Cricket 1905

M a t 25 , 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 153 yesterday lie split his hand, and will be unable to play at Nottingham. I n the match between Surrey Club and Ground and Fifteen of Kingston, at Kingston-on-Thames, last week, Rudd, the Surrey professional, bowled down F. Burton’s leg stump without removing either of the bails. The batsman was allowed to continue his innings, being eventually stumped, but in the ‘ ‘ Decisions and Interpretations ” of the M.C.C. there is a note to Law 21 as follows : “ An umpire would be justified in giving a batsman out ‘ Bowled ’ if a stump were bowled down, but the bails by some mischance remained in position.” _ The funny thing about this was that it was a very windy day, and the bails were constantly blowing off. The stump, too, was bowled down almost to the ground. R e a d e r s of Cricket must have been interested last Thursday when they saw cablegrams in several of the morning papers stating that the South Australian Cricket Association had resolved not to join the Australian Board of Control on the grounds that it was not within the province of the board to finance teams in England, and that players ought to be represented on the board. This news had been published in Cricket a week previously, and the exact position of the three Australian associations fully ex­ plained. So weak has been the bowling of the Gentlemen for some years, and so difficult is it to get a good team together except in the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord’s, that until last week no representa­ tive match under the title of Gentlemen of England had been arranged against the Australians since 1888, when the result was a drawn game. The first match under the title was played in 1878. The Gentlemen have now played the Australians eight times, including the recent match at Lord’s, winning two matches, losing four and drawing two. S in ce the beginning of the Australian tour Laver has had the following analyses: v. Surrey v. Oxford v. Gentlemen v. Yorkshire... M e a n w h ile Cotter’s for the tour is as follows v. Gentlemen (Crystal Palace) v. Notts ................. ... ... v. Surrey ... ... ................. V. Gentlemen (Lord’s) .......... V. Yorkshire ........................ came from Reading, where he has been engaged for some years. There is a possibility in the near future of three brothers Relf assisting Sussex. Philip Cartwright, who headed the Sussex second eleven batting averages last year, iB to be given a trial in the first eleven this year. Cartwright is a solicitor, and even if successful will have little oppor­ tunity of regularly assisting the county. —Sussex Evening Times. T h e following table, which is taken from the Sportsman, will give an idea of the rate at which the Australians made their runs against the Gentlemen of England at Lord’s :— Runs. h . m . 100 ............. 1 20 ... 200 ............. 2 20 .. 300 ................. 3 30 .. 400 ................. 4 38 .. 500 ................. 5 25 .. 555 ................. 6 0 . . 0. M. R. W. 14.1 3 35 2 28 8 61 5 34 9 86 7 31 12 47 6 21 7 47 2 8 3 14 4 35 11 75 8 present record o. 17 22 12 25 17 11 3 6 1 7 1 1 2 15 2 M. R. W. Time last 100. ... 60 min. ... 70 „ ... 68 „ ... 47 „ G e o ro e R e lf , an elder brother of Robert Relf and a younger brother of Albert Relf, has been engaged by the Eastbourne Club this year. He F or Wattle Flat (Melbourne) against Little Bendigo on April 1st, P. O’Hehir took seven wickets for no runs, five of them in the same over and four with consecutive balls. T h e first hundred which was scored in Ireland this season came from the bat of J. W . F. Crawfurd, who made 142 for Phoenix Park against Civil Service on May 6th. Crawfurd is the old Surrey and Oxford cricketer. He was at school at Merchant Taylors. T h e Lyttelton Times, N.Z., refers as follows to the over from which Clement Hill scored 26 against New Zealand :— Hill—it is to be feared not without a little sly “ malice” —was the batsman responsible for this new record. Running out to Ollivier, he hit him three times in the over right out of the ground for six, and twice sent him to the boundary for four. The six balls pro­ duced 26 runs. As the Rotomahana left the Wellington wharf this singular performance was recognised by the cricketers present, who