Cricket 1905

S ept . 7, 1905, CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 395 three. Then their success began, and from June 29th to September 4th they only lost the toss twice. On the other hand they won it eleven times, and on one of the two occasions when they lost it they had the good luck to be put iu first. Two veterans, Dr. Grace and Mr. C. Robson, distinguished themselves on Monday in the match at Bournemouth between Gentlemen of the South and Players of the South. The Gentlemen had not a single well-known bowler on the side, and accordingly Dr. Grace had to do a large amount of work, bowling for more than an hour and a-half and takiDg three of the seven wickets which fell. Robson kept wicket in great form, catching three men and stumpiDg one, while he only allowed four byes in a total of 354. L ast week R. E. Hemingway, the Notts amateur, played for North against the South at Blackpool with various other members of the Notts team. This week he has been playing for the Gentle­ men of the South against Players of the South at Bournemouth. I n the last three matches played by the Australians, D. R. A. Gehrs has kept wicket with considerable success in the absence of Kelly, whose hand is injured. Newland has heen practically discarded during the tour, and it is more than ever a puzzle why he was preferred to E. P. Waddy by the selectors of the team. A PLEASING ceremony took place at tbe Grand Hotel, Scarborough, on Tues­ day evening, when a banquet was given in honour of Lord Hawke, whose con­ nection with the Scarborough Festival began twenty-five years ago. Lord Londesbarough was in the chair. In the course of the evening a presentation, in the shape of silver candelabra, was made to Lord Hawke, who in making a short speech said that he did not intend to stand in the way of rising young cricketers, nor to allow Yorkshire to lose matches through the inclusion of “ an old crock.” But the “ old crock ” has often this season come to the rescue of his side when it has been in a very tight place, and it is to be hoped that the time has not yet come when the county will not be able to rely on his services. N ews has just been received in Eng­ land direct from Ranjitsinhji. It corro­ borates the statement which appeared in “ Gossip ” a few weeks ago, that Ranjit­ sinhji had been suffering from malaria. He has, apparently, recovered, and intends to remain at Navanagar, the feudatory state of which one of his relatives is Jim . It will be remembered that a few years ago he claimed the title, but did not succeed in establishing his right to it, although in the opinion of some of the legal authorities his claims were sound enough. In yesterday’s Sportsman “ Wanderer” says:— Whilst talking of wicket-keeping I would express my pleasure ,at finding Lilley’s Testimonial developing into a national affair. It is wrong, however, for the Test sequence of the Warwickshire wicket-keeper to be regarded as unequalled, and my Colonial friends have one amongst their number who can point to something "better. Lilley’s record is, I think I am correct in stating: Matches. 1896 (England) ...................... ... 3 1899 .(England) (missing the first)... 4 1901-2 (Australia) ............................. 5 1902 (England) ... ....................... 5 1903—4 (Australia) ............................. 5 1905 England) ... ............... ... 5 Total................... 27 out of 28, and 24 in succession. Now what are Jim Kelly’s figures? I make them : Matches. 1896 (England) ........................... . 3 1897-8 (Australia) ............................. 5 1899 (England) ............................. 5 1901-2 (Australia) ............................ 5 1902 (England) ............................. 5 1903-4 (Australia) ............................. 5 1905 (England) ............................ 5 Or a total o f .........33 off the reel. Y. T. H ill , the old Somerset amateur, scored 117 last week for Somerset Stragglers v. Glamorgan Gipsies. His runs were made out of a total of 156 (147 from the bat). He only just failed to accomplish theuncommon feat of making a hundred with no one else on the side credited with double figures. But, as it happened, there was an innings of ten. On Monday morning Hirst’s record for the season stood at 2,070 runs and 99 wickets ; Armstrong’s at 1,879 runs and 117 wickets. On Monday Hirst raised his total of runs to 2,187, but he still requires a wicket to give him the record of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season. To accomplish the same feat Armstrong still requires 86 runs, having made only 24 and 11 at Leyton. T he list of men who have scored over a thousand runs and taken a hundred wickets this season now stands as follows : Runs. Wickets. Rhodes ............. 1,620 ... ... 171 Armstrong ......... 1,914 ......... 123 Killick ............. 1,353 ......... 108 Relf ...................... 1,386 ......... Ill J. Gunn ............. 1,366 ......... Ill Arnold ... .......... 1,134 ......... 109 THE FINEST SPORT. U nder the title of “ Which is the finest sp ort?” A. C. Maclaren writes with enthusiasm in Pearson’s Magazine for September about the game of cricket. He says:— Probably no other game so affects the character of the player as does cricket. Grit and power of quick decision are two qualities it calls for in common with all other games, but to make a cricketer of the first water you must add to these qualities patience, self-restraint, un­ selfishness, and cheerfulness under pro­ longed difficulties. Reflect on the position of the bowler on a plumb wicket faced by class batsmen. The value of brute strength reduced to a minimum. Ten, twenty, thirty overs of the bowler’s best met and defeated by the batsman’s bit better ; the position of the side growing gloomier with every over; any shirking or relaxtiion of effort taken advantage of immediately ; the bad-tempered ball put away for four ; the dropped chauces iu the slips ; the irritating number of balls just miss­ ing the wicket ; and through it all the absolute necessity of keeping steadily to bis work, watching and waiting and working for the chance that never seems to be coming. Think of the batsman who has “ to play for keeps ” unless his side is to be beaten. There is nothing like it in any other game. What a relief it is, in all conditions of life, to “ have a g o” ! It is sometimes the only way of getting rid of superfluous temper. But that relief is denied to the man playing for keeps. His mission demands absolutely that he shall stay at the wicket until the danger is over, that he shall repress every instinct of the natural man, that he shall bottle up all his feelings and keep steadily before him from first to last the interests of his side, which go directly agiinst all his own natural instincts. It would be difficult to find a more signal instance of the necessity for self - restraint and un­ selfishness. The necessity of “ playing for the side” arises in cricket much more readily than in most other games. In cricket, a player has to “ play by the board” or “ by the clock” ; he has to consider, if he is batting, the peculiarities of his partner batting at the other end. Tais “ playing for the side” gives the player a certain esprit de corps not so retdily found iu other games ; causes him, while losiug nothing of his own individuality, to subordinate it for the common good, as occasion may require. This is capital training for the duty of citizenship. It would be too much to expect that every good cricketer should turn out a perfect citizen, but it is not too much to say that a good cricketer who has learned the lessons necessary to be learned by a loyal member of an eleven is already familiar with the first duties of a loyal and capable citizen. Cricket develops the m ind; there is more thinking to be done over cricket than over any other game. There is no game containing so many points ; no game in which intelligence counts for so much. One does occasionally come across the natural cricketer whose play never costs him much thought, to whom mechanical skill is so easy that he achieves individual results without much conscious thought. But he is a rarity, and brilliant though he be, such a man very often fails when something more is needed of him than a spontaneous expression of his own individuality. In first-class cricket the captain of a side has to do an amount of genuine