Cricket 1906

F eb . 22, 1906. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 23 AUSTRALIAN XI. v. NEW SOUTH WALES. kelly ’ s benefit match . Played at Sydney on January 12, 13, 15& 16. Australian XI. won by 79 runs. Note.—Analysis received incomplete. A ustralian XI. First innings. Second innings. B. A. Duff, c Diamond, b Macartney........................58 lbw, b O’Connor. 38 V. Trumper, b Macartney... 15 c E. L. Waddy, b O’Connor ... 60 C. Hill, b O’Connor ..........12 c Gregory, b Johnson.......76 M. A. Noble, c Johnson, b c Garnsey, b O’Connor ........................20 Macartney ...100 W.W.Armstrong,stCarter.b O’Connor ........................ 0 c & b, O’Connor.. 17 J. Darling, c Diamond, b c Diamond, b O’Connor ........................66 Macartney ... 73 D. B. A. Gehrs, c Garnsey, b Johnson...........................30 notout....36 A. Cotter, lbw, b Johnson.. 0 st C a rter, b O’Connor ... 20 F. Laver, st Carter, b c Johnson, b O’Connor .......................... 12 O’Connor ... 2 J. J. Kelly, not out .......... 1 b Garnsey.....................22 W. Howell, c C. Gregory, b O’Connor ........................ 2 b Macartney ... 6 Extras...........................10 Extras..15 Total .................226 N ew S outh W ales . Total ...465 First innings. A. Diamond, lbw, b Cotter 0 J. B. M. Mackay, b Cotter... 4 C.Gregory, st Kelly, b Arm­ strong ... ........................ 3 E. F. Waddy, b Armstrong 0 H. Carter, c Laver, b Arm­ strong: ............................... 6 E. L. Waddy, b Howell ... 60 C. G. Macartney, run out... 24 G. L. Garnsey, c Cotter, b Laver ...............................22 A. P. Penman, b Laver ... 8 J.O’Connor,cNoble,b Laver 1 F. Johnson, not out .......... 2 Extras........................10 Second innings. c Cotter, b Laver 97 c Kelly, b Cotter.136 b Cotter ... b Armstrong 95 lbw, b Cotter ... 5 c and b Laver ... 75 run out ..........25 Total ..140 b Cotter ... b Cotter ... b Cotter ... not out.......... Extras... Total ... .. 11 .. 0 .. 0 .. 1 .. 18 ..472 A ustralian XI. First innings. Second innings. O. M. B. W. O. M. B. W. Penman.......... 6 2 22 — ......... 22 1 121 — Macartney ... 24 3 83 2 ........... 21 7 40 3 Garnsey... 15 1 77 1 O’Connor..34 6 138 5 Johnson... 17 2 74 1| Penman bowled one no-ball, and O’Connor one wide. N ew S outh W ales . Second innings. First innings. Cotter ... Armstrong Howell ... Noble Laver 0. M. B. W. O- M. B. W. 17 4 40 2 ... ... — — 162 6 18 3 59 3 .., ... — — 68 1 7 3 12 1 ... ... — — 26 0 2 — 3 — ... ... — — 78 0 5.5 2 16 3 ... ... — — 99 2 Duff... ... — — 20 0 Cotter bowled one wide and one no-ball. AUSTRALIAN NOTES. B y a n A u s t r a l ia n C o r r e sp o n d e n t . In Cricket of September 21st Mr. Ashley- Cooper comments on the fact of umpires in “ days gone b y ” carrying tats under their arms, and mentions a picture in Conway’s 1876-7 Annual. I have looked it up, and a peculiar picture it is. Mr. Cooper adds that it would be interesting to know when the custom died out. At the present time in “ small” cricket (i.e., other than Grade cricket) in Sydney many umpires won’t stand unless they be given a bat, so as to “ have a strike” when a wicket falls, so that as far as Sydney is concerned the practice has not died out in small cricket. We are experiencing an abnormally cool summer in Australia; in fact, the seasons of the past three years are replicas of those of about twenty years ago. Mr. H. C. Russel], who for years was our Government as­ tronomer, held the opinion that the weather moved in circles of nineteen years. There appears to be a lot of sense in his arguments, which are backed up by official records. Of course, since records have been taken of the weather in Australia, the data collected has proved that the normal condition of Australia is drought. In summer nearly all the rain falls out at sea or on the coast. For weeks at a time in summer the sun has been invisible on account of the clouds, but no rain has fallen ; that is the true indication of drought, like a sympton foreshadowing or telling of a disease. Have you any record of the greatest number of balls that have been delivered by a bowler in one over ? Three years ago I bowled a batsmaD with the fifth ball of an over, and was then given another full over by the umpire. In the remaining six balls I took three wickets. Eleven balls in one over even in “ small cricket” is an unusual occurrence. In the match between Burwood and Pad­ dington Victor Trumper played marvellously, scoring 62 not out in 18J minutes. The equal of Trumper has never been born; of course, there are sounder batsmen, but for multiplicity of strokes and the art of execut­ ing them he stands on a pinnacle by himself. “ Sunny Jim” Mackay isthe nearest approach to Trnmper in Australia, and he is develop­ ing fast. This year his footwork has under­ gone a great change, and his cricket has improved. G. L. Gamsey’s leg-break bowling was the cause of South Australia’s collapse in the second innings against New South Wales on December 19th. Gamsey’s