called for “ Three cheers for the record over.” These were heartily given, and Ollivier, who had the honour of being responsible for one end of the record, was not slow to join in the applause. [It will be remembered that last year G. L. Jessop scored 28 off an over from Braund on May 18th, at Bristol, for Gloucestershire v. Somerset—two 6’s and four 4’s.] L a s t Friday evening W. W. Armstrong held the record for the highest score of the year, 248 not out, although on the same day Iremonger had brought his total for Notts against Essex to 239. But already George Hirst was following on Armstrong’s track, and soon after lunch he brought his total for Yorkshire against Leicestershire to 341, thus placing himself on a pedestal from which he is not very likely to be moved this season, although a man never knows his luck nowadays when he holds a record. Hirst had previously never made more than 214 (against Worcestershire in 1901), but his recent score is the highest ever made for Yorkshire. Previously the Yorkshire record was 311 by J. T. Brown against Sussex in 1901. B e lo w will be found a complete list of the scores of 300 and more in first- class matches : — 424 Maclaren, v. Somerset, Taunton, July, 1895. 365* Hill, v. N.S.W., Adelaide, December, 1900. 357* Abel, v. Somerset, Oval, May, 1899. 344 W. G. Grace, v. Kent, Canterbury, Aug., 18741. 343* Perrin, v. Derbyshire, Chesterfield, July, 1904. 341 Hirst, v. Leicestershire, Leicester, May, 1905. 338 W. W. Read, v. Oxford Univ., Oval, June, 1888. 321 Murdoch, v. Victoria, Sydney, February, 1882. 318* W. G. Grace, v. Yorks., Cheltenham, Aug., 1896. 315* Hayward, v. Lancashire, Oval, August, 1898. 311 J. T. Brown, v. Sussex, Sheffield, July, 1897. 304 Major Poore, v. Somerset, Taunton, July, 1899. 301 W. G. Grace, v. Sussex, Bristol, August, 1896. 300 J. T. Brown, v. Derby, Chesterfield, Aug., 1898. 300* Trumper, v. Sussex, Brighton, July, 1899, * Signifies not out. INDIVIDUAL innings of two hundred have been as plentiful tbis season as were innings of a hundred twenty years ago, and no batsman who respects himself can afford to dispense with such a useful ornament to his reputation — useful because it has such an excellent effect on the average tables. Already the follow­ ing scores of over two hundred have been made during this unfinished month of M ay:— May 4 and 5, Rhodes, Yorks v. Somerset.......... May 8 and 9, P. F. Warner, M.C.C. v. Sussex... May 13, O. B. Fry, Sussex v. Notts .......... ... May 19, W. W. Armstrong, Australia v. Gentn. May 18 and 19, Iremonger, Notts v. Essex May 19 and 20, Hirst, Yorkshire v. Leicester ... May 22 and 23, C. McGahey, Essex v.Derbyshire 277 May 22 and 23, W. G. Quaife, Warwickshire v. Surrey............................................................ * Signifies not out. 201 204 201* 248* 239 311 255* S e v e r a l batsmen, who are usually to the front, have failed on the fast wickets of the present season to keep up their reputation, although some of them have found their true form this week. Here are a few records up to Saturday. Neither Trumper nor Maclaren can be said to have done badly, except by comparison with his performances in previous years:— Trumper... 2 and 7, 0 and 61, 31 and 25, 77 and 45, 6. Gregory ... 0 and 1,18 and 3, 38. Maclaren... 1 and 48, 90, 2 and 10, 0 and 10. Perrin ... 10 and 7, 6 and 24,13 and 3. Knight ... 6 and 6,1 and 44, 6. Tyldesley... 0, 39 and 7, 20 and 12, 0 and 30. I t would not be in the least surprising if Northamptonshire were to find them­ selves at the end of the season at the head of the championship table, and it would not be a bad thing for the cham- piouship if they were in this happy position, for it is pretty certain that some alteration would then be made in the pre­ sent absurd system of scoring. The North­ amptonshire players will not be opposed by any of the strongest teams, and as they are pretty good all-round, they are at least likely to be able to hold their own. They have begun with a drawn game against Hampshire, and none of their opponents will find it an easy thing to beat them. H u gh T rum ble scored 133 not out for Melbourne C.C. against University in a pennant match on March 16th. The next highest score was 45. Trumble also took three wickets for 62 in the first innings of University, but did not bowl in tie second.