Cricket 1905

J u n e 1, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 169 and Armstrong was hit on the toe by a full pitch. On Friday last, the Daily Mail pub­ lished the opinion of several well-known cricketers as to the composition of the England team. The result was a delight­ ful collection of “ ifs ” and “ buts,” and a quite remarkable skill ia hedging. R e fe r r in g to recent performances in the House of Commons, the Evening Standard says:— As for the man in the street, he almost ignores the whole thing. A “ century” at the Oval, a triumphant display by the Australians, or even a piquant breach of promise case, is much more to him ; and if he is of a serious turn of mind, his political curiosity is well able to exhaust itself in speculating upon the movements of Rojest- ventsky’s fleet, or the latent designs of Germany. A f o r t n ig h t ago a list of men who had just missed their hundred was given in “ Gossip.” Since then the following have reached the nineties :— 99—Hayes, Surrey v. Warwickshire. 99—Kinneir, Warwickshire v. Surrey. 98—(Not out) R. T. Godsell, Gloucestershire v. Nottinghamshire. 97—C. J. B. Wood, I.,eicestershire v. Essex. 94 -R . A. Duff, Australians v. Gentlemen, at Lord’s. 91—Thompson, Northampsliire v. Hampshire. 94—A. Marshal, Gentlemen v. Oxford. 94—G. W. Beldam, Middlesex v. Sussex. 93—A. C. Maclaren, Lancashire v. Worcestershire. 91—R. A. Young, Cambridgeshire v. Gloucester­ shire. 91 Denton, Yorkshire v. Worcestershire. 91—C. J. T. Pool, Northampton v. Sussex. J. R. C la y to n , the old Portsmouth football trainer, has bean engaged by the Sussex County Cricket Club. He was ■with the club two years ago, and on one occasion—against the West of Scotland— played for Sussex. He will be engaged next winter by the Brighton and Hove Albion football club. T h e Hampshire County Cricket Guide is again compiled by Mr. E. L. Ede, who played with so much success for the county some years ago. It is published at 6d. by Henry King, Southampton and Bournemouth. It forms a complete guide to Hampshire cricket of the past year, and in addition it includes a list of Hampshire club fixtures for 1905, as well as much information which will be of great use to Hampshire cricketers. Two useful little books are published at the price of 6d. by the Cricket Press, 25, Temple Chambers, E.C. One of them is called the “ Cricket Directory,” and contains the addresses of secretaries of clubs in and around London. The other is the “ Cricket Calendar,” which gives a list of matches for each day in the week during the season of 1905. I t is not a little remarkable that Aus­ tralian bowlers who have settled in England are almost invariably a failure when they are opposed to Australian teams. Indeed, almost the only instance that one can think of in which an Anglo- Australian bowler has performed at all well against a touring team is that of Mr. Spofforth, who created a panic in the match at Wembley Park against the team of 1896, taking six wickets in the first innings for 49, and five for 51 in the second. In his best days Albert Trott often had an English team at his mercy, but he was never of any use against the Australians. It was the same with Kerris, S. M. J. Woods, Midwinter, and it now seems to be the same with Kermode. A n o th e r curious thing is that Aus­ tralian batsmen who have settled in England are seldom able to make large scores against Australian touring teams, although they may have made heaps of runs in Australia. Even W. L . Murdoch, the greatest of Australian cricketers, has never made fifty against an Australian team in England. S. M. J. Woods only once succeeded in making'over fifty against them, viz., 68 for Somerset at Taunton in 1899. Albert Trott and L . O. S. Poidevin have not been able to break the spell which seems to be cast over Australians as soon as they settle in England. F o r Middlesex against Sussex at Lord’s at the end of last week B. J. T. Bosanquet scared 103 and 100 not out. Tais is the second time in his career that he has made two separate hundreds in a first-class initch, for in July, 1900, he scored 136 and 139 for Middlesex against Leicester­ shire at Lord’s. It will be remembered that at Lord’s (May 8-10) for Sussex v. M.C.C. and Ground, C. B. Fry made two separate hundreds—the fourth time in his career. F o r Truro against Truro College, C. H. Hone made 101 in half an hour, and among his hits were four 6’s. At one time during his innings he made 40 off eleven successive bills. I t is not likely that Needham, the Derbyshire cricketer and international footballer, whose arm was broken at Leyton last week by a fast ball, will be able to play again for some weeks. The arm was broken between the wrist and the elbow. M r . D. S e a l, the father of A. Seal who played for Sussex last year, died last Thursdty. He was not a cricketer, but took a great interest in the game. M r. A. M a cG rtjth a r, the secretary of the Cleveland C.C., Ohio, writes : “ We have enrolled quite a number of baseball enthusiasts as honorary members of our cricket club. I am pleased to say that cricket is making headway iu this district. For the first time in the history of the club we shall be able to put two elevens in the field on the same day this feason.” B. A. Y oun g, the Repton Freshman at Cambridge, was within nine luns of scoring two separate innings of a hun­ dred for the Universily against Glouces­ tershire last week at Cambridge. He made 120 and 91. A t a meeting of the Board of Control last Friday it was decided that the Board did not consider it within their province to interfere with the discretion of indi­ vidual committees as to whether they should use screens at both ends in the test matches. It was also decided that it would not be expedient to make a hard and fast rule that a hit over the boundary should count as six. Mr. C. E. Green, ttie president of the M.C.C., was in the chair. M r. A. D. T a y lo r w r i t e s S o m e misunderstanding having arisen in respect to Albert Cordingley’s age, will you kindly make it known through the medium of your valuable paper that Cordingley was born on May 13th, 1872, and is thus eight years younger than he is represented to be in ‘ Wisden’ s Almanac ’ ? ” [ “ Wisden” gives the date of Cording­ ley’s birth as May 13th, 1864, and the same date appears in the official volume for 1905 of the Yorkshire County C.C. Ed. Cricket.] R e fe r r in g to last week’s match between Lancashire and the Australians, the Manchester Guardian says That the Australians would have beaten England had they won the toss under similar circumstances will he generally admitted. That they would have lost to England had they lost the toss is equally certain. All this simply means that their two games of last week have done little towards proving their real excellence as a side under equal condi­ tions. In both matches the bowlers were assisted by the wicket, and proved more than equal to the calls made upon them. Yet the impression left was that on a plumb pitch the bowling lacks variety, and may prove the weak spot in the side. Laver is, of course, a “ head ” bowler, but his variations in pace are hardly likely to deceive. There is certainly no reason to take a despondent view of Eng­ land’s chances because the two leading county sides have gone down before the Aus­ tralians in a week under circumstances with which all followers of the game are familiar. The results in each case might have been reversed had the counties won the toss. That fact must not be overlooked in any estimate of England’s chances in the tests that is based on these two victories. M r. A. J. W eb be, the old Oxford and Middlesex cricketer, made 49 not out on Saturday for I Zingari against Charter­ house. Another old cricketer, Mr. C. A. Smith, the actor, took ten wickets for 27 runs on Saturday in a twelve a side match for the Thespids against Playgoers. L o b d D alm en y, the Surrey captain, has been elected as a member of the Surrey Committee ia place of the late Sir Reginald Hanson. C. T. S tud d was much to the fore with both bat and ball for the Civil against the Military of Ootacamund on May 9th. In addition to a useful score of 20 he bowled throughout the Military’s first innings, taking three wickets for 25.