Cricket 1905

O ct . 26, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 441 A CORRESPONDENT writes from Seattle, Oregon :— “ I gee in your last number a game between Denver and Salt Lake, and to show you that cricket is not dead in the Furthest West, I enclose for your perusal the scores of a game played on the Lewis and Clark Exposition grounds at Portland, a moist town which would make Scotland look like the Sahara Desert.” The scores will be found on another page. F o r some time New York cricketers have been anxious to show that when International matches are played in America some of their players ought to be included in the home teams. It is to be feared that the result of their match with Philadelphia at Staten Island on September 23rd will not give them much encouragement, for the visitors won with the utmost ease. As will be seen from the scores on another page, J. B. King took seven wickets for 14 runs against them in an innings of which the total was 28. The matches had fallen into abeyance since 1902, but for the good of cricket in America it is to be hoped that they will now be continued, despite the failure of the New York team in the recent match. I t is a somewhat ticklish business to deal with Indian records, but apparently H. D. Kanga and the Parsees made a considerable number of records in their match against Bombay Presidency at Poona on September 11th and 12th. According to Bombay newspapers the records were as follows:—H. D. Kanga scored 233, the previous record for these matches being 187 by Captain Greig. Kanga is therefore the first man who has played an innings of two hundred in these matches. The Parsees scored 503 - the first innings of over 500 in the match. The previous record was about 370. Kanga’s 233 was a record for Western India, beating the 218 by A. D. Wilkins in 1887 for North v. South of the Presidency. O n October 14th J. T. Heame, the Middlesex bowler, was married at Wel­ lington, Shropshire, to Miss Bowyer. F r o m the Sydney Referee :— M. A. Noble has joined George Giffen in making 1,000 runs and securing 100 wickets in Test matches. The only two Australians who have done so, they are the two greatest all-round players Australia has produced. Noble’s figures both with bat and ball have lost some of their greatness during the present tour in England, yet they are superior to those of the famous South Australian, as will be seen below :— BATTING IN TEST MATCHES. Inn. N.O. H.S. Runs. M. A. Noble .......... 49 ... 6 ... 133 ... 1330 . G. G iffen ................. 53 ... 0 ... 161 ... 1238 . BOWLING IN TEST MATCHES. M. A. Noble... ................ 100 ... 2433 .. G. Giffen ........................ 103 ... 2791 ... Avge. . 30-95 . 23-25 24-33 29-09 I t is not likely that first-class cricket will hear much more of M. A. Noble as bowler, says our contemporary. To bowl at his best takes too much out of him. Besides, as bowler, he has passed his prime. If he were a born or natural bowler, M. A. N. might retain his powers at their highest pitch for many years; but his success has always depended in a material degree on brain work and the manipulation of the ball for curling or breaking purposes by almost solely finger action as against the arm, wrist, and hand action of less cultivated yet more natural bowlers. A WRITER in an Indian newspaper says “ When the Presidency were bat­ ting against the Parsees, in Greig’s two innings I counted 18 appeals, four in one over, made chiefly by the wicket-keeper, and the other batsmen were harassed in a similar manner by unnecessary appeals, many of them being put quite off their game.” But something may perhaps ba allowed for the natural excitement of an Oriental teamwhich has j ust accomplished a remarkable performance, and, after all, one would suppose that a batsman who is good enough to play for the Presidency must have had sufficient experience of appeals to be able to keep his head. A cop y of the Victoria (Vancouver Island) Semi-Weekly Colonist for Septem­ ber 13th has been sent to Cricket, but a very careful search has failed to reveal a single line about the game in its con­ tents. I f correspondents would only mark the passages to which they wish to call attention, much trouble and disappointment would frequently be prevented. From the American Cricketer : — During the Philadelphia-Baltimore match, played at Wissahickon on Labor Day, while H. W. Goodall, of