Cricket 1908

170 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 28, 190S. may be of interest to your readers. It occurred in a match in which I was play­ ing between Morrinsville and Matamata, at Matamata. A. H. Aitken, of Morrins­ ville, a fast medium right-hand bowler, was bowling over the wicket to W. Moore- Jones, of Matamata, when he knocked both the leg and off stumps out of the ground, leaving the middle stump standing and apparently untouched. The ground was damp and sandy, so that the stumps stood in it firmly, but were liable to be knocked out clean if struck smartly. I think the ball must have struck the off stump low down on the inside, and re­ bounding sideways, thence with great spin, passed round the middle stump (like a mass£ cannon at billiards) and struck the off stump. I have played a good deal of cricket both in England and here, and do not remember hearing of a similar occur­ rence. S. S. A l l e n . Morrinsville (N.Z.). A similar feat was credited to the Rev. J. C. Crawford in a match at Dunkirk in 1867, and Lillywhite's Annual foV 1888 records an instance of the same thing in a match between Sopley and Christchurch Ramblers in 1887. O f the 9 6 0 runs scored for twenty-eight wickets in the match between Hampshire Rovers and United Services at Portsmouth on Friday and Saturday last, as many as 126 were extras. R. H. S po o n e r scored 100 in ninety min utes on Saturday for the Rest of Liver­ pool Club against the School Tour team. He hit fifteen 4’s, and in partnership with C. S . Hannay put on 171 in just over an hour. “ Do I wake, do I dream, or is visions about? ” One of the oldest-established and best-known evening papers, after comment­ ing upon the batting of the Rev. F. H. Gillingham against Yorkshire, remarked : Another cleric who has played for Essex is the Rev. C. G. Littlehales, who lives in the Colchester district, and few people who follow cricket are likely to forget the name of the Rev. A. P. Wickham, of Somerset, the Rev. Frank Rashleigh of Kent, and the Rev. G. B. Raikes of Hants, and that grand hitter the Rev. C. I. Thornton. The above information should prove parti­ cularly interesting to Canon William Rash­ leigh and Mr. Thornton. Mr. J. A. P e a se , M.P., who is to succeed Mr. George Whiteley as Chief Liberal Whip, is one of the best cricketers in the House of Commons. He has frequently played for Darlington in League matches. T h e decision of the Essex County C.C. to arrange matches in various parts of the County for teams of amateurs, to be known as The Gentlemen of Essex, is un­ doubtedly a step in the right direction. It is, however, only the revival of an old custom, for in the pre-Championship days Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, and parti­ cularly Kent, used frequently to place such elevens in the field. The move should be much appreciated by Public Schcol and University men in Essex, and should prove the means of providing good-class match- play for young cricke'.ers who give pro­ mise of developing into County players. T he English gentleman, according to Mr. G. K. Chesterton, is taught to treat half his work as play (diplomacy, Parlia­ ment, finance), and then to treat more than half his play as work. He is taught to play at politics, and work at cricket. O n April nth. Melbourne, in their Second Grade match with North Mel­ bourne, carried their total of 412 for one wicket to 459 for two, and then declared. P. Jennings was bowled for 179, but R. G. Johnstone took out his bat for 206. The second wicket put on 380 runs in 185 min­ utes. Johnstone made his runs in 218 minutes, hit twenty-eight 4’s, and offered only two very difficult chances. The match was drawn, North Melbourne scoring 131 for eight wickets. P. L e C o u t e u r , of the Melbourne Uni­ versity Eleven, has been elected Rhodes scholar for this year. “ F e l ix , ” in his Notes in the last number of the Australasion to hand, re­ corded th at:— “ For Prahran G. Healy has gained the batting average with 64.3 for eight inn­ ings. J. Horan averages 59 for ten inn­ ings. T. Horan heads the list, but