have not seen the extra­ ordinary drying powers of the Sydney wicket will doubtless thick that 1 have lately come under the spell of a De Rouge- mont when I tell you lhat even after the deluge of the previous day the wicket was quite hard on the top, except for a quarter of an inch of wl at I can call nothing else but slime. This Bulli soil is wonderful in its resistance to wet. You may put a piece of Bnlli into a bucket of water fcr a week, and at the end of that time it will be practically as hard as when it went in and very little moisture will have permeated. “ I HAVE brought heme a piece of Bulli in m y cricket-bag,” continues Mr. Warner, “ and if you do not believe what I say come up to L ord’s any day during a Middlesex match and I will prove my statement. This Bulli is like wood, and the groundman at Sydney compared it with a wood-paved street. The heaviest rain apparently cannot enter into its vitals deeper than an inch. I defy the water to go. The pitch at two o’clock on this fourth day was under water ; the moment the rain stopped the water ran off. The wet does not run through the B u lli ; it runs off on either side o f the pitch, which is slightly higher than the rest of the ground. In England, when we top-dress a wicket we put our Not­ tingham marl on in the autumn; in Aus­ tralia the Bulli soil can be put on through a sieve a month or three weeks before a particular match. Then this Bulli soil is rolled and rolled and rolled until the surface of the wicket has a polished appearance and is as hard as corcrete.” R e f e r r in g to the results of the tour, Mr. Warner sa ys:—“ Certain critics in England have suggested that we owe our success more to good fortune than to skill. I assure you that it is a most unfair and ungenerous suggestion. We won the rubber fairly and squarely by superior cricket, and I am prepared to prove this before any jury in the world. Indeed, the first witnesses I shonld call in support of my case would be Noble and Trumble and Trumper. And so we have brought you back the prize for which we have striven so hard, and won— I know I can say it— so deservedly.” T h ank s to Lord Sheffield’s donation, and to the bazaar which was held at Brighton in aid of its funds, the Sussex County C.C. will most likely benefit to the extent of about £1,100. A t the bazaar £900 was taken at the gates, while it is anticipated that about £100 will be colic cted for tickets which have not yet been accounted for. Lord Shef­ field, it will be remembered, recently gave £100 to the clnb. “ On Monday last and the following days,” says the Morning Post of JuEe 20th, 1800, “ was played a grand match at ciicket, in L ord’s ground, Mary-le- bone, between 14 of England and 11 of the County of Surry, for 1,000 guineas. Result—England won by 13 wickets. 5 to 4 on Surry at starting.” Which either shows that luck had a great deal to do with the result of a cricket match, even in those unsophisticated days, or that the critic? were very much out in their reckoning. I t is deserving of mention that J. Taylor, the scorer of the Melbourne C.C., has scored in every one of the test matchfs from the first that was played on the Melbourne ground. He has scored every one of the matches unaided, and has come out through all the years without a solitary discrepancy between his total and the bow ling analyses. C. J. E a d y , the well-known Tasma­ nian cricketer, who has visited England with one of the Australian teams, was unable to represent Tasmania against Victoria, owing to an attack of lumbago. This must be the first time for many years that he has missed a match for the colony. T h e committee of the Pennant matches at Melbourne had recently to decide a curious case. When time was up in a match between St. Eilda and Fitzroy, Fitzgerald, the St. Kilda captain, gave the ball to Baker, who bowled a wicket down when no batsman was there. “ H ow ’s th a t?” said the St. Kilda cap­ tain. “ Out,” responded the umpire, and St. Kilda left the field. The com ­ mittee decided in favour of St. Kilda. J. T. T y l d e s l e y presented the bat he used in the fourth test match to be raffled for during a theatrical carnival at Mel­ bourne in aid of the Distressed Actors’ Fund. The bat bears the autographs of the English and Australian teams. M r. W a r n e r ’ s forthcom ing book about the tour of the M .C.C. team is, I understand, to be entitled “ H ow we re­ covered the Ashes. The book is to be published at the end of May by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. O f Cotter, the new Australian bowler, the Adelaide Observer says :— Cotter is only 20 years old, of medium height, loose jointed and strongly built. He is a crack Rugby footballer and is a fine young fellow who apparently possesses the lasting qualities without which a bowler need not enter on the trying English tour. Every one has been asking, what is his pace ? Well, one of the Englishmen says he is not so fast as Jones, yet faster than Fielder; at any rate he has just that extra bit of pace which makes a fast bowler dangerous. At present he pitches the ball rather short, and, though he bowls round arm, seems to be able to make it bump awkwardly. On a rough wicket he is the kind of bowler batsmen do not relish, especially as he sandwiches between his short ones an occasional deadly yorker. The highest expectations have been formed about him, and his future is full of interest. He is under Noble’s tutelage, and having been advised not to play Kugby, may consider his trip assured. R e f e r r in g to the widely expressel hope that Abel will oi.ee more be seen in the Surrey eleven the Daily Chronicle accurately sums up the situation by saying: “ The Oval would not seem quite the same devoid of the presence of ttie quaint little figure whose appearacce at the door, bat under arm, was wont to agitate a multitude.” I t is stated that Diver, the old Surrey and Warwickshire profesdonal, will play for Swansea this season as an amateur. An engagement with the same club has been accepted by Gill, who, after repre­ senting Somerset for several years, played last season for Leicestershire. T he already long list of well-known artists who are members of the Artists’ C.C. has lately been strengthened by the addition of the names of Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema, R.A ., Mr. David Murray, A R .A ., and Mr. Joseph Farquarson, A .R .A . Mr. G. H illyard-Swinstead, the honorary secretary, is to be congratulated on the great success which has attended his efforts. W r it in g in the Daily Mail, Mr. G. L. Jessop says: “ Except at Cambridge, where one has a free hand, and in Glou­ cestershire, it has never fallen to my lot to have helped iu the selection of a first- class side. To serve on any selection committee is generally an unenviable