Cricket 1905

A ug . 10, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 329 Surrey bowlers were handicapped by a ■wet ball, and 8. H. Day and Huish knocked off the runs. A TOTAL of 651 was made by the Old Cliftonians on the first day of their match with the Blue Mantles. J. H. Curtis and B. Meakin put up 231 for the first wicket. Meakin afterwards increased his score to 207, his hits including thirty-two 4’s. The Blue Mantles went in before stumps were drawn and scored 4 for one wicket, so that 655 runs were made in the day. The Old Cliftonians’ score is as follows:— J.H.Curtis,c Andrews, b Bournes ...........133 B. Meakin, b J. Spens207 R. Raw, c Ashfield, b Bournes .................. 0 R.G.Raw, c Aslifield. b Bournes ....................13 G.C.Wall, st Andrews, b Ashfield ...........120 Capt. B. L. M. Brod- hurst, c J. Spens, b Elliott .................. 0 R.H.Johnston,bDruce 2 A.M.Champion,cBud- worth, b J. Spens... 31 H. A. Prichard, lbw, b J. Spens................. 3 A.D.Imlay,stAndrews, b Ashfield ..........89 F. B. May, not out ... 15 B 8, lb 8, w 4 .. 20 Total ..651 In a match at Rushton, Northampton­ shire, last week, between Ladies and Gentlemen (bat and bowl left hand), Miss B. Fisher took five wickets with successive balls in the second innings of the Gentle­ men, her record for the innings being seven wickets for 2 runs. As it would be a pity if the performance of the Gentle­ men were not placed on record, I append their score in the second innings:— R ev . A. S. W btherall ’ s XI. T. Lethbridge, b B. W.F.Neilson.cM.Green, b B. Fisher .......... Dr. Bell, b B.Fisher... Rev. S. Wetlierall, c B. Fisher ................. Rev.R.Henderson ,c M. Wetherall.bM.Green H. J. F. Jeffries, lbw, b B. Fisher................ T. S. Gray, b M. Green Fisher C.Stringer, b B.Fisher J. F. Blackiston, b B. Fisher ................. G. Simpson, not out Leg-bye .......... Total .......... O. W. Dainty absent. A c o rre s p o n d e n t writes to T.P.’s Weekly as follows:— “ Once, when talking to an old agriculturist of my acquaintance, who had a small farm at the foot of Leith Hill, about a Roman camp in the neighbourhood, I said it probably dated back to the time of Julius Caesar. ‘ Julius Cjesar ! ’ said he ; ‘ why I once played in a cricket match with ’im ! ’—think­ ing, of course, of the once well-known cricketer, the only bearer of the name he had ever heard of.” T h e weather in the London district during July was all that could be desired, and there seemed no reason whatever why it should break up. But a benefit match came on—that of Russell at Ley­ ton—and, hey, presto ! down came the rain. There was no play at Leyton last Thursday—nor, for the matter of that, anywhere else except Bath, as far as first- class cricket was concerned. C a pta in G re ig , the Hampshire crick­ eter, left England for India last week on the Thursday, his leave of absence having expired. He has greatly distinguished himself this season for Hampshire, and at the beginning of June he made two separate hundreds in the Worcestershire match. T h e r e was an exciting finish to the match between Bedfordshire and Durham. Owing to rain, which interrupted play on the second day for some time, Durham did not begin their task of making 155 to win until only an hour and forty minutes remained for play. Amidst great excite­ ment the runs were hit off at the very last moment for the loss of seven wickets. E. W. Elliott carrying his bat for 48. There was afterwards a misunderstanding about the score, and it was reported that, owing to a mistake by the scorers, Dur­ ham still required 4 runs to win. Although the time for drawing stumps had passed by, Bedfordshire prepared to take the field again, but it was then dis­ covered that the runs had really been made. ------ T h e Australians have had the most extraordinary run of luck this season in the way of weather. Until Thursday last, when there was no play in the Wor­ cestershire match, every match which they had played lasted to the third day, except in the London district. And in not one of their matches (except in London) did they have a “ blank ” day owing to rain. Even in their London matches they only had two days when it was impossible to play. This good luck, while it means continual work to the team, also means largely increased receipts. F o r the first four Test matches the scores and averages of Englishmen are as follow s:— Jackson (capt.) 0,82*. 29, 0, 144*. 