Cricket 1906

M a t 24, 1906. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME, might be. This means in effect that American cricketers are anxious to receive a visit from the South Africans at the close of the English tour next season. English, Irish, Australian,Canadian,West Indian and Bermudian teams have visited the States at one time or other, The American Cricketer adds, and always, as we can vouch, -with the same hearty and hospitable welcome. N e w Z e a l a n d cricketers will have good reason to remember W. W. Arm­ strong, the young giant of the last Australian team, in connection with the recent visit of the Melbourne Club team to that Colony. In the ten matches played, all of them won, by the way, bar two drawn games, he scored altogether 957 runs in thirteen innings, besides taking 104 wickets at an aggregate cost of 1,027 runs. As be was not out three times, his batting average for the tour was 95 70. He failed to score (b Downes) in the second innings v. Otago, but otherwise his lowest score was 13. His best were 335 v. Southland and 175 v. Wellington. The full results of the tour were :— Auckland: Won by nine wickets. Wanganui XVIII.: Won by an innings and 38 runs. .Manawatu X V III.: Won by nine wickets. Wellington: Won by seven wickets. Canterbury: Won by nine wickets. Southland: Won by an innings and 359 runs. Otago: Drawn. South Canterbury X V .: Won by nine wickets. New Zealand : Drawn. Canterbury Colts X V .: Won by 2 runs. S ir C e c il M oon , who played a year or two ago for the Surrey County C.C., London County C.C., and the Wanderers, among other teams, has just started a cricket club in Georgetown (Col.). W. F a ir b a n k s , who was recently elected president of the Denver Club, is the old Cliftonian who helped the Graces to fight many a hard battle for Gloucester­ shire in the early days of the county club. L o cal cricket, indeed one may fairly go farther and say the game in general, has lost a keen and liberal supporter in the death of the Mayor of Margate, Mr. William Leach Lewis. During his forty years as Principal of Margate College he had a number of first-class cricketers pass through his hands, and his interest in cricket and football, as I have person­ ally good reason to know, never flagged. The last time I saw him was at Waterloo Station on the departure of the Corinthian Football Team to South Africa. A son of his who played back for the Cambridge University Association Eleven two or three winters ago was one of the Corinthian touring party on that occasion. ------ T h e inter-University match between Sydney and Melbourne, which has in its time produced some heavy scoring, was played at Melbourne in the middle of last month, but did not give rise to any sensational run-getting as was the case last year. That match at Sydney was remarkable for two records of the home side, their total of 607 and E. F. Waddy’s personal score of 309. This time the game went in favour of Melbourne University who, with a lead of 275 on the first innings—394 against 119—finally won with eight wickets to spare. Nine years had elapsed since the match was won by Melbourne, so that Sydney could well afford to be unsuccessful. Including last month’s match, the Universities have met 25 times up to date. Two games have been un­ decided, and of the remainder Sydney have won fifteen and Melbourne eight. I n securing the services of T. Warne, the old Victorian cricketer, the Belmont Club of Philadelphia has been particu­ larly fortunate. As curator of the Carlton Club in Melbourne he was not only successful in bringing the pitch, and, indeed the whole ground into a high state of excellence, but also made himself -ft great favourite with the members as well as the cricket public. Asa player, too, his rt card has been one of considerable dis­ tinction. In fourteen years he never missed a match for Carlton, excepting two during the season just over, when he was absent in Adelaide and Sydney. That he is still a power in first-class cricket is shown by the fact that he scored 115 and 56 for Victoria v. New South Wales last Dt camber. Phila­ delphian cricket is bound to show a great improvement with such a capable and energetic example to hand. No one who was able to estimate the possibilities of the fast bowler of the last Australian team, A. Cotter, as a run-getter when he had got set, will be surprised to hear of a good performance of his with the bat. In the first grade match last month between Glebe and Sydney and District at Sydney, Cotter and B. Grounds, who went in first, put on 111 before they were separated. Cotter’s 73, according to the Sydney Referee, is the highest innings he has ever played in any cricket of note. One can quite realise the force of the Referee s remarks that he hit “ very hard and very often ” even with the addition “ very luckily.” S ir F r e d e r ic k M il n e r is reported to have claimed in a recent speech that Yorkshire supplied the best soldiers, the best cricketers, and “ the best of every­ thing.” But then S ir Frederick is a Yorksbireman. As it is he does not seem to follow the precepts of, was it not Dr. Pangloss in the “ Heir at Law ” ? “ On their own merits modest men are dumb.” O n April 7th a carnival, arranged by Mr. J. C. Williamson, was held on the Sydney Cricket Ground in aid of theatrical charities. The most interesting item on the programme was a prehistoric cricket match between Diprotodons and Iguano- dons. One of the rules was that an umpire placed the bat on the pitch, whereupon a horn sounded, and both tribes made a rush for the bat, the winner securing first innings for his side. W ith the guilelessness which has been patented by the turtle-dove, Mr. A. O. Jones, the brilliant Notts hitter, has made a suggestion in the Daily Mail that the best way to make the game more popular would be for all cricket grounds to have a uniform boundary, say 75 yards all round. He adds, “ But of course, to make the scheme better, every hit that drops over the boundary must count six, so as to make it worth the batsman’s risk.” Quite so. A p p a r e n t l y the Australian Board of Control has cabled congratulations to the Marylebone C.C. on its decision not to send a team to Australia, adding that the Board relies on the sound sense of the M.C.C. not to sanction any private team* The reply of the MaryleboneC.O. has pot been inade public, but the situation would be met by something like the following, “ Thanks awf’lly. Bo good of you, you'know.” ■ ■ ■ M eanwhile, Iredale has cabled to the Daily Mail saying that Major Wardilf, the secretary of the Melbourne C.C., states that the Marylebone C.C. has refused to send out a team on the invita? tion of the Melbourne C.C. Iredale adds that the players who were said to have been suspended have still time to change their minds and return to their allegi­ ance. They have received an ultimatum, but the date of its expiry has been altered. A scobe of 260 has been made by W. P. Robertson, the old Middlesex cricketer, for Moor Hall v. Cheshunt, on the ground of the former club. The total of the Moor Hall innings was 416 for two wickets, J. H. Balfour scoring 105. O ne could hardly wish for a more exciting finish than that which took place last week at Horley between Burstow School (Masters) and the Stoics. Bur­ stow, of which the Rev. C. J. M. Godfrey, the old Sussex and Granville cricketer, is the headmaster, scored 286, and their opponents replied with 284 for seven wickets. A. T. Kemble, the old Lanca­ shire wicket-keeper, was on the side of the Burstow masters, and scored 67 not out. I t is pleasant to see that A. J. Webbe, the old Oxford and Middlesex batsman, still keeps up his cricket, and can still make runs. Last week he scored 71 for I Zingari v. R.M.C. at Woolwich, going in first with Capt. W. L. Foster, the Worcestershire cricketer, who made 32. From the Sydney Arrow :— Trumper is purely a freak as a batsman ; he is tjie champion of the heterodox, and, as an exemplar, is fatal to the ordinary cricketer. A poor worn-out, stiff-legged animal might as well attempt the gyrations of “ Bobs ” as the ordinary cricketer attempt to- emulate Trumper. Mackay shows in his bat­ ting Trumper’B wonderful preciseness of vision and the equal division of skill, so very rare, in playing to the on-aide and to the off.