Cricket 1905

M ay 4, 1905 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 101 TH E W H IT E W A S H BRUSH . B y A. N . O thek . [In order to be in the fashion, we have secured the services of that famous cricketer, Mr. A. N. Other, who will (if he feels so disposed, and is not too busy) dictate an article for Cricket every week. The name of Mr. A. N. Other will be as familiar to readers of Cricket as that of Dr. W. G. Grace. Mr. A. N. Other is the only man who has been choBen to represent both Eng­ land and Australia in the test matches. There is not a county which can afford to dispense with bis services (for in bis special case the M.C.C. has winked at the question of qualification), and no teams for a Gentlemen and Players match are complete without him. In the same year he has been selected for both Oxford and Cambridge. Indeed there is not a team in the wide world for which he has not been chosen. But good wine needs no bush, so why dwell on Mr. A. N. Other’s merits P Suffice it to say that this great cricketer (not being able to use a pen himself) will dictate his comments on the game to our representative week by week (sub­ ject to the limitations mentioned above). We have reason to believe that Mr. A. N. Other has carefully studied the styles of the most famous amateur journalists in order that he may do the thing properly. The first instalment appears below.] The season is now upon us. Indeed I may say tbat it has already begun. I have thought very carefully over these first two sentences, because I wished to say something quito original, and I rather flatter myself that I have done so. I have chosen the title of “ The White­ wash Brush” for my articles, in order that I may be able to lay it on thick when I think it necessary to do so. But, “ revenom a nos moutons.” It will be a season replete with an interest besides which the ineffectual fires of the J»patese-Russian war will pale; it will be a season which in the remoter days of our descendants will be mentioned with bated breath and ex­ pressions of wonder not unmingled with awe. County will meet county, and country will be opposed by country. The Gentlemen will enter the tented field to strive in earnest rivalry with the Players. Batsmen will be bowled and caught, and will walk disconsolate to the pavilion because they have placed their leg in front of the wicket. Men will even be run out. Men will make duckseggs. Duckseggs. Think what this wordmeans ! Bowlers will bowl and fielders will field. It will be a season to be remembered ; a season not to be forgotten. Yesterday I met a great friend of mine—Mr. O. N. E. More—a man whose experience is almost as wide as mine. He had been to see the Australians practising at Lord’s. “ What about “ Cotter ? ” I asked him. “ Cotter ? ” he replied, with a far away look in his “ Cotter is Cotter. He is no one else. He bowls. He either hits the wickets or misses them. There are no half measures about him. Sturdy and strong, with a fire in his eyes which none may quench save a batsman who can plav him, he stands in the usual attitude of a bowler when about to deliver the ball. He takes a run. The ball leaves his hand. Whither? Ah tbat is the question. Will it scatter the stumps of his foe as the Assyrians were scattered in the time of Sennacherib ? Will it be whacked to the boundary—the boundary which modern cricketers love, which ancient cricketers despise ? Who can tell ? ” What, I ask, could be more lucid and informing than this searching criticism as given to me by my friend Mr. O. N. E. More ? Years ago, before men wrote daily articles on cricket for the papers, a poet named Vergil (please see that the name is spelt with an “ e,” Mr. Printer, and not with an “ i,” as common people spell it) wrote the words which have brought him undying fame, “ Arma virumque cano." Now, although I do not sing of arms, I may sing of cricket boots or anything which strikes my fancv as a cricketer of experience. Henca, I may say that all the Australians wear cricket boots made partly of ordinary leather and partly of buckskin, a fact which the young cricketer will do well to remember. Coming from a warm climate the Aus­ tralians feel the cold, and at present the blood courses in their veins at an ordinary rate. Butwhen the time comes forthemto pit themselves againBtthe full strength of England, then will their eyes glisten, then will their limbs be unloosened and, like the dormouse who has been impris­ oned in a mossy nest all the winter, they will wade