Cricket 1906

402 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 13, 1906. lo n g e d and notable an innings. I t m ay w ell be doubted whether K en t, w ith all its glorious traditions, has ever before been able to boast so w ell-balan ced a team as it can to -d a y . In an y case, the fa ct remains that its m any successes of the season o f 1906 m ay to a very large extent be attributed to the careful and g o o d w ork perform ed at T on brid ge b y Captain M cCanlis and M r. P aw ley. THE PASSING OF 1906. T o speed the p artin g guest is addition­ ally easy when the relations w ith host have been pleasant and cordial. This can, o f a certainty, be tru th fully said o f the guest w h o is leaving us this after­ n oon . A daily new spaper recently made the im portant discovery, on the authority o f an old cricket enthusiast, that the season o f 1906 had been w ithout a parallel in the w ay o f congenial w eather fo r the last thirty years. I can g o further and assert bold ly, after an experience o f nearly fo r ty summers o f strenuous cricket, that I cannot recall a summer characterised b y such ideal w eather from first to last. It can never be to o h ot for cricket, it is said. In the main it is true, and cricketers have certainly never w ithin m y recollec­ tion had such a lo n g unbroken succession o f b rig h t sunshine and genial atmosphere, w h ich together m ake glad the heart of the cricketer, great or small. W hat w on der that the pessim ists w h o prated on the necessity o f brightenin g the cricket have been them selves converted and sounded one lo n g pee in o f praise. The gam e, indeed, has been in every w ay w orth y o f its brilliant setting, w h ich is to say that the play generally has been up to the highest standard. W ith a due regard to the eternal fitness o f things the C oun ty Championship has held the p u blic interest unbroken to the very end. W hat is m ore, it is safe to fay that the ultimate result has given ur qualified satisfaction throughout the w h ole w orld o f cricket. In the early part o f the season it looked as if Y orksh ire, the winners o f the pre­ vious year, w ou ld have a g o o d look in again, w ith Surrey, perhaps, as their m ost dangerous rivals. As the summer advanced the chances seemed to point rather to Surrey, w ho, up to a certain time, had a fine recard on the ru n -g ettin g w ickets. Y orkshire’ s bow lin g , it was evident, had lost a g o o d deal o f its sting, and the feel- in g grew that the Soutn m igh t w ell regain the honours it had held so lon g in the heyday of Surrey cricket. The trium ph o f the Surrey E leven over Y o rk ­ shire at the O val was rather to o hastily accepted as the forerunner o f their ultim ate success, and even the Y orksh ire­ m en themselves at the time undoubtedly w ere firm believers in Surrey gettin g hom e. H ow they failed in the later stages o f the com petition is too well know n to need more than a passing comm ent. F or a g o o d deal o f their success they had been, un dou btedly, indebted to the very effec­ tive how lin g of M r. N . A . K n ox , and the consistently brilliant batting o f T. H a y ­ w ard. H is extrem e pace and awkw ard delivery made M r. K n o x ’s bow lin g difficult, even on the m ost ru n -g ettin g pitches, and had he been on ly able to last out to the bitter end, Surrey m igh t have made a m uch bolder bid for the Cham ­ pionship. A s it was, defeats b y Y orkshire and Lancashire robbed them o f the chance they w ould otherw ise have had. G louces­ tershire’s splendid victory over Yorkshire b y one run subsequently settled Y o rk ­ shire’s hopes, leaving the issue to all intents and purposes with K ent, w ho had been show ing consistently fine and attractive cricket throughout J u ly and A ugu st. That Y orkshire should lose, as it practically did lose, the Championship by one run was bad luck in a w ay, o f course. A t the same tim e the fact seems to have been overlooked that K en t’s victory over Surrey at the O val b y one w icket had a g ood deal to d o with determ ining the relative positions of those tw o counties. These matters are not m entioned with the smallest idea o f extenuating the failure o f Surrey or Y orkshire or m ini­ m ising the great perform ances o f K ent. On the contrary, it w ould have had to be m ore than a stroke of luck w hich could have given either Y orkshire or Surrey precedence as the outcom e o f the season’s cricket. On the form o f the later m atches, when the C ounty was able to get a representative eleven, K en t had appreciably the best side o f the year. I t was a particularly stron g com bina­ tion at all points. W ith B lyth e, Fielder, J. E . Mason and the C olt, W oolley, it had a quartette o f bow lers o f infinite variety, even om itting