Cricket 1907

J une 6, 1907. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 185 whilst last season his figures were 32-00. This year—I almost wrote summer !—he had, up to Monday last, scored 402 in ten completed innings. He has already twice carried his bat through the innings for his County, the first instance being in the Yorkshire match at Taunton and the second at the expense of Middlesex at Lord’s. His highest score so far is his 137 in last week’s tie-match between M.C.C. and Ground and Leicestershire at Lord’s. T ho se who were present at Lord’s throughout last week saw some excellent cricket. The first three days witnessed the straggle between the M.C.C. and the South Africans, whilst in the latter part of the week a tie-match was chronicled. The quality of the cricket varied greatly iu each match; at times it was of quite an ordinary nature, but occasionally it became exciting and keenly contested. It is more than likely that, had the two matches been played on hard wickets, a couple of drawn games would have resulted. So perhaps the rain which fell in the north of London during the week was really a blessing in disguise, although few cricketers, if any, probably looked at the matter ia that light at the time. T h e following tie-matches have now been played in important cricket :— Hambledon, with Lumpy (140 and 62), v. Kent, with Bedster and Yalden (111 and 91), at Hambledon ...................................... 1783 M.O.O. and Ground (69 and 107) v. Oxford and Cambridge Universities (115 and 61), at Lord’s ... ............................... 1839 Surrey (112 and 160) v. Kent (127 and 145), at the Oval ............................... .......... 1847 XVI. of Oxford University (92 and 57) v. All England Eleven (53 and 96), at Oxford... 1862 Surrey (204 and 93) v. M.O.O. and Ground (175 and 122\ at the Oval ... ................. 1868 Surrey (93 and 186) v. Middlesex (112 and 167), at the O val..................................... ... 1868 Surrey (215 and 245) v. Middlesex (138and 322), at the O val............................................. 1876 1st Australian Team (123 and 112) v. XV. of Victoria and New South Wales (138 and 97), at Melbourne ........................ 1877-8 Gentlemen (235 and 149) v. Plavers (203 and 181), at the Oval....................................... 1883 Somerset (107 and 127) v. Middlesex (108 and 126), at Taunton... ... ........................ 1890 Surrey (97 and 124) v. Lancashire (147 and 74), at the O va l.............................................. 1894 Worcestershire (224 and 209) v. South Africans (293 and 140), at Worcester .................. 1901 Middlesex (272 and 225) v. South Africans (287 and 210), at Lord’s ................................ 1904 Surrey (125 and 161) v. Kent (202 and 84), at the Oval .............................................. 1905 M.O.C. and Ground (371 and 69) v. Leicester­ shire (239 and 201), at Lord’s ........... 1907 Seveu of the above matches were played at the Oval, and three at LoraV T h e re-appearance of Mr. B . E . Foster occurs at a most appropriate moment, for at the present time, with Messrs. Spooner, Jackson, Fry, and MacLaren not taking part regularly in great matches, we have very few amateur bats­ men of the highest class. If Mr. Palairet and Mr. Foster were to indulge in a long partnership for the Gentlemen against the Players, or in one of the Test matches, what a treat it would be for the spec­ tators ! A boy named Gilbert, whilst playing cricket on Mitcham Common, ran on to the road to recover the ball, and was struck by a motor-car and killed. Two years ago, when in all first-class matches he took 170 wickets for 21'87 runs apiece, George Cox, of Sussex, was in many quarters regarded as the best left-handed bowler in the country on a hard wicket. Last season, however, his batting improved, but at a cost of a corresponding decline in his bowling powers. He played a remarkable innings of 167 not out against Hampshire, at Chichester, enabling Sussex to score 336 after six wickets had fallen for 64, but it cannot be doubted that it would, on the whole, have been better for his side if he had retained his bowling unimpaired. His doings in last week’s match against Middlesex lead one to hope that he will obtain many wickets during the season. From “ W. G .’s ” Notts in the Morning Post: — Forty years ago, when good wickets were the exception and not the rule, as they are now, it was no use watching the bowler’s hand or in any way anticipating what the hall would do after it pitched, as one very often got what the South Africans call the “ wrong ’ un —that is, a leg-break howler would just as likely as not come in from the off, and j ust the opposite would happen with an off-break howler. The batsmen had