Cricket 1907

202 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 13, 1907. ever been anything but a drudgery. Even in the top-hat-and-braces period the players were very keen on that department of the game, as reference to the old publications on cricket will testify. Had anybody suggested the contrary during the life-time of “ F.G .,” he would have had his knuckles severely rapped, and deservedly so. C ollectors of score-cards will be interested to learn that “ Esq.” will no longer appear on those issued at Lord’s. This week’s match between Middlesex and the South Africans was the first in which the improvement was effected. F rom the Athletic News :— “ Wass was formerly on the staff at Aig- burth, Liverpool, and it is related of him that he once had the privilege of playing in aLan­ cashire League match. He drove up in a cab, and when he jumped out he said to his Jehu, ‘ Don’t go. You wait a hit for me.’ Wass was as good as his word. Playing as Cuttell’s substitute, he soon finished off the match hy taking eight wickets for the price of an old song.” Mention of “ Jehu ” reminds me of a story which used to be told of an old Cambridge cricketer, a hard hitter, who, after a long innings, found the word had been written in bold letters on his bat by one of his opponents. Why p Because it “ drove furiously.” I t will interest all readers of Cricket to learn that a fund has been opened for the benefit of the widow and children of the late Mr. W. W. Bead, the finest amateur batsman Surrey ever produced, and one whose doings during the most brilliant years of his career it was my pleasure to chronicle in this journal. The letter appealing for subscriptions is as follows : The early death of Mr. Walter W. Read has left his widow and children with hut a very small income. We should he grateful if we might he permitted to appeal to. cricketers in all parts of England, as well as in the county of Surrey, to whom the splendid cricket of Mr. Bead must on many occasions have given great pleasure, to aid us in collect­ ing a fund for the assistance of Mrs. Read. Subscriptions will he gratefully receivedhy Mr. W. Findlay, Surrey County Cricket Club, Kennington Oval, London, S.E. Alverstone, A. J. Webbe, Harris, H. D. G. Leveson- Hawke, Gower. J. Shuter, The Surrey County C.C. have headed the list with a donation of fifty guineas. A t Cardiff, on Saturday afternoon last, the Earl of Plymouth, on behalf of the Glamorganshire County C.C., presented Mr. J. H. Brain with a massive silver tea-tray, kettle and stand (Queen Anne design), a pair of porringers, and a pair of Griffin bowls in appreciation of six­ teen years’ service as Captain of the Club. O n April 27th, Cotter, playing for Glebe against Burwcod, at Wentworth Park, Bcored 76 in 28 minutes, hitting six 6’s and six 4’s. He made his last 57 in nineteen minutes, and obtained 55 off eighteen balls from C. Docker, thus:— 6 2 6 6 - 6 6 - 2 - 4 • 1 4 2 4 6 •. Docker delivered only eight overs, but had 84 runs hit off him. O n the same day, C. G. Macartney, after being missed first, ball, made 224 not out for Gordon v. Redfern, at Chats- wood, in 160 minutes. He hit nine 6’s and thirty 4’s. T h e following anonymous post-card has come to hand:— SURREY v. SUSSEX. The visiting captain’s duck occurred on a Fry-day, when such a thing should not have happened. The Vine also yielded no fruit, and nothing much came from Holland. Fie ! F ie! T iie Sydney Referee, in remarking that the Victorian Cricket Association at limes receives curious problems for elucidation, adds:— “ The latest is a case of a batsman in a first grade pennant match running between wickets about to make good his ground with his bat in the popping crease when, to avoid the hall returned from the field at a smartish pace, he jumped in the air. At this psycho­ logical moment the wicket was thrown down, and the man was adjudged out, although his hat projected over the batting crease, hut in the air. The decision was undoubtedly correct, as Rule 19 reads: *A batsman shall be held to he out of his ground unless his bat in hand or somepart of his personhe grounded within the line of the popping crease.’ ” “ At the same time, it is easy to apply the reductio adabmrdum method to this rendering. Supposing a batsman had easily made good his ground and was some distance behind the wickets and a wily fieldsman persuaded the batsman in question to try a running high jump. If the batsman’s wicket were put down during the currency of his leap, what would the verdict be under the above quoted Kule 19.” In connection with the above, the follow­ ing, taken from Wisden’s Note Book for 1902, page 181, may be considered of interest:—“ A batsman in New Zealand, in March [1901], was dismissed in a peculiar manner. He was running for a hit, and, in order to escape being hit by the ball, which was thrown in sharply, he jumped just as he was reaching the crease. By the time that the ball hit the wicket he had passed it in his flight, but the umpire ruled that he was off his ground, and he had to retire.” At Newmarket, in 1844, a batsman was stumped whilst “ jumping for joy ,” and was given out, although at the end of the jump he alighted in his ground, whilst in the previous year, in a match at Kiugs- cote between Wootton-under-Edge and Kingscote, a player has been given out stumped for not having his bat on the ground although he himself was well behind the crease ! The last-mentioned incident reminds one that it takes a strong eleven to play a side with a twelfth man. S. L e a k , of Adelaide, did some good run-getting performances during the past season in Australia. For the Federal Wednesday Early Closers he made 14, 28,* 79,* 13, 100,* 100,* 44,* 2, 66,* and for the South United Club on Saturdays 22, 35, 40,* 66, 44, 30,* 34,* 100,* 87,* 102.* This shows an aggregate of 1006 runs for seven completed ianings, average 143-71. A. F. S fooneh , who played once or twice for Lancashire last season, scored 83 on May 30th for Staten Island against King’s County, at Livingston, Staten Island. O n the Gloucester ground, on Tuesday, a fresh record was established by Northamptonshire for the smallest aggregate score ever made in a first-class inter-County match. At Trent Bridge six years ago Nottinghamshire collapsed for 13 against Rhodes and Haigh, but this week Dennett and G. L. Jessop, on behalf of Gloucestershire, have caused history to be written by disposing of Northants for a run less. The score was eleven when the second wicket fell, and five more went down ere the next and, as it proved, last run of the innings was obtained. Chief credit for the remark­ able performance belongs to Dennett, who took eight of the wickets for nine runs. The smallest aggregate scores in great matches are now as follows :— Score. For. Against. Ground. Year. 6 ... Kent ......... Bexley (with Lord F. Beau­ clerck and J. Hammond)... Dartford 1805 6f ... TheB’sfwith John Wells and Mr. J. Lawrell) ... England......... Lord’s ... 1810 11 ... Norfolk ... M.O.O. (withE. G.Wenman, J. Saunders, and W. Lillywhite) Dereham 1831 12| ... OxfordUnv. M.C.O & G. ... Oxford ... 1877 12 ... Northants... Glo’stershire... Glo’ster... 1907 13 ... N otts...........Yorkshire ... Nott’ham 1901 t One man absent. In less important cricket Leicester made 15 and 8 against Nottingham, at Leicester, in 1800; Kincar­ dineshire 8 v. Aberdeenshire, at Aberdeen, in 1879; Aberdeenshire 10 v. Forfarshire, at Broughton Ferry in 1899; and Suffolk 11. v. I Zingari, at Thorn- liam Hall, in 1883. Reference to Dennett’s remarkable bowl­ ing will be found in “ At the Sign of the Wicket.” T. R tjshby , who has been performing so well with the ball during the past ten days, was born at Cobham on September 6th, 1881, and made his first appearance for the County in 1903, when he became a member of the ground-staff at the Oval. Last year he took five wickets for 7 runs against Northamptonshire, at Northampton, and five for 17 against Yorkshire, at Sheffield. His last few analyses this year have been :— 6 for 23. v. Leicestershire, at Leicester. 2 25 ) | ” 42 ’ { v- Sussex, at the Oval. 2 ” 50 |v*Yorkshire, at Bradford. His future doings will certainly be fol­ lowed with interest. P l a y in g for Sidcup against Lessness Park, at Abbey Wood, on Saturday last, W. E. Bradshaw took all ten wickets for