Cricket 1908

2 3 2 CR ICKET A W EEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u n e 25 , 1908 . H. GRADIDGE And SONS, 1 W anufacturers o f all Requisites for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets , Hockey, Football, an d all British Sports. P A T E N T E E S A N D S O L E M A K E R S O F T H E Y * A V . * Used by all the Leading: Players. M ade In Men's, Sm all M en's, or College, 6, 5, 4, A 3 sizes. I » r i c e L i s t s 1 r e e o n A p p l i c a t i o n . O f all First=Class Outfitters and Dealers. t Reblading a Speciality. Factory: A rtillery P lace , WOOLWI CH . “ O Y A L B A . ” R E I D ’ S O V A L - W H I T E . The celebrated preparation for cleaning Cricket and all Buff Leather Goods, W arranted not to rub oft or cake. A s used at Ken nington Oval, and h ighly recom m ended b y K . 8 R anjitsinhii, Dr. W . G . Grace, 0 . B. F ry, Lord Dalm eny, Australian X I., 1905, G . L. Jessop, Ac., &c P ack e d in zin c boxes, 6d. p er box. J. J. REID, 878, Kennington Rd., London. THOS. J. TATE , All England Championship Racket Maker. C R IC K E T B A T S a n d B A L L S . 18 , P r in c e s S tre e t, C a v e n d is h S q u a r e , L O N D O N , W ! The Sportsman says: —“ T h e b ou n d volum e of Cricket fo r 1907 is now ready, and affords a valuable record o f the gam e not only in E ngland, b u t in Greater B ritain.” Price 8s. 6d., post free 9s. Cricket: A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E . 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THUR SDAY , JU N E 2 5 ™ 1908. Pavilion Gossip. The abstract and b rief chronicle o f the time. — Hamlet. T h e m eeting o f M iddlesex and Y o rk ­ shire, at L ord ’s last week, resulted in one of the best-contested matches witnessed so far this season. T he fact that neither side had been defeated caused the greatest interest to centre in the gam e, and the cricket seen was w orthy o f the occasion. Neither side w as at full strength, Yorkshire b ein g without H a ig h , and M iddlesex la ck in g the services of Bosanquet. The all-round cricket o f H irst, Rhodes, and N ewstead was quite the feature o f the m atch ; between them they obtained all the M iddlesex w ickets, and, in a low -scoring gam e, m ade 142 runs in their six innings. O f H irst it is impossible to say anything new, so it must suffice to state that he played a characteristically plucky innings o f 50 and bowled in his best form when M iddlesex went in for the second time. R hodes, by his adm irable stand with H ardisty, when Y orksh ire went in to m ake the runs, had much to do with the result, and N ewstead stamped him self as one o f the best all-round players o f the day. A w ord of praise is due to Hunter, w ho not only kept w icket in his best form , but captained the side very ably. It is little less than rem arkable how he has m aintained his form , for he w as twenty- eight years of a g e when he m ade his debut for Y orkshire, and the present is the twenty-first season in which he has ap­ peared for the County. T he fact that he is still able to keep w icket so creditably is very eloquent testim ony to his skill. B u t the Yorkshirem en did not m ono­ polize the honours o f the gam e. It was left to W arner to play the highest innings, and m ake the greatest aggregate, of the m atch. H is 76 in the second innings was a very masterly display. Had he failed the outlook for M iddlesex would have been p oor indeed, and it was, in fact, due alm ost solely to him that the C ounty stood any chance o f pulling off the gam e when Y orksh ire started their second innings. T h e b ow lin g he had to contend with was very true and the w icket anything but an easy o n e ; notw ithstanding this, how ever, and the fact that his responsibilities were very great, he batted for three hours w ith­ out a m istake. I m uch doubt whether he has ever played a better innings. A lb e r t T r o t t infused some excitem ent into the closin g stage of the gam e. W hen it appeared not unlikely that Y orkshire would m ake the necessary runs without much difficulty he showed a glim pse o f his old form and took five wickets cheaply. M iddlesex, how ever, went under, after a gallant fight, by three w ickets, and, Sussex losing to Leicestershire on the sam e after­ noon, Yorkshire remained the only county unbeaten in the Cham pionship C om peti­ tion. T h o se follow ers o f the gam e w ho live in the London district and have only Satur­ days to devote to w atching first-class cricket must have been sadly disappointed last week. At the O val, with Surrey re­ quiring only 61 runs to win with nine wickets in hand, an early finish was assured, whilst at L o rd ’s and Leyton there was no play at all. T hat such a state of things should be would provide advocates of week-end cricket with a pow erful argum ent. A y o u n g man named J. C. W’atson, who cam e from Dundee, and was em ployed at the British Thom son-H ouston C om pany’s w orks at R u gby as a draughtsm an, died in the R ugby H ospital on the 7th inst. H e w as playing cricket for the B .T .H . second eleven on the previous afternoon, and had just gon e in to bat when he was seized with what appeared to be a fit, and w as taken to the hospital. H e never regained consciousness. H em orrhage of the brain was the cause of death. M ajor L. A. H . H a m il t o n , the old T on ­ bridge and Kent cricketer, has been pro­ m oted Lieutenant-Colonel to comm and the 1st Battalion K in g ’s Ow n Yorkshire Light Infantry in the Transvaal. In 1890 he scored 269 for T h e A rm y v. T he N avy at Portsm outh, and 117 not out for Kent against the Australians at Canterbury, g o in g in first and carrying out his bat. H e is one of the few players who have twice exceeded 200 in an innings in India. I t was, perhaps, hardly to be expected that Sussex would g o through the season undefeated, but the ready manner in which they went down before Leicestershire last week must have com e as a surprise to most people, notw ithstanding the excellent form the latter show ed when the sides met at Eastbourne earlier in the season. It was a finely-hit innings o f 52 by V . F. S. C raw ford which m ade the hom e sid e’s suc­ cess a possibility, and som e capital bow ling did the rest. V incett, w ho scored 50 runs in the match for Sussex and took half-a- dozen wickets, w as unfortunate to be on ihe losing side ; in his first innings (36) he hit three 6 ’s and three 4 ’s. J o h n H e r b e r t V in c e t t , who w as given a trial for Sussex in 1907, w as born on May 24th, 1883. F or one year he w as on the ground staff at T onbridge, and he has