Cricket 1907

434 ORICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. O ct . 31, 1907. Taking the Western state first, since it stands first on the list of matches, one notes that its strongest eleven contains a consider­ able proportion of seasoned cricketers from the Eastern Slates. Ernest Jones, the one­ time demon bowler, is among these. He is scarcely likely to produce terror in the hearts of his namesake and the men he leads; but “ Jonah” is still a very serviceable bowler and can 6till hit. At the end of the season 1906-7 he took nine wickets for 215 in two matches against a good N.S.W. team, cap­ tained by A. J. Hopkins, and hit up 48 and 23 in the first game. Then there is H. A. Evers, a fine aggressive batsman and a good wicket-keeper who some eight years ago hit up a century for N.S.W. v. Tasmania; T. II. Hogue, another capable run-getter, also from N .S.W .; and A. H. Christian, a useful bat and really good bowler who, in 1905-6 distinguished himself by scoring a rapid 98 for Victoria v. N.S.W. at Mel­ bourne, and who last season had thirteen wickets for 255 runs in the two matches between We3tralia and N.S.W. But the most outstanding figures in Wes- tralian cricket on recent form are Ernest Parker, Robert Selk, and Harold Rowe. The first-named learned his cricket as a schoolboy in Adelaide. He has only played in five matches for his State—one v. the Melbourne Club’s team in 1902-3, two v. South Aus­ tralia in 1905*6, and two v. N.S.W. in 1906-7 ; but in these five matches he has scored 449 runs in ten innings, one not out, including 76 and 116 in one match v. S.A , 69 in the first and 67 in the second match v. N.S.W. In style, Parker is undoubtedly the best of the Westralian batsmen. He is said to resemble Victor Trumper in many of his strokes. But Rowe, though he has not Parker’ s style, must be a thoroughly good bat, for he can play either the aggressive or the careful game. His four innings against N.S.W. at the end of last season produced 81, 37, 50 and 17 respectively, and his ten innings for Westralia in all the games in which he has played have realised a total of 304. Selk, a right - handed bowler of the McKibbin type, is, unlike these two bats­ men, something of a veteran. He must be nearly if not quite 37. He played his first match for his State in 1898-9 v. South Aus­ tralia, taking four wickets in the first, and three in the second innings. In 1902-3 he took six wickets for 131, and hit up 37 not out against a Melbourne Club team that included Warwick Armstrong, G. L. Wilson, whilom of Sussex, and A. E. Johns, the reserve stumper of two Australian teams, besides other well-known Victorian cricketers. In the two matches v. South Australia in 1905-6 he took eighteen wickets at only 17 xuns each, and the Adelaide men were full of praise of hid bowling. His bag in the two W.A. v. N.S.W. matches of last season was only eight for 270, though for Fremantle against the Sydney team he had seven for 45 in the first innings. In his six matches for his state he has taken altogether thirty-nine wickets for about 800 runs. Another Westralianbowler of whom Lyons, who captained the South Australian team of 1905-6 in the West, spoke highly eighteen months ago was C. Munro, a left-hander who varied pace and pitch well, and a man t^n years younger than Selk. Munro was not a success in his one game v. N.S.W. last season however. Then there are the three Kellys—E., U., and O—of Fremantle, all useiul bats, E. of the stonewall type, O. a hitter. After Perth, the M.C.C. team will next visit Adelaide. Here they will encounter stronger opposition. Of the heroes of the near past, Joe Darling and Clement Hill will again don harness against them. Then there will be seasoned players like Gehrs, Claxton, O’Connor and McBeath (the last two the Sydney bowlers whom S.A. has imported), and younger men of the highest promise in O. B. Jennings, C. E. Dolling and J. H. Pellew, any one of whom might train on into Australian form, besides a most capable bowler in A. W. Wright. Algernon Gehrs we know in England. He was something of a disappointment in 1905 ; but one expects to see him doing big things in 1909. He has all the makings of a first- rate batsman. Last season his only notable achievement in the inter-State matches was 75 v. Victoria at Melbourne; but in 1905-6 his scores were 34 and 33 not out (v. N.S.W. at Adelaide), 101 and 10 (v. N.S.W. at Sydney), 30 and 36 not out (Rest of Australia v. N.S.W.), and 7, 84, 148 not out and 100 not out (in the two matches between S.A. and Westralia)—10 innings, 4 not outs, 583 runs, average 97*16. Many people thought that Norman Claxton ought to have come to England with the last team ; but he was not at the top of his form in 1904-5, and perhap3 that fact lost him his chance. He may possibly get a place in 1909. But his cricket personality is some­ what different now from what it was a few ears ago. Still a fine field, he seems to ave lost his bowling, and of late his hitting has scarcely shown its old brilliancy. Clax­ ton’s first appearance for S.A. was in the same match in which Robert Selk, on the other side, made his debut —W.A. v. S.A. at Perth, at Easter, 1899. He was unlucky enough to fail to score in either innings then. It was not until 1901-2 that he