Cricket 1905

346 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 1?, 1905. allowed five byes in an innings of 479, while at Northampton Thompson took eight wickets for 65 in the first innings of Warwickshire. I n the first-class matches at the end of last week there were some remarkable bow ling analyses, the best of them being as follows :— O. M. R. W. C ox........ 14 4 24 4 ... Sussex v. Derbysilire (2nd innings). Thompson 21.1 4 65 8 ... Nortliants v. Warwick (1st innings). C oe........ 8 5 5 4 ... Leicester v. Hants (1st innings). Myers ... 8 3 10 3 ... Yorkshire v. Surrey (2nd innings). Knox ...12 2 22 3 JSurrey v. Yorkshire. Wilson ...14^ 4 ^ 0 8 j -\Vorcester v. Somereet L a s t Friday Berkshire and Oxford­ shire began their match at Reading. In the course of the day 556 runs were scored, Berkshire making 453 and Oxford­ shire 103 for two wickets. The first three Berkshire men who batted each made over a hundred, their combined totals making 366 out of 443 from the bat. The Berkshire score reads as follows, as far as these three men are concerned:— G. G. M. Bennett, c Hartley, b A. Rogers.......... 121 H. Brougham, c Marsh, b A. Rogers ............108 F. E. Rowe, c A. Rogers, b Follett ...................137 R e f e r r i n g to the match at Sheffield Park between the 20th Hussars and Lord Sheffield’s X I. the Sussex Daily News says:— The only source of regret was the absence of Lord Sheffield himself. Indisposition confined him to the house, and keen as was the regret experienced at his absence, pro­ bably no one was more disappointed than the noble earl, who takes so much pleasure in personally welcoming his guests. The en­ thusiastic and generous support which the Earl has given the national game for many years past is widely known, but it may surprise even enthusiasts to learn that this season is the sixtieth in the annals of cricket at Sheffield Park. For fifty consecutive years the Earl attended every match played at his beautiful seat, and during the last ten years he has only been absent on five occasions, the cause in each case being illness. Such a record must be unique in the annals of the game. A r e c e n t decision by Judge Lumley Smith gives a fine opportunity to bats­ men wiio are of an augmentative dis­ position. In deciding a question as to the liability of a shipping company to answer for the safe custody of a traveller’s boots, the Judge said that “ boots, which were not on a man’s feet, were part of his luggage, although they might cease to be luggage when he was wearing them.” Now, a note to Law 25 in the M.O.O. Decisions and Interpretations says that “ If while playing at the ball, but not otherwise, the Striker’s hat or cap fell on the wicket and dislodged a bail he would be out,” while Law 25 itself says, “ Or, if in playing at the ball he hit down his wicket with his bat or any part of his person or dress, ‘ Hit wicket.’ ” Here is the augmentative batsman’s chance. He may claim that, according to the Judge’s decision, his hat or cap, when not on his head, is part of his luggage, and hence not part of his dress. Hence he may claim that the M.O.C. note is not legally justified. A n t reference to Law 25 must always bring to mind the question whether a batsman is out if part of his bat is struck off by a ball and driven on to the wicket, removing a bail. The law makes special mention of “ any part of his person or dress,” but does not say “ any part ” of his bat—merely “ his bat.” The bats­ man who has a bail removed in this way may reasonably point to the broken piece of his bat and ask the umpire, when an appeal is made, “ Is that my bat ? ” If the umpire cannot conscientiously swear that it is, what can he do but say not out ? ------ I n the first innings of Hampshire against Leicestershire on Friday last four wickets were down when the total was 111. This was raised to 122, and then five wickets fell before another run was Bcored, the total of the innings being 127. T h e r e was some excitement at Taun­ ton on the first day of the match between Worcestershire and Somersetshire, and for a time during the afternoon play was stopped. A man who was watching the match from a point of vantage high up in a tree missed his hold and fell into the river. T h e paragraphs which