Cricket 1908

186 C r i c k e t A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. J u n e 4 , 190 S. to play a strictly defensive gam e with the object of securing a draw . In this their effort w as unsuccessful, and one cannot regret it. W ood , who went in first, batted half-an-hour ere m akin g a run and took 130 m inutes to score 29, whilst Coe was in tw o hours and fifty m inutes for 42. The ease with which the side made runs off the Sussex bow ling three days before should have given them som e confidence to perform the task set them . G . L . J e sso p , I am glad to see, has already g o t g oin g . On Friday he played a very characteristic innings o f 106 against H allam , W ass, John Gunn, and Irem onger at Bristol, the only other double contri­ butions in a total o f 201 off the bat being 27 by J. W . S. Jellie, 24 by P. H . Ford, and 11 by H u ggin s. I n the above match Irem onger took three w ickets for 30 runs. H is success with the ball m ay mean much to N otts in the event of cricketers experiencing a dry seascn. Last year, when the w ickets were soft, the bow lin g of W ass, H allam , and John Gunn proved sufficiently s'.rong to cnab’.e the side to g o through the season unbeaten. But on hard wickets the trio nam ed could not well be expected to prove so successful. It seem s very possible that in Irem onger they will find the extra bow ler they may need. A gainst Leicestershire earlier in the year he took eight w ickets for 75 runs. T he Incogniti, although putting a very useful side into the field, failed to win a match during their w eek ’s tour at C am ­ bridge. There was an exciting finish to their last match, against Jesus C ollege, on Saturday, the C ollege, when stumps were drawn, w anting only tw o runs to w n with three w ickets in hand. G . E. W inter scored 86 and 125 for the Incogs. I t w ould seem that in Leonard O liver, the left-handed batsm an who played such a useful innings against Y orkshire at Chesterfield on Saturday, D erbyshire have a you n g player o f very great prom ise. H e was born at Glossop on O ctober 18th, 1886, and has been associated with his native county all his life. D u ring the last three years his cricket has improved greatly, and he has profited much through the tuition of B estw ick, C adm an, and B arlow . W . F . O . F a v ie l l , w ho has been tried for Essex, w as in excellent all-round form on Thursday last. H e accom panied the Stoics to Leatherhead to play against St. Joh n ’s School, and it is safe to say that the boys will rem em ber him for som e time to com e. H e took seven w ickets for 26 runs in ten overs in an innings o f 93 and hit seven 6 ’s and seventeen 4 ’s in contri­ buting 151 to a total of 330. T h e Stoics w on by 237 runs. T h o se w ho were fortunate enough to be present on the N ortham pton ground last Saturday saw a finish which they will long rem em ber. W hen the match, between N ortham ptonshire and Lancashire, com ­ m enced probably not one person in ten thousand im agined for a single moment that the hom e side could possibly prove successful, especially as the visitors were very strongly represented. Y et it was the unexpected which happened, for, after a trem endous finish, Lancashire were bea;.en by a w icket. W ells and H ardy, the last two batsmen, cam e together when 23 runs were still required. T he form er had been m issed when he had scored two, but he afterwards played well and, when the gam e w as won, carried out his bat for 24. T h e partnership lasted three-quarters o f an hour, and H ardy, in m akin g the winning hit, w as missed by M akep eace; had the catch been made Lancashire would have scram bled hom e by a run. It w as a great finish. T h e return to the side of East, w ho had been kept out of the field by an attack of lum bago, strengthened the side imm ensely. S eeing that he scored 91 for once out and took seven wickets for 84 runs, he fairly shared the honours of the m em orable gam e w ith W ells and H ardy. In the first innings o f Northants, W ells at one period batted 35 minutes without m akin g a run. A s m any as eight Lancashire matches have now been decided by the narrow m argin o f a w icket, the list being as follow s :— W ins (2). v. Derbyshire, at Liverpool ... 