bowling evidently possesses some virtue. His style does not impress me, and his break is somewhat imaginary. Having watched him very closely I have noticed that the ball which obtains most wickets is one that he bowls from about two feet behind the crease. He “ elevates” the ball to get the necessary length. Still, Ishall be surprised—but greatly pleased, nevertheless—if he keeps his place in the eleven for any length of time. Diamond is a magnificent field at mid-off. He is more agile than E. Jones, is like a flash, and is very graceful without being “ showy.” The great lesson to be learned from the success of New South Wales this season is that there is a dearth of first-class bowling in Australia. I am not stating anything that is new, but the fact remains that we are terribly weak in this respect, and are likely to remain so as long as such care is bestowed on the preparation of our granite-like wickets. If less attention were paid to them, and if true sporting wickets were available, I am sure that cricket in these parts would improve at once, more especially in bowling. As things are at present it only requires a man who has any idea of the game to go in and “ stick out his left elbow” to remain there for hours. Batting, especially in New South Wales, has obtained a mastery over the bowling. Recently I watched an extraordinarymatch between two local teams, Petersham and Waverley II. I had not been long on the ground before I noticed that Petersham were appealing in an unnecessary manner. They were about 60 runs behind on the first inn­ ings, and were trying to win. In the end, Petersham had to make 201 to win in anhour and fifty minutes. Runs came at a great pace, and at last a bowler with a round arm action was put on. It took him five minutes to place his field, and then, by taking a thirty yards run, he occupied another five by his first over. Petersham barracked him from the pavilion, but he was deaf to their cat-calls. The batsmen could do nothing with his bowl­ ing, but the other bowlers were so freely hit that when the last over was begun 8 runs only were required by Petersham to win. The first three balls of the over were given as wides, although the wicket-keeper did not move from his position to take the ball. A single and two 4’s settled the matter— apparently. Petersham cheered wildly. On the return of the fielding side to the pavilion it was found that both the scorers made the total 195 instead of 205. This— again I say “ apparently ” —gave the victory to Waverley, who thereupon gave three cheers for Petersham. Eventually I made a careful examination of the two score books, and found that the bowling analysis and. extras gave a total of 205. I then counted up the individual hits, and found that both scorers had credited a Petersham batsman with 55 instead of 65. Thus after all Peter­ sham were victorious. I may add that the umpiring at one end was most unsatisfactory. In amatch in Illawarra District Competi­ tion (decided on points) Rockdale v. Kogarah Presbyterian, the former led by one run on the first innings, scoring 77 against 76. In their second innings Rockdale lest seven for 86 and then declared, going for a three-point win (two points for a win on first innings). However, the Church team proved ahard nut to crack, for they knocked up 99 for seven wickets and won ! The fanny part of the affairwas that at 5*45 (the stumps were drawn at six) the captain of the fielding side appealed against the light! Another laughable ‘ ‘ anecdotal ” occurrence took place recently. In a Lodge competition two teams were playing when the umpire at the striker’s end no-balled the bowler. The captain of the fielding side objected to the said umpire’s decision, saying he had no right to call as he was not at the bowling crease. The rules were shown him, but he explained that “ either of them (the umpires) meant the one at the bowling crease.” How­ ever, he did not take the bowler off—kept him on—whereupon the captain of the batting side withdrew his men from the wickets and afterwards wrote claiming the match on the ground that the opposing captain shouldhave taken off the bowler who was “ called ! ” I think if Victor Trumper were to take a rest for a season he would be as good as ever. He scores so fast, and is so consistent, that the exertion takes a lot out of him, which accounts for his slight falling-off of late. Victor was educated at the- Crown Street School (not Grammar School as one of your English authorities says). Mr. Rooney, his teacher, used to take a great interest in him. A class-mate of his has often told me how Trumper used to learn how to place the ball on the off. There was a paling fence on that side of the wicket, and Victor would rivet his attention on a certain paling and try and hit it. After a while he used to break it ; then he would do likewise with another, and so on. He would start an innings in the luncheon hour on Monday and would be not out on Friday, that is, when the boys wanted to see how long he could stop in.