Cricket 1906

458 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. tfov. 29, 1906. Eleven during the current season:— J. Darling, C. Hill, D. R. A. Gehrs, N. Claxton, J. H. Pellew, R, B. Rees, J. C. Reedman, C. B. Jennings, J. S. Rees, L. R. Hill, A. Wright, J. F. Travers, E. Bailey, E. A. Jeanes, C. E. Dolling, L. Hanson, and R. J. B. Townsend. To these must be added the two recently imported New South Wales players, O’Connor and McBeth. I HAVE to thank Mr. M. C. Challis, of Port Elizabeth, for details of a low- scoring match played at Port Elizabeth on October 20th. The game was notable from the fact that eight of the Pirates failed to get a run in either innings. Their last five wickets in the second innings fell in an over, all clean bowled by Hill. P olice . Orchison, b Matthews ........................ 1 "Wall, b Matthews............................... 6 Burkett, lbw, b Gibson........................ 4 F. E. Wood, b Richards ................. 6 Ritchie, b Gibson ............................... 9 Taylor, c Thompson, b Richards ... 7 Henderson, b Richards........................ 0 Murch, not out...................................... 25 Hill, b Phillips...................................... 4 Airey, c Oudmore, b Gibson .......... 2 Hunter, c Gibson, b Richards .......... 5 Extras ................................13 Total ........................82 P irates . First innings. Second innings. Gibson, b Airey ................. 0 b H ill.................. 0 Thompson, b Wood .......... 0 b H ill.................. 0 Noble, b Airey ................. 0 b Ritchie .......... 0 Matthews, b Airey .......... 0 b Ritchie ........... 0 Damerall, c Murch, b Airey 5 not out .......... 1 Richards, b Airey .......... 8 b Ritchie .......... 0 Cudmore, b Ritchie .......... 0 b H ill.................. 0 Nagle, b R itchie................. 0 b HU1 .................. 0 Gedge, not out ................. 0 b Ritchie .......... 0 Green, b Ritchie................. 8 b Ritchie .......... 6 Phillip, b Airey ................. 0 b H ill................. 0 Total........................21 Total ............ 7 A Dunbdin correspondent, whose opinion is entitled to much respect, makes the following reference in a letter just received to the M.C.C. Team :— “ We are looking forwardnowto the visit of theM.C.C. Teamto New Zealand. It has been described as a stronger teamthan that which Warner captained, and, though I should be disposed to doubt this, I have no misgivings respecting its ability to extend the New ZealandTeams, but it will probably turn out that cricket in the colony is rather better nowthan it was whenWarner’s Team was here.” If, as appears probable, Warwick Arm­ strong will be found assisting the New Zealanders, we should not be surprised to find the M.C.C. Team experiencing some difficulty in winning the repre­ sentative matches. A t a meeting of the recently-formed New Jersey State Cricket League there was a discussion about altering Rule 12 of the by-laws, which states that :— “ The decision of an umpire on the field mugt be accepted without question or argu­ ment, but clubsmay protest to the Executive Committee against any decision which they consider is contrary to the rules of the game or of this League; said protest must he in writing and filed with the Secretary of the League -rithin ten days of the date of the protested game. The protesting club shall alsomail a copy of the protest to the Secre­ tary of the other club.” After nearly half-an-hour’s debate it was decided to let the rule stand as it was. With such a law in force there should be possibilities for all sorts of interesting occurrences. As the French say, “ We shall see.” The net result of Lees’ benefitmatchlast summer isanaggregate of £2,119 17s. 7d. That is the amount which passedthrough the hands of the SurreyCounty C.C., and does not include, of course, any sums handed to Lees himself. Any reference to the figures of this match would be incomplete without a grateful acknow­ ledgment of the hearty assistance rendered by Mr. W. Lotinga in promot­ ing the match between Amateur Athletes and Jockeys. The whole of the net receipts of that match were given to the Benefit Fund. The result was a handsome supplement amounting to £212 10s. lOd. The Emergency Committee of the Minor Counties C.C. have prepared a re­ arrangement of Clauses 4 to 7 of the Yorkshire grouping scheme recently