Cricket 1906

A pril 12, 1906. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 53 THE SITUATION. [A CONVERSATION WITH MR. CHUCKERUP, AN UMPIRE WHO DIRECTS THE FORTUNES OP A “ WEAK-MEDIUM ” CLUB.] “ Very glad to meet you, Mr. Chuck- erup. I haven’t seen you since last year at this time.” “ Well, sir, if you come to that, I ain’ t seen you neither. Nor for the matter of that I ain’ t seen tbe victories which the M.C.C. team was going to win.” “ But it did very well against the local twenty-twos.” “ Oh, yes. It was class enough for that, and I see that Mr. Warner seems to be rather glad he didn’t win, because it will be such a good thing for South African cricket. He’s what you would call a bit of a hoptimist, I fancy.” “ Perhaps it would be a good thing for West Indian cricket if the coming team proved too good for us this summer.” “ If they beat us. Jest so. But if all the counties was to play Becond elevens against ’em, it would make the West Indians a bit sick even if they won. PuBsonally, I don’t think it’s good busi­ ness to get licked if you can help it. But there’s some rum ideas about nowa­ days. What do you think, for instance, of Mr. Case’ s idea of umpires calling near as well as ‘ wide ’ ? ” “ You refer to Professor Case’s letter to the Times, ia which he suggests that if a batsman allows a ball which is not a wide to go past him, a run shall be scored by the other side ? ” “ That’s it. But it’s like all other ideas of the kind—it might or might not work well in first-class cricket, but it would play the doose in small matches on bad grounds. You’d ’ave fast bowlers bowling their damdest as nearly wide of the stumps as might be, and the batsmen wouldn’t be able to touch one ball out of five. The result would be that you’d ’ave one side’s umpire always calling ‘ wide ’ and the other chap always calling ‘ near.’ You might as well play at ‘ pitch and toss ’ at once. But, thank goodness, reforms ’as been a bit off this winter.” “ What did you think of the proposals to alter the system of counting points in the county championship ? ” “ What I arsk is this. Do I, or do anybody else go ’ome after a match with our ’arts in our mouths, beciuse we think our county will lose a couple of points next day? Do you reckon that when a match comes to a prematoor end, as I may say, and our county wins at 'arf past three, we spectators feels grate­ ful? Not much. We’ ve on’y ’ad thrippence worth of play. If we was all company promoters or Labour M .P .’s we might not mind the loss of tuppence or thrippence, but bein’ as we are, we do mind it. And supposing we did care a tuppenny about points, what on earth is the good of ’em, unless your county is in about the first three ? What do it matter whether a county is eighth, or ninth, or twelfth, or even fourteenth ? Points be blowed I” “ Have you studied the new scheme of the Minor Counties Association ? ” “ Studied it ? Not much ! I don’t ’appen to live in a minor county, and if they like to make a new scheme every week, it wouldn’t ’urt my feelings. And it amuBes them, so there’s no ’arm done. But this reminds me that I promised a chap to play a gameof skittles with him this evening, so I ’ope you will excuse me. Boner swar, Mossoo.” W. A. B. ESSEX COUNTY C.C. The following are the chief items in the annual report:— Mr. C. E. Green has engaged W. H. Lockwood and K. Peel to coach the eleven and specially selected players on the County Ground for three weeks, commencing on April 23rd. Your committee especially draw your attention to the balance-sheet annexed to the report, from which you will see that the deficit on the year’s working was£230 4s. 9d., which would have been much more if a bonus of £315 15s. 8d. had not been received from the M.C.O. as the result of the Test Matches, and if the Australian matches at Leyton had not resulted in a profit of £280. The deficit brought forward from 1904 was £140 0s. lOd. Your committee are of opinion that with the strictest economy the club cannot be worked to pay its expenses without a mem­ bership of at least 2,500. The present mem­ bership stands at 1,699. If a membership of 2,500 cannot be obtained, it is thought the only other way to ensure the working of the club will be to raise a guarantee fund on the lines of the circular sent out in December last, a copy of which is now enclosed. Your committee feel that if a further loss is incurred next season the members of the club must be called together at the