Cricket 1907

M a y 2, 1907. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 107 might encturage T o D htjnter a bit.” “ T od h u n t e r ? You mean D a v id , don’t you P” “ No, T o d iiu n te r the Algebra man. It ought to give his books a tit of a leg- up. Yes, 1 must really send that copy to J essop .” H e n r y chuckled to him self as he filled his pipe. “ I don’t profess to be much of a mathematician myself,” he went on, “ but I remember that, there was a chapter called ‘ Ratio, Proportion, and Variation ’ that came in the Algebra for the Little-Go. I suppose J essop missed that, somehow. Perhaps he took French instead. But if he baa ever done it, or if be had consulted any schoolboy first, he would never have brought up his great scheme. “ Yes, of course, the two methods of scoring are exactly the same, really. I know that must sound almost incredible to a man who took French for his Little- Go, but so it is. You see it yourself, don’t you ? What I mean is that if Kent (say) is above Yorkshire ou the old system, Kent is bound to be above York­ shire on the new one. And if, next year, J essop has another brilliant idea of counting a million for a win, and minus thirty-seven for a loss, the counties would still be in the same position. Ratio, Proportion, and Variation : it all comes into that. What a wonderful man T od - HUNTER must have been ! “ All the same, though, I am glad Jessop took French. Because, but for that, the Advisory Committee of the M.C.C. would never have had the chance of adopting his scheme; and I do think that the idea of all these great and earnest cricketers solemnly discussing whether the time was ripe for a siarrimg change, and then finding afterwards that they hadn’t made a change at all, is one of the most glorijus things that has ever happened in this world. It’s what The Sportsman calls Mens soma in corpore sano. “ The papers are rather funny about it, too. Some of them are discovering that the order of last year’s competition remains the same under the new system of scoring, but they still think it’s only a coincidence. One of the ‘ Mail ’ men points out proudly that the best way of all would be to divide the wins by finished matches, and he makes out his little table to show it. Of course, the order is still the same, because that is what they have been doing all these years, only they don’t realise it. “ I am beginning to wonder no a how J essop works out his batting average. Batting averages mean decimals, aud decimals to a man who took French must be the very dickens. One mustn’t be surprised now if all the rest of our great games players (who make our Empire what it is) follow suit. S t e p h e n B loom er proposing, and the Advisory Committee of the Football Association unanimously adopting, his new plan of counting two for every goal instead of one, in order to encourage shooting; I n m a n comiog excitedly up with the suggestion that cannons should count six and pockets six or nine, and being welcomed with open arms by the Billiard Advisory Committee; D o h e r ty with his new idea of dividing the present lawn tennis scores by fives—forward the Advisory Lawn Tennis Association-— - Oh, it’s a great, great day for England !” “ But how would you arrange the County Championship,” I said, “ sup­ posing that they asked you ? ” “ Well, of course, there’spnly one ideal way of scoring, and that is the way by which one’s own county comes top. Lots of people discover it just at the end of the season, and write to The Sportsman about it. I once knew a man who lived in the beautiful Peak country, and he had invented a most elaborate system. I can’t remember it all, but roughly the idea was five for a loss and minus two for a win, and something extra when W arren played for England. His county always came out first that wav." “ No, but seriously ? ” “ Seriously, the thing could be done quite easily. The chief complaint against the present system is that the drawn game makes no difference to a county’s percentage. If a draw brought your percentage down, then certain teams wouldn’t be so ready to play for one. Very well then ; all you have to do is to divide a county’s points by the number of matches played instead of by the number