17, 113; total 385; average 77. Maclaren 2, 140, 56, 79, 14; total 291; average 58‘2. Spooner 52; total 52; average 52. Hirst 35, 40*, 25; total 100; average 50. Fry 73, 36*, 32, 30, 17 ; total 188; average 47. Tyldesley 56, 61, 43,12, 0,100, 24; total 296; average 42-29. Rhodes 29, 39*, 15, 27* ; total 110; average 55. Hayward 5^47, 16, 8, 26, 60, 82; total 244; average Arnold 2*, 7*, 25, total 34; average 34. Bosanquet 27, 6, 6,4*, 20,22* ; total85; average 21*25. Lilley 37, 0,11, 28; total 76; average 19. Haigh 14,11; total 25; average 12'5. Jones 4, 30,1, 5; total 40; average 10. Gunn 8; total 8; average 8. Warren 7; total 7 ; average 7. Denton 0,12; total 12; average 6. Jessop 0. Blythe 0. Brearley 0. * Signifies not out. T h e Australian scores and averages are much smaller, as will be seen from the subjoined list:— Armstrong, 27, 6, 33, 66, 32, 29, 9; total, 202; average, 28.85. Gregory, 2, 51, 5, 4, 32*; total, 94; average, 23.5. Darling, 0, 40, 41,5,2, 73,0; total, 161; average, 23.00. Hopkins, 16, 36, i7 ; total, 69 ; average, 23. Noble, 50, 7, 7, 2, 62,7, 10; total, 145; average, 20.71. Hill, 54, 8, 7, 7, 33, 0, 27 ; total, 136; average, 19.42. Duff, 1, 25, 27, 48, 17, 11, 60; total, 189 ; average, 27.00. Ootter, 45,18,11, 0; total, 74; average, 18.50. Kelly, 1*, 6*, 2,1*, 16*, 5; total, 31; average, 15.50. Trumper, 13, 31,8, 0,11, 30; total, 93; average, 15.5. Laver, 5, 5, 4*, 3, 24, 6*; total, 47; average, 11.75. McLeod, 4,13, 0,8,10*, 6, 6; total, 47; average, 7.83. Gehrs, 0,11; total, 11; average, 5.50. * Signifies not out. A cco rd in g to the New York corres­ pondent of the Daily Telegraph, the M.C.C. match against the Metropolitan League of New York was watched by Sir Mortimer Durand (the British am­ bassador) and Lord Hawke. But if Lord Hawke was present he must have hurried across the water pretty quickly, for he was playing at Hull for Yorkshire against Hampshire on Friday last, the day on which the New York match began. Th e wet Thursday of last week was followed by a windy Friday. On grounds which were surrounded by trees the leaves and branches were blown over the pitch, and on several grounds the bails were constantly blowing off. At Wor­ cester, where the Australians were playing, it was necessary to dispense with bails for a time. At Bath tents were blown down, and the bowling screen could not be used. A t Beckenham on Friday, Hayes made a fine on-drive, and the ball fell on a lady who was sitting in the tea pavilion. The ladymight have been seriouslyhurt butthe ball happened to drop on her watch, and, although the watch was completely smashed, its wearer was unharmed. O n Saturday there were several county teams which must have regarded the outlook with misgiving. But in the case of all of them except Surrey, rain, which had hitherto fought against them, came at last to their assistance. Thus Middle­ sex and Somerset were able to shew a bold front. Gloucestershire and Hamp­ shire were not called upon to struggle, and Worcestershire escaped from the Australians. In the case of Surrey alone was the rain detrimental. F o r Free Foresters against Malvern College last week A. E. Worsley scored 201 in the first innings. On the other side E. L. Mellin only missed his second hundred by four runs in the second innings. Some curious things happened in the match. The College scored 122 in their first innings against 385, and thus had to face a deficit of 263, but they made 466 in their second innings for six wickets, and giving their opponents the task of making 204, had just time to get them out for 99. T h e Haileybury boys, who were beaten by Cheltenham, at Lord’ s, on Saturday, might have made a match of it but for the number of lbw decisions which had to be given against them. No fewer than six wickets were lost in this way. A t last Cotter has done something to justify the praise which was bestowed on him by the journalists in the M.C.C. Australian team. He was said, among other things, to be able to get a foothold on a soft pitch, and to make the ball perform in such a manner as absolutely to bewilder the batsmen. He has had a few soft pitches upon which to experi­ ment, but apparently he could not find the exact sort which he required until Saturday, when he had the Worcester­ shire men at his mercy, taking twelve wickets out of fifteen for 39 runs — a splendid performance for any bowler on any wicket whatever. When he went on a second time in the Worcestershire first innings he took seven wickets for 5 runs in four overs and four balls.