Cricket 1906

90 ' CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 26, 1906. “ A strange thing occurred about half-way through the innings of W. Prentice for Burwood v. Balmain, on March 10th,” says “ Not Out” in the Sydney Referee. “ He drove one hard to long-off, where S. Gould, moving back towards the fence, brought off a good catch with both hands above his head. The impact drove him back against the pickets, and the ball was forced from his grasp. Seeing the ball on the ground the batsman appealed, and perhaps the umpire was the only one of the five hundred present who thought the bats­ man not out. Strange, too, no runs were allowed for the stroke. In the above innings Prentice, who is the wicket-keeper of his team, scored 10 1 , the first hundred of his career in senior cricket, in an hour, among his hits being six 6 ’s. He went in tenth. T hree other batsmen made hundreds in Sydney senior cricket on March 10th, viz., J. C. Barnes 139, J. Minnett 112, and J. Hodgkinson 100 not out. Not one of them had ever previously made a hun­ dred in the first grade competition. A fter a visit to Tasmania a Victorian said that he was awakened by a choir of sopranos and altos, at the unusual hour of four in the morning. Inquiry discovered that the serenade came from a party of lady cricketers, who, cheery as larks, were making their way through darkness and rain to a distant battlefield. C omplete arrangements were made in Melbourne for the reception and enter­ tainment of the Tasmanian lady crick­ eters, who were to arrive by the steamer “ Loongana” on March 15th. The visitors were to be met by the Victorian Association, and entertained in the even­ ing at the Theatre Royal. On the next day they would practise at the Friendly Societies’ grounds, and on the third day would oppose a Victorian ladies eleven. T he bowling of the South Africans in the Test matches seems to have been quite out of tbe common. Thus, on landing at Southampton, Mr. Warner, the M.C.C. captain, said to a representa­ tive of the Sportsman: The wickets were so fast and their bowlers got, such tremendous breaks on. They broke each side of the wicket, Schwarz doing quite this much—(indicating two or three feet). Oh one occasion he pitched the ball well off my leg stump, and as I went to play it the ■ball broke in and took my off wicket. Such instances were by no means rare. The place is a veritable paradise for leg^break bowlers, and teams that go Out in future ought to be well equipped with this class of bowler. The South Africans in the Test matches were eleven batsmen and nine bowlers. In one game Shalders, who is not supposed to be one of the regular bowlers, went on and sent down half a dozen of the best overs I have ever seen, and I have had some experience of cricket. W ith regard to South African batsmen Mr. Warner said t " White is the best, I should say. He is a brilliant, all-round player, and in batting has the hitting powers of Sinclair and the defence of Charles Fry.” By which it will be seen that White must be by far the greatest batsman of the age. T he young Indian cricketers who took part in the first match between the Mayo College of Afmere and the Atchison College of Lahore, will have particular reason to remember their opening game, played at Afmere late last month. The captain of the home team, in a spirit no doubt of the high politeness which be­ tokens the best type of host, on winning the toss decided to send Lahore in. The visitors showed their appreciation by occupying the wickets all the time for an aggregate of 415, and the loss of only one batsman. The first wicket fell at 81, and then Thakur Dan Singh (203) and Kunwar Chandra Sen (126) added 334 without another fall. By this time it is possible the captain of the Mayo College side has realised that to give away the advantage of first knock may be magni­ ficent in the way of generosity, but it is certainly not war. By the way, there is to be a great public gathering on May 29th next to do honour to Mr. Mursell, on the occasion of the celebration of his ministerial jubilee. The Rev. Arthur Mursell, who has just completed practically his forty years in the pastorate of the Stockwell Baptist Church, is a muscular Christian of the best type. Of late years, like many of us, he has had to be content with the rdle of a cricket onlooker. As I can vouch from a personal acquaint­ ance, I may indeed say friendship, of many years, there has never been a keener follower of the game, nor one who has more thoroughly enjoyed its infinite variety. The Stockwell pastor, too, wields a facile pen. Unless my memory is deceptive, I can recill a pretty little cricket story of bis which saw the light of print some years ago. I am indeed rather inclined to think that it was reproduced partially, if not in its entirety, in one of the early numbers of Cricket. T he news that Mr. Wildman Cattley has resigned the treasurership of the Surrey County C.C., an office he has ably filled for a quarter of a century, will be received with regret by all who know his great business capacity, as well as his unvarying geniality. Born in the county and a life-long resident in it, he was a Surrey man thew and sinew. A good cricketer in his day, it was only fitting that his tastes should be inherited. Two of his sons—S. W. and A. C. (who, un­ fortunately, died in the prime of his youth)—both got into the Eton XL and both represented Surrey subsequently. Altogether, I should say Mr. Cattley’s record as one of the Surrey executive must have extended over nearly 40 years. T he Yorkshire team for the matches against South Wales at Cardiff, M.C.O. at Leeds, Hampshire at Southampton, Cambridge University at Cambridge, and Kent at Catford, will be chosen from the fo llow in g L o rd Hawke, Tunnicliffe, Hirst, Rhodes, Haigh, Denton, Myers, Rothery, Dolphin, Ringrose, Grimshaw, and Rudston. F rom the Melbourne Leader :— Ladies’ cricket is booming in Victoria. The form shown by several of the club teams is really surprising, but one eleven in par­ ticular invariably triumph over their opponents. The secret of their success came out accidentally the other day. A gentleman who has been a good player himself, having witnessed three matches played by the crack team, said to a lady friend, who plays for one of the other clubs,1 ‘ They beat you all badly in fielding! None of you seem to get down to the ball like they d o!” . “ That’s only because they don’t wear any - — -” Then she stopped and blushed, and finally added, “ I ’m sure you don’t think they 1look ’ as well in the field as we do ? ” R eferring at the Derbyshire annual meeting to the letter in which Lord Curzjn stated that he had himself written to seventy of his friends on behalf of Derbyshire cricket—letters which had produced a large sum of money—Mr. Arthur Wilson said that “ he did not know what to say about a letter like that, it had taken his breath away. He knew what it was to have written 70 letters with his own hand and not get sixpence many and many a time—(laughter)— in fact he could say he had written 700. ............ He felt that now they were, thanks to Lord Curzon, in comparatively smooth water; at the same time let them not relax their energies for one single moment. If Lord Curzon had done so much, let them do as much, or more if they could. He appealed to them to try their best to keep the old county to­ gether as best they could. Lord Curzon had said he would not be living there, but that was no disqualification. As he (Mr. Wilson) had told him, the birth qualification was what they wanted. They had always gone after birth qualification first and residential qualification after­ wards.” I n his letter, which was read at the above meeting, Lord Curzon said:— I ventured to start a subscription list by offering £50 a year for three years and £25 a year afterwards. (Applause.) The Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Devonshire, very kindly said that he would do the same, and I have received the following additional pro­ mises : Mr. Herbert Strutt, £50 for three years or £25 for six years ; the Duke of Port­ land, £25 for two years and £3 3s. after­ wards; Sir Peter Walker, £25 for two years; Mrs. Walter Evans, £25 for six years ; Kev. Charles Prodgers, £25 per annum; Lord Burton, £20 for three years ; Mr. Victor Cavendish, M.P., £20 per annum; Mr. John Gretton, £10 10s. per annum; Lord Scars- dale, £10 10s. for three years, and £5 5s. afterwards; the Duke of Butland, £10 per annum; the Hon. Francis Curzon, £10 per annum ; Mr. Charles Newton, £10 per annum ; Mr. Frank Newton, £10 per annum; Sir F. Ley, £10 for five years; Mr. F. A.