end of the season to discuss the future of the club, as they cannot take the responsibility of con­ tinuing to run the club at an annual loss. You will thus see that a large increased membership or a guarantee fund from exist­ ing members is absolutely necessary for a continuance of the Club. Your committee regret that the financial results of the football matches played at Leyton did not come -up to expectations, although many good games, both under Rugby and Association codes, were played. They hope, however, that a better programme will be arranged for next season. The train leaving Liverpool Street Station at 3.35 p.m. will stop at Leyton on all county match days. The following members of the committee retire by rotation, v i z . G . Buxton, F. K. Pelly, R. Cook, and F. W . Holton, who offer themselves for re-election. The annual general meeting will be held in the dining hall, at Leyton, on Thursday, April 26th, at 5.30 p.m. The ground will be open to members on Saturday, April 28th, when the ground bowlers will be in attendance at the nets at 2 p.m. The following bowlers have been engaged for the season, viz.: — Tremlin, E. J. Freeman, Benham, and Littlewood; and others will be engaged later on as occasion arises. O. R. BORRADAILE, Secretary. INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT. Da. £ s. d. £ s. d. To Match Expenses— Home Matches ...... 946 2 10 Out „ .......... 475 11 9 „ Railway Fares............... 62 11 8 „ Hotel Expenses ...... 156 3 4 --------------- 1,640 9 7 „ Ground Bowlers’ Wages 205 16 0 Expenses of Club and Ground Matches ... 94 8 7 „ Printing Cards... ... ... 47 16 8 „ Advertising ............... 12 12 8 ,, Materials ................ . ... 65 15 4 „ Hotel Charges (London) 63 17 3 „ Talent M oney............... 58 0 0 „ Secretary’s SeasonTicket, Professionals Benefit, and Colts’ Expenses... 58 18 9 „ Insurance Premiums ... „ Rent, Licenses and Insur­ ances ........................ „ Ground Expenses— Wages ...........................702 14 5 Timber,Olay,Repairs,&c. 91 9 2 Repairs to Stand and Scoring Board, Flag Staffs, Painting Pav­ ilion, &c ........................ 177 11 6 Horse Account, Fodder, Farrier, and Repairs to Harness........................... 77 9 8 Pavilion Account, Wash­ ing and Cleaning ... 52 7 8 607 5 3 251 4 5 72 17 7 „ Interest on Mortgage and Loan ........................ „ Salaries— Secretary and Assistant ................. „ Printing and Stationery „ Postages and Telegrams „ Rates and Taxes .......... „ Petty Expenses ... ... 1,101 12 5 356 8 1 602 1 0 105 8 4 37 16 4 136 14 9 24 1 10 £4,935 19 7 C r . £ s. d. £ s. d. By Subscriptions................. 1,691 11 0 „ Cricket Receipts— Gates ...£1,811 13 0 Lesg Propor­ tion due to Australians 265 5 6 1,546 7 6 Share of Test Matches... 315 15 8 Profit on Saleof Cards... 33 13 6 „ Football ........................ „ Insurance Claims .......... „ Locker Rents ................. 1 5 0 „ Hire of Ground .......... 70 6 9 „ Rent for Selling Papers... 3 0 0 „ „ Telephone and Shed ........................ 3 3 0 1,895 16 8 269 7 6 488 7 5 „ Caterers ................. ... „ Donations ... ................. „ BalancecarriedtoBalance Sheet ........................ 77 14 9 235 0 0 47 17 6 230 4 9 £4,935 19 7 M I N O R C O U N T I E S ASSOCIATION. At a special meeting on Friday last the scheme proposed by Yorkshire for grouping the counties was discussed, and the following clauses were accepted, Surrey, Norfolk and Devon voting against them :— In 1907 and in future years the counties shall be grouped into four or more divisions, according to their geographical positions. In 1907 there shall be four divisions, namely North.—Durham, Lancashire II., Northumber­ land, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire II. West.—Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Glamorgan­ shire, and Monmouthshire. Midlands. —Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Ox­ fordshire, Surrey II., and Wiltshire. East. — Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hert­ fordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Every county shall play out and home two-day matches with every other county in its division. This scheme shall come into force for the season of 1907. The other details were referred to the Emergency Committee to report to the annual meeting of the Association in December next It was also decided that the matches in each group in 1907 must be completed by August 20 .