Cricket 1908

JV ly 16, 1908. CRICKET S A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 281 Saturday. lie played for Harrow from 1832 to 1835 and for Cambridge in 1836, 1838 and 1839—there was no match in 1837—and has been a member of the M .C.C. since 1845. Colonel A. F. Jenner, a younger brother of the famous Herbert Jenner-Fust, and a mem­ ber of the Kent E'even of 1835, will be 92 on the I2th prox., and on the same date Mr. Edward Banks will complete his eighty-eighth year. The latter, in addition to being a very good batsman, was a splendid fieldsman in the country. He played for Kent from 1842 to 1846 and, being obliged to give up the game on account of ill-health, took up his resi dence near Deal, where he still remains. When Felix and Mynn played their single­ wicket match at Lord’s in 1846 Mr. Banks fielded for the latter, whilst in the return, at Bromley, Mr. Broughton fielded first for Mynn and afterwards for Felix. Mynn died at the age of 54 and Felix in hisseven’y-second year, but Messrs. Broughton and Banks are still with us. A greater veteran than either of these, however, survives in Mr. A. Bui rows, who was born on August 26th, 1812. and was in the Winchester X I of 1829. He thus pre­ ceded such well-known early Wykehamists as A. J. Lowth, Bridger Stent, H. E. Muberly, and the redoubtable V. C Smith. In his only Public School match—against Eton in. 1829— Mr. Burrows made o not out and 17, the latter being the s-cond highest scure in the inning?. Eton won by four wickets. Do Scotchmen take their pleasures sadly? Judging from the following remarks, which appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News recently in reference to a match between Perthshire and Forfarshire, they do n ot:— “ The m atch was w itnessed by a record crow d num bering in all nearly 15,000 persons, the great m ajority of w hom knew little or nothing of the gam e, and often applauded at the w rong tim e. There were the usual fights am ong the crow d, while the noise and din that was m ade rem inded one of a w ild beast show rather than a cricket m atch. There w ill be a repetition of the scene at Perth on the last day of this m onth and the first day of August, when the return m atch is played.” I t is remarkable how well J. R. Mason generally does with both bat and ball when he turns out for Kent against Somerset. In his last half-dozen appearances in such matches he has performed thus :— Year. Ground. Bow ling. Scores. 1904 Beckenham 10 for 180 120 1904 Taunton 10 „ 131 1 and 100 1905 Taunton 10 ,, 222 133 190<> Taunton 8 „ 64 72 and 40 1907 Taunton 1 » 27 119 not out 1908 Dover 3 „ 20 112 This shows an aggregate of 709 runs in seven completed innings, average 10128, and the taking of 42 wickets at a cost of 15'33 runs each. The highest innings he has yet p'ayed for Kent was also obtained off Somerset bowl­ ing, namely, 183 at Blackheath in 1897. H arrow succeeded in defeating Eton at Lord’s on Saturday by ten wickets. That they were the better side as the wicket was I have no doubt, though it must not be for­ gotten that they gained an advantage in winning the toss. The stand by Crutchley and Lawson-Smith for the second wicket practically decided the result, and Eton, whom I should imagine to te a much bet’er side on hard wickets than on soft, w ee always play­ ing an up-hill game afterwards. The latter’? batting must have been veiy disappointing to their supporters, for the three men from whom most was expected—Cartwright, Benson and Fowler—scored only 27 runs in their six innings. The match was a triumph for G. E. V. Crutchley, who made 74—the best innings of the match—and took eight wickets for 46 runs. Pie is a nephew of P. E. Crutch­ ley, of the Harrow X I. in 1873 and 1874, who scored 84 for M.C.C. against Kent at Canterbury in 1876 and put on 227 for the fifth wicket with “ W . G . w h o made 344. J a m e s D o u g l a s — not, I believe, the cricketer of that name — writing in The Mo 7 'ning Leader , gives the following descrip­ tion of the scene in front of the Pavilion at the close of the match :— “ The Harrovians were m ad w ith victory. They gathered in a dense clum p 01 ruffled silk hats, and they yelled steadily for half an hour w ithout taking breath. They opened their m ouths w ide aud showed their back teeth w ithout auy beastly em ­ barrassm ent, how ling until they how led them selves hoarse. They did not how l in unison. They sim ply made as m uch noise as they could. Now and then a boy w ould stop how ling to lick his dry lips, only to start how ling again w ith renew ed energy. Many of the boys had dark blue silk handkerchiefs w ith a w hite border. They tied these handkerchiefs to canes and umbrellas and w aved them w ildly in the air. O ther boys put their silk hats 011 their um ­ brellas and brandished them above their heads. Occasionally a tall youth 011 the fringe of the cheer­ in g crow d startled his ™other or his sister b y sud­ denly bursting into a m elancholy yell. The din was car-splitting, lor it was continuous and it was shrill. Som etim es the how l was varied by a long-dr.iwn shout of “ We-1-1 play-aycd