Cricket 1905

154 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 25 , 1905. M r . G eo . S. L yon , who has been taking part in the Amateur Golf Championship, is the well-known Canadian cricketer, and holds the record for the highest individual score made in the Dominion— 238 not out for Rosedale v. Peterboro, at Toronto, August 24th, 1894. I t is to be hoped that if certain of the Gentlemen who played against the Aus­ tralians at Lord’s are chosen for any of the test matches, they will, when they are in the field, endeavour to stoop more quickly, to move for the ball with less delay, and to stop it when it comes within easy reach of them. At Lord’s on Tuesday they moved listlessly about the field, they allowed twos when only a single ought to have been made, they failed to pick up the ball at the first attempt, and they threw in without any force or method. They need not have shown so plainly that they were tired and weary of the game. One of them, standing nearly in a line with the bowler in front of the pavilion, allowed a straight drive to reach the rails, although he had only to make a journey of six yards to inter­ cept the ball. .R e fe r r in g to the fielding of the Gen­ tlemen in the Australian match at Lord’s on Friday, A. C. Maclaren says in the Daily Chronicle :— “ The amateurs’ fielding was by no means bad, and it would he a fine sight to see some of the critics get behind the hall, which invariably pops up as soon as the hands are put down. I would rather field on some football grounds I know than at Lord’s when as hard and rough as in this last match.” B ut this hardly accounts for over­ throws caused by a failure to back up ‘properly, or for the poor throw­ ing in from the long field, nor does it explain why easy catches were missed in the slips, or why several men could not get near a ball unless it came perfectly straight to them. Besides, men like Jessop, Trumper, Gregory, Sewell, Fry, and Maclaren himself—in fact, all good fieldsmen—have such good sight that they manage to put their hands where the ball is, and not where it ought to be. If a man cannot field unless he has a sur­ face in front of him like that of a billiard table, he had better take a few lessons. D u r in g their long innings on Friday the Australians showed admirable ju dg­ ment in running. They had marked out the men to whom it was always safe to run unless the ball went fast and abso­ lutely straight to them ; they knew the men to whom it was only safe to run when the ball came to the left hand ; they knew the few to whom it would be as dangerous to run as to an Australian. It was distinctly amusing to see how nicely they gauged each man’s power of throwing-in. Daring their innings on Friday they must have gained 50 runs by their “ smartness,” whereas on the pre­ vious day the Englishmen must have lost nearly half as many by their inability to see that even a Trumper cannot run a man out from the long field unless there is some sort of a chance of doing so. T h e Irish Field states that Mr. J. M. Meldon will shortly be married to Miss Helen Bodkin, of Fredericton, Canada, and formerly of Co. Galway. Meldon has, since his schoolboy days, been a consistent scorer for Phoenix, and he was one of the best of the University eleven during his years. As far back as 1888 he represented Ireland in the American tour, and is one of tbe few who com­ posed that team who still play cricket. I t was announced in several papers on Saturday that P. F. Warner would read tbe lessons at the church of St. Mary-at- Hill on Sunday evening. Perhaps the next thing to be announced will be a mission service held during the luncheon hour at the Test matches. M s. F. F. K i l l y , the secretary of the Metropolitan District Cricket League of New York, writes :—- The following are the names of the Hamil­ ton C.C. of Bermuda, which intends visiting the United States during the latter part of June : J. B. Conyers (captain), H. J. Tucker (vice-captain), T. S. Gilbert, H. Stephens, V . Martin, B. Kortlang, H. T. Conyers, O. Darrell, S. S. Spurling, F. Outerbridge, F. W . E. Peniston. One or two more emer­ gency men will he selected. The opening game of their tour will be played against the above league on Saturday and Monday, June 17th and 19th. The remaining games will be with the leading Philadelphian clubs, viz., Germantown, Merion, Belmont, Philadelphia and Frankford Clubs, and a game against All Philadelphia. The Metropolitan District Cricket League is also in communication with Mr. F. E. Lacey, of the M.C.C., with a view of getting the world’s premier club to play a match in the metropolis of the United States during their coming visit during August. T h e struggle for supremacy between the Australians and C. B. Fry is becom­ ing of great interest. Up to the present the honours are fairly easy, for although Fry has not yet made a large score in an Australian match this season, he has made 119 runs, while the Australian bowlers have beaten him but twice—if Noble can be said to have actually beaten him in the first innings of the Gentlemen, in which Fry hit the ball on to his foot. Except for a few minutes when he first went in at the Crystal Palace Fry has played the Australian bowling with ease, and it will be downright bad luck if he fails in the test matches. His record may be summed up as follows:— For Gentlemen, at Crystal Palace—First innings: 23, run out—through no fault of his own in any way. Second innings: 45 not out. For Gentlemen, at Lord’s.—First innings: 25 b Noble—hit ball on to his foot. Second innings: 26 c and b Laver-difficult catch. I t was perhaps natural that the Gen­ tlemen should be held up to public scorn because they only made a total of 66 in their second innings against the Austra­ lians, for such a total looks extremely insignificant when it follows 565 for six wickets. It is no excuse, when English­ men are concerned, to say that the wicket is affected by rain or anything else — it is always sheer incompetence which makes a side break down. When an Australian team breaks down it is quite another thing, and any excuse will serve. I t may be well to remind readers of Cricket that Australian teams have some­ times not even succeeded in making as many as 66. The members of the 1902 team are not likely to have for­ gotten their famous 23 in tbe second innings against Yorkshire at Leeds, or their 36 against England at Birmingham. The 18 by tbe team of 1896 against the M.C.C. at Lord’s, when Pougher took five wickets for no runs, without making the ball break an inch, would have required some explanation if it had been made by Englishmen, and goodness knows what scorn would have been heaped on the Englishmen if they, instead of the Australians, had made 53 in the first innings of the test match at Lord’s in the same year on a perfect wicket. Among well-known men who have recently done good performances in club cricket are the follow ing:—Braund, 67 not out, and six wickets for 22 for Bath v. Chippenham; H. D. G. Luveson- Gower, 56 and 63 for Magdalen Associa­ tion v. Magdalen College, at Oxford; E. J. Diver, 124 for Newport v. Llanelly, Major A. J. Turner, 184 for Royal Artillery v. Household Brigade. From the American Cricketer :— Never in the history of the game has cricket been in such a flourishing condition as it is to-day in the United States and Canada ; new clubs have sprung up every­ where, North, South, East and West. But the greatest cause for rejoicing on this side of the Atlantic is that for the first time in the history of the game on the American continent the Marylebone Cricket Club has undertaken to select and send a team to these shores to engage in friendly rivalry with the best elevens we can put in the field against it. This is a high compliment, indeed, and a tribute to the strides the noble game has made on this hemisphere during the past few years. It must not be forgotten, however, that as both the English and American seasons are in full swing, at .the same time it is quite impossible for England to send _a representative team at the time of year in which the M.C.C: combination will be here, during July. It is just as well, perhaps, as we can hardly consider ourselves equal to coping with the best that England can pro­ duce at the present time. If enthusiasm counts for anything, however, the indica­ tions are that we may be able in the not very dim and distant future to give England a good game on level terms. D u rin g the play on Monday in the match between Lancashire and Wor­ cestershire at Aigburth, Cuffe bowled a ball which rose so far over the heads of the batsman and wicket-keeper that the spectators unanimously shouted with astonishment. Twenty-five years ago such an incident would have been passed over as of quite ordinary occurrence.