Cricket 1906

M a y 3, 1906. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 105 H. GRAD1DGE & SONS, Manufacturers of all R equ is ite s for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets, Football, and all British Sports. PATENTEES AND SOLI. MAEERt OF THE Price Lists Free on Application. O f all F irst=C lass Outfitters and D ea lers. Factory, ART.LLERYPLACEWOOLWICH, Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY, MAY 3rd, 1906. $a\riiton The abstract and briei chronicle of the time — Hamlet . A t the Annual General Meeting of the M.C.C. at Lord’s last evening, Mr. C. E. Green, the retiring President, stated that the Club would welcome a team from South Africa, and they hoped they would be able to play them three Test matches to a finish. The Right Hon. Walter Long, formerly Minister of Agriculture, was nominated as the new President, and Messrs. C. E. Green, A. J. Webbe, H. W. Bainbridge and J. R. Mason were elected to fill the vacancies on the Committee. I n the course of an admirable speech at the annual meeting of the Essex County C.C. last week, Mr. C. E. Green, who, I am glad to hear, is greatly im­ proved in health, referred to the fear that the ground at Leyton, and possibly the County Club, might have to be given up if sufficient support was not forth­ coming. It is very greatly to be hoped that some means will be found of placing the finances of the club on a firm basis, and it might be a good move to hold a bazaar or a fancy fete in aid of the funds. Bazaars have been of the greatest value to Sussex, Hampshire, Derbyshire and Wor­ cestershire cricket, and although Essex, like Derbyshire and Worcestershire, has no very large towns, it might be worth while to try the experiment of holding a fancy fete at Southend during the season—why not on the dates of the match with Leicestershire on August 13th, etc.? A p p a r e n t l y the appeal of the Essex committee to the members to promise to become guarantors to the extent of £1 has not met with a ready response, fewer than a hundred replies having been re­ ceived. The experiment was well worth trying, but it is pretty certain that a very large percentage of members of every county cricket club become subscribers because they wish to further the interests of the game in their county, and not because they expect or wish to get full value for their money by attending matches on every possible occasion. Subscribers like these can hardly be considered as lacking in esprit de corps if they do not care to add to their liabilities. F ro m the Irish F ield : In regard to representative Irish cricket, it was, we believe, arranged with Mr. C. B. Fry to bring over his county team. The arrange­ mentwas confirmed at the secretary’smeeting. However, as the visit to Ireland was to he a part of a trip to Scotland, it has been aban­ doned as a result of the Scottish part of the trip falling through. We understand that negotiations are in progress with Mr. Warner to bring over a team, and, having regard to the fact that the Gentlemen of Ireland were one of the very few teams that defeated the South Africans, we would welcome the M.C.O. team recently returned from South Africa. Arrangements were also in progress with Notts County, but abandoned, as the dates available coincided with the Gentlemen andPlayers’ match, andwould possibly entail a weakened county team. F rom the same source I learn that, after a lapse of some years, cricket will be revived at the Viceregal Lodge. The actual matches to be played will b e : July 24th, 25th, I Zingari v. Gentlemen of Ireland, and on the two following days I Zingari v. Military of Ireland. The Viceregal household includes some few cricketers, including Lord Haddo, Lord Herschell, Lord Hawkesbury—who, as the Hon. Arthur Foljambe, did much for the game at the Lodge during Lord Cadogan’s Yiceroyalty—and Mr. W. E. Callan, who plays for Phoenix. T he Free Foresters will again visit Ireland during August, and, as in former years, will begin their tour with matches at Ballywater Park. On August 10th and 11th they will play Phoenix, the two following days Dublin Garrison, after which they will spend four days in Bray playing Wicklow county and Na Shuler. Other important matches which will be played by Irish teams this summer are Dublin University v. London County C.C., and County Cork v. North of Ireland on the Phoenix ground in Dublin. A n e w departure is made this year by the County Kildare C.C., which is aban­ doning some of its two-day matches, and arranging less important ones in their place in order to give promising young cricketers better chances than they now possess. The club had intended to do without a professional this year, but a hunting member insisted that “ a cricket club without a professor was like a pack of hounds without a huntsman ” —a remark which appealed strongly to his fellow members, and the services of a professional will be retained, for another year at any rate. In a very interesting article in “ The Yorkshire Post Cricket Annual ” for 1906 the Hon. F. S. Jackson says:— Among the reasons which may go far to ensure the continuance of the support which Yorkshire cricket has received from the public appear to me to be the foliowiug :— 1. The high quality of the cricket played. 2. We play an all-Yorkshire side. 3. The sporting quality of the cricket. 4. The county management. In this I include not only the skilled leadership of Lord Hawke, but the excellent man­ agement of the county affairs by the committee and their secretary. T hese reasons are undoubtedly excel­ lent, but it seems to me that there are a few other important factors to be considered. Among them are (a) The number of large towns in Yorkshire, con­ veniently connected by an admirable railway service, and at no great distance from each other ; ( b ) The fact that every Yorkshireman seems to be a born sports­ man ; (c) The large number of operatives who are in what may be described as easy circumstances and able to afford the luxury of attending a county match; (d) The fact that nothing succeeds like success, and that Yorkshire has nearly always been a successful team. O n the development and training of young cricketers, Mr. Jackson makes some sensible remarks in his article, and many people will agree with him when he says, “ While on this question of estimating a colt’s abilities, may I ex­ press the opinion that the art of judging cricket is a gift ? Some men can intui­ tively detect in a colt those natural qualities which make the successful cricketer. Yet even those who claim the possession of this gift can be mistaken. I know a case where one who thinks himself a judge, directly he saw Wilfred Rhodes bowl, expressed the opinion that