adopted. These are to be submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Association, which is to take place at Lord’s on Tuesday, 18th December, at 10.15 a.m. The Annual Meeting of Captains of Minor Counties will be held at Lord’s on the following Thursday at 11 o’clock. Altogether, it will be a busy week for cricket administrators. The Gentlemen of Philadelphia have reluctantly decided to abandon the visit they had contemplated to England next season. A strong feeling has been expressed in Philadelphian cricket circles that the interests of the game there will be better served if a foreign team could be induced to visit the States next fall. As therewouldnaturally be great difficul­ ties for the two tours to be brought off satisfactorily, onthe doctrine of the line of least resistance the Associated Cricket Clubs of Philadelphia have perforce had to forego for the moment the pleasure of a trip to England. The financial result of the match at the Oval between the Champion County and England was a handsome profit of £825 11s. lid. The amount has been handed over by the Surrey County C.C. to the joint beneficiaries —£412 16s. to the Cricket Fund and £412 16s. lid. to the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society. T y ld x sle y ’s benefitlast seasonrealised £3,105 after payment of all expenses, which constitutes a record for Lancashire cricket. I t was a happy thought of the Lanca­ shire Committee to send it to reach him on his birthday (November 22nd). The letter which accompanied it was a grace­ ful recordof theirgrateful appreciation:— “ This is a striking tribute by the cricket­ ing public to the splendid services you have rendered to Lancashire cricket. They hope it 'will be regarded as an indication of the general desire that those services may be continued for many years to come. In for­ warding the cheque to reach you on this, the thirty-third anniversary of your birthday, the Committee desire to wish you many happyreturns of the day.’ ’ Any opinion of “ Felix,” our old friend T. Horan, of the first Australian team, on the subject of English or Aus­ tralian cricket, is bound to be of interest as the judgment of an expert. His com­ parison of the four great cover-points, Gregory, G. L. Jessop, Briggs, and Vernon Royle, will give plenty of food for discussion:— If Syd. Gregory had not been such a superb fieldhewouldnot have beenchosenin the 1905 Australian team. Quick•off the mark, always eagerly anticipating and judg­ ing a stroke, picking up and returning with marvellous celerity and accuracy, he has causedmany a notable batsman to be runout, and I have always' regarded him, G. L. Jessop, the late Johnnie Briggs, andVernon Boyle, of Lancashire, as the finest “ cover” quartet that ever entered a cricket field. If 1 were askedto pick the best of the four I wouldpick Gregory. L iv y W a lk er, who captained the Surrey Eleven in the season of 1904, has since come into prominence as a cricketer in the Far East, as he was bound to do. As Captain of the Shanghai team he had the satisfaction of leadinghis sidesuccess­ fully, to the extent of a very decisive victory, in the annual match with Hong Kong, at Shanghai, on October 2nd and following days. It was, owing to the continuous wet on the first day, a low- scoring match, and the ex-Surrey skipper’s 20 was only beaten by W. H. Moule’s (is this the old Victorian ?) 24 in Shanghai’s second knock. The Hong Kong eleven included C. D. Turner, another of the Essex brothers, who was fittingly highest rungetter in the first innings with 20 of 41 from the bat. It was a kindly thought of the Shanghai captain to send an official card of the match. This will be found elsewhere. The batting last year of J. R. M. Mackay—“ SunnyJim,” astheNewSouth Wales cricket public has come to know him—probably ranks as the very best performance in first-class cricket in New South Wales, overshadowing indeed the record of that greatest of artists, Victor Trumper. Now comes the news that he has accepted a position in Johannes­ burg and may be already in residence there. The extent of his loss to New South Wales in inter-State it is imposible of course to overrate. The Sydney Mail gives a nice little pen picture of him:— He is crisp, clean, vigorous, andattractive, andwith the forcing stroke to the on should meet with success on the slow English wickets. He makes his stroke with a quick