appeared in Gossip last week about the forthcoming tour of the M.C.C. team in South Africa have put some of our contemporaries on their mettle. Already lists, more or less complete, of the men who will form the team have been made, but the most com­ plete of them all is that which is given in the Evening News of Saturday over the signature of Albert E. Trott. With regard to the amateurs, Trott is not certain, but he states that it will prob­ ably be found that Mr. Jackson, Mr. Warner, Mr. Maclaren, Mr. C. B. Fry, A. O. Jones, and W. Brearley are being asked. He continues as follows:— Hirst, Rhodes, Thompson, Tyldesley, Lilley, Arnold, Braund, Keif, and Blythe have all had an invitation. George Gunn tells me that both he and his brother have been asked to go, and also Walter Lees, E. Hayes, and Tom Hayward, but that the latter is not anxious to make the journey. This would make eighteen invitations, and if all the men accepted there would be ample margin in the case of illness or accidents. In the lists of averages which appeared on Monday C. B. Fry again took the first place with 67'38, having made 69 for Sussex against Derbyshire at Brigh­ ton, while Hirst, who had ousted him for a few days, made 38 and 9 not out for Yorkshire against Surrey at Leeds, thus bringing his average down to 63'35. Armstrong with 56 43 had crept up to fourth place, and Noble to seventh with 50'02. Trumper, who was third among the Australianswith 36’15, was thirty-fifth on the list. I n bowling Brearley replaced Lees in the race for the highest number of wickets, with 165 against 155. Relf still required 15 wickets and Armstrong; 11 to enable them to accomplish the feat of taking a hundred wickets and scoring a thousand runs during the season. In these days when so many matches are played it is not a great feat to score a thousand runs in first-class cricket during a season, but Hobbs and A. P. Day are to be greatly congratulated on scoring over a thousand runs in their first season. On Monday, Hobbs had a record of 1,234 runs, and Day 1,051 runs. C. S. Baker, the Warwickshire cricketer, and R. A. YouDg, who both made their ddbut in first-class cricket this year, were both within easy reach of their thousandth run, Young with 983, and Baker with 867. Young brought his figures to 1,011 yesterday. O n Saturday, when Kent had lost six wickets in their second innings against Lancashire, and still required 131 runs to save the innings defeat, the last four wickets put on 164 runs, of which no fewer than 120 were made for the ninth wicket by Blythe and Fairservice. From the Daily Telegraph :— William Oscroft, the once famous Notts batsman, who has been in bad health for a long time, underwent a serious operation last week, and from what we hear his case is hopeless. It is just twenty-three years since Oscroft dropped out of first-class cricket, his last county match dating back to 1882. His career, which extended over nineteen seasons, was marked by curious alternations of success and failure, but old cricketers will remember him as a batsman of remarkable powers. As a judge of cricket he had no superior among the professional players of his day. He knew the game thoroughly, and nothing escaped him. Some years after he had left off playing, a suggestion of his as to a change of bowling—made at the pavilion at Trent Bridge during the luncheon interval —enabled Notts to beat the Australians after the game had seemed in a fair way to bo lost. F o r Wimbledon against Streatham on Saturday, D. Dingar missed his second hundred by a single run, his 199 being made out of 310 for nine wickets. G o a tly , the Surrey professional, who has occasionally played with success for the first eleven, was within sixteen runs of making two separate hundreds in the match between Surrey second and Gla­ morganshire at the end of last week. His scores were 84 and 128. H a yw a rd has a somewhat curious record against Yorkshire this year. His scores and manner of dismissal are as follows : — At the Oval on July 20, 21, and 22. c Hunter, b Hirst ... 1 b Myers ............. 115 At I.eeds on August 10 and 11. c Hunter, b Rhodes 1 c Hunter, b Hirst.. 6 Thus in the four innings he has been caught three times at the wicket by Hunter before he had time to settle down.