Cricket 1907

388 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 5, 1907. LORD H AW K E . Save one great giant of the past W ho overtopped the players of his prime, And still remains an evergreen, to cast Defiance at that ancient bowler, Time, Whose leg-breaks many a younger batsman baulk, Our oldest cricketer is Martin Hawke. Our oldest county captain I Should say, for older cricketers there be Of lesser note than W ighill’s lord, who by His various qualities has shown that he Is worthy of the place which all men yield T o him in cricket councils and the field. Calm, courteous, tactful, kind, and wise, W ith common-sense that knows when to be firm, And how to lubricate the needful ties Of discipline— to use a sporting term, His lordship “ plays the game” in every way, Straight as a die and open as the day. Sportsman and gentleman all round, And at a pinch a more than useful bat, W ithout a thought of self, his men have found In him at all times, and not only at A county match, a captain who attracts Most willing service by his words and acts. And then what men, the Yorkshire team ! Such names as Jackson, Tunniclifie, and Hirst, Rhodes, Denton, Hunter, Haigh, and Smith we deem A n honour to the nation; Yorkshire’ s worst Are good enough form ost—her best have long Been at the top, and still are going strong. These and their like beyond recall, Knights of the W hite Rose whose great names are writ In Y ork’ s proud annals of the Bat and Ball, Lord Hawke has helped in fellowship to knit, And led with pride for more than twenty years, To victory full oft ’ mid ringing cheers. India, South Africa, have known Teams led by him to stimulate their play, While those same teams, as they most gladly own, Enjoyed new countries in a pleasant way, Whose value was enhanced by a free ticket— On3 of the great charms of Colonial cricket. For what is cricket but a game ? Some take it very seriously, we know, W orking too much for individual fame, And those results newspapers love to show ; The curse of averages becomes their pride ; Hawke and his men play only for the side. So lit me lay a little loaf of laurel (Or is it cabbage P) on the dressing-table Of a true sportsman : if to point a moral Might be allowed, supposing I were able, I ’d like to say that -tngli&h sport has ample Reason to profit by Lord Hawke’ s example. Gr. H. T ., in the Sportsman. TEST MATCHES. As the Australians will not be here until 1909, the questioa does not press for settlement, but we have a strong impression that our authorities, giving up their old objections, will in future agree to have all Test matches in this country, as in Australia and South Africa, played out to a finish. The experience of the last few years lends strong support to the advocates to this system. We were at one time much opposed to a departure from old customs, but events have converted us. There is no getting away from the fact that since 1896 the effort involved in these intensely interest­ ing games has been out of all proportion to the result achieved. Let us, for a moment, examine in detail the doings in this connection of the last three Australian elevens. In 1899 only one of the five Test matches was finished, the Australians gaining an easy victory at L ord’s ; in 1902 two of the five matches were drawn, and in 1905 three shared the same fate. Two years ago things were in reality far worse than might at first sight appear. Thanks to their victories at Nottingham and Manchester, England won the rubber, but it was a matter of their good luck that a definite result was arrived at in either case. The match at Nottingham was finished in the dark, and at Manchester the Australians would have saved the game if their last wicket had not gone down just before lunch­ time, heavy rain falling for the rest of the afternoon. The South Africans this season have been quite as unfortunate as the Australians, only one of their three matches with England being finished. The Australians have for a long time past urged in the strongest way that the Test matches should be played out, and the South Africans this year were, we believe, equally insistent on the point. Our authorities, both this year and in 1905, gave way so far as to agree that the final match should be played to a finish if the rubber depended on it, and having conceded this point they may be persuaded in future to yield a little further. To a much greater extent than was the case during ttieir early tours, the Australians nowadays subordinate every­ thing to the matches with England, and the South Africans, having fully proved their right to meet the strongest elevens we can put against them, will more and more, as time goes on, be moved by the same considerations. If it should be thought that in the case of the Aus­ tralians five Test matches played to a finish involve too great a dislocation of the season’s ordinary arrangements, we m ight go back to the plan followed from 1880 to 1896, and have only three. This point, however, need not be discussed just now. There will be plenty of time to go into the whole question before 1909. We are quite conscious of all the objections that may be urged against 1*1 tying matches without any restriction of time. There is, of course, a danger in putting an undue premium on stolid batting, and so making the cricket unenterprising in character, but on this point we are not very apprehensive. By reason of the ^extreme keenness of the play, a Test match between sides of anytLing like equal strength can rarely fail to be exciting. Personally, we would keep to the hours of play now in vogue, though it might not be necessary to start b afore half-past eleven on the second and follow ing days. W e should object very strongly to the adoption of the Australian plan of only playing from twelve o ’clock to six. The Australian system, however, is determined largely by considerations of climate, five hours’ cricket under a burning sun being amply sufficient for both players and spectators. There is one point in connection with the Test matches of the future in this country on which we have very strong views. Whatever the inconvenience to the counties, the England eleven ought to play together once or twice before meeting either Australia or South A frici. The best side on general form could be picked in May, and a couple of matches arranged for them —one at Lord’s and the other either at the Oval or one of the b ig county grounds. There is, of course, no question of trial games in the ordinary sense—as Lord Harris pointed out in 1884, when trial matches were talked a b ou t; great cricketers who are known to be in form cannot be asked to play for their places. Such a notion is absurd. The advantages, however, of having a team together in a preliminary match or matches are too obvious to be insisted upon. The wicket-keeper would have a chance of becom ing familiar with bowlers with whom, in the ordinary way, he is, perhaps, never associated, and the gain all round in the fielding would be eaor- mous. The England fielding against the South Africans at Lord’s this season furnished a case in point, two or three of the men baing in places for which they were not at all fitted. All this would have been avoided if R. E. Foster, as captain, had had the advantage of lead­ ing his team in a previous game. As all the counties derive a profit from the Test matches, the objections to some additional sicrifices on their part no longer have th-i force that would have attached to them years ago. With two powerful rivals anxious, above all things, to beat us, we certainly ought not, by neglect of proper preparation, to throw away a chance. It stands to reason that a thoroughly organised eleven m u it be stronger than one hurriedly got together. —The Daily Telegraph,. CRICKET IN MALTA. II.M .S. SUFFOLK (MARINES) v. H.M .S. IM PLACABLE (MARINES). Piayed on the Canteen Ground, Malta, on August 19. The total of 4 made by H.M.S. Sufolk (Marines) constitutes a record for Malta. Score:—- H.M.S. Suffolk First innings. Clegg, b Macintosh .......... Wood, b Hawton................. Target, b Hawton .......... Abbott, b Hawton .......... Howard, b Macintosh Bryant, b Macintosh.......... Pecker, h Macintosh.......... Gardner, not out................. Shindan, b Hawton .......... Adams, b Macintosh.......... Turner, b Hawton .......... 0 Byes, &c..................... 2 Total ................. 4 Total... H.M.S. Implacable (Marines). Macintosh, not out ... 45 |Watson, b Wood (M arines ). Second innings. 0 b Bryant .......... 5 0 cWatson,bBryant 0 1 run out .......... 8 0 b Watson ......... 0 0 b Bone................ 3 0 c and b Bone .. 0 0 b Bone................ 3 1 not out................. 0 c and b Watson... 0 c R ow lands, b Watson ... ... b Watson ......... Byes, &c. ... Hawton, b Abbott ... 14 Capt. Norcock, c and b Wood........................ 0 Smith, b Abbott......... 28 *Innings declared closed. 11 2 4 Total (4 wkts)*107 Millis, not out Byes, &c.