Cricket 1905

S ept . 7, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 393 A MEETING of cricketers was held at Birmingham on Thursday last week to consider the proposal to raise funds for a national testimonial to Lilley. It was decided that the M.C.C. and the coun­ ties, as well as other clubs, should be asked to co-operate in promoting a national testimonial. A committee is to be formed to carry out the project. M r . W. B rearley , the famous Lancashire fast bowler, has decided to retire from first-class cricket after the present season is over. Pressure of busi­ ness is given as the reason for this. But for the sake of the game, and Lancashire cricket in particular, it is to be hoped that Mr. Brearley may be able to take his place again in the team next year. It will be remembered that this is not by any means the first time that rumour has been busy with regard to Mr. Brearley’s determination never to play again. M r . B r e a r l e y has written the follow­ ing letter to Mr. T. J. Matthews, the secretary of the Lancashire County C .C .: “ Blackpool, August 31st. ‘ ‘ D e a r S i r , —I regret to have to inform you that imperative business instructions will prevent my placing my services next season at the disposal of the committee. I write you at thismoment in order that thecommittee may he in possession of the circumstances at the earliest possible moment. “ I desire to express my thanks to the committee for the courtesy extended to me during the trying wintermonths, andthrough­ out the season.—Yours truly, “ W a l t e r B r e a r l e y .” M r . B r e a r l e y has so firmly estab­ lished his reputation as a great bowler, that he will be amused by the following letter from a frivolous correspondent —“ So Walter Sims Beeves Brearley is again retiring. The largest gooseberry and the sea sarpint of ancient memory are not in it with this hardy September annual. Some are born great, others have it thrust upon them, others think they are great, but cannot Brearley be persuaded before his final retire­ ment to put in at least one good bowling performance at Trent Bridge, or Taunton, or Leyton in fine weather ? Those who are really great have the prerogative to retire once or twice a year. W. B. has only so far definitely given up first-class cricket twice. On Rory O’Moore’s maxim he is entitled to at least another absolutely last appearance, and before that perhaps he may be able to get wickets without help from the pitch, the true sign of a great bowler; on the other hand, p’raps not.” W it h a fine disregard for high-sound­ ing titles, the Star has rechristened the “ Elevens of England” which opposed Lancashire at Blackpool and the Austra­ lians at Bournemouth. It describes them shortly as “ Jones’ X I .” and “ Grace’s X I.” A ccording to the Office Window of the Daily Chronicle, a cricket match was advertised at a French watering-place the other day as a “ parti de cricket," with the strange legend appended; “ Pitch, 2.30.” S ussex cricketers w h o read a recent article b y L . 0 . S. P oidevin must have rubbed their eyes in pained astonishment to see that “ Sussex has had bu t a m oderate season............... A s a bow lin g side they are n o t great, and this w ill account in large measure for their failure to win matches.” And this after Sussex have w on m ore matches than Lancashire, w ho are second in the Championship table, and have on ly eleven drawn games against the ten by Lancashire. The on ly counties which have w on m ore matches than Sussex this season are Y orkshire and Surrey. Sussex, m oreover, have beaten their previous record o f victories fo r a season by four, and are easily third in the cham pionship table. P oor Sussex. T h e result of the Surrey v. K en t match at the Oval last w eek— a tie— raises a curious point. U nder the rules which govern the county cham pionship table, “ One p oin t shall be reckoned fo r each win, one deducted fo r each lo s s ; u n ­ finished games shall n ot be reckon ed.” A s a tie is not an unfinished gam e, it must b y inference b e reckoned in the table. B ut it is n ot a w in, nor is it a loss, and no provision has been made to give it its due value. U nder these circum ­ stances the Sportsman reckons the tie as h alf a w in and h alf a loss, while the Daily Telegraph adopts the m ethod of g iv in g a space in the table fo r “ T ie d ,” but counts the tie as an unEnished gam e. T h is leads to a m ost interesting result, w hich w ell shows the beauties and m ys­ teries o f the cham pionship table. In the m ethod adopted b y the Sportsman, which gives a certain am ount o f credit to each o f the opposin g teams (although it takes aw ay w ith one hand w hat it gives w ith the other), the tw o counties com e out as follow s up to M onday : — Per- Flayed. Won. Lost. Drawn. Points, centage. Surrey... 