Cricket 1905

A ug . 31, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 379 the year’s programme of the Surrey Club and Ground to a close. Altogether, thirty-four matches were played, and of these twenty-six were won, six drawn, and two lost. The two defeats were by narrow margins, Dorking winning by 6, and Dulwich by 32 runs. There was a still closer thing in the wins, as at Byfleet the Club’s majority was only a couple. T h e Oval was the scene of some ex­ ceptionally fast run-getting in the middle of last week. In the match between Surrey Club and Ground and Borough of Southwark on the Tuesday as many as 611 runs were scored for sixteen wickets. S. S. Harris, the International footballer, and Nice put on 227 for the third wicket of the Surrey Club. The latter’s hitting was quite oufc of the cnmmon and he was not out at the end of the day, having made 166 of 318 got while he was in. His first five hits were all 4’s, his sixth a sixer out of the ground. He sent another ball out of the Oval, and he also had to his credit later on a tenner, of which four came from an overthrow. T h e time of actual play was six hours and a quarter, so that runs came at the rate of nearly a hundred runs an hour. Harris took only fifty-five minutes to make his 113, while Nice, who went very slowly during the last twenty minutes, was an hour and thirty-five minutes over his 166 not out. At one stage of their partnership the two batsmen got 59 runs off five overs, at another 134 runs in thirty-five minutes. O n the following day the opening of the match between Young Amateurs and Young Professionals produced 457 for fourteen wickets, so that two consecutive days’ cricket at the Oval realised an aggregate of 1068 runs for thirty wickets. T h e honours of the Minor Counties Championship Competition have gone to Norfolk, who have won six matches out of eight, winning the seventh on the first innings, and losing the eighth. Each of the last six matches played ended in a victory. Last year Norfolk won but a single match and were sixteenth on the list, but they were fqual first with Durham and 'Worcestershire ten ytars ago, when only seven counties played in the competition. T h e list o f men w h o have scored a thousand runs and taken a hundred w ickets this season is n ow as fo llo w s :— Runs. Wickets. Rhodes ... 1436 ... ... 158 Armstrong... ... 1872 ... ... 108 Killick......... ... 1250 ... ... 101 Relf ......... ... 1348 ... ... 104 J. Gunn ... ... 1313 ... ... 106 Hirst has scored 2041 runs and taken 94 wickets, and Arnold 987 runs and 103 wickets. M uch curiosity was felt yesterday by cricketers as to whether the play in the various first-class matches would be affected by the eclipse of the sun. It was anticipated by some that, if the day happened to be dull, play would have to be stopped for at least an hour. For days the newspapers had contained glow­ ing accounts about the eclipse, and dia­ grams were given to show that at one o’clock only a tiny pifce of the sun would be visible. Yet, at any rate in London, where the sun was not seen at all, it was no darker at one o ’clock than at ten ; indeed a visitor to London would have had no idea that there was an eclipse at all, if he had not studied the papers. P a r t X . of “ TheEtnpire’8 Cricketers” contains portraits of W. H. B. Evans, H. K . Foster, J. J. Kelly, and Leonard Braund, from drawings by Mr. A. Chevallier Tayler. The artist has not succeeded in making it clear that Braund (who must have aged considerably of late) has two arms, but the picture of Kelly is simply great. This portrait alone is well worth the shilling net at which each number of the series i-t issued. HINTS TO YOUNG BOWLERS. T h e following extracts are taken from a long article in the Boy's Own Paper by Walter Mead, the old Essex bowler:— Now, when I was a boy I made up my mind to get the length; and, having learned to bowl with precision, then I made up my mind to try and get practice every day. What spells ruin to many a bowler is indiscriminate practice. Such bowlers will go on to the ground after school hours and bowl away to the elder members of the team hour after hour until at last they have hardly streng;h enough to get the ball the whole length of the wicket. Now, this is the sort of thing that destroys any talent before it is properly developed; if a professional