Cricket 1907

CRICKET : a w e e k ly r e c o r d o f t h e game. SEPT. 5, 1907. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. h o . 7 6 4 . v o i . x x v i . THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1 9 0 7 . p r i c e 2 d MR R. O. SCHWARZ. (Photo,by Hawkins & Co., Brighton). 1901 and 1902 he took only one wicket for Middlesex, and that at a cost of 117 runs. His greatest performance hitherto has been in the match with a strong England eleven at Lord’s three years ago, when he scored 102 and 26 and I took eight wickets in the match for 106 runs. The South Africans won b y 189 runs, and, although practically every man on the side did some­ thing towards the success, the honours of the game clearly belonged to Mr. Schwarz. Ranjittinhji, who obtained over two thousand runs that season with an average of 74-17, was thoroughly puzzled, and diimissed, by his deliveries in both innings, his scores being only 28 and 29. It is not only as a cricketer, however, that Mr. Schwarz has gained fame, for in 1893 he obtained his Rugby Blue for Cambridge, and after­ wards his International cap as a half-back. Mr. Schwarz, who was bom at Lee, near Blackheatb, on May 4th, 1875, has not obtained his cricketical skill heredita ily, for he is the only member of his family who has ever shown any aptitude for the game. “ My earliest acquaintance with cricket,” heBaid, “ was made whilst studying at Littel- john’s, at Greenwich. We were all very small boys there, and used to play on the Common, where we were coached by a professional who had lost the sight of an eye. An cccasional match with a neighbouring school was arranged, aud was naturally always looked forward to with the keenest pleasure and no little excitement. I was studying for the Navy then, but when twelve years of age was found to be colour-blind, which necessi­ tated a change of plan so far as a career was concerned. I was then sent to Quern- more, where a lot of cricket was played, reasonable limits than has been the case during the last decade or so. Mr. Schwarz’s skill as a bowler is so pro­ nounced—he heads the first-class averages —that one is apt to overlook, or at least under-rate, his ability as a batsman. Y et it was for his batting that he played for Oxfordshire until 1900, and afterwards for Middlesex. His first three innings for the latter county were 26 not out and 74 v. Somerset, in W . Gunn’s benefit match, at Lord’s, and 71 v. Gloucester­ shire on the same ground in the same week. It seems curious to find that in CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR . R. O. SCHWARZ. The visit of the South African team to England this year has proved by far the chief feature of the season, and it is no exaggeration to state that Mr. Schwarz’s bow ling has done more than anything else to create the interest with which the performances of tbe side have been fo l­ lowed, For some weeks his success as a bowler caused almost a panic among followers of tbe game over here, and many sound judges of cricket candidly confessed how great was their anxiety as to the results of the Test matches. England, as it happened, did not lose either of the three great games, and did not therefore ex­ perience, as at one time seemed quite possible, the disappointment of losing the rubber on the first occasion upon which the South Africans participated in Test matches over here. Mr. Schwarz was seen at his best in the game at the Oval, where he took six wickets for 66 runs and always required watching most closely. As one sat and watched him bowling with such precision and fine ju d g ­ ment, it was difficult to believe that until three seasons ago he was quite a stranger to the style he now employs with so much suc­ cess. It would, perhaps, not be quite accurate to say that the discovery of the method whereby an off- break may be bowled with apparently a leg-break action marks the commencement of as important an epoch in the history of the game as did the introduction of round-armed or, in later years, over-hand bowling, but when the style has been more generally adopted, as it is bound to be, it will certainly tend to keep run-getting down to more