Cricket 1905

Nov. 30, 1905. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 455 tralia and South Africa will be fighting for cricket supremacy. And we cannot abandon our claims to this without a struggle. The visit of the New Zealand footballers helps to emphasise this point, for already it has been discovered by some of our best known Rugby writers that the visitors are very likely to beat any but an Imperial team, while most of the lesser fry would feel inclined to back the Blacks against any side which could be found to oppose them. K ing W illow . SELECTION OF AU S T R A L IA N ELEVENS. TH E LONDON P L A Y IN G F IELDS SOCIETY. The London Playing Fields Society has secured about 40 acres of freehold land near Fairlop Station on the loop line which runs from Liverpool Street to Fenchurch Street, and vice versa. The price is £100 per acre, and the committee are anxious to raise £ 6,000 in order that the new grounds may be paid for and put in order. Nearly half of this sum has already been promised, among the subscriptions being £200 from the M C.C., and £ 1,000 from a member of the society. In connection with the purchase of the new grounds, a meeting was held on how the gentlemen who constituted the selection committee of the Australian team were appointed. November 1st at the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor being in the chair. At the meeting Mr. E. North Buxton explained that this was the first real chance that had presented itself to acquire a perma­ nent freehold ground to the east of London, and that it was one which by no means should be lost. It was a situa tion easily accessible on what was locally known as “ the loop,” which brought it within direct reach of East Ham, West Ham, Walthamstow, and Leyton, which possessed in all a population of about 700,000. The G.E.R. had kindly promised reduced fares. If the class for whom they catered included none very poor, there were none very rich. The majority of them were clerks and others of modest income whose work lay in London. They helped to work the machinery of this vast city, and had therefore, he thought, a claim on the citizens of Lon­ don. As an old cricketer he looked with dismay on the difficulty of their securing playgrounds near their homes. Cricket and football were games in which one played for one’s side and not for one’s self. Every school ought to have its cricket and football pitch and its old boys’ club. They had already raised about £2,400 for the object in view, and he hoped that the completion of the third thousand would very soon be reached. Sir Joseph Dimsdale then moved the following resolution : “ That this meeting cordially approves of the scheme for the acquisition by the London Playing Fields Society of a large block of Crown land in the parish of Ilford for a permanent playing field, and recognises its claim to the support of the mercantile community of the City of London. Among the other speakers were Canon Hensley Henson and Viscount Horn­ castle, who both know the neighbourhood of Fairlop. f From the Sydney Mail.) Everywhere you go, that is where cricket is talked, you hear that the Board of Control is going to revolutionise the method of selection of Australian teams. As to what the new system will be, everyone is in the dark, but it is generally accepted that an infallible pro­ cedure will be discovered. It would be interesting to see the proposals the public would like to have carried into effect. It must at the outset be admitted that the gentlemen on the board, estimable as they are, are scarcely qualified to select a team, either for Australia or to tour England. In the first place they have not the time to travel round to witness the matches, and it is not good enough to accept anybody’s word on such a matter. There can be no selection by proxy. Someone whispers why not get a committee of three old players to pick the teams—for the simple reason that they cannot spare the time to see the matches played away from home, and here again comes in the objection to selection by proxy. Each member of a selection committee must decide upon his choice on what he himself sees, not on what a brother selector says, with regard to every man who is a candidate. He is put in the position to use bis own, and no one elee’s judgment. Someone further suggests that surely some gentlemen could be found who would go round with the players, gentlemen who have no axe to grind, who are not candidates for selection. No doubt any number could be found, but the question is, would they possess the necessary qualifications ? A well-known supporter of amateur sport who is remarkable for his height and his humour once remarked, “ You can get people who will ran the government of the country for £2 per week, but who would let them ? ” It seems to me that in the first place the committee should be selected by the governing body whether the Board of Control or the various asso­ ciations who are elected by the cricketers as comprised in the various clubs, in the second place those honoured with the position should have been at one time or other first-class cricketers, or have a good knowledge of the game, they should be men of mature judgment, and they should be in a position to see almost the whole of the interstate cricket for the season. If under these conditions the result of their labours prove unsatfactory to the public, then the fault lies with the governing body for having chosen the men, and not with the method. The Parliament is what the people make it, is heard frequently enough. A selection committee, however, goes farther thau the Parliament; we elect a man to serve us because his views coincide with our M INOR COUNTIES TION . ASSOCIA - At the annual meeting of the above assocUti n at Lord’s on December 5th, the Emergency Committes will propose the following: resolutions : - I.—(I) In 1906 and in future years the counties shall be grouped into two or more diyisisions, according to their geographical positions. (2) There shall he two Divisions in 1906, viz.:— N o rth and M id lan d s. —Bedfordshire, Cambridge­ shire, Durham, Hertfordshire, Lancashire (2nd), Norfolk, Northumberland, Staffordshire, Suffolk, and Yorkshire (2nd). S ou th a n d W e s te r n . —Berkshire, Buckingham* shire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey (2nd), and Wiltshire. 1 3) Every county shall play one match with every other county in its Division, each county having (as far as passible) an equal number of out and of home matches. (4) The two counties which shall have obtained, in their respective Divisions, the greatest number of points, shall play a final three-days’ match at the end of August, on the ground of one of such counties, and the winner of the final match shall be reckoned the champion couuty of the Second Division. (5) Points in the competition shall be reckoned as follows : Five points shall he scored for a win in a 'completed match. Should the match not be completed, the side leading on the first innings shall score two points. In the event of a tie the points shall be divided. Matches in which no result on the first innings shall havebeen attained shall not be included in the table of results. (6) This scheme shall come into force for the season of 1906. II.—The following words shall be added at the end of Rule 2 (of the Rules of the Associa­ tion), viz., “ upon giving notice to the hon. secretaries before the end of September.” Hertfordshire has given notice of the fol­ lowing motion: In future five points shall be scored for a win in a completed match, and two for a win on the first innings. Matches in which no result on the first innings is attained shall not be included in the table of results. ow n ; members of a selection committee are supposed to know better than we do, if not then we ought to be in their places. Therefore having a committee of experts chosen by men who are unexpert, the decision of that committee should be accepted as the best. Aud that is just O B ITUARY . J ohn T ye . John Tye was born at Balwell, Notts, July lOtb, 1848. He was short in stature but heavily built, aud assisted both Derbyshire and Notts, though he first appeared for the former couuty in 1874. He bowled very fast with a bumpy delivery and could hit hard. In 1876 he was introduced into the Notts X I. with good results as he captured 28 wickets for 522 runs, and was a good third to Shaw and Morley. His highest score for the couuty that year was 48. His play fell off considerably in 1877, and his only other appearances for Notts were two iu 1878 and two in 1881. In 1880 he migrated to Brighouse, appearing regularly for that club until five years ago.