Cricket 1905

M a y 18, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 137 Middlesex, and G. W. Beldam 90, and B. J. T. Bosanquet 93 for Middlesex v. Notts. In the Cambridge Freshmen’s match R. E. H. Bailey, the old Harrovian and Surrey cricketer, made 92. O n the second day of the match at the Oval between Surrey and the Australians play was interrupted just after Hayes was out, in order that the Australians might be presented to the Prince of Wales, who had gone to the Oval with his two sons, Prince Edward and Prince Albert. The three Princes shook hands with each member of the team, and remained for a couple of hours to watch the game. ------- W h ile Hopkins and Armstrong were at the wickets in the first innings of the Australians against Surrey at the Oval, Armstrong drove a ball hard along the ground to Lees, who seeing that Hop­ kins had backed up some distance, turned the ball into the wicket with his foot, not being able to get to it with his hands. As it happened Lees kicked straight, and Hopkins was run out. M an y cricketers have been puzzled to understand why Sussex has never given C. H. M. Ebden a real trial. He showed clearly when he was at Cambridge that he was a very sound batsman who could play the best of bowling even on difficult wickets, and could keep up an end when his side was in trouble. But his appear­ ances for Sussex have been few and far between, and now he has thrown in his lot with Middlesex, who recognise that he is a very useful cricketer. O n Tuesday evening last week cricketers were all talking about the remarkable innings of 204 made by P. F. Warner for M.O.O. and Ground v. Sussex, and in their usual optimistic manner they looked for a large score by him at the end of the week in the match between Middlesex and Gloucestershire. But he followed up his great innings by making a pair of spectacles against Gloucestershire, and after making 60 in the first innings against Notts, made a duck’s egg in the second innings. It isnot often that a bats­ man has had a more interesting experi­ ence of the vicissitudes of fortune which may come in the way of a fine cricketer. I n a state school match in New Zealand between Wellington and Waira- rapa, the latter, in their second innings, fell for four runs, two of which were byes. In the first innings they made twice that number. Wellington scored 138, and won by an innings and 126. Grimmett took six wickets for 5 runs, and eight wickets for 1 run. F or Beckton against Essex Club and Ground on Friday W. Cooper scored not out 227 in a total of 316, his hits in­ cluding a 6, a 5, and thirty-three 4’s. For the other side C. McGahey made 149 not out, and Percy Perrin 73, out of a total of 248 for five wickets. L ast week, on Thursday night, the pavilion on the Sussex County cricket I ground at Hove was entered by burglars, who doubtless hoped to find in the secretary’s office the reoeipts of the first day’s play between Sussex and Notts. It is stated that being disappointed in their search they had to content themselves with the haul of a pair of boots. L a s t week, C. B. Fry played four inningB and made 560 runs. His scores were:— Sussex v. M.C.C., at Lord’s, 156 and 106. Sussex v, Notts, at Brighton, 97 and 201 not out. His record for the season up to Saturday was:— Highest Inns. Not out. Total. Score. Average. 6 ... 2 ... 608 ... 201 ... 152 I t may be pointed out that in 1876 W. G. made 344 on August 11th and 12th, 177 on August 14th, and 318 on August 17th and 18th. But, as far as I know, no one except Fry has ever made 560 in the same week. I t looks as if some of the members of the M.C.C. Australian team, who have spoken so very highly of Australian bowl­ ing, are beginning to hedge. Thus Mr. Bosanquet, in Monday’s Morning Leader, says:— The Australians have yet to win their first match. Either they have not been seriously extending themselves, or their bowlers are not coming up to expectations. In the latter case there are some hard times in front of them, and they will have many a weary outing. It is true that they have run up against some very fine batting, and two or three exceptional performances have been produced for their benefit. In both their last two matches the only men who could reason­ ably be expected to make long scores have done so. This proves either that their bowl­ ing is weak or that they have been unlucky in finding these men at their best. Cotter has so far been disappointing, but we must remember that neither the Oval nor Notting­ ham provides ideal wickets for a fast bowler. Noble is never at his best, except in Test matches, or in times of special urgency, so that his comparative lack of success must be considerably discounted, tie did come out at the end of Surrey’s innings and capture four wickets, but this is practically the extent of his work. Until he has shown what he can do in a Test match, however, I should be loth to say that he is not as good as ever. A t the dinner given by the Surrey County C.C. to the Australians on Friday last, Lord Alverstone was in the chair. In the course of a speech Darling, the Aus­ tralian captain, said that bis team would be glad to see the test matches played out, for it was not a proper test if a game were not played to a finish, and a side might easily have the worst of the play as a whole and yet win the rubber. Then there should be screens at both ends of the ground. If it was necessary at one end it was a pretty strong argument that they should be also placed in position at the pavilion end, and he hoped the Board of Control would be able to arrange this. As to boundaries, he thought a system of four under and six over was a good one and would tend to brighten the A t the above dinner Mr. Alcock made some references to the connection which had always existed between Australians and Surrey cricket Bince the first team went from England. He said that the first side had gone out through the arrangements of the Surrey secretary, Mr. Burrup, with a Surrey captain in H. H. Stephenson and including a man who played an important part in bringing Australian cricket to the fore in W. Caffyn. The first test match in 1880 was also played at Kennington Oval. A n yon e who has watched the energy which is always shown by Walter Lees when the Surrey team is fielding, will appreciate a remark made by Lord Dalmeny at the dinner given by Surrey to the Australians. He said that “ no­ thing would please Walter Lees better than to bowl unchanged, unless it was that he could go on at both ends from start to finish of a match. T h e Surrey team has reason to con­ gratulate itself over the result of the match against the Australians, for no one dreamed that it would be able to hold its own against such powerful opponents. One is forced to conclude that either Surrey is much stronger than it was last year, or that the Australians are weaker than the majority of their predecessors. Possibly both of these con­ clusions would be near the mark. In these days of progress a great bats­ man must alway s be making large scores if he expects to be near the top of the average tables at the end of the season, and if Trumper and Duff do not soon begin to produce a series of hundreds they will find themselves left out in the cold. There is little hope for the laggards in the race nowadays. Of course Trumper, who is ranked by nearly everybody as on a level with Fry and Banjitsinhji, is such a great batsman that when he once gets going he may soon see his name continually appearing on the contents bills of the evening papers, but he will have a difficult task before him if he wishes to end the season as the greatest batsman of the year. T h h ee of the matches which lasted to the Saturday last week produced an excel­ lent day’s cricket. At the Oval the Aus­ tralians were making a most plucky fight against time; at Brighton, Fry, Vine and Killick turned what at one time promised to be a severe defeat into a most honourable drawn game, and Fry excelled himself by playing a brilliant innings of 201 not ou t; at Worcester the home team made one of the most plucky fights on record against Yorkshire, having to make 361 to win and only losing by 65. At one time during their innings they were in a winning position. One of the best performances of the present season was Bowley’s innings against Yorkshire at Worcester on Satur­ day. His side had to make 361 runs to win in the fourth innings of the match,