Cricket 1907

398 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e pt . 5, 1907. old-time style and effect. MacLaren n ow and again gave more than a glimpse of his old form, and improved upon his record for 1906, and the latter remark also applies to Poidevin. There was a good deal of bow ling at command, although Kermode failed to prove so effective as in previous years, and Cuttell was no longer available. A glance at the averages se?ms to suggest that m ire work m ight have been given to Huddle­ ston, and that, with a little luck, the side would, in nine cases out of ten, have enjoyed a more successful season than it did. Essex had almost an identical recird with that obtained in 1906, but, whereas their bow ling proved rather more effec­ tive than in the previous year, their bat­ ting was not quite so reliable. Mr. Perrin again headed the averages, and Mr. McGahey also had a very successful season, but the Rsv. F . H . G illiDgham , who averaged over 45 in 1906, this year scored only 140 runs in ten completed innings. Mr. Douglas and Buckenham again proved the best all-round men in the side, and Mead, better suited b y the wickets than in 1906, had an improved record in bow ling, taking 120 wickets at a cost of 16 00 runs apiece as against 94 for 22 93 each. Mr. Fane, who accepted an invitation to tour Australia, averaged over 33 for twenty-five completed innings without once reaching the century. The fortunes of Kent have already been touched upon, and need not be again dealt with. Warwickshire have fallen from sixth place to ninth, the chief reasons being the decline of Devey as a batsman and of Moorhouse as a bowler. In 1906 the former averaged 4123 and this year only 7-50, whilst the latter, who took fifty-seven wickets for 22'87 runs each last season, obtained but twenty- five, and at a cost of 26'44 apiece, in 1907. Baker headed the batting averages with the fine figure of 33 13, and has good claims to be regarded as the best left- handed batsman in the country, but Kinneir showed a falling-off, though he had one great success in carrying his bat through both the innings of the match at Leicester. Santall distinctly improved upon his bow ling figures of 1906, but, as in previous years, the attack could never be relied upon to dismiss a strong side at a moderate cost. Gloucestershire again lost more matches than they won, and for the second season in succession had a percentage of— 20. Any side which contains Jessop is possible of accomplishing almost anything, and especially is this so when it includes a bow ler of such skill as Dennett. Jessop played a wonderful innings of 240 against Sussex at Biistol, and made 119 in the return at Hastings, and during the season scored 1369 runs with an average of 37'00 without a single not-out to help him. As effective in its way was the bow ling of Dennett which accounted for 184 wickets at a cost of slightly over 15J runs each. In the match with Northamptons' ire, at Gloucester, he took fifteen for 21 and had the chief sbare in disposing of the visitors for 12 in their first innings. Mills lent him useful assistance and so in a lesser degree did Huggins, but the latter was often expensive. Mr. F. H . B. Champain batted admirably, but his appearances, unfortunately, were very limited. Town­ send played only once, and then showed how useful he would be if he could appair regularly b y scoring 61 and 9, whilst Langdon added considerably to his reputation as a batsman. Of the list half-dozan counties in the Championship table, Sussex, although the third of the six, strikes one as the side possessing the greatest possibilities. Their position is, indeed, a disappointing one, even if one bears in mind that two of their defeats were by very small margins—by a wicket at Leyton and 11 runs at Lord’s. In Mr. F ry they possessed one of the best run-getters of the year, whilst six others averaged over 20 runs an innings. Vine batted very consistently, but Killick’s falling-away was not compensated for by his slight improvement as a bowler. Dwyer’s deterioration in attack was very marked, and the greater portion of the bowling was shared by Cox and the elder Relf, both o f whom got through a large amount of work with much credit. Leicestershire, bracketed with Glouces­ tershire, had a more successful season than in 1906. It was a long time before Mr. W ood and Knight could settle down to run-getting, but the latter eventually found his form and played a couple of splendid innings in the last two matches of the season. Mr. Crawford hit superbly at times, and played more than one remarkable innings, whilst Astill proved very useful as a bowler, and gave excellent support to his uncle, Jayes, and Mr. Odell. Hampshire’s great want was a reliable bowler who could play regularly. Given that, they should prove equal to meeting the majority of the counties with a pros­ pect of