made his mark in big cricket. His hitting for 61 and 83 against the English team in their last match of that season was brilliant in the extreme. A year later he distinguished himself greatly with 88 and 32 against Lord Hawke’s team on the Unley Oval, having earlier in the score batted finely for 80 v. N.S.W. at Sydney. In 1903-4 his batting fell away ; but his bowling accounted for 20 of the 60 wickets lowered by the South Australian trundlers in big matches, these 20 costing under 26 runs each. He took 4 for 76 against the M.C.C. English team in the first match of their tour, and 5 for 56 in their first innings of the return match. At this stage of his career he looked likely to train on into a great all-round player. But in 1904-5, perhaps on account of over-snxiety as to getting a place in the team for England, he did not show at his best. He began well with 43 and 32, and 5 for 130, v. Victoria at Adelaide; but his only other performance of note was 58 in the return at Melbourne. In 1905-6 he played the innings of his life, carrying his bat through the second innings against Victoria at Melbourne for 199. He batted over six hours, and hit twenty-two 4’s. He had made 48 in the Adelaide match between the two sides; and his score in the first innings of the Melbourne game was 67, so that the Victorian bowlers had an excellent chance of learning to know, if not to love, Lim. On two or three occa­ sions that season he bowled well, too, taking four wickets for 44 in one innings v. N.S.W., and four for 19 in one v. Westralia. Last season his only good score was 74 v. Victoria at Melbourne, and he could not manage to secure a single wicket. But absence from Adelaide had interfered with his practice in the early part of the campaign. At the top of his form, he should be a certainty for the test match team. Claude Jennings played his first match for South Australia in 1902-3, while still quite a youngster, scoring 20 and 19 not out v. N.S.W. at Sydney. A little later his 52 v. Lord Hawke’s team (when he and Claxton added well over 100 together) pleased the critics immensely; and when he began the next campaign by making 26 not out and 77 not out against Warner and his men, he was made reserve for the first test match. But he has not yet won a place in an Australian team and has never quite redeemed the promise of November, 1903. In the succeed­ ing season he was a pronounced failure in the inter-State games ; in 1905-6 he did little again; but last season he batted very con- sistently, scoring 186 in six innings, with 45 as his highest score; so that he may yet win his spurs in the highest class of cricket. J. H. Pellew has only had four seasons of big cricket. He ran up 30 not out when making his debut at Sydney in 1903-4 ; and he played great cricket for 68 and 53 on the same ground a year later. In 1905-6 he shaped like a really front-rank man, scoring 87, 33, 25 and 4 v. Victoria, 72, 36, 24 and 9 v. N.S.W.—290 runs in eight innings ; but in 1906-7 he never got beyond 32. He is a good field and can bowl a little. Dolling is a younger man than either of these. Thus far he has only represented his State five times, but his 83 not out at Sydney eighteen months ago and his 93 at Melbourne last season, followed by 37 and 34 at Sydney, have given rise to the highest hopes. Un­ doubtedly this fine upstanding young batsman should go far, though he may not be ripe j ust yet for the highest honours. John A. O’Connor, late of Sydney, right- hand bowler and left-hand bat, bids fair to develop into one of the best bowlers in Aus­ tralia, but his transference to Adelaide does not seem to have improved his trundling. Perhaps he has had too much work at the nets. His first appearance for N.S.W. (v. Queens­ land at Brisbane in 1904-5) was distinctly auspicious, ten wickets falling to him for 89 runs. A little later he had five for 68 v. Tasmania at Hobart. The next season saw him fully established in the N.S.W. team; and in six matches he took 31 wickets for 673 runs, his best performances being six for 120 v. Queensland at Brisbane, four for 60 v. S.A. at Sydney, and eleven for 188 v. the Australian team (in Kelly’s Benefit Match). For South Australia last season his best performances were five for 93 in the second innings of Victoria at Adelaide, and four for 72 in the first at Melbourne. Altogether his 18 wickets in first-class games cost 650 runs, and he did not by any means equal expectations. He is only a moderate bat, defence being his forte. McBeath played for New South Wales as far back as 1899-1900, though he appears to have spelt his name McBeth then. In that season he took 14 wickets for under 25 <-ach; in 1900-1 he had nine at just under 20, in 1901-2 27 at under 24, and in 1902-3 29 at 19*58. He failed to maintain his form in 1903-4, his 17 costing nearly 30 runs each; and *> s he was a wretchedly poor field and bat he dropped out. But removing to Adelaide for the season of 1906-7, he did fair work for the wheatfield state, taking four for 41 in the first innings of Victoria at Adelaide, and three for 39 in the second at Melbourne, in all 14for 440 in his few matches. He has improved somewhat in the other branches of the game, and doubtless South Australia will find his left-hand trundling useful for some