Cricket 1905

A ug . 10, .1905. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD, OF THE GAME 331 burg, tbe Englishmen are down to arrive at Maritzburg on January 8th, playing a match there on the 10th, 11th, and 12th, and a match at Durban on the 13th, 15th, and 16th, then leaving for East London. The fixtures then comprise one match at East London, one at Kingwilliamstown, one at Queenstown, one at Cradock, one at Grahamstown, two at Port Elizabeth, one at Oudtshoorn, two at Kimberley, one at Potchefstroom, two more at Johannesburg, one at Bloemfontein v. the O.R.C., and one at Capetown. Three test matches have been arranged for—the first on January 1st, 2nd and 3rd, at the Wanderers ; the second at the Wanderers on February 24th, 26th and 27th ; the third at Capetown on April 7th, 9th and 10th. It was decided to suggest to the Western Province Union that another match should be played at Capetown on April 12th, 14th and 16th,' and if the Union fall in with the sugges­ tion, the last match will be the third test match, and the one on April 7th, 9th and 10th against either the Western Province or Cape Colony. O ne would have thought the accepted rules of county cricket provided quite enough methods for the batsman, too many for the ordinary run, in which to get out. The Evening Post of New York has discovered another which has, as far as one knows, fortunately not yet reached this country. In commenting on the first innings of All Philadelphia against the Marylebone cricket team recently, the Post describes J. B. King, the well-known American all-round cricketer, as “ unfortunate.” The bats­ man must have been if, as the Post states, he was “ caught leg-before-wicket before he had scored a run.” T he Americans still go one better than their English contemporaries in the matter of head-lines. Thus a Phila­ delphia paper heads its report of the first match between the M.C.C. team and the Gentlemen of Philadelphia as follows:— BRITISHERS ARE IN LEAD. English Cricket Team Has Advantage of 38 Runs, LOCAL EXPERTS POOR FORM, Philadelphians Hope to Regain Batting Eye To-day and Look for Victory, or, at L east, a Draw. F or some time after Ranjitsinhji’s well-known book, “ The Jubilee Book of Cricket,” appeared, there were discussions in the newspapers as to the authorship of various articles and chapters which it contained. Statements were made that Ranjitsinhji wrote every line in the book except when another writer was specifi- callyinamed as the author. According to other accounts, C. B. Fry was responsible for the bulk of the contents. The veil has now been partly lifted by Mr. A. J. Gaston, who, in the Brighton Argus, says :—“ On reference to my article on Gloucestershire cricket, which I contri­ buted to Prince Ranjitsinbji’s ‘ Jubilee Book of Cricket ’ in 1897, I find that, etc., etc.” M r. G aston also points out that when the four brothers Foster played for Wor­ cestershire against the Australians last week, they were not creating a record, for in 1871 four brothers Grace played for Gloucestershire against M.C.C. at Lord’s, viz. : — “ E. M .,” “ W. G .,” “ G. F .” and “ H .” The names of the players for the England team for the filth and final Test match, which will be commenced at the Oval next Monday, were officially announced on Monday night as follows : Hon. F. S. Jackson (Yorkshire), A. 0. Maclaren (Lancashire), C. B. Fry (Sussex), K. H. Spooner (Lancashire), W. Brearley (Lancashire), Hayward (Sulrrey), Hirst (Yorkshire), Rhodes (Yorkshire), Tyldesley (Lancashire), Lilley (Warwickshire), Arnold (Worcestershire), It will be noticed that there are no reserves, and that the team is the same as that which was victorious at Man­ chester. W ilso n , the Worcestershire bowler, took three wickets of the Australians with successive balls for his comity on Friday last. His victims were Noble, Gehrs and Laver. He only missed Cotter’s wicket by a hair’s breath with the next ball. This is the first time during the present tour of the Austra­ lians that a bowler has done the hat trick against them. I n yesterday’s Sportsman “ Wanderer ” says:— A curious incident prefaced the opening of play on Monday at Canterbury, the experi­ ence being so singular that in many quarters the story told to those who did not actually witness it was received with incredulity. The pitch was being rolled, and the batsmen were practising as usual at the edge of the ground when a ball was driven on to the pitch and, falling beneath the roller, was driven into the soft turf. The hole it made would have created a “ spot ” for a good length ball, and it was decided to slightly shift the wickets, which was duly done. W ith commendable pluck the cricket statistician of the Manchester Guardian plunged into the intricacies of the county championship table, and gave the results of his efforts on Monday as follows :— Yorkshire’s unfortunate draw with Hamp­ shire on Saturday has not improved their position in the list. A win at Hull would have given them a percentage of 65.-42, as compared with Lancashire’s 83.33. But as drawn games do not count, Yorkshire enter upon the contest to-day with their percentage 66.66. The figures are interesting as showing the possibilities which a win or a loss at Sheffield may bring to either county. A Lancashire victory would place Lancashire in an almost commanding position, with a per­ centage of 91.66 ; a Yorkshire victory would give Yorkshire the coveted figures which rain robbed them of at Hull, while Lanca­ shire, instead of having a percentage of 83.33, would have one of 69.23. They would still be first, but the advantage would be so small as to he painfully perilous in view of the matches to follow. I n a Philadelphia paper Mr. F. H. Clarke says:— While on the subject of international con­ tests, it would perhaps not be amiss to repeat a little story. The scene was the old Nice- town cricket field. Twenty-two Gentlemen of Philadelphia were pitted against a profes­ sional team of English cricketers, captained by E. Willsher, in October of the year 1868. Mr. C. Stuart Patterson, in accordance with the invariable custom which he has never relinquished, came to cheer his fello.w club- mates on to victory. When asked why he was so late, he replied that the stork had visited his home and brought him a future international player. Little did he know on that day that he was speaking of one of the greitest cricketers which America has ever produced, George Btuart Patterson. From the Manchester Guardian :— One might search cricket history in vain for an exact parallel to the peculiar experi­ ence of Surrey in their last three matches. Surrey would easily have beaten the Austra­ lians had they not been forced to make runs against time. Yet, after getting within 41 of victory with eight wickets in hand, they lost by 22 runs. Then came the Middlesex match, which Surrey won by ten wickets after being set 168 to get in a game in which the first three innings produced only 399 runs. Both these matches illustrated the eccentricities and dramatic possibilities of the game, but the match with Kent proved the crowning irony of fate. Surrey were finally beaten by ten wickets after a game which ran a precisely similar course to the Middlesex match, for the side winning the toss lost by ten wickets after a game in which the first three innings produced only 342 runs. For acounty to take part in two such extraordinary matches in one week is without parallel. There is certainly no instance of a side winning and losing two low-scoring succes­ sive matches by the same margin after losing the toss in one game and winning it in the other. Some unpleasantness between the Canadian Cricket Association and the Eastern (Canada) Cricket Association seems to have ended in an impasse, and, according to reports from Canada, the inter-provincial match will not take place this year. Apparently the trouble arose over the annual match between Canada and the United States. Four years ago the Eastern Cricket Association succeeded in making arrangements to hold this match at Ottawa, paying 80 dollars to the Canadian Cricket Association for the privilege. The same arrangement was to