Har-ar-ow-ow !” The Eton boys, though soundly beaten, were n ot cow ed into silence. They form ed a silk-liat phalanx of their ow n, over w hich fluttered prettily a cloud of pale blue silk handkerchiefs. They how led against Harrow and Harrow how led against them . Neither arm y of how lers w ould yield, and neither could how l the other down. A t tim es it seem ed as if the contending hosts of howlers w oidd com e to blows, but the w onderfully polite and urbane police handled them as a good w hip handles an unruly team. Invisibly they controlled the hysterical boys w ithout seem ing to control them .” H e continues :— “ W hile the boys how led below them the Old Boys in the pavilion above them listened and looked on, w ith a quiet smile 011 their lips and a suspicious brightness in their eyes. You could see the m em ory w orking behind their placid silcnce. They, too, had been dow n there, long ago, am ong the cheering ranks of youth. In heart they were there still, even though they were now “ forty years 011 ,” w ith stiff old m uscles and chilled old blood and grey old heads and ripe old carcers. The young pride in the young hearts of the striplings has awakened the old pride in their old hearts. Do you see that fat old fellow w ith a grey top hat on the back o f his head, a black cravat over his throat, and old-fashioned grey whiskers lining his cheeks and chin ? He is gripping the back of the seat before him very, very hard. His set sm ile is very pathetic. There is pain as well as pleasure in it. I swear he w ould burst into tears if he could condescend to let him self go. B ut the boys are yelling up at the dressing-room for Crutchley and Lawson-Sm ith and Lang. A last a grotesque figure in shirt and trousers appears at the window , grins, hitches up his braces, and vanishes. Every­ body laughs. Then another boy appears at the w indow , waves a hair-brusli in the air, errins, and vanishes. It is the English way. The august heroes of the m atch do not take them selves too seriously. They carry off the greatest m om ent in their lives w ith a com ic gesture and a com ic grin. ” O f the 84 matches known to have been played between Eton and Harrow the former have won 32 and the latter 35, the remaining seventeen having been drawn. E. M. S p r o t ’s declaration against Northamptonshire during the luncheon interval last Satur ay, when his side was still 24 runs behind with a wicktt in hand, must rank as a genuine curiosity. As time was limited his actii n had everything to recom­ mend it, for it saved the ten minutes’ inteiv; 1 between the innings, and, without involving any risk, gave his side a Letter chance of fjreing a win. Evei>thing tuined out as satisfactorily as he could have wished, Hamp­ shire winning in brilliant style by nine wickets after Northants. had collapscd for 60 against Mead’s bowling. Sprot himself had a large share in the success, bringing off three brilliant catches and scoring 62 of the last 83 runs ma le by Hampshire in 50 minutes. He hit two 6’s and eight 4’s, and the winning hit was made an hour and a quarter before the time fixed for drawing stuup*. T he above i-icident remind*, me of a curi /us declaration which was nvv.e in a much between Wellington and Break-o’ -Day at Hobart in March, 190 . The latter required four runs to save the follow-on, and were anxious not to maki them, as their only p)*sible chance of winning the mitch was to follow - on, make runs q ickly, and get their opponents ou for a few. The captain, C. J. Eady, accordingly declared the innings closed To this proce ding the Wellington captain, K. E. Burn, objected, and, taking nutters into his own hands, refused to go on with the match, which was, in consequence, claimed by Break-o’-Day. The Tasmanian Cricket Association, before whom the matter was placed for settlement, naturally ^ave its decision in favour of Break-o’ -Day. The American Cricketer is responsible for the statement that an attempt is to be made to induce the Fijian team, which has re­ cently been touring in Australia, to play a series of matches in Southern California. T h e same paper, which is certainly in a position to speak authoritatively on the matter, refers to the prospects of the Pniladelphian team now visiting us in the following terms :— “ Although, on the whole, the com bination m ay not be so strong as originally constituted, yet it m ay develop into one o f the best teams we have ever sent abroad. It contains several young players o f m uch prom ise, and a leavening of the m en who have Lad plenty of experience in England. It is to be hoped that the fickle English clim ate w ill m ake up its m ind to be in its best m ood during the tour. East, dry w ickets w ill buit our men m uch better than w et and sticky ones, but happily finer weather can be cxpectcd during July and August than in the earlier m onths of the season. The band of Thila- delphian cricketers, m any of whom have m ade great sacrifices to represent their city abroad, w ill carry w ith them the hearty good wishes of all lovers of the gam e; not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the country.”