Cricket 1906

F eb . 22, 1906. CRICKET: A. WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 25 Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPERTHAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY, FEB. 22 nd , 1906. $a\)tlton The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamle A t the annual meeting of the M.C.C. in May the following proposal will be submitted by the Essex County C.O. if the Advisory Committee approves of i t :— That, with a view of doing away with so many drawn matches, the system of scoring points in County Championship matches be the same as adopted by the minor counties, one point for a win on the first innings, and three if the match is played out. I t may be doubted whether, if this system were adopted in the first-class championship, the matches would increase in interest. The system may work well in two-day matches, but if it is applied to three-day matches it is to be feared that play on the third day will be no more interesting than it is under the present system. Mb. A. D. T aylor writes, “ If this proposal by Essex were to be carried, Sussex would, perhaps, benefit more than any other county, if one may judge by past records. Thus in the fifteen drawn games of 1902 they would have beaten Leicestershire twice, Surrey twice, York­ shire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Hants, Essex and Kent, while the Lan­ cashire match did not produce a com­ pleted innings on either side. Again in 1904 (sixteen drawn games) they would have beaten Yorkshire twice, Surrey twice, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Essex, Kent and Hants, while the South African, Derbyshire and Somersetshire matches did not furnish a completed inn­ ings on each side. In both these years they would have only lost eight matches, four in each season. During the past seven years Sussex have played 191 matches, won 60, lost 34, and drawn 102 (two of which were abandoned). T he team which will represent the West Indies in England this summer has been chosen as follows :— L. Constantine (Trinidad) A. E. Harrigan (Trinidad) G. C. Learmond (Trinidad) Sydney Smith (Trinidad) Cumberbatch (Trinidad) H. B. G. Austin (Barbados) C. K. Bancroft (Barbados) G. Challenor (Barbados) P. Goodman (Barbados) Layne (Barbados) J. E. Parker (Demerara) Burton (Demerara) R. Ollivierre (St. Vincent) and C. S. Morrison (Jamaica). Reserves: W. Hoad (Trinidad), H. C. Bailey (Demerara), and H. Ollivierre (St. Vincent). L ord A lv e k s t o n e , the President of the Surrey County C.C., has promised to act as one of the trustees of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society in place of the late Mr. V. E. Walker. T he hero of the Australian cricket season which is now nearly over has not been Trumper, Duff, or Hill, but Mackay. It is a case of Mackay first and the rest nowhere. Mackay has only just missed by 10 runs the distinction of playing six successive innings of over a hundred in inter-state cricket, for he ended the season of 1904-5 by making 131 against Queensland, and in 1905-6 his first four innings were 202 against Queensland, 90 against South Australia at Adelaide, 194 against Yictoria at Melbourne, 105 and 102 not out against South Australia at Sydney. He then made 4 and 136 for New South Wales v. the Australian X I. in Kelly’s benefit match. At present it is not known in England what scores he made in the return match against Victoria, but in the next issue of Cricket his com­ plete record for the first-class season will be given. It will be remembered that bis portrait appeared in Cricket of January 25th. I t will be noticed that Mackay made two separate hundreds in the match between New South Wales and South Australia at Sydney. No Australian has ever previously accomplished the feat in first-class cricket in Australia, but Victor Trumper made 109 and 119 for the Aus­ tralians against Essex at Leyton in 1902, A. C. Maclaren 142 and 100 at Sydney in 1897 for Mr. Stoddart’s team v. New South Wales, and C. J. Eady 116 and 112 not out for Tasmania v. Victoria in 1895 at Hobart. ------ O f J. R. M. Mackay’s innings of 194 for New South Wales v. Victoria, at Melbourne, on December 26th, “ F elix” says in the Australasian : — The batting of Mackay for 195 was abso­ lutely one of the finest innings I have ever seen. All the bowling seemed alike to him, and he played from first to last with con­ summate ease and masterful command of stroke. His forcing stroke to the on is superbly executed, and with such power that the fieldsman had no show in the race for the boundary. He steps back, and with wristy, graceful action, brings down the bat on good length balls, and sends them to the boundary, while other batsmen are content to merely play such balls without attempting to score from them. He was very effective, too, in cutting and driving, and he hit no fewer than twenty-six 4’s. Not a chance is noted against him, and his occupancy of the crease lasted from nine minutes to one o’clock until twenty-five minutes to six o’clock. Deduct­ ing intervals for luncheon and tea adjourn­ ments, he was at the wickets for three hours forty-one minutes, and when his grand display terminated the crowd fairly rose at him in enthusiastic admiration, and vehement, thundering applause continued all his way back to the pavilion and for some time after­ wards. It was an innings that those who had the pleasure and privilege of witnessing it will talk of for many a day. T he same critic says o f Noble’s innings of 281 in the same match:— The batting of M. A. Noble was remark­ ably good. He was at the wickets while 565 runs were being made, and his stay lastedfor six hours nine minutes. He was missed at 193 by Collins in the slips off Christian, and at 123, on the first day, he was missed off Saunders. Carkeek also had a show to stump him off Saunders. Noble played a grand game for his side, never taking any risks, and executing his strokes on both sides of the wicket with perfect timing. His off drives at times were marked by much power, and his on drives were as hard, clean, and true as his.off drives. When he was bowled by Christian he appeared to be somewhat tired. He jumped into the ball to hit, and seemed not to time the flight. The demonstration of plaudits in his favour was something to be remembered, and the occupants of the reserve accorded him a splendid reception as he entered the pavilion g;ate. A m a t c h has been arranged between West of Scotland and J. T. Tyldesley’s X L , to take place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, on June 28th and following days. I n a match at Bombay on January 13th between the Bombay Gymkhana and the Islam Gymkhana, Captain J. G. Greig, the well-known Hampshire cricketer, scored 18 and took five wickets for 38 runs. On January 27th he made 57 for Bombay Gymkhana v. John Bright C.C. In each of the above matches H. Cheetham scored a hundred for the Bom­ bay Gymkhana. On January 14th (Sunday) Dr. M. E. Pavri, the Parsee cricketer who played occasionally for Middlesex some years ago, made 38 for the Parsee Gymkhana against the Islam Gymkhana. J. T. G w y n n , a brother of the well- known Irish cricketer, L. H. Gwynn, who died in 1902, scored 71 and 139 not out for South of India against Madras on January 13th and 15th. la the course of his first six weeks’ stay in India he made over 700 runs. C. T. Studd, the old Cambridge Blue and Middlesex cricketer, played in the same match. He only scored 0 and 6, but took four wickets in the first innings of Madras for 34 runs. F r o m the Sydney Mail of December 27th :— How is it that we are hearing nothing about the next English team for Australia, and how is it the secretary of the Board of Control has received nothing further concern­ ing the representation of the Melbourne Club on the board ? The outcome of a conference between the Victorian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Club was that the latter should elect one of the three Victorian delegates, and to fit in with this the constitution of the board was altered. And that is as far as the matter hasgone. In England the Marylebone C.C. is awaiting some definite proposal from an Australian body with regard to the next English team to visit Australia. It is time some move was made towards a settlement of this matter one way or another. A fter the single wicket victory of the South Africans in the fiist test match,