the useful changes they had in addition. W ith a fine fielding side too the bow lers were able to show to the best advantage, and, in respect o f their out cricket, the K en t E leven, w ith, it m ay be added, such a w icket-keeper as Huish w ou ld not suffer b y com parison w ith the best. But it was, after all, the batting which made K en t cricket so attractive this year. I t had the Y orkshire grit, and to a very pron oun ced extent. But it was their adaptability to differing conditions that made them the sid e ca r excellence to w atch. C. J . B urnup’s appearance in the team in the second part o f the season strengthened the batting, o f course, immensely. In K . L . H u tchin gs, too, they had quite the most attractive of the you n ger batsmen, a player o f the greatest possibilities, and one whose future w i!l give rise to the greatest interest. W ith E. W . D illon , one of the very best left-handers o f recent years, J. R . M ason, R. N . R . Blaker —a batsman not on ly able to force the gam e to the greatest effect if occasion required, bu t to adapt him self to p retty w ell every condition— in addition to reliable run- getters like W oolley, Seym our, M r. M ar- sham and Hum phreys, K ent had, indeed, an eleven w ith little tail, and a side o f run-getters generally very interesting to watch. H ow m uch they were indebted for their inspiration, M r. C. H . B . M arsham ’ s judicious captaincy, is best know n to those in close touch w ith the team . K ent ciick et has baen for some tim e, and is n ow , a synonym fo r a g o o d sporting game. That their success hus given rise to such unm ixed and universal satisfaction is the best p roof o f the keen spirit in which they take their cricket at all times. OBITUARY. M e . F . W . L e d g e r . W hilst cy clin g through B u rford B ridge, in Surrey, on the 31st ult., M r. Frederick W illiam L edger w as throw n from his machine, and m et w ith such severe injuries that he died from concussion o f the brain in D ork in g C ottage H ospital tw o days later. H e had played a great deal of cricket fo r D orking and E psom , and was a g oo d all-round player. H e had been both Captain and H on orary Secretary to the E psom C .C ., and a few years ago received from the members a handsome g o ld w atch and chain as a mark o f appreciation o f his services. F or seventeen years he had been a m ember o f the Surrey C ounty C.C. H e was in his fifty-first year at the time o f his decease. GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY CLUB. A m eeting o f the C omm ittee o f the Gloucestershire C oun ty C.C. w as held at B ristol, on F riday last, M r. H . W . B eloe presiding. W ith regard to n ext season’s fixtures, it was decided to accept the dates offered b y Y orkshire, which means that Y o rk ­ shire w ill have to be m et iu M ay, when Gloucestershire are at their weakest. A ll la it season’s fixtures w ill be renewed, with the addition o f H am pshire, and pos ibly N ortham ptonshire. I t was agreed to present all the players, amateurs and professionals, w h o assisted Gloucestershire to beat Y orkshire b y one run, w ith a souvenir, which w ill p robably take the form o f a medal. The comm ittee agree to g iv e w inter p iy to the professionals p ractically the a n te as last year, and it was decided to support Y orksh ire’ s proposal for the registration o f players qualified b y residence. They further agreed to the proposal that a m eeting o f the A dvisory C om ­ m ittee should be called to consider the question o f each coun ty receiving a percentage o f gate receipts as the visit­ in g club. U. O. S. OLD BOYS v. FINCHLEY. — Played at Neasden on September 8. F in c h l e y . J.F.Hosken.c Griffith- Jones, b Rowley ... 1 B. C. Venables, c Wes­ thorp, b Rowley ... 72 H.C.Fi8lier,cWadham, b Kowley.................. 5 H. E. Griffiths, c East­ man, b Rowley ... 58 E. G. Halton, Ibw, b Rowley ................... 0 Drewell, c Eastman, b Kicliardson...........19 G. H. Gill, c Hull, b Rowley .................. 6 H.V. Kislingbury,not out ........................... 1 W . M. de Paula, not out .......................... 5 B 9, lb 4, n b 2 ...15 Total (7 wkts.)*182 F. R. de Paula did not bat. ♦Innings declared closed. U . C. S. O ld B oys . F. Eastman, b W .d e Paula..........................12 J. D. Jones, c Halton, b H osken.................. 26 E. S. Westhorp, b Hosken ..................30 S. A. Gard, c Halton, b H osken..................14 M. P. Griffith-Jones, b W . de Paula ..............72 F. Rowley, b W. de P au la.......................... J. N. Crawford, b W. de P a u la .................. H. F. Wadham, b Hosken .•................. N. M. Binney, not out A. O. Hull, not o u t... B 21,lb 2 .......... P. J. S. Richardson did not bat. Total (8 wkts.) 190