Cricket 1906

462 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Nov. 29, 1906. j 396...27...20902...56-6 great name of the past, collated a few statistics 'comparing W. G. at his.{best with the' two most prolific' of recent champions,'K. S. Ranjitsinhji’and C. B. Fry. And not to take one or two years only, which might give only a false impression, I have thought it best to compare the ten best years of all three great batsmen. The [figures, therefore, work out thus:— No. Times of not inns.out.Runs. Aver. W. G. Grace’s best years, t?ia ^7 17190 r/vq 1S66.8, 9, 70,1,2, 3, 4, 6and 87 f bu a K. S. Ranjitsinhji’s best years, i -my ct, onRo, cq.q 1894, 5, 6, 7, 9, 1900, 1, 2, 3, 4 1a37...M...ZUb81...J>3 9 O. B. Fry’s best years, 1895, 7, 8, 9,1900,1,2, 3, 4, 5 So we see that, compared with the most prolific of most modern scorers, who play on easy grounds, with easy boundaries and comparatively little running to do, the old Champion still leads the way. ComparingW. G. up to datewithall the greatest of modern first-class batsmen, most of whom have finished their careers, we find the results, which include matches inAustralia, workout as follows : Completed Innings. Runs. Aver. W. G. Grace (1865-1906)............. 1,394 ... 55,595 ... 39 8 Shrewsbury (1875-1902)............. 716 ... 26,381 ... 36-8 L. C. H. Palairet (1891-1906)... 402 ... 14,404 ... 35’8 A. O. MacLaren (1890-1906) ... 533 . 18,892 ... 35'4 Abel (1881-1904) .................... 916 ... 32,432 ... 35'4 F. S. Jackson (1890-1906) ... 458 ... 15,565 ... 33'9 Gunn (1880-1904) .................... 772 ... 25,312 ... 32 7 A. E. Stoddart (1885-1900) ... 508 ... 16,079 ... 316 W. W. Head (1873-1897)............. 686 ... 21,218 ... 30'9 These figures, which include W.G.’s doings up to his very latest score, show how wonderfully he has batted, when his average for over forty years is just on 40 per innings. They show, too, how remarkably con­ sistent Shrewsbury, who played in pre­ boundary days for many years, has batted. The high place of Mr. Palairet will come as a surprise to many who will only remember that he rarely played for England v. Australia, chitfly because he was not a bowler, and therefore had to stard down for someone who bowled as well, e g , Mr. F. S. Jackson, though it will also be remembered that Mr. MaeLaren, who also is not a bowler, has had his share of the biggest matches. Abel’s high place is largely due to the improved form he showed in his later years, when approaching forty, on the easier wickets of the late 90’s, and because of their position in the above table the brilliant performances in their best days of such men as Stoddart and Walter Read, who both at one time challenged comparison with the Master in a greater and closer way than any other of the above (except Shrewsbury), should not be underrated. Walter Read, at his best, was undoubtedly the most brilliant and masterly batsman Surrey ever bad, and Stoddart, who burst into lame in manhood’s days as a run-getter of the first water, always, apart from averages, struck the critics ta a batting genius who could master any bowling. 1 have not included Rai jitsinhji, Fry, Hayward or Tyldesley amongst the above, because all of these may be ex­ pected to play for several years yet in the ordinary course, though I am aware that recent intelligence declares that Rinjitsinhji’s place will be in India per­ manently for the future. Let us, at least, hope that for one more season English cricket may see him. The place of William Gunn amongst the immortals of the game has been earned not only by his patient, scientific batting, but by his splendid fielding in the country where he covered such an extraordinary amount of ground. If an eleven of the best English of all time could be collected, it is hard to see how Gunn, taking his skill and activity as a fieldsman with his reliability, consistency and hitting powers as a batsman, could be left out. Of all Gunn’s great innings his best was his 228 at Lord’s in 1890, when for ten hours he withstood the fine Australian attack of that year. Appropos of that innings, to quote “ Mr. Punch’s ” lines anent it miy not come amiss as being applicable generally to Guon’s play :— Such calm, graceful hatting, of funk sodefiant, As proof againstflurry, deservedthe crowd’s roar, ’ Twas cricket indeed, when the Nottingham giant, Against the best howling, piled up that huge score ! And the crowd as they watched him