Cricket 1908

M ay 28, 1908. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 169 the Championship, for even without his presence it is a team of very great possi­ bilities. He has made several scores larger than those he obtained against Yorkshire last week, but he has certainly never ren­ dered better service to his side than he did in that match. His innings of 79 and 50 were of very much greater value than perusal of the score-sheet would lead one to imagine, for on each occasion he made his runs at - a critical time against fine bowling and keen fielding. His displays spoke volumes for his skill and nerve. R o b e r t A b e l, all cricketers will be glad to hear, has made a good recovery from years of age. Yet, even now, he is with­ out a superior, and on his present form would be worth choosing for the Gentle­ men v. Players match at Lord’s. Last week he took six wickets against Kent at Bradford and five in the Essex match at Leyton, and, in the four innings, allowed only eleven byes. He was born on March 23rd, i860, and is therefore in his forty- ninth year. “ L o n g - L e g / ' writing in the Sporting Life, remarks :— “ The Cricket Star publishes some in­ teresting diagrams to illustrate when a ball is not a ball—in other words, when it hand at the same moment. Were a freak of an umpire to be discovered who could do so by squinting, and whose brain was capable of thinking upon two different subjects at the same instant, dozens of bowlers would be no-balled every time they attempted to bowl, and the M.C.C. would have to alter the rule. But until such a freak arises, bowlers will go on lifting their back foot with impunity.” A . C. J o iin s t o n , who was kept out o f cricket last year on account of his military duties in Nigeria, has returned to Eng­ land and will be available for Hampshire this season. In 1906 he scored 903 runs in first-class cricket in twenty-three co m * Photo bu] E S S E X . [Hawking Brighton, Mead Russell, E. Young;. Buckenham. Reeves. F. L. Fane. 0. J. Kortright. C. McGahey. J. W. H. T. Douglas. Rev. F. H. Gillingham. Freeman. his illness and was able to leave the Royal Free Hospital last Week. It was interesting to notice to how great an extent Hirst appreciated the new ball handed him when Essex had made two hundred in their first innings on the open­ ing day. He had to that point obtained only one wicket for 57 runs, but afterwards took four in 28 balls , at a cost of only a dozen runs, his analysis for the innings Working out at five wickets for a trifle under fourteen runs each. I t is nothing less than remarkable the Way in which David Hunter maintains his form as a wicket-keeper. It was as far back as 1888 that he first appeared for Yorkshire, and he was then twenty-eight is a no-ball. It is pointed out, quite correctly, according to the letter of the law, that if the bowler’s back foot is off the ground before he releases the ball, he has delivered a no-ball. So much for theory. But a careful study of the action- photographs which G. W. Beldam takes so excellently discloses the interesting fact that several first-class bowlers are in the habit of lifting their back foot before actual delivery. Kotze, J. T. Hearne, F. S. Jackson, and Warren are among those who sin in this respect. Technically none of these, perhaps, has delivered a legiti­ mate ball in his life. Their action is such that the right foot must be lifted before the ball is gone. But although, as C. B. Fry has pointed out, ‘ this is theoretically a no-ball ,t practically it is not so, for no umpire can detect whether the foot is off the ground before the ball ig gone.* In other words, an umpire cannot haVe his eyes on the bowler’s foot and the bowler’s pleted innings, his average working out at 39.26. His highest score was 150 against Derbyshire, at Derby. As he is also a very useful wicket-keeper, his pre­ sence in the Hampshire eleven should prove very welcome. A w r i t e r in Baily’s Magazine contends that so long as promoters of gate-money cricket-matches are content to charge the absurd sum of sixpence fof the privilege of enjoying six or seven hours of first-rate cricket, so long must cricket be financed by private subscriptions or donations. “ W h en found make a note of.” The following letter appeared in last Saturday’s Field :— S ir , —The following curious incident