were attached to the club he would never allow you to bowl all this time, and I suppose it is very often want of thought that allows the bay to spoil his chance before he becomes a man. Never bowl for more than twenty minutes at a time, but let some one else have a chance; or, if there is no one else, rest for half an hour before you go on again. Don’t be anxious to monopolise the bowling, for that is where the danger comes in with a schoolboy; he gets a few wickets, and the result is he has to bowl hour after hour because of what he has done. But if he would continue to do well he must rise superior to the applause of his friends and look after himself, for that is quite necessary. Then, after steady practice, the next thing that I tried to do was to vary my pace. And here, again, I had to practise first of all to bowl straight and slowly, and then medium style, while the fast ball that I send down now and again was the result of months of practice. It is absolutely necessary to disguise your action and also your intention, and that means a very great deal of patient work. A boy must not bowl too fast, or too far, to start. What I have noticed is that many boys from thirteen to fifteen have a great idea that everything depends on pace. That is a great mistake ; not only does success not depend on pace, but as a matter of fact, boys should not even try to bowl twenty-two yards until they are over sixteen years of age. When I am coaching boys of twelve to fifteen I never let them bowl more than eighteen yards, and I wish school captains would pay some attention to this. If they would only make their bowlers go slow at first, and see that they are straight and then have a good length, we should have many instead of so few boy bowlers. I have just been spending some time at Oxford, and although dozens of young players have passed through my hands, there is hardly one who b id B fair to become a good fast bowler. And why?— because at school they have been allowed to sacrifice everything to speed, and have thought that they have got the ex­ perience of old and seasoned veterans. I wish they could be with me sometimes, and they would learn that the one thing that the counties are looking for is fast bowlers. Again and again one appears, but after a year or so he drops out of the ranks; and if you were to inquire you would find the reason is that he never prepared for a long career by careful and continuous preparation. MARLBOROUGH BLUES v. FOLKESTONE.- i'layed at Folkestone on August 21, 22. F olkestone . Second innings. First innings. L. G. A. Collins, c Thring, b Goodwin ................27 c and b Goodwin 24 Rev. F. O. T. Hawkes, st Lindsay, b Goodwin ... 14 c Wileman, b . m „ Harvey ......... 3 A. T. Coode, c Kitson, b Harvey ...................... 5 c Goodwin, b Tr Thring .........48 J. Hampson, b Harvey ... 4 b M. 0. Lewis 5 Hon. J. Tugton, b Harvey 60 c &b F. S. Lewis 23 L. Langdon, c & b Harvey 15 c Kitson, b Har- A. O. Edwards, st Lindsay, ^ ........^ b Goodwin ................25 c O. H. Thring, b , ~ , M. O. Lewis ... 28 J. G. Maclaren, c Sandford, , rb.T1™ng ...................... 37 c and b Goodwin 20 Major Fleming, b Thring... 18 c Goodwin, b F. S. „ TT Lewis ........... 9 U. H. Kent, not out .........13 b Goodwin.......... 2 H. G. Driffield, e F. S., b M. O. Lewis ................ 0 notout ... 6 B 23,lb 2 .........25 B 27,w 1,nb 6 ... 34 Total .........243 Total ......... 220 M arlborough B lues . t n to m\rs? Second innings. 1;. O. W. Tilling, b Hamp- „son ............................. 20 notout ... . 17 R. I'. C. de Winton, c Hawkes, b Fleming ... 59 T. O. G. Sandford, b Flem- *n£ ............................. 1 c Maclaren, b u o t ■ t . Collins .........39 1*. S. Lewis, b I'leming ... 13 c Coode, b O. H. M. Thring, c Hawkes, Hawkes.......... 24 k.Co>)?” s ............... 22 b Collins ..........15 B. M. Kitson,b Hampson... 11 H. J. (Joodwin, c Hawkes, b Fleming ................ 2 c Coode, b Drif- T _ u ^ , field.................33 J. C. Harvey, c Kent, b Fleming ...................... 3 c Edwards, b „ r- a ,, , Collins ..........19 W. II. Lindsay, cMaclaren, Hawkes...................... 51 b Fleming......... 17 R. B. Wileman, not out ...19 notout 17 M. 0. Lewis, run out......... 0 b Fleming. 4 B 30,lb 9, w2 ... 41 B9,lb2,w2... 13 Total ........ 248 Total (8wkts)...198