Cricket 1905

362 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD 0E THE GAME. A ug . 24, 1965. the first innings, and played a magnifi­ cent up-hill game in the second. England had to make 109 to win, and on the Tuesday evening had scored 16 for the loss of Abel’s wicket. Everybody in London knew on the Wednesday morning that the game would be finished, and also recognised that owing to heavy rain in the night the finish might be exciting. But there were not as many spectators as are present during a match between Uppingham and Haileybury, although the weather turned out to be fine. I have no doubt that readers of Cricket who attend matches on the third day will recall many similar instances. The average spectator who pays wants value for his money. He has a “ day off,” and his day is spoiled if the match is over early. I n Monday’s lists of averages, C. B. Ery retained his lead with 69'88. Hirst was still second with 61'96. Then came Armstrong o8-23, Quaife 68, E. W. Dillon 65'16, Captain Greig .50’25, and Noble 47-02. Most of the men who have played for England this season were well up in the averages, Fry, Hirst, Denton, Hayward, and Tyldesley all being in the first thirteen. I n bowling Brearley had the highest aggregate with 171 wickets, Lees having taken 162, Rhodes 143, Cox (Sussex) 141, Dennett 130, Blythe 126, Thompson 114, Haigh 110, Knox 118 and Knox 110. No Australian had then taken a hundred wickets, although Armstrong stood at 96, Laver 93 and Cotter 93. This humble position in the middle of August must be almost unique in the annals of Australian tours, and it shows very plainly the weakness of the bowling of the present team. A rmstrong and Hirst have both a reasonable chance of making a record of two thousand runs and a hundred wickets for the season. Hirst on Monday required 141 runs and 16 wickets, and Armstrong 135 runs and 4 wickets. Hayes may possibly accomplish the feat, for he had 74 wickets and 1675 runs on Monday. Relf and Killick each required eight wickets to complete their record of a thousand runs and a hundred wickets for the season. Yesterday Relf took his hundredth wicket. I t is very seldom indeed that a bats­ man meets with a stroke of luck such as was enjoyed by Hardstaff on Monday in the match at Derby between Notts and Derbyshire. When he had made 36 runs he slipped in running and fell half­ way between the wickets. The ball was thrown to Ollivierre, who, after watching Hardstaff struggle to his feet, removed the bails with his left-hand while holding the ball with his right, and then moved away. Hardstaff had the presence of mind to regain his crease, and thus was able to resume his innings and bring his score to 92. T his reminds me that there is a tale to the effect that in a local match a bats­ man slipped when running and fell about five yards from the crease. In his ex­ citement the bowler, who had picked up the ball, threw hard at the other wicket, the ball going to the boundary after it had touched the stumps on its way and removed a bail. But the bowler blushed so furiously when he realised what he had done that, in the general laughter which followed, nobody noticed what had happened to the bail, except the batsman and umpire at the end where the bail had been knocked off. The batsman, who, having turned to look at his friend, was well out of his ground, stepped over the crease. In a good- humoured way he replaced the bail, and (as it was not the business of tbe umpire to give the show away) continued his innings with much satisfaction to him­ self. A fter pointing out that most of the players who have represented E d gland this year in the Test matches are no longer youthful, the Daily Telegraph suggests a few names of new men who would seem to have a reasonable chance of appearing in the England eleven during the next visit of an Australian team in 1908. They are J. N. Crawford, A. P. Day, R. A. Young, L. d. Colbeck, Rothery, Jayes, George Quun, and N. A. Knox. This seems an excellent selection, but it may be pointed out that for some years selection committees iu England as well as Australia have, to a great extent, ignored the claims of young men. I n connection with the above it may be interesting to give comparative tables of the ages of the men who took part in the last Test match of 1895 (in Australia) and the last Test match (at the Oval) in 1905. I am not quite sure about Cotter’s age—it is not given in “ Wisden ” :— 1905. E n g lan d . A ustralia . Maclaren ............. . 