success. Seeing that three of their players made over a thousand runs each, and that another exceeded 900, their batting was obviously of no mean order. Messrs. E . M. Sprot and A. J. L. H ill, and Stone and Bowell scored very consistently, and Capt. White, upon his necessarily few appearances, met with a greater measure of success than ever before. Somerset, despite capital all-round form on the part of Braund, had a poor season. Like Hampshire and one or two other counties, they sadly needed the assistance of another bowler or two. Of Northamptonshire, almost all that can favourably be said is that they finished above Derbyshire. They owed their low ly position to deplorably weak batting, the highest individual score hit for the side duriug the whole season being only 78. E ist, Thompson, and Mr. Driffield bowled very ably in depressing circum­ stances, and were unfortunate in belong­ ing to a side so deficient iu batting. Last on the list comes Derbyshire, whose history was outlined a week or two ago in these columns. The cause of t'u. ir want of success can be plainly seen by | glancing at their batting and bowling averages for the season. T h e G en tlem an isr B l a c k . [Next week the complete County averages for the season will be given.] THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP. F inal P ositions . Plyd.Won. Lost. Drn. Pts. Per­ centage. Notts .......... 19 ...15 ... 0 ... 4 .... 15.. . 100 00 Worcestershire 18 .... 8 ... 2 ... 8 ... 6.... 60*00 Yorkshire 26 ...12 .. . 3 ...11 ... 9. .. 60-00 Surrey ......... 28 ...12 .. . 4 ...12 ... 8... 50-00 ^Middlesex 20 .... 8 ... 4 ... 8 ... 4. .. 3333 •Lancashire ... 26 ...11 .. . 7 ... 8 ... 4.... 22-22 Essex .......... 22 ...10 ... 7 ... 5 ... 3.... 1761 Kent .......... 26 ...12 .. . 9 ... 5 ... 3.. . 14-23 Warwickshire 19 .. . 6 ... 5 ... 8 ... 1..,. 909 Gloucestershire 22 ... 8 ...12 ... 2 ... —4.. . —20-00 Leicestershire 20 .. . 6 ....10 ... 4 ... —4.. . —2500 Hampshire ... 21 ... 6 ...11 ... 7 ... —5... --29-41 Sussex .......... 26 ... 7 .. .13 ... 6 ... —6.. . —30-00 Somerset 18 ... 3 ...12 ... 3 ... -9 .. . —COOO Northampton 20 .. . 2 ...12 ... 6 ..,—10.... —71-42 Derbyshire ... 20 .. . 2 ...17 ... 1 ... - 15.. . —78*94 The Yorkshire v. Derbyshire match, at Sheffield on May 23, 24, and 25, Derbyshire v. Warwickshire, at Derby on May 30, 31, ana June 1, and Yorkshire v. Notts, at Huddersfield on July 4, 5, and 6, abandoned without a ball having been bowled, are not included in the above table. *Match Middlesex v. Lancashire, at Lord’s, July 23, etc., abandoned by Lancashire owing to damage done to wicket by the public. SOUTH DEVON v. TORQUAY. Played at Newton Abbott on August 23 and 24. South Devon won by 134 runs. Ilawksworth obtained seventeen wickets for 51 runs in this XII. a-side match, taking all eleven in the first innings for 40. Score:— S outh D evon . First innings. Second innings. P. Francis, c Morris, b Hunt .................................. 4 runout ........19 J. Talk, b H u n t................12 c Oauston, b Leleu .......66 E. Fulcher, c Crockwell, b Hunt ..............................25 c Fogg, b Harper 10 H. Brunskill, b Hunt ... 7bHunt...............30 H. Watts, b Hunt ............. 8 c Orockwell, b Hunt ........ 8 O. Pitts, c Wrey, b Hunt ... 16 bHunt ........11 Hawksworth, b Hunt......... 13 cand b Hunt ... 4 Davies, c and b Hunt........ 4 b Hunt ........... 0 ltev. 11. Owen, c Master- c Orockwell, b man, b Hunt ................. 7 Hunt ..........16 A. Hingston, not o u t............ 8 bH unt .......... 0 J. Gray, c Fogg, b Hunt ... 0 c Le'.eu, b Hunt 22 11 Bourne, lbw, b Caustou 4 notout................ 0 Byes, etc..................... 5 Byes, etc..........13 Total .................113 Total ..........199 T orquay . First innings. Second innings. Dr. Causton, b Hawksworth 12 c Fulcher, b Hawksworth... 29 J. Leleu, b Hawksworth ... 1 run out ......... 16 L. Orockwell, c Watts, b Hawksworth ................. 18 b Bourne .......... 13 L. Masterman, c Hings- ston, b Hawksworth 1 b Hawksworth .. 2 S. Leleu, c Francis, b Hawksworth ................. 3 b Gray................. 1 J. H. Hunt, lbw, b Hawks­ worth ............................... 6 b Bourne .......... 5 A. Morris, st Davies, b Haw^sworth ................. W. Wrey, c Brunskill, b 42 c Gray, b Bourne c Brunskill, b 5 Hawksworth ................. 1 Hawksworth... 3 C. Masterman, b Hawks­ worth ............................... 0 not out................ 5 A. Harper, b Hawksworth Mantell, c Davies, b Hawks­ 4 b Hawksworth... lbw, b Hawks­ 1 worth ............................... 0 worth .......... 0 T. Fogg, not ou t................. 0 b Hawkswortli... 4 Byes, etc..................... 2 Byes, etc. ... 4 Total ................. 90 T ota l.......... 83 R IOHARD DAFT’S “ Nottinghamshire Marl.”— Particulars apply, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Notts. [A dvt .