Cricket 1906

418 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S ept . 20, 1906. ful judgment and eye rarely caused him to fail. “ A wonderful timer and placer of the ball ” wrote John Lillywhite, and James Lillywhite said of W. G. in 1876 that he was equal to any three other men, and that a wise captain would probably select him in preference to any three others. Who would say this of Hirst ? Who would select Hirst before any three of Denton, Bhodes, Haigh or Jackson F No one could, or would, wish to detract fromHirst’s unique excellency for Yorkshire, or to his being worth his place for batting or bowling alone in an eleven of England to-day. No one wouldwish todeny toHirst thepossession of grit, pluck, nerve, and of all those qualities which Yorkshiremen in a special manner are supposed to possess. But it is flying rather too high to rank him above the universally acknowledged Champion. There is, of course, anatural tendency in human nature to exalt one’s own times to the disparagement of former days. Thirty years ago a writer in Lillywhite acknowledged this tendency, but added, referring to W. G., that even those who remembered Pilch, Mynn and Parr gave way in his case, and yielded the palm to the Gloucestershire captain. Mr. Bosan­ quet would likely enough do the same could he have seen W. G. when in all the “ glory of his matchless youth,” toborrow an apt phrase which I recollect Mr. J. N. Pentelow using some years ago. For all the qualities Mr. Bosanquet extols in Hirst W. G. possessed in even more marked degree. W. G. never tired, never lost nerve, always showed grit and pluck, was ever ready when the situation seemed most forlorn. This year Hirst has been carefully nursed by Yorkshire, and has played no cricket except in first-class matches. In 1876 W. G. batted 46 times in first- class cricket, was four times not out, scored 2,622 runs and averaged over 62. Lockwood only, with 1,229 (average 28) Bcored 1,000 besides W. G. With the baU W. G. bowled 6 201 balls for 2,388 runs and 124 wickets, average 19. Only Alfred Shaw and Allen Hill besides W. G. took over 100 wickets. But then in 1876 W. G. took part in thirteen matches against odds, strong Twenty-twos and Eighteens, who were always assi'ted by first-class professional bowlers. In these matches he played 23 innings, was twice not out, and scored 1,180 runs, and, adding to these two club matches in which he scored 106 for twice out, we have W. G.’s record for 1876 as follows:— Inns. Not out. Runs. Aver. 72 ... 7 ... 3,908 ... 60 And, though the analyses of bowling in matches against odds were not always obtainable, W. G. certainly took over 200 wickets in 1876. For mere hard work, apart from records, when has thi* been beaten ? Another thing to bear in mind in com­ paring averages of present-day cricketers, even those of Dr. Grace himself in recent years, with the averages of_W. G. in his prime, is that up to about 1880 nearly all hits, except to the Pavilion, had to be run out. I have never seen the question of the date of all-round boundaries estab­ lished, though I have often wished to see it discussed; but I think that when the present writer, as a small boy, first visited the Oval in 1878 there were no boundaries, and on his first visit to Lord’s in 1879 there were none, except to the Pavilion in each case, and that spectators seated on benches usually two deep all round the ground had to get up and allow the ball and the pursuing fields­ man to pass through. But in 1880 the writer thinks he does rememberbound­ aries at the Oval, as he witnessed the first England v. Australia match there, and recollects W. G. hitting boundaries in his innings of 152. But then 20,000 people were present, and it would have been impossible for them to divide, at least on that occasion. In later years, 1881 and onwards, there were certainly boundary hits all-round. At Canter­ bury, too, in the Week, there were always boundaries, so one has read. But it would be interesting if old spec­ tators of cricket could be induced to give their recollections, so that this question of the date of the introduction of boundaries might be settled once for all, on account of its vast importance for comparative purposes—an importance not understood by the man in the street, or the skimmerof thedaily papers. For a man of the build of Eanjitsinhji to have scored in the 70’s or 80’s at the rate he does now, whenheplays, wouldhavebeen a physical impossibility. With the introduction of marl-prepared wickets and the inability of the best bowlers to get the break they ought to, and could, get on natural wickets, boundary hitting is also much easier to-day than it was in the 80’s or even 90’s, a fact which goes to explain how it was that the writer in his “ Life and Scores of W.G.’’ wrote in 1896 that few men had ever averaged 40 per season, and those few (apart from W. G.) only in thtir very best years, whereas during the last ten seasons or so they have been as common as an average of 25 was before arti­ ficiality gained such sway. HAMPSTEAD v. HAMPSTEAD CONSTITU­ TIONAL OEUB.