Cricket 1906

C R IC K E T : a w ee k l y r e c o r d o f t h e q a m e . JUNE 28, 1906. IH 1 J t i f 0 J • H “ Together joined in Cricket’ s manly toil.”— Byron. n o . 724 . v o l . x x v . THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1906. p r i c e ad. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR. J. O. ANDERSON. Of late years Argentina has been coming very much to the front as a field for sports of various kinds. Association football has already been represented there by an English, as well as a South African team, and another English combination is now on the way if not actually there. Argentine sport has, moreover, a regular organ of its own, in which cricket in its season, of course, occu­ pies a conspicuous place. A lot of good cricketers are out there whose names will be familiar to English readers, among them those of Messrs. J. O. Anderson, of Herts, R. F. Yibart, the old Harrovian, andJ. R. Gif- ord, who came over here a few years ago and played for M. C. 0 . At the moment Mr. Anderson ia spending a brief holiday in England, and the opportu­ nity of getting a reliable account of the game at the River Plate was too good to be lost. Mr. Anderson was natur­ ally a bit difficult to '' draw ” on the subject of his own doings and cricket pedigree. Still, I was able to learn a good deal of interest. Born in the Argentine Republic, just outside Buenos Aires, in 1872, he came to England first in 1874. He was in the Bedford Modern School Eleven for four years with A. 0 . Jones, the present Notts captain. A. 0 . Jones would cordially agree with him, he thinks, that neither of them could say too much in praise of the early training they received at the hands of “ Dick ” Rogers, the school professional, who was a splendid “ coach.” In any case, J. O. Anderson candidly oonfessed that he himself owes what success he ha 9 achieved in the cricket field to Rogers’ tuition. I was able, though not without trouble, to elioit some facts about Mr. Anderson’s performances in Argentina, and a notable record they represent in their entirety. Returning in February, 1895, to the Argentine, he had not much cricket there, as it was the end of the season 1894-95. Cricket commences in October and ends in March, or the begin- m e. j. o. an d ebson (RiverJPlate). {Photo by A . S. Witcomb, Buenos A ires.) ning of April. The following season he met with considerable success, scoring five centuries and finishing up with an average of over sixty. In eight con­ secutive seasons, indeed, he scored over a thousand runs, and has altogether played twenty-five innings of a hundred —a remarkable display of consistent and continuous run-getting. jHis highest score during this period was 209, but it did not constitute a record for the River Plate. This was held for years by a once well-known English club cricketer and brilliant bat, Mr. J. R. Garrod, who scored 216 in a match about 1893, only to be outdone a few years later by the Old Alleynian, H. A. Cowes, with an innings of 224. For six con­ secutive seasons Mr. Ander­ son held the captaincy of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club, but gave up the position partly owing to a difference of opinion with some other members of the executive regarding the club entering for the champion­ ship, and partly because he thought a change would be beneficial. The great cricket event of the year, the only three-day match indeed played in the Plate, is that between the North and South of the Argentine Republic. Mr. Anderson has been elected to play for the South in every one of these contests since his arrival, and on several occa­ sions has captained the side. From the foregoing it will be easily understood that Mr. Anderson is too keen on the game to come over here even for a flying holi­ day and be a “ passive resister.” It is his first visit to England since 1895, and he will be seen in the ranks of his old county, Hertford­ shire, for which he did good service for several years before he went abroad. Meanwhile he has been collecting some big scores in club cricket on this side, < g., 96 not out for Llangollen, a very sporting little club in North Wales, and 80 for Gentlemen of Herts v. Aldenham School, whose fielding he described as worthy of all praise. In answer to an enquiry as to the quality and quantity of Argentine cricket, Mr. Anderson said: “ Apparently we in the Argentine are like our brothers in the rest of the world, in so far as a