also to look out for shooters, which were very common in those days, and shooters at Lord’ s came along so fast that they were named underground shooters, and required a lot of playing. I think the batsmen of the present day would play these “ googly” howlers much better if they did not anticipate, hut carefully watched the ball from the pitch. Arthur Shrewsbury never liked this kind of bowling, hut very seldom lost his wicket when playing against it. He often remarked: “ 1 never know which way it will break, so when it is pitched just outside the ofE-stump I expect it to come in and play accordingly. I f it happens to go away no harm is done, as I leave it alone.” Then these bowlers as a rule send down plenty of very loose balls, which are easily hit to the boundary, and the Bcore soon mounts up. P la y in g for Incogniti against Lans- down at Weston, Bath, on Thursday last, E . Bradbery took four wickets with con­ secutive balls. T h e following remarks by C. B. Fry, in the Daily Ohronicle of Monday last, are very apropos at the present time, when the County Club’s receipts from gate-money have been so severely affected by the inclement weather:— I have taken some pains to corroborate an opinion which I have long held, which is that a very great number of people who might do so do not become members of county cricket clubs simply because they believe that county cricket is founded, and can be maintained, upon gate-money. The truth is that county cricket is in a great measure still an affair of patronage. In the old days one or two rich men were the means of enabling county clubs to exist, and there are even nowadays a few patrons of this kind. Contrary to the general idea on the subj ect, patronage is still necessary practically to all counties, but it takes the form of a kind of limited liability patronage distributed over the members. A member of a county cricket club usually, I believe, regards his subscription as a mere compounded payment of gate-money. He ought rather to regard himself as a patron to the extent of the amount he pays. In the old days one patron gave, say 200 guineas to help the club. Now 200 patrons give one guinea each. I can assure all people who care for the prosperous continuance of county cricket that whether or not they become members of their county clubs is a matter of very serious moment to the game. Of course when a county team is doing notably well, the mem­ bership increases as well as the gate-money. When a team is having a disappointing period expenses are not a penny the less, and the revenue from both sources falls off. Over gate-money there is no control. People come or not as they like, and nothing that can be said will induce them to come if they do not want to, but it may be worth while to point oat to such supporters of cricket as are likely ever to become members of county clubs that their patronage is most needed at times when bad weather and other deleterious circum­ stances most affect the popular interest of the game and the number of sixpences paid at the gate. A. C. M ac L a r e n , in an article in the Strand Magazine on “ Cricket from a Cricketer’s Stand-point,” says he is “ not at all sure the game is as good as it used to be, owing to the amount of import­ ance allotted by the Press to the cham­ pionship tables, individual performances, and records. In my early days there was no champion county except that county side admitted by the men playing the game to be the best of the year. Formerly, teams went about the country to win or lose, which nowadaos play so cautiously when near the top of the championship tables that many a game is left drawn which would have been won with more enterprising play.” F rom the Daily Telegraph : — The ball had gone over the palings as balls will in suburban gardens, and a small but unabashed batsman appeared at the front door to ask for it. To him an irate father : “ How dare you show yourself at my house ? How dare you ask for your ball ? Do you know you nearly killed one of my children with i t ? ” “ But you’ve got ten children,” said the logical lad, “ and I ’ve only got one cricket ball.” A t Hampden Park, Sydney, on April 20th, Trumper, playing for Paddington against Central Cumberland, scored 212 out of 317 in 150 minutes. He gave only one chance—in the long-field when 186 —and hit a 6 and thirty-one 4’s. F or the Sydney Grammar School during the 1906-7 season, Eric P. Bar­ bour scored 1,726 runs (average 53-94) and took 142 wickets (average 12'00). J. H. V incett , who was given a trial for Sussex this week in the match with Nottinghamshire, at Hove, is a slow- medium right-handed bowler and a big hitter. In June last he scored 188 for Hastings Footballers v. Hastings Wanderers in under two hours. He was