1897 v. Leicestershire, at Manchester ... 1907 L osses (6). v. N otts, at M anchester ................ 1876 v. K ent, at M aidstone ................ 1877 v. Surrey, at the O val ................ 1885 v. M .C.C. and G .. at L ord’s ... 1893 v. M iddlesex, at Liverpool. . ... 1894 v. Northants, at Northam pton ... 1908 Three seasons a go Lancashire took part in a finish quite as exciting as that at N orth­ ampton last week. It was against an E ngland Eleven at B lackpool, and the C ounty, when stumps were drawn on the third day, required one run to win and had three wickets in hand. C ook (W .) was caught in trying to m ake the w inning hit. T h is is the fourth season in which N ortham ptonshire have taken part in the C ounty Cham pionship Com petition, and o f the 54 matches played they have won 9, lost 33, and drawn 12. I have often heard it said that, the gu lf between the first-class and the second-class counties being so great, N orthants did not merit prom otion to higher grade cricket. W ith this, how ever, I have never been able to agree, and I think the fact that the County has not in any year finished last in the Cham pionship Com petition is sufficient proof that the contention m entioned is erroneous. T heir nine successes alluded to . were as under :— 1905.— v. Derbyshire, at Northam pton. W on by 23 runs. v. Ham pshire, at N ortham pton. W o n by 231 runs. 1906.— v. W orcestershire, at W orcester. W on by 41 runs. v. Derbyshire, at Northam pton. W on b y 10 wickets. v. Leicestershire, at Northam pton. W on by an innings and 40 runs. v. Derbyshire, at Chesterfield. W on by an innings and 85 years. 1907.—v. Hampshire, at Northam pton. W on by 33 runs. v. Derbyshire, at Northam pton. W on by eight wickets. 1103.—v. L ;ucashire, at Northam pton. W on b y one wicket. Last year, too, they had all the best of a drawn gam e with Surrey at N ortham pton, but, unfortunately for them , play was impossible on the third day ow in g to rain. It is, by-the-way, not generally know n that in 1880 Northants played tw o great m atches simultaneously at N ortham pton, d raw ing with H ertfordshire on the R ace­ course and being beaten by eight wickets by the Australians on the new ground, which was first used on that occasion. In the latter match they put eighteen men in the field. C a tto n . —On June 1, at Priory M ount, 2 9 \ Great Clowes Street, H igher Broughton, M anchester, M ary Ellen, the w ife o f J. A . H . Catton, iu her 54th year. Mr. C atton, the E ditor of the Athletic N ew s, is w ell-know n to thousands of fol­ low ers of cricket and football under his nom de plume o f “ T ityrus ” and is there­ fore assured of m uch sympathy in his bereavement. T he withdrawal o f A. E. V ogler from the ground-staff at L ord ’s is announced. It will be rem embered that his engagem ent there was recently criticised in “ At the S ign o f the W ick e t.” M elbourne U n ive rsity (129 and 300) beat Sydney U n iversity (89 and 251) by 89 runs in M elbou rn e on April 17th, 18th, 20th and 21st. “ Felix ” (T . H oran) prefaced his rem arks on the gam e in the Austra­ lasian by the follow in g interesting rem ini­ scences :— “ I had a ram ble as far as the University ground on Easter Saturday to see the m atch between the representatives o f Mel­ bourne and Sydney Universities. T h e first cricket contest between these tw o great scholastic institutions dates back to the early seventies, and, if my m em ory is correct, the veteran Mr. Dan W ilk ie cap­ tained the M elbourne team in that first match. In those days there was no M el­ bourne University cricket-ground, and the matches were played on the M elbourne or East M elbourne grounds. W here all the handsome colleges and professorial resi­ dences are now was an open paddock, called University paddock, in which the boys and you ng men o f Carlton played cricket and football, summer and w in'er through, for many a year, until the final notice to quit cam e when the colleges were built, and the whole area was enclosed and reserved for the students who occupied room s in the colleges. One of the umpires