Cricket 1908

202 CR ICKET A W EEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u n e i l , 190 8. C rega r will undertake the duties of m anager, and the side will probably be led by D r. Lester. S ir H om e G o r d o n , B art., contributes an entertaining and thoughtful article to the June issue of the National R eview entitled, “ R eform s in University C rick et.” H e writes :— “ M y radical proposal is to re-arrange the card of the hom e fixtures and to put the Senior and the Freshm en’s m atches imm ediately before the exam inations at the end of M ay. By this time those in­ vited to take part will have had m ore opportunity to get into form , will have participated in plenty of college m atches, and, if a proper survey has been kept by the captain and secretary, every likely cricketer w ill be enlisted in one team or the oth er.” , “ T h is would entail playing three if not four University m atches before these trial fixtures. T h e objections advanced to this are tw o : firstly, the difficulty of g ettin g visiting team s to come* to the U niversity early in M ay. This, I think, is not very great. Certainly there m ight be m ore bother in ga th erin g those amateur sides which are so specially des’rable, and therefore it would be better to put the G entlem en of E ngland fixture as the last in the term. But counties like Y orkshire, Lancashire, W orcestershire, and Surrey w ould all be w illing to fall in with pract'c- able proposals for early dates.” “ T h e m ore im portant obstacle is how w ould the U niversity side be constituted at the outset. T h e answer is, that of course such old blues as are available w ould be played, likely Seniors cculd be tried and such Freshm en as com e up with b ig reputations.” T h e task o f a U niversity captain in select­ in g the strongest eleven available is so notoriously difficult that any suggestion w hich would tend to sim plify m atters should be w elcom ed. Sir H om e’s proposal has so much to recomm end it that it is strange no one appears to have thought of it before. T he H on. C . F. Lyttelton, a son o f Lord C obham , w ho, as C . G . Lyttelton, ranked as one of the best gentlem an cricketers in E ngland forty or fifty years a g o, has been awarded his Blue for C am bridge. It is very pleasing to see so fam ous a nam e in cricketin g annals again to the fore. U ppingham scored 308 for tw o w ickets in an hour and three-quarters against O akh am on Saturday, R . N . D ou glas, of M iddlesex, m ak in g 202, the last hundred of w hich w ere obtained in 22 m inutes. T h is is a rate of ru n-gettin g which may not be surpassed during the season. O a k ­ ham were dism issed for 182. I n te r v ie w e d on M onday by a S ports­ m an representative at Southam pton, C . B. Fry stated that the reason he has not played County cricket this season is “ entirely a personal one, and not con ­ nected with cricket at all, and w as per­ fectly well understood by the Sussex C ounty C lu b .” E veryon e will regret to hear o f the accident to H aigh, w ho had the forefinger o f his bow ling hand broken by a ball from Brearley whilst batting on M onday. It is said that the m ishap w.ill keep him out o f the gam e for som e weeks, and, in* the event o f the fine weather continuing, his b ow lin g is bound to be m uch m issed. In the course o f a week Brearley has put both W ass and H a ig h out of ac ion, and it will be interesting to see who will be the next placed hors de com bat. T he manner .in which Essex out-played G loucestershire this week must have com e as a surprise to even the m ost enthu­ siastic o f the side’s suppor.ers. T he visitors had just previously m ade a very g ood fight with M iddlesex at L ord ’s, yet succumbed at Leyton by an innings and 275 runs. F or this very decisive victory Essex were chiefly indebted to M cG ahey, G illingham , and D ou glas, the tw o first-named scoring 320 between them and the o:her obtaining a dozen wickets for 74 runs. Gillingham hit m agnificently after reaching three- figures and, despite the pace at which he scored, offered only one chance— when 148. O n recent form both Gillingham and