Cricket 1907

386 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t. 5, 1907. and afterwards to St. Paul’s. Kerry, the j,ri feesional engaged at the latter school, whs a capi'al coach ; I believe he was a Nottingham man. He has taught more than one generation of Paulines the gam*', and was always very popular with the b ■y<’. I was in the eleven there four years, lS90-’3, being captain tie last two. I t was about my li« t year at St. Paul’s that, in company with Y . F. S. Crawford and N . F. Druce, I played at the Oval fur the Y oung Amateurs of Surrey against the Y oung Professionals.” “ Y ou never appeared in the Surrey Eleven, I believe ? ” “ My associations with the county were not very close, and I never got beyond playing in a few Club and Ground matches. Besides, I went up to Cam­ bridge in 1893 and obtained plenty of cricket there. There were a great many fine players in residence j ust at that time, including James Douglas, Rinjitsinhji, P . H . Latham, Frank M itchell and Norman Druce, each of the two latter being a Freshman when awarded his Blue. I played for the Freshmen in 1894 and for the Seniors the follow ing year, but never appeared in a match for the University. There was plenty of college cricket, how ­ ever, and if a man was fond of the game he could obtain almost as much cricket as he could possibly desire.” “ When did you go out to South Africa ? ” “ In September, 1902, in the previous boat to that in which the Australians sailed. Waen I came over to England three years ago as a member of the South African team, my inclusion gave rise to some discussion, but I had made the country my home and had been out there eighteen months. In Johannesburg, where I have always lived since leaving England, the big firms are very generous in letting players off for matches. A journey to Capa Town takes three or four days, and a visit there for cricket purposes occupies at least two weeks. The best supporter we have ever had is Mr. Abe Bailey, who has done a very great deal for the game for many years. H e attends all the matches, and is always on the watch for young cricketers of promise. As perhaps you know, he guaranteed the expenses in connection with the tour of 1904, and lost rather heavily as the result. It was due to his generosity, too, that South Africa did not lose the services of Y ogler.” “ H ow did you come to bow l ‘ googlies ’ ?” “ I obtained the idea from Bosanqueti but was never taught by him as many papers have stated. I t was really quite by accident that I chanced to discover how to hold the ball in order to produce the desired effect: it occurred whilst I was bow ling at the nets during the second day of our match with Cambridge University three years ago. In our follow ing game—against O xford—I was put on in the second ioniog8, for the first time during the tour, and took five wickets in 44 balls for 27 runs in a total of 167. When I went on I had not the slightest idea how the field should be placed, so I told them to scatter and trusted to fortune. I managed to obtain a length, and, being satisfied with that, did not worry about getting much break on. That was my first experiment with “ googlies ” in a match, and all the five wickets they acciuoted for were bowled down. Afterwards they were in frequent request, and during the tour obtained ninety-six wickets at less than fifteen runs each. Since then the style has become much more general, and in South Africa you frequently come across quite small boys employing it successfully.” “ Has this year’s tour proved satisfac­ tory from your side’s point of view ? ” “ The weather has been much against us. The quantity of rain experienced has been a great disappointment to us all, especially so far as the Test Matches are concerned, for our style of play is best adapted to fast wickets. The season of 1904 was a good one, and we wanted another like it. Apart from the weather, however, we have had a most enjoyable time. Everybody we have met has been very kind to us in many ways. Once, ow ing to some remarks by a local reporter, we were all made honorary members of a g o lf club, and only two of us had ever played before ! The golfers even went so far as to lend their clubs—always a mark of especial favour—and all our men did in return was to lose several golf balls in a pond for them and remove about two square miles of turf. The wickets over here are very different from these in South Africa, where matting is invariably used. Accordingly the pace of the wickets never varies, and ten minutes after even heavy rain play is possible. The side which wins the toEs always goes in first. All the bowlers on our side are good on fast wickets, but cannot take full advantage of the wet ones. In the Transvaal, where the out­ field is always very fast, the ground is of a hard sandy nature, and it is a fact that some of the younger players now over here had r.ever seen grass wickets until they arrived in England. I think they did very well in accustoming themselves to the changed conditions so readily. It has been rumoured that some of us intend qualifying for certain