Cricket 1907

S ept . 5 , 1907. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 393 M r . W a lt e r G . G r a y , of Hols- worthy, kindly drawa my attention to a bow ling feat of unusual merit recently parform el at Newton Abbottin atwelve a-side match between South D^vonand Torquay. Playing for the former, Hawksworth, of the County E'even, took as many as seventeen wickets, his analyses b e in g : — Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. 17.2 ... 4 ... 40 ... 11 17.4 ... 13 ... 14 ... 6 J. H . H u n t, o f M iddlesex, was one o f his victim s in the first innings. Hawksworth is now senior professional at Bradfield C ollege, and was form erly engaged by the HolBworthy C.C. The score o f the m atch referred to w ill be found on page 3S8. In a Yorkshire Council match between Birstall and E llacd, at the former place on Saturday, B jyd s made 46 for EUand in a-quarter of an hour. He Ecored 33 off two consecutive overs from the Bir­ stall professional. On the same after­ noon, playing for Lascelles Hall v. Paddock, at Lascelles Hall, Wallace scored 56 out of 68 made whilst in by means of fourteen 4’s. Cricket readers will be sorry to hear that Ranjitsinhji recently met with a rather serious accident. Whilst out rid­ ing he was thrown from his horse, and sustained a broken collar-bone. Before next year he is to be married to a lady of his own ciste to whom he has long been betrothed. Somebody recently told me that His Highness was allowed, and was expected, to maintain a harem of twenty-nine. Is this really so, or was somebody having “ a game along o’ me ? ” A. C. M a c L a re n contributes an inter­ esting article entitled “ BaDji as a Ruler ” to the September Strand. From the follow ing excelpt it will be gathered that the famous batsman is quite energetic in his capacity of Oriental potentate :— He prefers to do himself what many chiefs leave their subordinates to accomplish, and seeing him, as I did, working like a Trojan, day after day, in his new role, caused me to remember a reply he gave some five years ago, during a cricket match, to a friend who accused him of laziness. “ I f 'I had the work to do, I would very soon show you I could work as hard as anyone,” were the exact words he used, and those who really knew him felt that he was not likely to go back on his words. There were many things left undone by the late Jam which are now en­ gaging the attention of the present ruler, who has to work very hard to make up for the lost time. The early morning finds him hard at work with his correspondence, which is no inconsiderable item when one notices the size of his letter-bag—in fact, he is unable to take an “ eaBy ” until titfin is served at eleven o’ clock, and afterwards he is engaged until five or 5.30 receiving hearers of griev­ ances, turning no one away until he has satisfied himself that j ustice is done to all. M e n tio n of Ranji reminds me of some verses which appeared a short time ago in the columns of the Diamond Fields Advertiser of Kimberley. They were composed by Mr. Percy A. Masters, and are as follows innings, 21 runs were still required when the tenth man went in. RAN JITSINH JI.—A LAMENT. No more in England shall we see Prince Hanjitsinhji at the wicket; He’s ruler of a State, and he Has had perforce t) give up cricket. Those brilliant slashes to the on, That fast leg ball he used to prido in ; Faint memories that are past and gone, He’s got a howdah now to ride in. Poor Sussex, too, will mourn his fate, He never now can be their captain ; He’s come into a “ deal of plate,” And silks and satins now he’s wrapt in. How useful would he be ju->t now, When England needs men of the best batch ; Oh ! would that he might show us how To make a century in the Test match. W e know he Fane would have a try To be at L ord 's; he won’t be A bel; For he has other fish to Fry, But he’ll be anxious for a cable. Ah, w e ll! Although he’s made a Jam (And therefore’s lost to English batting), W e hope he’ll still unbend to slam The balls about on India’s matting. W e leave him in another clime, And wish him all the luck in store there ; May he defy Old Father Time, And live a hundred years or more there. I n the Hampshire match at Southamp­ ton on Friday, Hirst made his aggregate of runs for Yorkshire into 20,000, but had been forestalled in being the first to do so by Tunnicliffe, who had completed the number a few days earlier. The largest aggregate of runs made for a county is credited to Abel, who requires less than 40 to make his aggregate into thirty thousand. For the same county, Surrey, Hayward has exceeded 25,000, and W . W . Eead 20,000. “ W. G .” and Shrewsbury have also scored over 20,000, for Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire respectively, but Fry still requires 10 to complete such an aggregate for Sussex, and Tyldesley 85 to do so for Lancashire. “ W. G.’s ” performance is interesting from the fact that he made as many as a thousand runs for Gloucestershire in a season only seven times - the first occa- tion being in 1885, when he was thirty- eight years of age. L a st week Lancashire experienced far more difficulty in defeating Derbyshire and Leicestershire than they could ever have anticipated. Derbyshire, who have so often finished last among the counties, were beaten by a single wicket, whilst it was only after a great and grim struggle that Leicestershire were defeated by two wickets. As reference to page 389 will show, MacLsren declared the first innings of Lancashire closed when seven wickets had fallen, and although his action caused much surprise, it probably caused a far better finish to be seen than would other­ wise have been the case. The error of judgment, though, almost had disastrous consequences, for, in a low -scoring A t the Oval on Saturday Surrey defeated Kent by an innings and 13 runs, this baing their first success over their neighbours since 1899. During the last nine seasons the matches between the two counties have resulted as follow s:— iqqo ( Oval —Surrey won by 45 runs. I Blackheath.—Drawn, lonn SOval.—Drawn. I Canterbury.—Drawn, iqm i Oval.—Kent won by 110 runs. t Canterbury.—Kent won by 150 runs. ) Oval.—Drawn. Canterbury.—Kent won by an innings and 191 runs. . I Maidstone.—Drawn. \ Oval.—Kent won by 292 runs, lorn ) Canterbury.—Kent won by six wickets. 1JU1 ( Oval—Drawn. . ,mr- i Beckenham.—Kent won by ten wickets. Jal"tO v a l.—Atie. lqnf; j Oval.—Kent won by one wicket. ) Blackheath.—Kent won by 164 runs. 1907 i Blackheath.—Kent won by ten wickets. 1Oval.—Surrey won by an innings and 13runs. Of the 121 matches known to have been played, Surrey have won 57, Kent 35, 24 have been drawn, 2 have ended in a tie, and the results of 3 have been unrecorded. The match dates back to 1731. I n last week’s match, at the Oval, J. N. Crawford was seen at his very best. Despite the fact that Kent are not now so difficult a side to beat as they were last season, they are still capable of play­ ing a very close game with even the strongest of the counties. Surrey had special reasons for wishing to beat them last week, for they had not only suffered a ten-wicket defeat at their hands earlier in the season, but had not beaten them for eight years. For their success they were primarily indebted to Crawford, who, in addition to playing a superb innings of 103, took six wickets for 79 runs. The power he put into some of his strokes was remarkable. I f only he can show such form in the Test Matches in Aus­ tralia, he should prove the most useful all-round player on the side. T h e Kent County C.C. have enrolled no less than 840 new members during the present year. I n the course of a “ Farewell Letter ” to A . O. Jones and his teim in this week’s Athletic News Jessop w iites: — The original team as chosen would have been a formidable side, and one with which you could have entered the field with a certain amount of confidence. No England side at the present moment can be called representa­ tive without Hayward, Lilley, Tyldesley, Hirst, and C. B. Fry. The first four declined the invitation, and the last-named was never even paid the compliment of being asked. And “ straight here,” as our friends across the “ herring pond” would say, I would ask the M.C.C. the meaning of this slight, for I can find no other word for it. The rumour that F ry had not been asked was referred to in “ At the Sign of the Wicket ” a fortnight ago.