Cricket 1905

J uly 20, 1905. CRICKET: A JWEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 281 the county at intervals for nine years, and in 1902 he headed the averages with 33, and a total of 266. A n o th e r player, Hampson, who came into the Leicestershire team at the last moment in the same match, shared in a fine partnership in both innings for the last wicket. In the first innings he and Jayes put up 75 runs in three-quarters of an hour, and in the second the same two men made 57 in the same time. T h e total of 148 made by L. 0. Braund and H. Martyn for the firBt wicket of Somerset against the Australians in the second innings on Saturday is the highest made this season by either side in an Australian match. A total of 145 for the first wicket was made by A. C. Maclaren and T. Hayward in the second innings of the test match at Nottingham, and by Victor Trumper and W. Armstrong in the first innings of the Australians against Somerset last Thursday. S in ce A. C. Maclaren made his famous 424 against Somerset at Taunton for Lancashire in 1895, no batsman has ever had a better chance of beating his record than came in the way of Armstrong last week. On the Thursday evening his score was 262 notout, and the Australians had only lost two wickets against Somer­ setshire. Risks might have been taken on the next morning without in the very least degree damaging tbe prospects of the side, but Armstrong seemed tired, and contented himself with making 39 iu an hour and a half, although by prolonging the innings after lunch he was able to make a few more runs and thus exceed the three hundred. A rm stro n g ’s 303 not out is the second score of the season, the highest score being 341 by Hirst for Yorkshire against Leicestershire at Leicester at the end of May. He has also beaten Trumper’s record of 300 for Australians v. Sussex at Brighton in 1899, the only other innings of 300 ever made by an Australian in England, although Mur­ doch made 321 and Hill 365 not out in first-class cricket in Australia. I t will be seen from the accompanying list of innings of 300 in first-class cricket that Armstrong’s 303 not out places him thirteenth:— 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, August, 1876. 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 5}?! Q- Gracc- 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. 303* W. W. Armstrongs. Somerset,Bath, July, 1905. Grace. Sussex, Bristol, August, 1896. XcL £ T- Brown, v. Derby, Chesterfield, Aug., 1898. 300* 1 rumper, v. Sussex, Brighton, July, 1899. * Signifies not out. T h e list of hundreds made for and against the Australians is gradually growing longer, and is now as follows :— FOR AUSTRALIANS. M. A. Noble, v. Gentlemen (Crystal Palace)... 162 W. W. Armstrong, v. Notts .............. ......... 112 W. W. Armstrong, v. Gentlemen (Lord’s) ... 248* J. Darling, v. Gentlemen (Lord’s ) .................117* C. Hill, v. Lancashire...................................... 143 M. A. Noble, v. Warwickshire ........................ 125 Victor Trumper, v. Gloucestershire ..........108 C. Hill, v. Hampshire......................................115 M. A. Noble, v. Hampshire ........................101 S. E. Gregory, v. Hampshire ........................134 W. W. Armstrong, v. Somersetshire .......... 303* M. A. Noble, v. Somersetshire .................127 AGAINST AUSTRALIANS. A. O. Jones, for Notts...................................... 103 Hayward, for Surrey ...................................... 129* A. C. Maclaren, for England (at Nottingham) 140 Denton, for Yorkshire..................................... 153* F. S. Jackson, for England (at Leeds)..........144* Tyldesley, for England (at Leeds)... ..........100 Braund, for Somersetshire ........................117 H. Martyn, for Somersetshire................ ... 130* K in n h ir only missed by three runs the honour of scoring two separate hundreds for Warwickshire against Sussex last week, his scores being 97 and 105. Braund, with 117 and 62, was within measurable distance of scoring two separate hundreds for Somersetshire against the Australians, but this distinc­ tion has never yet been gained by any batsman against an Australian team. A c u r io s it y : In the match between Lancashire and Essex last week, A. H. Hornby’s totals were made up by five ones, his scores reading as follows:— A . H. Hornby, not out 111, not out 11. I t is seldom that a cricketer has gained a more complete triumph over his detrac­ tors than A. H. Hornby. For quite a long time the policy of the Lancashire committee in playing him was roundly abused by Lancashire critics and players, but the committee, knowing that they had a good man, sensibly stuck to their guns, with the result that Hornby is now one of the finest batsman in the team. He has always been one of its most brilliant fielders. He has lately made his runs at a great pace, but occasionally when the circumstances demand caution he has played a very steady game. W a r w ic k s h ir e have played twelve matches this season, of which eight have been drawn, not by any means all of them in favour of opposing teams. Of the other four matches three have ended in defeats and one in a victory. The team would win more matches if the bat smen could make rue s more quickly, but it takes a good bowling side to get them out twice in three days. S e v e r a l correspondents have asked the price of Mr. J. D. Betham’s book, “ Oxford and Cambridge Cricket Scores and Biographies.” It is six shillings net. Why do publishers so frequently omit to make any reference to price in their books, I wonder. R e f e r r in g to the bowling of W. Brearley, A. C. Maclaren says in the Daily Chronicle :— In spite of what has appeared in the Press about Brearley’s improved form this season, nobody on the Lancashire side can see what others apparently can. He has put up some good performances for us, and has had scarcely that assistance from the other end that one might have expected, and owing to the falling-off of Hallows and Kermode he has been worked like a nigger. But that he has lost that hill which went away with his arm, the paucity of the batsmen’s mistakes through the slips will prove. The fast bowler insists that he still retains the swerver, but we tell him that there will have to be a very strong wind. He, however, has nothing to reproach himself with this season, for he has proved himself to be the most successful of our bowlers, and without him Lancashire would have had some long days in the field. I reckon him to be 50 per cent, better at Manchester than elsewhere, and on his day at Manchester I would rather have him on my side than play against him. He is by no means the duffer in the field that many make him out to be. A n y o n e who saw the finish of the Eton and Harrow match on Saturday will admit that a drawn game may some­ times be much more interesting and exciting than one which is finished. After Harrow had had much the worst of the game, they pulled up so well that at six o’clock—when, by the rules which govern this match, there was still an hour and a half available for play if necessary — Eton seemed hopelessly beaten. The tail played up manfully, but, despite their plucky efforts, the last two men came together at five minutes to seven, with thirty-five minutes before them. These two heroes, N. C. Tufnell and the Hon. P. A. Methuen, kept up their wickets in a very bad light, and amidst intense excitement, saved the match for their side. Th is exciting finish to the Eton and Harrow match reminds me of the end of two other matches in the same series. In 1895 Harrow, after leading by 66 on the first innings, were in a desperate position at seven o’clock on the Saturday evening, but thanks to the coolness of the Hon. F. R. Henley, E. M. Dowson, and T. 6 . 0 . Cole the match was saved by one wicket at half-past seven. In 1900 Harrow, with a lead of 94 on the first innings, had to make 7 runs when the last man, A. Buxton, joined R. H. Crake, and the runs were hit off just before seven o’clock. H. M a rty n , the Somersetshire wicket­ keeper, who played a splendid innings of 130 not out for Somerset against the Australians on Saturday, has never pre­ viously made a hundred in a first-class match. But in 1900 on July 5th and 6th he made 94 for Oxford v. Cambridge, and on June 28th, 1905, 92 for Somerset against Gloucestershire. O n July 4th, the American day of fire­ works, J. B. King, the well-known Philadelphia cricketer, scored 316 for Belmont v. Germantown B. This is a record for the United States, the previous record being 278 not out by A. M. Wood in 1893 for Pennsylvania Railroad v. Roanoke. The score of the Belmont