Cricket 1906

164 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 31, 1906. however, replied to the surgeons of St. Bar­ tholomew’s Hospital: “ You may amputate my leg, but I would die sooner than lose the whole limb.” Fortunately, amputation was dispensed with, and, as all students of the game are aware, Mynn, after an absence of almost two years, reappeared in the cricket- field and played again as well as ever. In this North v. South match, although he must have suffered terribly, he scored 21 not out and 125 not out, having just previously made 45 and 92 for M.C.C. v. Sussex, at Lords. In those days Mynn was the most popular player in England, and the probability is, that, knowing people had flocked from all parts of the surrounding country to see him bat, his goodness of heart kept him from relinquishing his innings. According to Bell's Life , Leices­ tershire played Derbyshire on the Wharf Street ground in 1837, but, as the match was not preserved by Mr. Haygarth in Scores and Biographies , it may be assumed that it was an inter-county contest in name only. The report states that the visitors ‘ ‘ gave up their bats,” the betting being at the time 3 to 1 on the home side. That there was, however, a county organization of some description in existence in the year named is obvious from the fact that on June 20th the “ Leicester County Club ” were beaten by the Town of Leicester by an innings and two runs. In 1839, after being in abeyance for eleven seasons, meetings were renewed between Leicester and Sheffield, each side proving successful on its own ground by 40 odd runs. Six yearslater Leicestershire played Notting­ hamshire, at Trent Bridge, and lost by only two wickets, although in their first innings old William Clarke obtained all ten wickets ; in the return at Leicester, a fortnight later, the home side won by an innings and 40 runs, S. Marshall, who took twelve wickets, and Warrington bowling unchanged throughout the match. Marshall was a first-class slow bowler, but he never appeared at Lords.When playing for Leicester v. Stamford,at Stamford, in July, 1845, he obtained all ten wickets in the second innings of his opponents, bowling but one. In 1847 the famous All England Eleven visited Leicester, and played XX of the County, who, although beaten by an innings and 71 runs, had the pleasure of seeing George Parr score 100 on his first appearance for the Eleven. The visit was repeated in later years, whilst we also find Leicester playing against Burton-on- Trent, Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham, I. Zingari, Birmingham, Stamford, &c. In 1851 the Gentlemen of Leicestershire, with three given men, played at Lords against the M.C.C., for whom old William Lillywhite appeared for the last time, but were beaten by four wickets, the match being over in a day; in the return, at Leicester, the follow­ ing month, the county side won by ten wickets. In the fifties the Wharf Street ground fell into the hands of the builders, and for many years there was an interregnum in Leicestershire cricket. But in 1872 the U.S.E.E., headed by “ W. G.,” visited Leicester, and defeated XXII. of the County by 15 runs on the Victoria Park ground, as many as 20,000 persons being present during the three days. In later years the .visit was repeated. At Lords, in 1873, Leicestershire made their first appearance in London since 1851, beating the M.C.C. by one run. In 1374 the A.E.E. aswell as the M.C.C. played at Leicester, and both were defeated. Lanca­ shire appeared in Victoria Park in 1875,when it was stated that “ no countymatch had been played at Leicester for seventeen years ” : Lancashire drew when appearing away from home, but won at Manchester. As the VictoriaPark ground had to be enclosed each time a great match was played there, and as such a proceeding meant a great deal of expense, the Leicestershire Cricket Ground Company was formed in order to purchase sixteen acres of ploughed land at Aylestone fromthe Duke of Rutland. Of this area twelve acres were set apart, and specially prepared for cricket, and it was found that the Com­ pany, after they bad erected the hotel, made cycling and running tracks, &c., &c., had sunk upwards of £40,000 in the venture. The ground, known as the Aylestone ground, was opened in 1878, the first great match played there being between Leicestershire and the Australians, when there occurred some scoring which was heavy for those days. Mr. A. Sankey (70) and JohnWheeler (60) made 113 together for the County’s first wicket, whilst when the Australians were set 209 to win, they made 210 for only two wickets, Charles Bannerman scoring 133. Fourteen thousand persons paid for admission on the first day. In the same year the Leicestershire County Cricket Club was formed. For many years the Company, although it by no means pros- pered—its loss during 1879 was about £1,000 —practically financed the Club, and in that way did a great deal of good for the game. Many accomplished players were unearthed, and so well did Leicestershire cricket flourish that in 1888, and again in 1891, the county headed the Second-class County Competition, whilst in 1895 they were promotedto theFirst- class Competition. Of the men who have done so much for the Club since its inaugura­ tion little need be said here, for their per­ formances will be well-known to all who follow