Cricket 1907

A do . 29, 1907. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 377 bowlers as Hallam and Wass undoubtedly are, it could have occurred to few, if any, that they would prove equal to dismissing their strong opponents for such insigni­ ficant totals as 82 and 37. Their irre­ sistible bow ling brought about the victory for Nottinghamshire which A. O. Jones’ innings of 94 had rendered possible. Their record with the ball in this year’s County Championship matches is as follows : H allam . W ass . 8 $ © CD . ^ CO M 03 .3 5 Match. .2 § £ a £ ps 9 for 65 ...Norlhants., at Northampton... 9 for 69 10 „ 87 ... Leices., at Nottingham....... 8 „ 78 0 , , 83 ... Surrey, at Nottingham.....10 „ 130 13 „ 82 ... 1.eices., at Leicester ....... 7 „ 93 1 „ 16 ... Yorks., at Nottingham....... 0 „ 27 7 „ 84 ...Sussex, at Brighton ... 12 „ 112 13 „ 56 ... Essex, at I eyton .......... 6 „ 75 6 „ 134 ... Sussex, at Nottingham.....11 „ 117 5 „ 131 ... Essex, at Nottingham ....... 5 „ 157 8 „ 93 ...Lanes., at Nottingham ... ... 10 „ 145 No play. ... Yorks,at Hudder.-field .. . . No play. 9 for 62 ...Derby, at Nottingham ... 9for 74 12 ,,143 . Glouces., at Nottingham ... 5 „ 109 12 „ 147 ... Middlesex, at Lord’s ....... 3 „ 120 5 „ 117 ...Northants., at Nottingham ... 13 „ 147 2 „ 145 ... Surrey, at the Oval ....... 5 „ 182 8 „ 113 ... Glouces., at Gloucester....... 7 „ 116 8 „ 81 ...Derby, at Chesterfield ... ... 10 „ 67 10 „ 110 ...Middlesex, at Nottingham ... 6 „ 91 9 ., 52 ... Lancs., at Liverpool ....... 9 „ 60 0< the 310 wickets ob ’ ained by bowlers daring the feason for the County, HalJaTi and Wass took as many as 2iJ8, the former’s record being 1.53 for 1178 runs each and the latter’s 145 at a cost of 13'57 apiece. A t the conclusion of the Lancashire match last Friday, Mr. Jones received the follow ing telegram from the Duke of P ortland: — “ Please accept my most sincere congratu­ lations, and convey the same to rest of Eleven on your successful season. I am delighted our county are cricket champions, and I hope we may continue to be eo .” The E'even, upon their return to N ot­ tingham the same night, were met at the railway station by thousands of people, who lurned out to give a warm welcome to the side which, alone amoDg the counties, had passed through the season without a reverse. I t seems probable that Mr. S. H. Cochrane, of Woodbrook, Ireland, will take a team to the West Indies this winter for a short tour. The side has not yet b j fn chosen, but it is stated that Sir T. C. O'Brien will make the trip. T he tiuth of the old saying that a man is only as old as he feels was again proved last week by Sir William Grantham, who played in a couple of matches at Balneath Manor, Chailey, the residence of his son, Mr. W . W . Grantham. In one match, whilst playing for his grandson’s, Mr. Ivor Grantham’s, X I . against a side led by his son, he made the highest score of the three generations of the family, and in another game obtained the largest innings for his side. Sir William is now in his seventy-third year. Scores and Biographies relates that in July or August, 1886, Mr. Justice Gran­ tham, as he then was, broke a tendon of his leg whilst playing at Barcombe, and had to be conveyed to his residence. About twelve months previously he had met with a similar accident. When a famous Parliament House lawyer was elevated to the Bench he sent in his resignation as President of the Edinburgh Skating Club. The members asked him if he thought it beneath a judge’s dignity to skate. “ N o,” he replied, “ but it is beneath a judge’s dignity to fall.” Similarly, Mr. Justice Grantham might have pleaded that, while it is not beneath a judge’s dignity to bat, it is beneath a judge’s dignity to be hit about by furious bowlers who cannot be committed for contempt. “ A rum our ,” says the Sportsman, “ is abroad to the effect that no fewer than four counties will decline to arrange fixtures for next season with one another, owiug to the many unnecessary appeals that have been made.” It is difficult to bflieve that any first-class side would act in the manner suggested, for the adoption of such a policy would not only tend to bring the game into disrepute, but would also b.ing ridicule upon the county. D u r in g the past month the most pleas­ ing feature of Gloucestershire’s cricket has been the batting of Langdon. He first came into the team in 1900, since when his doings in County Championship matches have been as follow s:— No. Times Most of not in an Total Year. Inns. out. Inns. Runs. Aver. 1900 ... ... 6 . .. 1 . .. 76* ... 147 ..,, 2940 1901 ... ... 45 ... 4 ... 114* ... 809 .... 19*73 1902 ... ... 32 . .. 