smite, play, block, or run, Could grasp the full meaning of “ Sure as a Gunn.” I have not included W. L. Murdoch amongst the names in the above table as so many of his best performances were done in Australia, and he only appeared regularly in English cricket in his declining and less vigorous years. As the ’greatest of all Australian batsmen, the remark of A. Bannerman, himself a splendid player and keen critic, comes to mind in comparing Murdoch with Grace. Alec said “ W. G. has forgotten more than Billyeverknew,” a cryptic remark, which, being interpreted, signified “ W. G. did long ago more than W. L. has done or is ever likely to do.” As an all-round man W. G.’s figures compare thus with those of Hirs':— BATTING. Times Inns, not out. Runs. Aver. ... 1501 ... 107 ... 55595 ... 398 ... 717 ... 99 ... 21856 ... 353 W. G. Grace . G. H. Hirst BOWLING. W. G. Grace G. H. Hirst Wickets. Runs. Aver. ................ 2796 ... 50362 ... 18001 ................ 1642 ... 31801 ... 19-4 If Hirst has not yet seen his best day, he will have to accomplish a good many more extraordinary performances both with bat and ball before his recordbeats, even on paper, that of Dr. W. G. Grace. But I am one of those who think that at 35, andwith increasing weight, Hirst will hardly in the future rival his past performances, and with the cricket chronicler of the Yorkshire Post am inclined to agree that the outlook for the “ county of many acres,” in view of the fact that somany colts have been tried, and so few have realised expectations, is not so bright as one could wish. The following would be my ideal team as representative of England during the last thirty or forty years, for it would be futile to mix up names of the “ bell- toppered, non-cane-handled bat, arm-in- bowling-below-shoulder period ” with those of modern cricket: — Name. W.G. Grace . Shrewsbury . Gunn............... A. G. Steel F. S. Jackson Ranjitsinhji . H irst.............. A. Lyttelton . Lohmann... , A. Shaw ... . Richardson Qualifications. Batsman for all wickets, wily bowler, grand field Batsman great on had w'ickets, splendid point j Splendid bat, fine in the long-field..........................< Dashing bat, grand slow head bowler, good field j Plucky, consistent bat, fine fast bowler, splendid ) ) field ......................................................................i JWonderful wrist batsman,most consistent scorer, I \ splendid field at third man ...........................j Great bowler, fine bat, grand field........................ Magnificent wicketrkeeper,and very fine batsman j j Splendid head bowler, varying pace, superb I 1 field, fine free b a t ................................................ \ Greatest of all slow bowlers, good bat and field... |Best of fast bowlers, and most destructive on all wickets Others nearly as good. Daft, W. W. Read, A. O. MacLaren, Lord Harris. O B. Fry, L. C H. Palairet, Abel, Jupp. J. T. Brown, A. E. Stoddart, G. F. Grace. W. Barnes, J. R. Mason, G. Ulyelt. T. Hayward, Tyldesley. W. Lockwood, J. Brings, Arnold. Lockyer, Pooley, Pilling, Sherwin, Storer, Lilley. Emmett, Bates, Flowers, J. Gunn, Peel. Southerton, Peate, Mead, Attewell Freeman, Morley. Mold. A team drawn from any of the above, each man beiDg supposed to be at his best, would take a rare lot of beatiDg. Would that it could be assembled, but Eheu, fugace8 ! CRICKET IN NORTH HANTS.* Of the m akiD g o f cricket b o o k s there is h a p p ily , one can tru th fu lly say, no end. Happily w ith ou t d ou b t, if the spirit which p rom p ts them shows the same devotion and affectionate interest in the game and its history as marks the recently-published v olu m e, “ Cricket in North Hants.” The important part played by Hampshire cricketers in the brave days of old, when all eyes were turned to the Hampshire Downs, and the Hambledon Club was able to take on England single-handed has been toldand told till the details are known by heart. A work even on cricket in North Hants will hardly be considered complete with­ out some reference to Hambledon’s glories. These are related in a special chapter by Mr. F. S. Ashley-Cooper, who has made cricket history a subject peculiarly his own. Otherwise the bulk of the material for a very interesting history comes from the penof Lieut.-Col. John May (Y.D.), of Basingstoke. A good local cricketer, the Colonel was himself a prominent personality on the cricket fields of North Hants for over