Cricket 1908

M ay 21, 1908. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. CATALO GU E UPON APPLIC ATION . The cover of this hall is constructed upon an improved system which ensures increased durability. The materials and workmanship are of the highest class, and there can be no doubt whatever that the first grade is the most desirable Match Ball that can be produced. CATALOQU E UPON APPLIC ATIO N . The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in The Evolution of a Cricket Bat , which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion to GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co., L td ., 36 & 38, Queen V ictoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills — PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. Agents all over the world. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F. S. A s h le y -C o o p e r . Surrey have already shown themselves to be a side to be feared both on soft wickets and hard. Last year, when every­ thing was against heavy scoring, they had only a moderately successful season, but there were many good judges of the game who considered that the side would pro­ bably have carried off the Championship had the summer been a dry one. As they are recognised to be a stronger team on hard wickets than on soft, their form against Gloucestershire last week must be considered highly satisfactory, for they outplayed their rivals at all points of the game and held a very great advantage at the close. The feature of their cricket so far has been the excellent all-round form shown by Marshal. On Tuesday he cre­ dited himself with the highest individual score of the season—a matter of 176 at Worcester—and obtained his runs at a time when they were needed. Last season, when the wickets were against him, he made over a thousand runs, but, should we experience a fine summer this year, I should be surprised if he did not aggregate more than twice that number. His doings in good-class club matches during the two years he was qualifying for Surrey were so remarkable that it was generally felt he would make his mark in first-class cricket. For London County in 1906 he scored 2,752 runs with an average of 56.16 and took 118 wickets at a cost of 16.41 runs each, whilst in the following year, in all matches in which he took part, he made the enormous number of 4,350 runs, including fourteen centuries, and obtained 210 wickets. Last season he was not bowled so much for Surrey as his abilities entitled him to be, but this year he has done so well with the ball that he is bound to be given many opportunities. In the course of a long and interesting letter from a trustworthy correspondent in Trinidad the following remarks occur :— “ Our triangular inter-Colonial matches which were to have been played in Bar­ bados in January, 1909, will take place in September next, so as not to clash with the visit of the English team in the coming winter. We have invited a side out and are looking forward keenly to their com­ ing. A team should have visited us the past winter but did not do so on account of the fever scare over here, though forty cases spread over a year were hardly an epidemic.” In the same communication re­ ference is made to the fact that Constan­ tine, who came over to England with the last West Indian team, recently set up a fresh record for Trinidad by scoring 208 in a Cup match. Everything seems to suggest that Lan­ cashire will enjoy a very successful season. In A. Hartley they have a player com­ paratively new to first-class cricket who has already stamped himself as a bats­ man of more than, average merit. Tyldes­ ley, too, who will be depended upon to as great an extent as in recent years, is in fine fettle, whilst the return to the team of Brearley should increase the match-win­ ning capacity of the side by almost fifty per cent. It will be strange indeed if the County is not found very high up in the Championship table at the conclusion of the season. Yorkshire’s series of triumphs on soft wickets continues, and Kent have proved their latest prey. Although the ground was in favour of the bowlers, it was never­ theless a remarkable thing for Yorkshire to dispose of such a team of run-getters for totals of 77 and 46. It is difficult at the moment to see what team could oppose the side on a soft wicket with any great prospect of success, though Notts and, perhaps, Lancashire could be depended upon to give them a good game. Matches between Kent and Yorkshire date back to 1849, and of the 66 played Yorkshire have won 35 and Kent 14, the remaining 17 being drawn. Messrs. Dickinsons, of 114, New Bond Street, W ., have kindly forwarded me a copy of their recently-issued picture entitled “ Eton v. Harrow at Lord’s.” It is a photo­ gravure measuring twenty-four inches by thirty-six without the margins, and has been splendidly produced. The scene de­ picted is the ground during the luncheon interval, and as many as 343 portraits of well-known cricketers and habitues of Lord’s are included either grouped in front of the Pavilion or reclining on the seats within the rails or on the balcony. Cricketers of, all generations are shown in the picture. Perhaps the best of the many portraits, which are all excellent, is that of the Rt. Hon. Sir Spencer Ponsonby- Fane, who has been a member of the Marylebone Club since 1844 and its Treasurer since 1880. He is shown in the fore-ground, and is the central figure of a group which includes the Duke of Buc- cleuch, Lord Francis Scott, the Earl of Haddington, Mr. F. E. Lacey, and Mr. C. E. Green. Mr. R. J. P. Broughton, now in his 92nd year, who joined the M.C.C. in 1845, and had a large share in. bringing about the purchase of the ground by the Club from James Henry Dark, is shown in the front row of the pavilion seats, and a little behind him is Mr. W’illiam Nicholson, whose membership at Lord’s dates back as far, and who was in his time one of the finest amateur batsmen and wicket-keepers in England. Here, too, we again see that fine pair of Cambridge bowlers, H. M. Plowden and Robert Lang, as well as many another well-known Uni­ versity player of about the same period, such as Canon McCormick, W. H. Bent- hall, and F. H. Norman. Coming to more recent times we come across Lord Alver- stone, the President of the Surrey County C.C. and a past President of the M.C.C., H.H. the Jam of Nawanagar, Lord Hawke, Sir T. C. O ’Brien, Bart., the Hon. F. S. Jackson, Capt. E. G. Wynyard, A. G. Steel, the late Gerald Bardswell, M. C. Kemp, C. E. De Trafford, S. M. J. Woods, Gregor MacGregor, H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, J. Douglas, W. L. and R. E. Foster, etc., etc. The Pavilion makes an admirable back-ground to the picture, whilst the summer dresses of the ladies whose portraits appear in the foreground give a very pleasing touch of brightness and animation to the scene. A companion picture, dealing with the Oxford and Cam­ bridge match, is in course of preparation by Messrs. Dickinsons, who deserve the gratitude of all lovers of the game for the publication of photogravures of such artistic charm and lasting interest. “ One may take it for granted that never again will a Colonial player be procured in order that he may become a member of an Ensrlish county team.”— Major P. Tr in The Daily Telegraph.