33 Trumper............. .. 27 Hayward ............. . 34 Duff .................... . 26 Tyldesley............. . 31 Hill .................... .. 28 Fry .................... . 33 Noble.................... .. 32 Jackson ........ . 34 Armstrong............. .. 26 Spooner ............. . 24 Darling ............. .. 34 Hirst .................... . 33 Hopkins ......... .. 29 Arnold ............. . 27 McLeod ......... .. 35 Rhodes ............. . 27 K elly................ .. 38 Lilley.................... .. 37 Cotter............... .. 22 Brearley ............. .. 29 Laver................ .. 35 Total ... .. 342 Total ... .. 332 Average .. 31 Average .. 30 1895. E n g lan d .- A u st r a lia . Peel .................... .. 38 Giffen ............... ... 36 Briggs.................... .. 33 Jarvis ................ ...*34 Stoddart ............. .. 32 Lyons ................ ... 32 W ard ............... .. 30 Bruce ................ ... 31 Humphreys .. 29 Trott ................ ... 28 Brockwell......... .. 29 Iredale................ ... 27 Ford ............... .. 28 Gregory ......... ... 25 Lockwood............. .. 27 Darling ......... ... 24 Brown............... .. 25 Graham ......... ... 24 Richardson .. 24 McKibbin ......... ... 24 Maclaren ......... .. 23 Trott ................ ... 22 Total ... .. 318 Total ... .. 307 Average .. 28 Average .. 27 T h e beginning of the end of the season is marked by the fact that both Notts and Derbyshire played their last match of the year on the first days of this week. D escribing the end of au exciiing tie match between Aigburth and Birkenhead Victoria, the Liverpool Daily Post says : With eight down for 95, only 6 runs were required to win. With the score at 97 Brewin, with a marvellous catch close to the ground, caused the retirement of Fraser. Three runs were now required to tie, and with a three-hit K. Lees got them, hut F. Miller then howled him, amidst great excitement, and the scores of the two sides were exactly 100 each. Up to July 22 Percy Perrin had only scored 267 runs. His luck then turned, and so well has he batted since that time, that on Monday he brought his total for the season to more than a thousand. In his last 14 innings he has scored 74 not out, 140 and 103 not out, 34 and 24, 7, 20 and 74, 72 and 22, 10 and 29, 173 not out and 26. W. B re a r le y , the Lancashire amateur, has bowled against Victor Trumper in nine innings this year, and Trumper’s record in these innings is as follows:— May 4, 5 and 6, Gentlemen of England at Crystal Palace V. Trumper, b Brearley, 2, b G. \V. Beldam, 7. May 18,19 and 20, Gentlemen of England at Lords. V. Tramper, b Brearley, 6. May 25, 26 and 27, Lancashire at Manchester. V. Trumper, c Findlay,b Kermode, 36, b Brearley, 14. July 24, 25 and 26, England at Manchester. V. Trumper, c Rhodes, b Brearley, 11, lbw, b Rhodes, 30. August 14,15 and 16, England at Oval. V. Trumper, b Brearley, 4, c Spooner, b Brearley, 28. It will be noticed that in these nine innings Trumper has fallen a victim to Brearley for a small score no fewer than seven times. A suggestion has been made in Birmingham that a public subscription should be made on behalf of Lilley, the Warwickshire wicket-keeper, who has played in the Test Matches for England 23 times. As far as I remember, he has only been left out of the England team once since he first represented the county, viz., in 1899, when he was replaced by Storer. T he honorary secretary of the Derby­ shire County C. C., Mr. W. Barclay- Delacombe, has made the announcement that the County Committee have decided to present Mr. L. G. Wright with a tes imonial. Possibly a match may be played next year with this object in view. It will be remembered that the M.C.C. promoted a testimonial on behalf of Dr. W. G. Grace some years ago, and that the Daily Telegraph opened a public subscription list for the same purpose. A testimonial match was played at the Oval on behalf of Mr. W. W. Read. A ccording to the Saturday Review, “ First class cricket has become so serious a matter that all who play in it are virtually professionals.” It is to be hoped that none of the small boys who are at Mr. Ernest Smith’s thriving pre­ paratory school, near Enfield, will ever hear of this. Otherwise Mr. Smith, and Lord Hawke, who sometimes visits him, may find themselves addressed by a