Cricket 1905

J uly 6, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME 251 that was merely stopped, the crowd found the cricket somewhat tedious. Possibly it was; but as a display of the sort of defensive cricket which saves games it was beyond praise, for both men, while very properly declining to run any risks, never let a really loose ball—a long hop, half volley, or full toss—pass without paying toll. When, for example, Spooner went on with lobs, when the pair had put on only 22 in an hour, twelve runs were scored off his first and only over. Good length balls were carefully played, as may be gathered from the fact that the first seven overs sent down by Hallows, who bowled all too accurately, were maidens. Killick had to change his natural game, and deserves the same credit for his adaptability as was rightly bestowed on Hornby for a similar display of opportunism under almost identical circumstances in Hirst’s benefit match at Leeds last season. Am ong well - known cricketers who have distinguished themselves in club matches during the past week are D. L. A. Jephson, 103 not out for Wan­ derers v. Bromley; C. D. M ‘Iver, 147, for Authentics v. Household Brigade; B. J. T. Bosanquet, 50 and six wickets for Eton E imblers v. Windsor Home Park. ------ Up to the present the following men have played for England in this year’s Test matches:— ALL THREE MATCHES. At Nottingham. At Lord’s. At Leeds. Hon.F.S.Jackson Hon.F.S.Jackson Hon.F.S.Jackson B.J.T.Bosanquet B.J.T.Bosanquet B.J.T.Bosanquet Hayward Hayward Hayward Tyldesley Tyldesley Tyldesley Liliey Lilley Lilley TWO MATCHES. A. C. Maclaren A. C. Maclaren Rhodes Rhodes A. O. Jones A. O. Jones Arnold Arnold C. B. Fry C. B. Fry Haigli Haigh ONE MATCH. G. L. Jessop Denton J. Gunn Warren Hirst Blythe It will be notictd that in the first two matches there are five amateurs, but only three in the third of them. G h a t it t a t.t.v the list of men who have scored a thousand runs this season is becoming larger. Ou Monday it was as follows : 0. B. Fry 1,724, Denton 1,158, Hirst 1,076, W. G. Quaife 1,053, M. A. Noble 1,034, Iremonger and Ha)ward 1,005, Tyldesley 1,021. Two Surrey men were not far behind, viz , A. Baker 877 and Hobbs 814, while Armstrong stood at 904 and L. O. 8. Poidevin at 845. Armstrong has now made 1,002. I n bowling Haigh headed the list ou Monday with 13 49 and 81 wickets. Laver, with 75 wickets, had an average of 15 94, and was fourth on the list. Lees only required Bix more wickets to complete his hundred for the season. Cox and Dennett were in the running lor a hundred wickets each with 87. At present Rhodes seems the only man who is likely in the immediate future to bring his record to a hundred wickets and a thousand runs; on Monday he required 17 wickets and 266 runs. Lees has now taken his hundredth wicket. F ob Henley v. Reading last week M. Moll y ecjred 230 out of a total of 361. No other score on the side was higher than 37, and six men could only make 13 between them. U n fo r tu n a te cricketers in the London district may like to read the following remarks from the Daily Telegraph with reference to the weather during the past J une: — In the matter of rainfall, the past month has more than fulfilled its obligations—at any rate, in the South and South-East of England. The fall for London has been 4.25 in., which is 2.32 in. in excess of the average—in other words, is more than double the usual amount. This excess was due in great measure to a cyclonic depression near the Straits of Dover in the early part of the month, which remained nearly stationary for about a week, and the rain fell almost every day. The effect, however, did not extend over more than half the kingdom, and north of a line from the Wash to Portland Bill the weather was fine and bright. After this our contemporary cheerfully adds, “ We now enter on the wetter half of the year.” It is pleasing to find that if we only had 149 6 hours of sunshine during June (some of us will be inclined to think that most of them must have come before ordinary people were out of bed) the residents of Blackpool rejoiced in 264 8 hours. Also that the Meteorological Office, with a faith which is almost sublime, anticipated onlv 1'93 inches of rain in London duiing June. It seems that the anticipation for July is 2 27 inches, and if it is as far out in the reckoning as in the case of June, it will be necessary to measure the rainfa l by feet iustead of inches. T h e re seems just as much doubt as to the state of the wicket in the test match at Leeds on Monday as there was in the case of the match at Lord’s on the first day. Here are the published opinions of four men who may be presumed to know, viz., Hirst, Tyldesley and Bosanquet, who batted on the wicket, and Iredale, who may be said to represent the opinion of the Australians. It will be noticed that the opinions differ. The wicket was on the slow side, though not at all soft, and the ball, even if it required watching, came along at a nice easy pace. McLeod bowled very well indeed, making the ball go away with his arm, and occasionally break back quickly.—B. J. T. B o s a n q u e t in the Morning Leader. A slow and easy wicket, but one on which the ball was always inclined to get up quickly —a typical Leeds wicket, as George Hirst told me at lunch-time.—E. H. D. Sewell in the Standard. A good wicket.—F. A. Iredale in the Sportsman. The wicket was quite firm, and as good as is usual at Leeds. The ball bounced different heights, sometimes getting quite high, and at others keeping low.— J. T. Tyldesley in the D aily Mail. F rom the Liverpool Daily Post :— It is curious to note that although York­ shire are figuring so indifferently in the County Championship, they are supplying no less than five representatives at Leeds. Should this mathematical progression con­ tinue, the fifth match will be entrusted almost entirely to natives of the broad-acred shire. M r. G. H illy a b d S w in stfa d , the well-known artist-cricketer, has an exhi­ bition of oil paintings and water-colour drawings at the Mendi z* Gillery, 167 a , New B jn i Street, W. Fifty-nine of his pictures are on view. Mr. Swinstead has also two pictures at the Royal Academy, No. 265, “ The White Horse,” which is huDg on the line, and ‘‘ Home from the Meadows,” in Gallery 8. T h b Natal League championship has been won for the fifth time iu ten years by I Zingaii (Durban). The victories were gained in 1897, 1898, 1899, and 1904 and 1905. T h e rain at the end of last week became pretty general, and on Friday every match was interrupted by it except Yorkshire v Kent. The record of play for the day was as follows:— Surrey v. Cambridge University.—At the Oval. No play. Warwickshire v. Hampshire.—At Leaming­ ton. No play. Gentlemen of England v. Oxford University. —At the Crystal Palace. No play. Worcestershire v. Somerset.—At Worcester. —No play. Leicestershire v. Notts.—At Leicester.— No play. Australians v. Gloucestershire at Bristol.— Play for an hour and twenty-five minutes. Lancashire v. Sussex.—At Manchester. Play delayed till 1.15; abandoned at five. Yorkshire v. Kent.—At Hull. Play con­ tinued until match ended at 4’30 p.m. I t is not given to many cricketers to score a hundred on each of the “ classic grounds ” of London—this method of referring to Lord’s and the Oval is not mine—within the short space of a week. This double first was the experience of Y. O’Connor, the well-known actor- cricketer, within the last few days. His performance, too, was emphasised by the fact that in both the innings of 100 for the Actors against the Authors last Thursday at Lord’s, and 101 for the Provincial Actors against the London Actors at the Oval on Tuesday, he was not out. As his name would indicate, V. O’Connor is an Irishman. He was educated at Prior Park College, Bath, and is an all-round cricketer of distinct parts. It is only lately that he has had a chance of proving his skill on the cricket field, having been far away from England in search of adventure for some time. The match between London and Provincial Actors, as a rule, is the occasion for a lot of good cricket, and