finished. In this way every time a county draws a match its denominator gets larger, and its numerator remains the same. Perhaps numerator and de­ nominator are rather difficult words for an M.C.C. Advisory Committee, so I ’ll take an example. Yorkshire has played 14 (say), won 10, lost 2, drawn 2. Points 8 -proportionate points 8-14. Now it plays Sussex and draws. Points 8 —pro­ pur.ionite points 8-15. In other words it no longer pays them to draw. See ? It’s quite simple. “ What, are you going? Well, just fiiid me some string. I must send off my T o d h u n t e r to J essop .” YORKSH IRE X I. v. N E X T X V . Played at Leeds on April 29. Drawn. In this trial match on Monday last, Denton batted forty minutes for 43, whilst for the Next X V . Hardisty showed good form in compiling 30. Score and analysis :— Y o r k sh ir e . Tunnicliffe, run out... 5 Wilson (B. B.), retired 11 Denton, e Bates, b. Foster .................43 Lieut. Kaye, b Foster 4 Hirst, c Harrison, b Foster ................. 0 Rhodes, c Dolphin, b Knight .................29 Haigh, c Bates,bBooth 19 Myers, not o u t ..........31 Lord Hawke, e and b RadcliiTe.................10 Hunter, b Harrison... 5 B 3, nb 2 .......... 5 Total (9 wkts.)*162 Deyes did not bat. 1Innings declared closed. N ext XV. Rothery,lbw,b Rhodes 11 Hardisty, retired ... 30 Bates (Kirkheaton), retired ... ..........16 Robinson (Keighley), c Kaye, b Haigh .. 0 Booth (Pudsey), not out ... ......... ... 13 O. M. R. W. Smith ... 9 4 13 0 Harrison ...13 3 24 1 Foster ... 9 0 30 3 Wilkinson (W. H.) 4 1 23 0 Booth Bates Knight Sedgwick lladcliffe O. M. R. W. .4 2 5 1 . 6 0 22 0 . 5 0 18 1 . 7 1 17 0 4 1 5 1 Sedgwick and Radcliffe each bowled a no-ball. N ext XV. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Rhodes ... 8 1 21 1 I Haigh ... 11 1 16 1 Myers.......... 3 0 5 0 ! Hirst ... 8 3 17 1 Deyes.......... 7 3 12 0 I R. J. Radcliffe(Knares- borough), b Hirst... 0 Earnshaw (0. H.), not out ........................ 1 Extras .......... 0 Total (5 wkts.) 71 The tffomsponoencc. Editor does not hold himself responsible for the opinions of his correspondents. WON. PLAYED . To the Editor o f C r ic k e t . S ir , —Mr. J. B. Payne’s able article on scoring iu the County Championship falls short in one most important particular. Says he : “ Unfinished games shall not be reckoned (a direct and most powerful incentive this to many individuals to ‘ play for a draw.’— C aptious O n e ). The county gaining the highest percentage of wins in finished matches shall be cham­ pion county.” Let us have an example : — Percentage of Played. Won. Lost. Drawn. Wins. S u ssex ... 20 ... 1 ... 0 ... 19 ... lOO'DO Sussex are therefore Champion County. Shine of the moon ! Mr. Payne’s amendment, like that of so many other folk who are not conversant with the “ inside ” of cricket, with the characteristics of certain individuals, teams, etc., simply won’t do. The fact is every game begun, except those abandoned through rain, must come into the reckoning. The best method yet suggested is that by our good old friend “ Punch”—I almost wrote E. V. Lucas—viz., that the championship must be reckoned by dividing the matches won by matches played. Thus, all drawn games rightly reduce the points of both sides. A direct stimu­ lant this to both sides to go for the win ou trigh t; ergo, brighter and, in the long run, better cricket, although many drawn games produce some splendid examples of good cricket. What is known as Jessop’s system is good because it deducts two points for a defeat, but this would act harshly upon the weaker counties. The fact that deducting points for defeats penalises the loser twice has not proved the incentive to win that it should, mainly because hoi polloi do not realise the fact. So 1 would not have Jessop’s scheme, though it is surely something for the few enemies of cricket to chirrup over that the best scheme yet suggested should have appeared in the columns of a comic paper! Envoi: I see the writer of the South African Notes makes use of that thrice- odious word “ Ashes.” I apologise for using it, although we have had ‘ ‘ How we recovered the Ashes,” but not its obvious sequel, “ How we sat in ’em.” Yours, April 26 th. “ C aptio u s O n e .”