through slaughter to an ashened grave, or will bear the self-same ashes in glorious triumph to their southern home. Last week I was talking to my friend, A. B. Owler, than whom a better judge of the game does not exist. He told me that he bad seen W. G.’s second iniings at the Oval for the Gentlemen of England against Surrey. “ How times have changed ! ” he said. “ In the old days a batsman, when he saw the ball earning to him, treated it according to his fancy. Nowadays, if we may believe the amateur journalists, he thinks of all the pcs>i- bilities which may be hidden in that par­ ticular ball. Hence, no doubt, as W. G. has accommodated bis play to the requir ments of modern times, he studied, from every point of view, the ball which he hit out of the Oval. I could see that he was saying to himself, ‘ This is a ball It may bowl me. It may not. It may break, or it may go straight. I can play it back to the bowler. Or I can perhaps place it for a single, but then I should have to run it, and at my time of life that is a consideration. I may let it pass my bat, but I am not in the habit of doing this, and besides, if I did, I might be bowled. The beastly thing is coming nearer. If I hit it among the crowd I may hurt somebody, or may even be caught, unless I keep it on the ground. And it looks to me the sort of ball which would be likely to go in the air. Dear me, it is coming quite closa. and if I don’t make up mv mind soon, I may be too late. I think I will have a whack at it in the sweet old way. Here goes.’ And you see, as the result of this careful analysis, he hit a sixer.” Ah ! my friend Mr. A. B. Owler knows a thing or two. CR ICK ET ? ’Tis merry May throughout the land. When Cricketers come forth, And take their stand with—pen in hand, To show us what they’re worth. The Stumper takes his (blotting) pads, And loosens all his joints, To perpetrate stylistic fads, And ponder on (full) points. He’ s working out, the man at Slip, His column for the M------1, To give to errant hats the tip Exactly why they fail. The bowler yonder stands distrait,— He hasn’t lost his nerve,— He’s wondering how to readers lay He’d best expound his “ swerve ! ” What you’ve expressed we read with zest, 0 champions of the wicket; And, for the rest—well, you know best, But, frankly, is it Cricket ? W. S. in Daily Chronicle. HONOK OAK v. PELHAM— on April 29. P elham . Played at Honor Oak H. 13. Hugill, c S. Dickason, b Mat- tingley ................. 1 A. Evelyn, lbw, b Hattingley .......... i ! ’. De La Cour, c Dic­ kason, b Bates ... 1 J . H. Hugill. b Henty 50 F. Potter, c l'\ Cut- bush, b Harrison ... 17 G. W. Hammond, c Henty, b Harrison... 5 H on or Oak. R. C. Alwyn, cBonser, b Hugill .................29 R. l'\ Tobitt, c Arm­ strong, b riugill ... 69 S J. Dickason, st Bon- ser, b Hugill .......... 6 H. A. Bates, c and b Hugill ................. 0 A. R. Cutbush, c Pot­ ter, b Hugill ........... 1 T. Higgins, not out ... W. Armstrong, b Henty ................. B. Bonser, Ibw, b Henty ... ......... H. Seward, b Matting- ley ........................ W. L in g w ood , b Henty ................. Extras ......... Total 93 R. R. Henty, c Evelyn, b Potter ..................10 G. S. Harrison, cDe la Cour, b Potter ... 12 T.R.Dickason.b Potter 0 F.G.Cutbush.b Hugill 16 H.C.Mattingly,notout 10 Extras ................. 9 Total (9 wkts.) ...162 A. W. Atterbury, did not bat. THE LONDON & WESTMINSTER BANK 2nd XI. v. SUTTON 2nd XI.—Played at Norbury on April 29. L. & W. Bank. W. Hornoastle, b W. M. Silcocks ..........11 E. W. Bennett, b W. M. Silcocks ..........13 C. J. Crossley, b J. R. Haynes ................. 1 H. E. Muriel, b W. M. Silcocks ................. 6 H. E. Coomber, b J. R. Haynes ................. 2 G. Logan, not out ... 22 A. M. Cockell, b W. M. Silcocks .......... 7 Nicholson, c Haycraft, b W. M. Silcocks ... 0 T. H. Brennan, b W. M. Silcocks .......... 2 T. C. Simpson, b W. M. Silcocks .......... 0 A. Podmore; c S. G. Poole,bW.M.Silcocks 10 Byes .......... 8 Total A. Collins, b H. E. Coomber................. 9 S. G. Poole, run out... 4 J. G. Poole, c Pod- more, b H. E. Coom­ ber ........................55 W. M. Silcocks, c Muriel,b H.E.Coom- ber ......... .......... 0 H. B. Haycraft, b H. E. Coom ber................. 5 W.G.Poole,bG. Logan 9 S utton . L. V. Straker, b H. E. Coomber................. E. G. Bradley, c and b G. Logan .......... D. D. Napper, b G. Logan ................. H. J. Webb, not out J. R. Haynes, b G. Logan ................. B 10, w 1 ... Total 95