counties, but it is incorrect. Two of the side are going to America with the M .C.C.’s team, but all will return to South Africa.” “ Have you had many unusual experi­ ences whilst playing the game ? ” ‘ ‘ I havo taken part in three tie-match.es — two of them in good-class cricket. The first was on the occasion of the visit of the M.C.C. to Arkley in 1900, when “ Parson ” Thornton took the last three wickets of the home side in quick succes­ sion with his lobs. The second was in our match at Lord’s in 1904 with Middlesex, and the third in a recent three-day game in South Africa. In the last match our opponents required only six runs to win with five wickets to fall, and the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion. But our bowler managed to get a length, and two were still wanted when the last man came in. A single was made, and the tenth wicket fell immedi­ ately afterwards. The other side thought they had won, and their secretary and captain inspected the score-book without finding anything there to cause them to change their opinion. An impartial spec­ tator, who had chanced to keep the score, and knew that there was some uncertainty as to the result, wrote saying that our side had won by two runs ! We had no scorer on that occasion, aa it happened, or the point could have been settled at once. Has it never happened before that a three-day match has been played to a finish without it being known which side has won ? In my own mind, I feel certain that the result was a tie.” WANDERERS C.C., 1907. Matches played, 31 ; won, 15 ; lost, 7 ; drawn, 9. No. Times Most of not Total in an inns out. runs. inns. Aver. D. L. A. Jephson ... 18 ... 3 .. 657 .. 119*.. 43-80 T. J. Wheeler ... ... 9 .. 1 .. 338 .. 100*.. 42-22 V. F. S. Crawford ... 6 .. 0 .. 241 .. 64 .. 40-16 R. Kenward ... 21 .. 3 ... 708 .. 101 .. 39-33 S. S. Stafford ... ... 11 .. 1 .. 366 .. 105 .. 36-60 N. A. Damian ... ... 10 .. 5 .. 167 .. 80 . 33-40 H. D. Wyatt ... 14 .. 0 ... 445 .. 113 .. 31*77 S. Colman.......... ... 31 .. 3 ... 673 .. 80*.. 24-03 K. E. M. Barker ... 6 ... 0 .. 128 .. 47 .. 21-33 R. B. Brooks ... ... 15 .. 3 .. 252 .. 61 .. 21-00 W. J. Bryant ... ... 9 .. 2 .. 140 .. 74 .. 20-00 A. E. Earnshaw ... 9 .. 1 .. 144 .. 25 .. 18-00 E. H. Fischer ... ... 16 .. 1 .. 262 .. 50*.. 17-40 F. Kahlenberg ... ... 9 .. 3 ... 81 .. 22 .. 13-50 A. L. Sloper 7 .. 1 ... 79 .. 22 .. 13-16 P. P. Lincoln ... ... 12 .. 2 .. 125 .. 39*.. 12-50 A. H. Behrend ... ... 6 ... 5 .. 11 .. 9*.. 11-00 C. P. Wyatt ... 6 .. 1 .. 54 .. 14*.. 10-80 T. A. Darke ... 18 .. 3 .. 137 .. 23 .. 9-13 H. T. B u ll......... ... 9 ... 3 .. 50 .. 14 .. 8-33 O. Taylor .......... ... 9 .. 3 .. 34 .. 21*.. 5-66 Played less than 6 innings — F. W. Robarts ... ... 5 .. 1 .. 244 .. 98 .. 61-00 H. W. Wheeler ... ... 5 .. 2 .. 172 .. 100 .. 57-33 Dr. O. J. Damain ... 5 ... 1 .. 116 .. 63 .. 29-00 J. E. G. Hadath ... 4 ... 1 .. 85 .. 45*.. 28-33 Dr. H. C. Pretty ... 5 ... 0 .. 105 .. 46 .. 21-00 L. S. Wells.......... ... 4 ... 0 .. 72 .. 29 .. 18-00 J. Faulkner ... 4 ... 0 .. 43 .. 29 .. 10-75 Hon. S. R. Beresford 4 ... 0 .. 34 .. 20 .. 8-50 L. H. A. Tolkein ... 4 ... 0 .. 26 .. 12 .. 6-50 The following also played E. A. Beldam, 69, 60 ; A. E. Lawton, 84, 29, 22 ; R. T. Crawford, 62, 44 ; A. L. Kemp, 47; A. M. Latham, 23, 1, 1 ; R. Willan, 15, 5*, 41 ; W. Austin, 31; F. Morres, 0, 28 ; F. L. Nightingale, 7 ; A. L. S. Rose, 3 ; S. S. Pawling, 5*, 0, 0* ; W. E. Hobbs, 0, 6 ; G. U. B. Roose, 50; H. Busher, 10; J. L. Phillips, 5; C. Kenward, 1, 1 ; H. Colegrave, 0; H. Church, 5; N. Vickery, 2, 1*; G. R. Blades, 0; F. W. Christian, 7 ; B. Batchelor, 2, 0, 3 ; M. Munden, 0. BOWLING AVERAGES. Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. L. H. A. Tolkein.. . 80 ... 25 .,. 175 ... 14 .... 12-50 S. S. Pawling . 52 ... 11 ... 187 ... 15 ... 12-46 H. D. Wyatt........ . 96 ... 23 ..,. 257 ... 19 .. 13-52 O. Taylor ........ . 130-5 ... 31 ... 421 .... 30 ... 14-03 N. A. Damian . 91 ... 19 ,.. 258 ... 17 ... 15-17 S. Colman ........ . 99 ... 15 .,.. 305 ... 20 ... 15-25 F. Kahlenberg . 166 ... 51 .... 428 ... 28 ... 15-28 T. J. Wheeler . 125 .. 35 .. 362 ... 21 .... 17-23 D. L. A. Jephson. .. 347 ... 45 ...1049 ... 60 ... 17*48 K. E. M. Barker .... 77 ... 17 ... 256 ... 14 ... 18-28 H. T. Bull ........ . 64 ... 12 ... 219 ... 11 ... 19-90 Bowled less than 10 wickets:— Dr. H. C. Pretty, five for 38 ; 11. Willan, eight for 85 ; C. P. Wyatt, seven for 229 ; E. H. Fischer, four for 60 ; Batchelor, seven for 75 ; R. T. Crawford, two for 69; F. W. Robarts, three for 71; A. L. S. Rose, three for 9 ; L. J. Phillips, two for 36 ; A. E. Lawton, seven for 147 ; A. L. Kemp, eight for 94 ; F. L. Nightingale, two for 49 ; W. Austin, one for 35 ; L. S. Wells, seven for 141; G. R. Blades, 1 for 14 ; Dr. O. J. .Damian, one for 0. Also bowled : W. J. Bryant, C. Kenward, V. F. S. Crawford, F. W. Christian, P. P. Lincoln, and S. S. Stafford. The following made Centuries :— D. L. A. Jephson, 100—119* ; S. S. Stafford, 105 ; H. W. Wheeler, 100*; R. Kenward, 100*—101 ; T. J. Wheeler, 100* and H. D. Wyatt, 113. *Signifies not out.