26 ... 14* ... 6+ ... 5 ... 8 ... 3809 Kent ... 22 ... 10} ... 7i ... 4 ... 3 ... 16'66 In the other m ethod, which ignores the m atch altogether iu coun ting the points, the result is :— Per- Played. Won. Lost. Drawn. Tied. Points, cntge. Surrey 26 ... 14 ... 6 ... 5 ... 1 ... 8 ... 4000 Kent... 22 ... 10 ... 7 ... 4 ... 1 ... 3 ... 17 64 Perhaps the fairest m ethod w ou ld be to award each county half a point fo r a w in, -without penalising it. S ix tie matches have n ow been played b y Surrey at the O val in first-class cricket, the com plete record o f im portant tie matches bein g as fo llo w s :— June, 1839.—M.O.O. v. Oxford and Cambridge Uni­ versities, Lord’s. July, 1817.—Surrey v. Kent, Oval. June, 1862.—All England v. XVI. of Oxford Uni­ versity, Oxford. June, 1868—Surrey v. M.C.O., Oval. June, 1868.—Surrey v. Middlesex, Oval. August, 1876.—Surrey v. Middlesex, Oval. January, 1878.—FirstAustralian Team v. XV. of New South Wales and Victoria, Melbourne. June, 1883.—Gentlemen v. Players, Oval. August, 1890—Somerset v. Middlesex, Taunton.* August, 1894.—Surrey v. Lancashire, Oval. July, 1901.—Worcestershire v. South Africans, Wor­ cester. June, 1904.—Middlesex v. South Africans, Lord’s. September, 1905.—Surrey v. Kent, Oval. * Somersetshirewa$not then afirst-classcounty. T h e result of the match between Lancashire and an England X I. at Black­ pool last week raises another interesting point. When the game ended Lanca­ shire, with three wickets in hand, had scored exactly as many runs in their two innings as the England XI., and there­ fore wanted one run to win. Let us suppose that the match had taken place in the second-class county champion­ ship, and that Lancashire were behind on the first innings. The match was not completed, and, therefore, by the rules of the competition, Lancashire would have had no points, while the England Eleven, having won on the first innings, would score two. But the Lancashire captain (with his eye on the points, and remembering that provision is made in the rules that in the event of a tie in a completed match or in a match decided on the first innings, the points shall be divided) would declare his innings closed, and the game, being completed, would end in a tie. Thus his side would score 1} points instead of nothing. As the match stood, a captain would not have declared, for his side would have gained two points for a win on the first innings. T h e Lancashire County Committee have decided to make a grant of £300 to Cuttell, instead of giving him another benefit match. C. B. F r y , Hirst, Quaife, Hayward, Denton and Noble have now all scored over 2,000 runs this season. At the beginning of this week Fry was within 223 of his third thousand. Noble is the second Australian who has ever made 2,000 runs during a season in England, Trumper (with 2,570) having accom­ plished the feat in 1902. O n Monday Fry was leading in the average tables with 73’07, having of late left Hirst far behind. There is likely to be a race between Hirst, Quaife and Armstrong for second place, as Hirst stood at 52'94, Quaife at 55-66, and Armstrong at 59-19. Captain Greig, 50’25, was the only other batsman with an average of more than fifty. The race for the highest aggregate of wickets for the season between W. Brearley and Lees is still as interesting as ever. On Monday the latter stood at 182, and the former at 181, Lees having the better average with 17‘84 against 19-25. L ast week reference was made in “ Gossip ” to the testimonials which are to be given to various well - known cricketers, amateur and professional. This week the proposal to present a testimonial to Mr. A. C. Maclaren has been made public, and as the Lancashire County C.C. is stated to have offered £250 towards the funds which will be raised, it may be anticipated that the project will be extremely successful. An influential committee has been formed to take the preliminary steps. Mr.