he has not played in sufficient innings to entitle him to count. His average is 163.5 f°r four innings, twice not out. Kyle wins the bowling average for Prahran with 14. He took 30 wickets. “ H. Fry, the well-known all-round player, has won the batting and bowling average in the Collingwood team. He has captured sixty wickets for 691 runs, aver­ age 11.51 runs per wicket. His batting average is 24.3 for 15 innings. “ In the M.C.C. first eleven, F. Vaughan wins the batting with 77.57 for eight innings, aggregate 543. G. Hazlitt is second with 62, and Warwick Arm­ strong third with 52.75. In bowling, the veteran H. Trumble comes out on top with 12.72 runs per wicket. “ For East Melbourne F. Laver heads the batting list, with the grand average of 121.50 for seven innings, five times not out. H. Stuckey is second, with 75, for seven innings. ” T h e published averages of the Sydney Grammar School for the past season make interesting reading. The School played 37 matches, winning 23 and losing but 3. Four batsmen, E. P. Barbour, t H. R. Gregg, E. M. Fisher, and J. C. Lam- rock, made over a thousand runs, the first- named breaking his own record aggregate of 1,726 by 41. Barbour scored eight cen­ turies, Gregg six, Fisher three, and Lam- rock two. The averages of the four bats­ men named were as follows :— Not Highest Inns. Ont. Score. Total. Runs. E. P. Barbour 34 5 171* 1,767 60 9 H. R. Gregg... 36 1 180 1,580 45*1 E.M. Fisher... 36 8 184* 1,250 44 6 J. C. Lamrock 34 3 208 1,031 33*2 •Signifies not out. Barbour also took 105 wickets in the same matches at a cost of 14.86 runs each: Mr. H . H o p p e r , of South Yarra, writes to the Victorian Railway Magazine :— “ Playing for South Yarra (railway cricket), A. E. Jones, signalman, of Oak- leigh, has put up a remarkable record, which, doubtless, has never been equalled in Victoria. In seven innings he put up 515 runs, made in successive innings as follows :— 14, 28, 41 not out, 85 not out, 130 not out, 117, and 100 not out. In getting three centuries in succession, I believe this to be a record for Victoria. He narrowly missed getting four, as against the Melbourne Cricket Club he secured 85 not out, 15 runs only being wanted to give him the unique distinction. His average for the season is 171 runs per innings. Previous to coming to Oakleigh, he had scored 2,619 runs in four successive seasons for country clubs, made up as follows :— Dandenong, 585 ; Seymour, 893, 620, and 521. Unfortunately, Jones cannot get the necessary leave to give him his chance in big cricket.” L. RiciiMOND, of South Australia, who preferred outside cricket to a promising career on the turf with West Torrens, made over 1,000 runs for Enfield last season—a feat which he also accomplished two years ago. His scores were :—31, 83 not out, 92 not out, 107 not out, 38, 56 not out, 55, 40, 14, 130, o, 104 retired, 14, 74, 107 not out, 49 not out, 35 not ou t; total, 1,029 runs for 9 completed innings, average 114.33. F r o m the score of the match which appears “ in another place ” it will be seen that J. J. Kotze, the fast bowler of more than one South African team which has visited England, performed very success­ fully in the recent match at Newlands between Cape Town and Western Pro­ vince. Concerning his bowling in the first innings of the former, the critic of the Cape Times remarked :— “ Now at one period of the game ‘ J.J. ’ had actually secured 4 wickets for 6 run?, and yet, excellently though he bowled, he would probably be the first to admit that he has sent down, with one exception, many better overs than those which accom­ plished this. The exception is the ball that beat S. J. Snooke; that was a great effort, worthy of a great bowler, and one which would have accounted for nine out of ten of our best batsmen, and the tenth would probably have put it up in the slips. Kotze bowled with splendid judgment, and that is why he deserves infinite credit. He re­ cognised that he was not properly wound up, and did not try to over-bowl himself, as he has often done. He did not tear up to the stumps with that fire and abandon.