Cricket 1905

322 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 10, 1905. other great player who has ever elected to play a waiting game, he has been blamed and even insulted for not making better use of his powers of hitting, but for all that he is as popular a favourite as the man who is hissed in the play because he has to take the part of the villain. A few years ago Yine created conster­ nation among batsmen by developing a fast leg-break, to which they were quite unaccustomed. In 1901 he met with a series of successes with theball, his greatest feat being to take fifteen wickets against Notts in that year, thus helping largely towards gaining the first victory which Sussex had scored against Notts at Trent Bridge since 1853. In the season of 1901 he scored over a thousand runs, and took more than ahundred wickets, and he is still the only Sussex man who can claim this record, although Relf seems likely to join him before the end of this year. As a field in the country Vine has few equals, and in the “ Sussex County Cricket Annual” of 1904 Mr. Alfred D. Taylor, who has helped me greatly in making these notes, says of him with truth : “ If only for his ability in the field Joe Yine will always command a page iu the history of Sussex cricket. No matter how remote the chance of staying the flight of the leather, Vine will always make the attempt, and it is exhilarating in the extreme to watch the race to the boundary. Balls that ninety-nine per cent of our cricketers would leave alone are keenly chased by the Willingdon pro­ fessional, and the runs he has saved Sussex by his energy and lightness of foot must be enormous. Without a doubt he is one of the finest outfields at the present time before the public, the most remarkable part being that he is as keen at the close of a day’s leather-hunting as he is at the commencement.” W. A. B e t t e s w o r t h . The list of hundreds made by Yine for Sussex is as follows :— 115*, Sussex v. Hants, Brighton, 1899. 104, Sussex v. Surrey, Oval, 1903. 169, Sussex v. Derby, Derby, 1904. 124, Sussex y. Gloucestershire, Brighton, 1904. Ill, Sussex v. Hants, Portsmouth, 1904. I ll, Sussex v. Hants, Brighton, 1904. 100, Sussex V. Leicestershire, Brighton, 1905. 146, Sussex v. Leicestershire, Leicester, 1905. 124, Sussex v. Lancashire, Brighton, 1905. 103*, Sussex v. Hants, Portsmouth, 1905. * Signifies not out. His best “ double ” is 97 and 74 for Sussex against Oxford University at Brighton last year. A CUR IOUS BOOK*- For those who like their humour strong this book doubtless contains much that will be found of interest. The author has evidently a great contempt for certain county committees—Surrey, Essex and Lancashire— and he brings the full force of his wit to bear upon them. Cotter, who is described as an “ Acci Dental Surgeon. Stumps removed—■ painlessly or otherwise—according to whether the subject gets in the way or not,” is a iete noir to him, and comes in for severe castigation. A plan of the field as arranged for Cotter’s bowling, which is certainly no more dangerous than that of any other fast bowler, shows dots for fieldsmen, six of them placed in couples behind stretchers and four in couples by the side of stretchers. Outside the area of play are two hospitals, two ambu­ lance stations, a pavilion dispensary, Special Stand reserved for Surgical and Medical Students and a Private Nursing Home for Gentlemen, Players not admitted. Much capital is made out of the fact that Poidevin and Kermode, two Australians, play for Lan­ cashire. The county is described as the home of foreign refugees, the only qualifica­ tion for membership being birth in another country than England. It would have been more to the point if the author, being (pre­ sumably) a member of the M.C.C., had sub­ stitutedMiddlesex for Lancashire—Middlesex with its Trott and Tarrant, and Vogler to come, and its experiments with the younger Trott, Roche and various other Australians. The author jokes heavily about Essex. ‘ ' It is untrue that no one ever goes to Leyton to witness an Essex match. As many as two spectators may quite frequently be seen on the ground, and on a recent occasion it is even claimed that no less than five men, a newspaper boy and a policemanwitnessedthe game.” There is much more about Essex in the same strain. We had almost omitted to state that the author’s contempt for the cricket journalist is unbounded. He describes him as “ a person who does not speak Eng­ lish,” which, as a journalist’s duties are to write, does not seem to matter much. But lest it may be thought that ‘ ‘ M.C.C.” has not a good word for anybody, we may add that under the name of Hesketh-Prichard the attention of the reader is called as follows : “ Please note ! ! ! This cricketer can write English.” But it is to be hoped that the author, when he wrote about Yorkshire, “ A winning side, theirs is not, however, a case of ‘ Always leads,’ ” did not take Mr. Hes- keth- Prichard’s