D ou glas would possess very strong claim s indeed for inclusion in the Gentle­ m en ’s eleven at L o rd ’s. T he return o f the Jam o f N aw anagar to the Sussex team naturally aroused much enthusiasm at B righton on M onday, and the reception he received upon g o in g into bat w as one he will lon g rem ember. He m ade only 3 and 29, and was slow er be­ tween the w ickets than in form er times, but he made several strokes rem iniscent of his great days. Y o r k sh ir e , M iddlesex, and Sussex still retain their position at the head o f the C ounty Cham pionship table with 100 per cent, to their credit, though when play ceased at H ove on M onday it appeared not unlikely that the last-named would suffer their first reverse o f the season. But V ine, K illick, and the elder R elf all scored well and pulled the gam e round, after being headed 92 on the first innings. I t is very patent that at the present time Sussex are an adm irably-balanced side. T hey are strong in batting dow n to the last m an, and they possess tw o excellent bow lers in A. E. R elf and C ox, and at least four other men w ho m ight at any tim e obtain wickets at a reasonable cost. T h e second half o f their match against Kent which finished yesterday afternoon showed plainly how strong they are all round. On their present form , I think they could be relied upon to meet the strongest side in the country with a pro­ spect of success on a go o d w icket. N o brighter cricket has been seen this year than that at L ord ’s on Tuesday, when M iddlesex scored 596 in five hours and a- half. M oon, Bosanquet, and P a ge all m ade hundreds, the last-named scoring 164 not out in an hour and fifty minutes. Som erset stood their lon g outing adm ir­ ably, and it w as until quite the end of the day that their fielding fell off to any m arked extent. T h e heavy scorin g by M iddlesex was rather rem arkable seeing that three such run-getters as W arner, H unt, and T rott made only six runs be­ tween them. A c o in cid e n ce ! At L ord ’s on Tuesday both L . J. M oon and B. J. T . Bosanquet scored 135 in the first innings o f M iddle­ sex v. Somerset. O n the same grou n d nine years ago V . Trum per and C . H ill made 135 each in the first innings o f A us­ tralia v. England. A t a m eeting of the Yorkshire County C .C . Comm ittee at Sheffield on Tuesday Lord Ilaw k e w as unanim ously elected a life-m em ber of the Club. T he C omm ittee also voted the sum of one hundred guineas to the Lord H aw ke Testim onial Fund, which closes on Saturday. T he Surrey v. N otts match at Trent B ridge ended in a som ewhat unsatisfactory draw . Play ruled on the slow side throughout, and it alw ays seemed as though no definite result would be re­ corded. T he tw o counties are old and very keen opponents, which but serves to m ake the tam e ending the m ore regret­ table. Notts did perhaps even better than they could have expected, seeing that they lacked the services o f W ass, and are to be congratulated upon heading the Surrey score. Let us hope that the A ugust Bank- holiday m atch at the O val will produce a definite result. LONDON SCOTTISH v. F IN C H L E Y .— Played at Finchley on June 6 . F in ch ley * L.N ederheitm an,cE.A. H om er, b L. Lienard 0 0 . H. Davies, e S. L ien­ ard, b E. A. Bennett 29 A.E,G riffiths,c S. L ien­ ard, b E. A. Bennett 67 B.C.S.Venables,notout 74 H. C. Fisher, c H. G.V. H om er, b E. H ogg... 0 _____ H ow ard Williams, F. A. Tuck, C. D. Drayson and W. de Paula did not bat. L ondon S cottish . E. H. Riches, c L.L ien- ard, b S. Lienard ... 12 S. T. Birkin, notou t... 11 B 8 , n-b 1 ... Total (5 wkts.)202 E. A. Bennett, n ot out 51 E. A . Hom er, lbw , b Nederheitm an ... 30 S. Leinard, c Griffiths, b Birkin ............... 3 H.G.V. H om er,not out 13 Byes 6 Total (2 w kts.) ..103 L. Lienard, A. H. Read, W. G. H enderson, J. Lam ont, E. H ogg, H. C. H odgson and R. A. Bennett did n ot bat. A . P . W ilson, in scoring 126 for Chartfrhouse v. Crusaders at G odalm ing on Saturday, hit an 11 and three 5’s. The eleven resulted frtm the ball being hit into long grass and the fielding side n ot calling lost-ball.