Cricket 1907

J u ly 11, 1907. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 265 and that the verdict should be against the batsman. “ L e a t h e r - H t j n t e r ” of the Brighton Argus draws attention in his last Monday’s article to the following previous instances of a batsman being given out for handling the ba ll:— J. Grundy, M.C.C. and Ground v. Kent, at Lord’s .. .. .. .. 1857 W . Scotton, Smokers v. Non-smokers, at East Melbourne .. .. .. 1887 W . Chatterton, Derby v. Notts, at Derby .. .. .. .. 1890 Mr. C. W . Wright, Notts v. Glouces­ tershire, at Bristol... .. 1893 In the 1857 case the bowler received the credit of obtaining the wicket, the score- sheet reading “ J. Grundy, handled ball, b Willsher, 15,” In a match at the Oval on the same days, between South­ gate and Surrey Club and Ground, there was another instance of a player being dismissed in an unusual manner, for iu the first innings of the latter we find “ Mr. B. H. Bushell, hit ball twice, b Y. E. Walker, 6." The two occurrences taking place within such a short time of each other naturally provided cricketers with a topic of conversation for some time to come. I t is said that, prior to last week’s Test Match, P. W. Sherwell was offered a sovereign by his father for every run he made during the three days. As he scored 6 and 115, he will certainly have good cause to remember the match. It appears that, during his large innings, he damaged his already-injured thumb so severely that, whilst the rest of the side journeyed to Brighton, he remained in London in order to have the nail removed. “ S h e r w e l l ’ s S t a n d ” was Prebendary Carlile’ s topio last Sunday evening at St. Mary-at-Hill, the Monument, London. T h e meeting of Gloucestershire and Somerset at Bristol produced some curious cricket. The match, o f course, was inter­ fered with by rain. In an endeavour to force a win Gloucestershire put the closure into force twice in one day and almost succeeded in snatching a victory. The score of the home side’s innings certainly presents an unusual appearance :— G loucestershire . First innings. Second innings. WrathalljC Palairet,b Lewis 2 b Braund ...........11 Langdon, b R obson..........68 b Lewis ...........19 Board, b Braund................. 8 run out ........... 5 Winstone, b Braund.............17 G. L. Jessop, c Lewis, b Braund ........................ 5 b Braund ........... 4 F. M. Luce, not out .........23 not out.................. 2 Capt.O.E.B. Ohampain, not out ................................ 3 Byes, etc..................... 13 Byes, etc. ... 6 Total (5 wkts) 139 Total (4 wkts) *47 * Innings declared closed. E. Barnett, Mills, Parker, and Dennett did not bat. "When stumps were drawn, Somerset, with two wickets in hand, required 13 runs to win. A t the end of last week J. N. Crawford was very busy. On Thursday and Friday he bowled unchanged through both innings of Derbyshire, at Derby, thereby having much to do with the match being finished on the second afternoon. Oa the Siturday he played for Cane Hill Asylum against M.C.C. and Ground and scored 130, bis chief hits being five 6’s and eighteen 4’s. A t e l e g r a m from Australia announces that the programme of matches arranged by the Board of Control for the M.C.C.’s vi«it at the end of the present season has been approved by the Club. The first Test Match will commence in Sydney on December 14th. O n Thursday next “ W. G .” enters upon his sixtieth year, and that he is still able to do well he plainly showed on Friday afternoon last, when, playing for London County against Forest Hill, he scored 140 and took six wickets for 30 runs. He has now made as many as 214 I undreds in all kinds of cricket. C r ic k e t e r s everywhere have had very good cause to complain of the weather this season. In the north especially it has been deplorable : I am told that the Liverpool C .C . were obliged to abandon II matches in succession on account of the rain. A contemporary points out that the seasons of 1675 and 1814 were even worse, but I doubt whether any players will derive consolation from the knowledge. On June 22nd, E. H. L. Steinthal made 159 not out for Staten Island v. Mont- clari, at Staten Island, and in partner­ ship with M. E. Cobb (95) put up 225 for the first wicket: the first hundred runs were made in 35 minutes. Stein­ thal will be remembered over here on account of Lis large innings of 216 not out for Clifton College against Haverford College in 1896. T. B. M c K i b b i n , of New South Wales, has recently returned to his old home at Bockley, near Bathurst, after having lived for some years in Western Australia. He will be remembered as a member of the Australian Eleven of 1896. G. W. T h o m p s o n , of the Camberwell Borough Council Staff, took all ten wickets for 28 runs for Camber A.C. v. Hastings Corporation, at Hastings, on Saturday last. A t a meeting of the Victoria Cricket Association on May 27th, Mr. Mitchell, one of the delegates, made a lengthy statement, showing the reasons why the Board had guaranteed the sum of £10,000 to the Marylebone Club. The last English team’s share of the ground receipts had amounted to £8,100, and the Marylebone Club had a loss of £1,600 on the tour. Therefore, £10,000 would cover the English body. It was a good business proposal from an Australian point of view. It was better to take a slight risk, with prospects of greater profits for the Associations. Even if the Marylebone share was the same as on the last tour, the Board would have £8,100 to pay expenses, and the balance would be guaranteed. O n e bowler, whose name, so far as we know, has not been mentioned in connect­ ion with the Test matches, says the Daily Telegraph, is Barnes. Since, as ttie result ot some disagreement, he dropped out of the Lincashire eleven, Barnes has not been seen in first-class cricket, but to judge from his doings for Staffordshire, he can bowl as well as ever. Last year, when Staffordshire stood first among the second-class counties, he had the remarkable record of 119 wickets for less than eight runs apiece, and this season he is meeting with just as much success. Tne great point in his favour is that, making the ball turn from the leg- side, he is generally at his best on hard wickets. Whether his claims will be considered we have no idea, but he is clearly worth thinking about. The Aus­ tralians, who are the keenest judges of bowling, formed a very high opinion of him when he went out with MacLiren’s team in 1901-02, and were confirmed in their view when he bowled against them here in the Test match at Sheffield five years ago. As Barnes is only thirty-one years of age, he is not too old to be still at the top of his form. T h e Annual General Meeting of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society was held at Lord’s on Monday evei iug last, Capt. W. E. Denison, the President, in the chair. It was annour ced that the membership stood at 178, and that, owing largely to a sum of £412 derived from the Kent v. England match at the Oval last September, the year’s profit reached nearly £600. During the pre­ vious twelve months £247 had been disbursed in sick pay and £123 received in donations. The trustees of the Society are Lord Alverstone, Lord Harris, Lord Hawke, and Mr. C. E. Green. Mr. H. Luff, of 21, Cranbourne Street, Leicester Square, is the Hon. Secretary. D u r i n g the Meeting Lord Harris made a very interesting speech, which the Sportsman summarises as follows :— Referring to the present state of cricket, he thought it was very important that they should keep the game popular with the public, aud it was to the interest of all of them that the best cricket should be shown. In this connection he was a little anxious about the amateurs. Last year, when the young pro­ fessionals of his own county were doing so well, he was told that it might mean the death knell of the amateur. He hoped, how­ ever, this would never be the case. It was a difficult thing, when professionals were doing well, to turn them out late in the season to admit amateurs, but unless the latter had a chance there was a danger of their being shut out altogether. That undoubtedly would be a very great loss to cricket and of no real benefit to professionals. In his own time there was not so much first-class cricket as now ; there were not so many calls on the amateur. At present cricket was so perpetual that amateurs, many of whom now entered business earlier than used to be the case, experienced great difficulty in getting away