—Played at Hampstead on Sep­ tember 12. H ampstead C onstitutional C lub . E.E. Barnett,c Kirk, b Everitt ...................41 W.P.Harrison, run out 13 G.A S Hickson, b Bid­ den .......................... 13 E.L.Marsden, c Bailey, b B idden................... 7 A'Middlesex,st Hewet­ son, b Kirkpatrick 164 A.II.Trimcn, b Bidden 7 E. Reid, b Biddell ... H. H. Evans, b Bacon A. Eiloart, c Bailey, b Bidden ................. J. O. Toller, st Hewet­ son, b Everitt........... O. Acret, not out B 21, lb 4 ........... Total ...313 H ampstead . L.J,Marcus,b Marsden 15 F. W. Bacon, c sub., b M arsden ................... 7 L.N.H,Bailey,cBarnett, b Marsden ...........23 Rev. H. M. Biddell, c Middlesex,bMarsden 23 J.Armitage, b Middle- sev .......................... 13 B. A. Everitt, b Toller 1 T. J. Stephens, c Rar- nett, b ToU er...........11 L. H. Kirkpatrick, b M arsden................... 0 E. St. G-. Hewetson, c Middlesex, b Toller 13 T. Gregory, c Middle­ sex, b ToUer ........... 0 A. Jones, not out ...13 B 10, lb 9, w 1, nb 1 21 Total ..140 NORTH OF ENGLAND v. GRANGE & D ISTR ICT. Played at Grange-over-Sands on September 14 and 15. Drawn. Some interesting cricket was seen last week in this match, which formed part of the Grange Festival. The North of England Eleven was under the captaincy of Cuttell. Time did not permit a definite result to be arrived at. Score and analysis:— N orth of E ngland . First innings. Rhodes, c Hill, b Haines ... 28 Harry, c Rigg, b Norcliffe .. 3 Tyldesley, c Mabbutt, b H ain es.............................. . Hirst, c and b H aines......... Haigh,c Mabbutt,b Hurtley Turnbull.c Brown,b Haines Robinson, run out ......... Outtell,c Betham, b Hurtley Dean, c Mabbutt, b Uns- w o r th .................................. Sladen, c Heap, b Ilaines... Kermode, not out................. Worsley, c Hurtley, b Nor­ cliffe .................................. Gregson, a b sen t................... E xtras........................... 2 Second innings. b Heap ........... 8 st Linney, b Haines ........... 3 notout.................. 52 cE.Rigg.bHaines 18 b Heap.................. 15 b N orcliffe...........17 not o u t ................. 1 c Podmore, b N orcliffe........... 1 Extras........... 8 Total.................. 144 Total (6 wkts)*123 * Innings declared closed. G range and D istrict . First innings. Linney, run out ................... 8 Punchard, b Dean ........... 1 Mabbutt,c Worsley, b Dean 1 tLBrown, c Outtell, b Haigh 0 Betham, b Rhodes ........... 9 Taylor, b R hodes................. 4 Heap, c Sladen, b Haigh ... 0 E. Hill, b Kermode ...........18 Norcliffe, c Haigh, b Turn­ bull .................................. 5 L. Nettleton,b Kermode ... 15 G. O. Podmore, c Worsley, b K erm ode......................... 4 E. Greenhow, b Sladen ... 9 G. Vicars Gaskell, c and b Kermode ........................... 3 G. Watts, c Harry, b Haigh 9 A. C. Haines, c Turnbull, b H a ig h .................................. 6 R. Hurtley, b Haigh Second innings. c Worsley,b Dean 0 c Worsley, Sladen ... n o to u t......... c Worsley, Gregson ... b ... 1 27 b .. 2 not out... b Dean... 9 L. Rigg, o and b Tyldesley 40 E. Rigg, c and b Tyldesley 4 E. Unsworth, not o u t ......... 2 Extras.......................... 14 b Harry ......... 4 c Gregson, b Sladen ........... 0 Total ...161 Extras........... 2 Total (6 wkts) 53 N orth of E ngland . First innings. Second innings. Haines Norcliffe ... L. Rigg ... Hurtley ... Unsworth... 0. M. R. W. O. M. R. W . 21 2 59 5 ........... 11 0 42 2 7 1 31 2 ........... 4 0 3 2 5 0 12 0 ...... 5 0 17 0 10 1 30 2 ........... 4 1 10 1 ...... Heap.......... 10 0 25 2 Greenhow 5 0 i>(i 0 H Brown 2 0 2 0 G range and D istrict . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. D ean........... ... 6 3 2 2 .. Turnbull... .. 14 5 12 1 .. Sladen ... 4 1 12 1 . Harry ... 4 3 K) 0 .. H irst.......... ... 5 2 13 0 .. Rhodes ... ... 9 2 28 2 .. Haigh ... 12 3 21 4 .. Kerraode... ... 5 1 10 5 .. Cuttell ... 8 1 34 0 .. Tyldesley... ... 3.2 2 5 2 .. O. , 8 1 . 3 25 M. R. W. 18 0 4 0 12 3 0 7 1