the home team, was bowl­ ing to Spencer Oldham, one of the “ pro’s ” of the visitors, a full pitch hit the top of the wicket so hard that it bounded about a foot into the air and went for four byes. Neither of the hails fell. The match went to Balti­ more by 6 runs. Oldham was top-scorer with 45 runs and had only scored 5 when this peculiar incident occurred. It would, therefore, seem that the game would have gone to Philadelphia had Oldham lost his wicket on this ball. In the same match, one of the Philadelphia players was missed on three successive balls which he received in one over, once at point and twice at drive. As he scored singles on two of the strokes, the halls were not consecutive. L o rd H a r ris , who, as was stated in a recent issue of Cricket, was elected a life member of the Staten Island C.C., New York, has written as follows to the presi­ dent of the club : — M y D ear S ir ,—I beg you will convey to the members of the club and committee my grateful appreciation of the compliment paid me in making me an honorary life member. It adds another strand to the cord of good- fellowship towards the cricketers of the United States, which has bound me since my first visit in 1872. I have always felt that I should never he able to make an adequate return for the many kindnesses I then received, and now, by adding to them, you have made it still more difficult. But pray believe me that at any time I can in any way assist you in the cause of cricket in the States, it will be a great pleasure. I hope it may be a pleasant thought to you that the welcome extended to me on your ground by every one I met was of so cordial a character as to touch me to the heart; it has rendered my short stay here unexpectedly bright, and I shall always look back to it as one of the happiest incidents of my cricket career. With repeated thanks and every good wish ; and with my homage to the ladies who added to yours the charm of their welcome. Believe me, yours sincerely, H a r r is . The competition for the Halifax Cup at Philadelphia ended in favour of Bel­ mont after a tie with Merion, who also tied with them last year. Ttie following table shows the records for the season. Merion and Germantown each place two elevens in the field, hence the larger number of their matches :— Belmont....... Merion ........ Philadelphia.. Germantown Frankford .. T n s weather during the Blackpool Festival was chiefly responsible for the fact that the receipts were only about £250. On the other hand, the expenses were over £700, but as the committee had insured against rain the overdraft at the bank has been reduced from £65 to £17. I t is stated that the annual match between the M.C.C. and Ground and Oxford University at Lord’s will take place next year on the last three days of the week preceding the University match, so that there will be no necessity to limit it to two days as heretofore. Ttie M.C.C. match against Cambridge is fixed for the three preceding days. The following table showing the manner in which the Australians were dismissed during their tour is taken from the Sportsman ;— Per­ Played. Won. Lost. centage. . 13 ... 9 ... 4 ... -692 . 25 ... 16 ... 9 ... -640 .. 12 ... 6 ... 6 ... -500 24 ... 11 ... 13 ... -458 .. 12 ... , 1 .. . 11 ... -083 W. W . Armstrong . A. Cotter .............. J. Darling.............. R. A. D u ff.............. D. R. A.'Gehrs... . S. E. Gregory ... . O. H ill...................... A. J. Hopkins ... . W. P. Howell ... . J. J. Kelly.............. F. Laver .............. O. E. McLeod ... . P. M. Newland... . M. A. Noble ... . V. T. Trumper... . Totals l § « O 17...17. 11...27. 12...30. 19...28... 2.. , 17... 9... 3.. 6...20... 0.. 17..29... 1.. 14...20... 1.. 14... 8... 0.. 10... 9... 0... 14...13... 2.., 19...15... 0... 3... 5... 0... 15...23... 4.., 17...23... 0... o * § * « A 0... 3. 2... 1. 2... 0. 0... 0. 2... 0. 2... 0.. 0... 1. 2 ... 0.. 0... 0.. 1... 3.. 0... 2 .. 1... 2 0... 2 0... 5.. 0... 9.. £ I ^ I 3 £ 7...48 3...45 . 0... 8...53 . 0... 0...49 . 0... 4...35 . 0... 3...31 . 0... 3...51 . 0... 5...42 . 0... 9...31 . 0...12...35 . 0... 6...37 . 0... 6...43 . 0... 8...18 . 0... 2...49 . 1... 1...51 ..205 276 18 12 28 2 77 618 A combined team of St. Lucia and St. Vincent cricketers visited Barbados in September and played four matches, two against Barbados and two against the Garrison. The scores will be found on another page.