Eng'.ish as hismodel. Among the chief features of the book are the mock advertisements, some of which are really good and amusing. *Oricket on tiie Brain. By M.C C., with pictures by “ G il” and tail-pieces by Harry Furniss. Lon­ don : T. Fisher Unwin. Price, elevenpence net. TH E AU STRAL IAN BOARD OF CONTROL. The famous old Australian captain, Harry Trott, writes as follows in the Bendigo Advertiser , which is the chief newspaper of the district in which he lives :— The above topic seems to be getting more serious every day and if wiser counsels do not soon prevail it may mean the splitting up of Australian cricket. The ficts, as far as I can understand, are as follows:—The three associations (New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia) recommend that the three states named join in forming a board to con­ trol cricket in Australia, and also to control the visits of Australian elevens to England. The main idea of the Victorian Association is to take the management of the visits of English teams to Australia away from the Melbourne Cricket Club, who rightly think they are quite entitled to invite teams out, as they have done in the past. There is not the slightest doubt that the Melbourne Club has brought first-class 'cricket in Australia to its present high standard. In its early endeavours the clnb was no doubt out of pocket, but now that there is money in it, and it is j ustly reaping the reward, the associa­ tions wish to step in and fill their coffers. Of course, it is natural that the Melbourne Club is opposed to the Victorian Association interfering in any way, and if it does the M.C.C. will form an association of its own, and probably take in the league clubs, and also the clubs of the association which are favourably disposed towards it. As I personally know that most first-class cric­ keter’s sympathies are with the M.C.C., they will leave their old clubs and join the league clubs. In my opinion I am sure it will be a good thing for Victorian cricket. At the present time the V.C.A. is com­ posed partly of men who have never played first-class cricket in their lives, but who have thought themselves good enough to have played for their State and their country. These men dictate to cricketers what they should do, and place men on their selection committee whose idea of picking an inter­ state team is that each club should have a representative. I actually heard one selec­ tor move that not more than two players of any one club should be chosen in an inter-state match. And these are the men who wish to form a board of control, and not have players represented on it. In my humble opinion, tbe sooner the V.C.A. is rubbed out of existence and the first-class cricketers of Victoria take more interest in the management of their own affairs the better it will be for Victorian cricket and cricketers. I would suggest that an associa­ tion be formed after the style of the Maryle- bone C.C. of England. It should have a social head, aud the rest of it shouli be com­ posed of the secretaries and the captains of each team in the association. At the com­ mencement of the season a captain for inter­ state matches should be selected, and he should choose his own team. Of course, he could pick a few certainties and consult them as to the completion of the team. I am sure a much better team would be representing this State under this system in inter-state matches, and New South Wales victories would not be chronicled with such regular monotony. MR. P. REYNOLD’S XL v. MR. H. CASTLE’S XI H. C astle ’ s . II. S. Burlington, c Dolan, b Summer- field ........................10 W.J .Chattel, cTucker, b Powell .................83- T. M. Killion, lbw, b Summerfield ..........25 A. P. Hillerston, b Reynolds................. 0 G. C. Goldsmith, c Powell, b Tucker ... 13 G. Brandon, c Dolan, b Tucker................. 7 E. Crawley, b Tucker 0 W.C. D. Maile, not out 20 F. S. Jasper, c H. Patrickson, b Rey­ nolds........................ 8 G. Mallett, b Reynolds 3 H. Castle, b Reynolds 3 Extras ..........13 Total ..185 P. R eynold ’ s . F.A.Powell,b Brandon 3 A.M. Lewis,b Brandon 10 P.Reynolds, st Killion, b Brandon F. P. Klinkhardt, b B randon................. L. Dolan, c Brandon, b Burrington.......... B. W . V. King,c Gold­ smith, b Burrington ... 12 L. A. Tucker, c Bur­ rington .................26 H. G. Patrickson, b Brandon................. E. Patrickson, notout B.C.Ashton.bBrandon Summerfield, b Bran­ don ........................ Extras .......... 3 Total ... 69 The Editor regrets that the pressure of scores during the summer only allows him to guarantee insertion of scores of clubs arranging for publication of all their matches. A charge of Is. a match, with a minimum of 21s., is made for the insertion of scores. Odd scores are inserted at 2s. each if space permits. Scores must reach “ Cricket” Offices, 168, Upper Thames Street, E.O., by first post on Tuesday follow­ ing the match.