Cricket 1906

28 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F eb . 22, 1906. Australians have always been anxious to bring promising players to the front, and yet they neglect one of the most obvious ways of doing it. If two or three of the best known representatives of the Press in Australia were to put their heads together the thing would be done at once and Australian cricket would gain much. M e . L y n d h u b s t O g d e n writes from T oronto:—“ It may seem strange to your readers that in the Canadian winter cricket should be played on turf, but we have had and are having what I consider a splendid winter—no snow, good walk­ ing. We shall have an ice famine in the summer. On Saturday, January 27th, I took a walk through Moore Park, cross­ ing the golf grounds at Rosedale, where a great many players were hard at work, but this has been a common occurrence during the winter as I have daily wit­ nessed in my afternoon walks, but when I reached Queen’s Park and saw some eight students busily engaged practising cricket on a lawn near the statue of Sir John Macdonald, I could not help wish­ ing that Kipling was on deck. In March, 1877, I practised cricket on Blake’ s grounds, but the above ‘ takes the cake.’ ” A cc o r d in g to the Natal Mercury, J. N. Crawford has beeu offered a post in the office of Native Affairs. He says, how­ ever, that he does not like the country, and has therefore declined the offer. As the proceeds of his benefit match last year, Leicestershire v. Hampshire at Leicester, A. E. Knight has received a sum of £470 19a. lOd.—a record for a Leicestershire professional, although the match ended on the second day. T h e report of the LaicestersMre com­ mittee states that there was a profit of £107 9s. lOd. on the past season, but this includes the £315 15s. 81. received from the test matches. The amount ow ing to the bank is now £763 14s. 2d. The total receipts were £4,548 5s. Id., including £1,728 17s. from subscriptions. O n the second day of the match between South Australia and New South Wales at Sydney, J. F. Travers, the South Australian, bowled for an hour and three-quarters for 31 runs. G. L . W il s o n , the old Sussex cricketer, was on the Melbourne Ground during the match between South Australia and Victoria, at Christmas. He was looking in splendid health, but he seldom seems to play cricket now. A t a meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association on January 9th, W. W. Arm­ strong was presented with a silver ink­ stand as a memento of his record during the Australian tour in England last year. A t a meeting of the committee of the A. C. Maclareu Testimonial Fund at the end of January, it was stated that an amount of £1,050 had already been pro- msied, and that it included donations from the Melbourne C.C. and the South Australian C.A. I t has been decided by the Lancashire committee that the post of honorary secretary of the County C.C., which was rendered vacant by the death of Mr. S. H. Swire, will be abolished. Mr. T. J. Matthews, who was appointed as acting secretary about two years ago, now becomes secretary. M r . A l b e r t S p a l d in g , the violinist, is the son of Mr. J. W. Spalding, a partner in the cricket and athletic firm of A. C. Spalding Brothers, of London and New York. The father recently met with a serious motor accident, but is now on a fair way to complete recovery. T h e balance-sheet of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society, of which Mr. Henry Luff is the energetic secretary, has just been issued. It shows that the society had 179 members last year, and that the balance in hand is £457. Pay­ ments in. 1905 amounted to £267. The donations, by a few of the counties, chief clubs, and past and present, amateur cricketers amount to £163 2s., but the secretary would gladly welcsme many new subscribers.------ J. J. L y o n s , the old Australian hitter, sailed from Adelaide on January 18th for Western Australia, in charge of the following team, which was to play matches at Perth and Freemantle:—N. Claxton, J. C. Eeedman, J. F. Travers, D . R. A. Gehrs, F. Jarvis, P. Coombe, L. Hanson, C. T. Chamberlain, F. T. Hack, J. Bees, and J. Bichardson. T h o se who have seen Liver batting will appreciate the advice given to him on the Melbourne Ground by a spectator, says the Adelaide Observer. On one occasion he made an extensive scythe movement, baginning behind point and ending at fine leg while the ball rested with the wicket-keeper, and a voice lifted up from the ground, saying “ Go back to the land, young man.” A sc r a tc h team captained by E. L. Waddy had to bat for an hour and five minutes on January 4 :h after the opposing team, Dungog, a Sydney club, had made 232. The scratch team scored 199 for two wickets, E. L. Waidy hitting cine 5’s and fourteen 4’s in an innings of 126 not out. ------ O tago (New Zealand) has beaten both Canterbury and Auckland in inter-pro­ vincial cricket. In the Canterbury match H. Graham, the old Australian cricketer, made 60 and 47 out of totals of 155 and 208. S. T. Callaway, another old Aus­ tralian cricketer, for Canterbury, took four for 71 and fire for 78, and made top score (31) in the first innings. C a p t a in L. S l a t e r , an old Marlburian, made 76 and 200 at the end of January, at Umballa, for the Boyal Sussex Regi­ ment v. Northamptonshire Regiment. For the Northamptonshire Regiment Lieut. R. H. Gibbs took nine wickets in i the second innings, which totalled 357. A t the end of January Alfred Shaw, who is universally recognised as the greatest bowler of the nineteenth century, was suddenly siezed with a serious ill­ ness, but I am glad to be able to say that since then he has been making satisfactory progress. He is able to get out into the open air, and it is hoped that with finer weather he will rapidly improve. The best wishes of all cricketers will go out to him for h is speedy recovery. I n an over from Saunders, in a match between New South Wales and South Australia, Cotter scored 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, a total of 26. This equals Clement Hill’s record for an over - three 6’s and two 4’s against C. A. Ollivierre’s bowling, and is two runs behind G. L. Jessop’s two 6’s and four 4’s off Braund in 1904. It is said that J. J. Lyons once scored 30 in an over of five balls by means of five hits out of the ground, but this was in a local match. NOURSE.* Haven’t you heard who did the scoring? Why, of course ! Who? Nourse! What means all the shouting, roaring Till the mighty mob is hoarse ? Why? Nourse ! Is this Nourae the only player, Is there, then, no other source Than Nourse ? Have we not another stayer Who can drive with equal force As Nourse ? This ’ere Nourse, say, is he demon, Is he man, or mule, or horse ? He’s Nourse. Heavens! How he puts the steam on, Playing on without a pause Our Nourse! Bully, Noursey, that’s the ticket, Keep the ball from off the wicket, Warner’s men enjoy good cricket, From whatever source ! Natal Mercury. * A. D. Nourse is the Natal cricketer who has so greatly distinguished himself against the M.O.C. team in South Africa. USEFUL FOR CRICKETERS IN THE W IN TE R * As it seems to be fashionable for cricketers, as well as other people, to practise various exercises in the winter in order to keep them­ selves in training, two books which have just been issued may be recommended. Surely any cricketer who has carefully followed the instructionsgiven in “ Dumb-bell Exercises ” and “ Howto Punch the Bag” will not be able to complain in the coming springtime that his limbs are too stiff to allow him to field properly, or to run out his partner’s hits with alacrity. •Spalding’s Athletic Library. "How to Punch the Bag,” and “ Dumb-bell Exercises.” British Sports Publishing Co., 2, Hind Court, Fleet Street, E.O. 6d.