the game closely. But the names of Messrs. De Trafford, J. A. Turner, C. Marriott and C. J. B.Wood, JohnWheeler, Panter, Randon, Rylott, Pougher, Woodcock, Tomlin, and Knight—to state only a few which occur at themoment of writing—may be speciallymen­ tioned. The present County ground was opened in 1901 by the Marquis of Granby, and there, let us hope, Leicestershire cricketers may be found performing well with bat and ball for many years to come. A U S T R A L IA N NOTES. B y an A u stralian C orrespondent . The doings of the Melbourne Club in New Zealand point to the fact that the Maori- Jandeis are just about as great failures at cricket as they are dons at Rugby foctball. The whole populace is football mad, and their sporting writers boom up their horses, athletes and cyclists, but as regards cricket they are dumb, and to use an Americanism— they can't play the game worth a cuss ! Warwick Armstrong—verynearly “ struck the double” — i.e., scoring 1000 runs and taking 100 wickets. He made 957 runs (average 95.7) and took 104 wickets (average 9.87). Armstrong was rather slow—com­ paratively speaking—in developing his powers as a cricketer, but he has been in wonderful form since leaving Sydney in February, 1905, with the Australian XI. He has scored in travelling matches alone 3,267 runs for 61 completed innings, which gives an average of 53.55. It is also somewhat remarkable that he should play two innings of over 300 in that short space of time, besides notching 248 against the Gentlemen of England and scoring 200 in a club match. Trumper had his turn of phenomenal scoring in 1902, then followed Armstrong and Noble. This year Mackay’s performances inAustralia are still more wonderful, and will perhaps never be surpassed. I wonder who will be the next ? While the new mode of point scoring inaugurated this season in Grade cricket has had the effect of adding keenness to the games, it has also had a rather pernicious influence on oatting, inasmuch as the general tendency of each club has been to go in and knock up as many runs as possible in the shortest space of time. One is inclined to think that the standard of our batting will decline if the newmode of scoring be persisted in for any length of time. Grade cricket in Sydney is the nursery of interstate cricket, and the local authorities who have done wonders for our national game in the past, would do well, in the writer’s opinion, if they reverted to last season’smode of point scoring. H. V. Hordern, the young New South Wale3 cricketer, intends leaving Sydney for America in August nefct, to perfect his studies in dentistry. Hordern, who is a wonderfully accurate leg-break bowler, has within the last two months mastered the Bosanquet theory. It is impossible to tell which way the ball will break. Playing for North Sydney against Paddington, he beat M. A. Noble time after time with that particular ball. Trumper negotiated him with con­ fidence—he used his feet in getting to the ball, whereas Noble “ stayed at home.” Hordern should do well at cricket in America. He will probably visit England before he returns to Australia. A charming personality, Hordern is one of tbe most unassuming of cricketers. In a match, Double Bay v. I Zingari, played on Rushcutter’s Bay Oval on April 14th, a batsman drove a ball delivered by T. H. Howard back hard along the ground. It struck the opposite wicket, ran up the stumps, and flew into the hands of the bowler, who had turned round after deliver­ ing the ball and was walking back to the wicket. The following are Mackay’s scores so far this season in all matches:—204, 203, 194, 156 not out, 147 not out, 136, 140 not out, 121 not out, 105, 102 not out, 102, 90, 68, 61, 59, 50, 27, 18, 18, 17, 14, 4, 0. It is a wonderful sequence, and without a parallel in Australian cricket. In local premiership matches Mackay has scored 814 runs in nine completed innings. During the season 1897-8 Victor Trumper, then practically unknown in the highest grade of cricket—the inter­ nationals—put up a wonderful run of scores in grade cricket. Here they are in consecu­ tive order :—82, 123, 125, 85, 120 not out, 191 not out, 133, 162 not out. Total, 1,021 ; average, 204*20. They are a phenomenal pair of batsmen. HAMPSTEAD v. WEST HERTS.—Played at Hampstead on May 23. W est H erts . Goodhall, c Crisp, b Marsden.................10 O. O. Hoyer-Millar, q Marcus, b Armitage 0 A. Johnstone, lbw, b Armitage ... ... 8 Wilders, not out ... 5 B 8, lb 2 ..........10 White, b Marsden ...20 J. A. Betts, b Marsden 3 H. Sedgwick, b Foster 14 A. Butcher, lbw, b Marsden .................50 H. M. Harford, b Armitage................. * A. E. Grundy, c Hume, b Marsden .......... _ J. S. Harford, b Total ...........150 Marsden................. 0 Second innings:—J. A. Betts, b Marcus, 43; H. Sedgwick, c Marcus, b Sutton, 23; A. Johnstone, not out, 1; Wilders, c Wheater, b Marcus, 29; B 4, lb 1, 5.—Total (3 wkts) 101. H ampstead . J. Armitage, c Har­ ford, b White.......... 0 E. W. Sutton, b White 0 E. L. Marsden, b Millar .................31 G. Orosdale, c White, b Grundy.................14 B. S. Foster, b Harford 16 L. N. H. Bailey, b White ................. 23 L. J. Marcus, b White H. Crisp, b White ... T. Hume, b White ... T. S. Wheater, not out ........................ J. O. R. Dickson, c Goodall, b Harford Byes ................. Total ...103