1 . .. 84 ... 643 .. 20-64 1903 ... ... 33 . .. 0 ... 116 ... 597 ..., 18 09 1904 ... ... 24 . .. 1 . .. 83* ... 373 ... 1621 1905 ... ... 25 . 2 63 ... 310 ..., 13*47 1906 ... ... 12 ." 0 46 ... 132 ..., 1100 * Signifies not out. The figures stamp him as having been an ordinary batsman and nothing more, but during the past month he has scored 92 v. Northants, 68 v. Middlesex, 97 and 57 v. Essex, 75 and 69 v. Notts., 90 v. Sur­ rey, and 54 and 78 not out v. the South Africans, in the last innings going in first and carrying out his bat. I n the match at Manchester on Monday afternoon Lancashire lost six wickets for 68 runs after Derbyshire had completed their innings for 165. A contemporary attributes the collapse to “ the crease becoming difficult.” Evidently thequality of the whitewash was not so good as it might have been. F rom the Daily Telegraph: — “ W e go as far as most people in admiration for the South African howlers, hut when an opinion is expressed that such a bowling side has never been seen before it is surely time to draw the line. The great Australian team of 1882 must not he deposed so lightly. That was, in the opinion ol the leading English batsmen of the time, the strongest bowling combination that ever toured either in England or Australia. Spofforth, Palmer, Boyle, and Garrett, with George Giffen, then at the out­ set of his career, to back them up, commanded profound respect wherever they went. No one whose recollection of cricket goes back five and twenty years will need to he told how good they were or what wonderful things they did. Like the South Africans this year, they had a wet season, and we freely admit that, owing to different methods of preparing grounds sticky wickets remained difficult far longer in 1882 than they do to-day. On the other hand, these great Australian bowlers did not have the advant­ age that Schwarz and Vogler have enjoyed of being new to the batsmen they opposed The revelation had come with the visit of the first Australian eleven in 1878, and batsmen knew perfectly well that they would find on balls of full medium pace an amount of off-break only met with in former days with distinctively slow bowlers of the type of Southerton, to say nothing of a great variety of speed, with little apparent change of action.” This expression of opinion coincides with that stated in a recent issue of Cricket. W . G. G race , who played against all the great Australian bowlers, from Spofforth to Trumble, continues the Daily Telegraph, has written some very interesting comments on the South African bowling, with special reference to the match last week at the Oval. He is very appreciative, but he thinks that the slow bowlers make the ball do too much, and that they would be still more effective if they could to some extent regulate their break. H e recalls the fact that Spofforth, when he beat the bat, always hit the wicket. Spofforth, aB we happen to know, takes exactly the same view as W . G. Grace. It is his opinion that, wonderful as the South African slow bowlers look from the ring, they send down too many balls that cannot get wickets. Am id all this diversity of opinion, the fact remains that, with the leg-break as a starting point, the South Africans have brought to a high pitch of excellence the novelty in bow ling that Bosanquet discovered. Whatever the future may have in store, the new bow ling is, for the time being, tri­ umphantly successful. D u ring the course of his not-out innings of 91 for Yorkshire v. Kent, at Canterbury on Saturday, Hirst, who had previously obtained well over a hundred wickets during the season, completed his 1,000 runs for the year. The fact is interesting because he haB now ac­ complished the double feat of obtaining over 1,000 runs and taking more than 100 wickets in a season eight times, thereby exceeding the record of seven which he and “ W .G .” had previously shared. Dr. Grace’s figures are as follows :— Yeai*. Runs. Wkts. 1874 ... ,......... 1,665 ... ... ... 129 1875 ... ,......... 1,498 .......... ... 102 1876 ... .......... -2,622 .......... ... 124 1877 ... ......... 1,474 .......... .. 179 1878 ... ......... 1,151 .......... ... 153 1885 ... ,......... 1,688 .......... ... 118 1886 ... ,......... 1,846 .......... ... 122 Hirst’s great yeirs have been : Year. Runs. Wkts. 1896 ... ......... 1,122 .......... ... 104 1897 ... ......... 1,535 .......... ... 101 1901 ... ......... 1,950 .......... ... 183 1903 ... .......... 1,844 . ... ... 128 1904 ... .......... 2,501 .......... ... 132 1905 ... ......... 2,266 .......... ... 110 1906 ... ......... 2,385 .......... ... 208 1907 ... .......... 1,200 ... ... ... 168