Cricket 1908

M ay 2r, 1908. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 155 “ Gossip ** during a period extending over fifteen or sixteen years. His health had not been very satisfactory for some time, and the news of his death did not come altogether as a surprise. For many years he very ably edited the American Cricket Annual, and. it is to be hoped that his death will not mean the cessation of the publication of that 'work, for the value of such a production is to a very great extent due to its continuity. But doubtless Mr. F. F. Kelly, if approached in the matter, would be found willing to undertake the responsibilities of editorship. S om e remarkably low scores were chronicled in connection with Saturday’s club matches. At Wadham Lodge St. George’s failed to make a run against St. Mary’s and City of London were dis­ missed by Page Green Old Boys for a single, whilst at Hastings Clive Vale collapsed for 2 against St. Mary Mag­ dalen. On the same afternoon Lady Mar­ garet made only 15 runs (5 and 10) in their two innings against St. Paul’s I am glad to see that Llewellyn, who is to take his benefit this season, is already in fine batting form, for when he once gets fairly started there are few batsmen more worth watching. In the Surrey match at the Oval he made the highest score (56) in either innings of his side, and against M.C.C. at Lord’s this week made 76 and 39 by very bright cricket. It was certainly not his fault that Hampshire were beaten on each occasion. THE WORCESTERSH IRE COUNTY CR ICKET CLUB. INTERESTING SPEECH BY LORD COBIIAM. On Friday last a meeting was held at the Star Hotel, Worcester, to consider the financial position of the Club. Lord Cob- ham, who presided, after explaining the object of the meeting, said he was rather a new hand because he had only joined the Committee of the Club a few weeks ago. That meeting would not have been called had it not been for certain occur­ rences which had taken place since the ordinary general meeting of the Club, held in November last. An event had occurred which had brought matters to a crisis, and necessitated prompt action and careful con­ sideration of the steps to be taken to put the Club upon a permanent basis. The event was by no means unexpected, and was one of which no one connected with the Club had any right to complain. Mr. Foley had intimated that it was no longer possible for him to go on guaranteeing the overdraft of the Club beyond the point which had been almost already reached, and that he wished to be relieved of all further financial responsibility connected with the Club. That was naturally to be expected from Mr. Foley, because he had made extraordinarily great sacrifices on behalf of cricket in Worcestershire. He had not only the guaranteed overdraft to clear—made up of accumulated deficits to ^4,5oo—but, in addition, he had taken upon himself large payments, and in parti­ cular he had, under the contract of engage­ ments made with the professionals, taken entirely upon himself in the past the winter payment of the professionals. It was no exaggeration to say that, putting together what he had annually paid on behalf of the Club, and its liabilities, Mr. Foley had paid many thousands of pounds. The time was bound to come when the piling up of such constant expenditure was bound to have an end. His lordship said publicly, on behalf of the Committee and of every member of the Club, that the last thing they would think of doing was to complain of Mr. Foley for bringing that state of things to a termination. They were not called to­ gether that day to discuss the financial relations of Mr. Foley towards the Club, or the steps to be taken to put it upon a per­ manent footing. Mr. Foley would be back in England in less than two months, and it was almost impossible for those serious questions to be discussed unless they had the advantage of his presence. That was a matter not so much between Mr. Foley and the Club, as between Mr. Foley and the county generally, the public, and all friends of cricket. He asked them to con­ sider the immediate steps to be taken with regard to carrying on the Club during the next few months. When they first received that intimation from Mr. Foley it struck them that the first difficulty looming ahead was how to carry through the engagements of the Club during the next summer. But brief reflection brought them round to the opinion that whatever happened they must carry out the engagements of the Club and play the cricket matches which had already been arranged. Not to have done that would have put the county to public dis­ credit. That was not quite such a simple matter as it looked, because they were very near the guaranteed amount of the over­ draft at the present time, and it was ex­ tremely likely that before the end of the season that amount might be exceeded. There was a possibility of some amount of liability accruing to the Committee if they were not able to carry the engagements out. That difficulty had been surmounted, and the Committee had been able, without fear of ultimate consequences, to have a free hand in carrying on the business of the Club, at all events during the summer. The annual loss upon the summer working of the Club last year amounted to about ^300, but that was a very wet season, and they hoped that the gate money this season would be considerably augmented. They had now brought themselves, thanks very largely to their excellent captain, Mr. Foster, into a very prominent position on the championship list. They were second, and he saw it stated the other day by a very eminent judge of cricket that when Worcestershire could put its best side in the field it was the best county eleven playing cricket during the summer. That should tell upon the gate money. Worcester was not a great cricketing centre, but now that the county had arrived at this position of eminence more people should take an in­ terest in the fortunes of the eleven. It did not follow that they would lose ^300 this year, but provision had been made for that. The winter pay of the professionals amounted to nearly ^400, and that had hitherto been paid by Mr. Foley without ever coming into the accounts of the Club. He wished now to be relieved of that, and, whether he paid it or not, they would have to make provision, because they could not keep professionals together without pro­ mising them winter pay. Upon existing figures the deficit to be made up by the Club amounted to something like ^700 a year They might possibly increase the income by such means as sports. Other counties held sports upon their county grounds. His Lordship admitted that he did not know what the risks were. It would be difficult, he was afraid, to reduce the expenses. When one or two contracts of engagements ran out perhaps the item of wages to professionals might to some slight extent be reduced, but, on the whole, he thought much could not be done in that direction. He did not imagine that they were paying more than other counties, or more than professionals ought to be paid. It was impossible in a county like Wor­ cestershire, where they could only draw upon a small population, to promise any­ thing like the benefits to their professionals that counties like Yorkshire and Lancashire could promise. That had to be considered when fixing the wages of professionals. It was of the first importance that they should go on, not only this year but next, when the Test matches would be played, and they would become entitled to a consider­ able sum from them. There was only one way of making provision—to largely aug­ ment the membership list. The members numbered now about 1,000, and it was a discouraging fact that at one time the membership reached 1,400. They must get back those members, and they would pretty well pay expenses. But they must not stop there. Worcestershire was not a poor or a small county, and they should be able to get nearly 2,000 members. Other counties did infinitely better. Essex were talking of stopping unless they could get 2,500 mem­ bers, and the Chairman of the Committee told him the other day that, although in a fairly sound financial condition, the support they got from the county was so meagre and discouraging that, simply from a moral point of view, unless there was a substantial increase the Committee would resign It would be a very serious re­ proach to Worcestershire if nothing was done in that crisis to ensure the future of the Club, and if Mr. Foley was left entirely in the lurch—because the one thing in­ volved the other. To stop operations now would mean that cricket, and interest in sport in Worcestershire would be largely and discreditably affected, and Mr. Foley left without any resource or remedy to meet the obligations which his public spirit had incurred. On the motion of Mr. E. J. Morton, High Sheriff of the county, a resolution was passed pledging the meeting to sup­ port the Committee. Various proposals and suggestions were left to the Committee to consider. Lieut. Street, who is being accorded a trial for Warwickshire, was educated at Bromsgrove school and is home on leave from Malta, where the Worcester Regiment, to which he belongs, is stationed. He will be available until July. Kinneir tells of a curious incident which occurred in a match when he played for Corsham against Bristol Law. In that game a Corsham man, who was fielding at cover-point, caught three opponents off three successive balls in the same over. The Sportsman says:—“ The bound volume of Cricket for 1907 is now ready, and affords a valuable record of the game not only in England, but in Greater Britain.” Price 8s. 6d., post free 9s.