Cricket 1908

24 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F eb . 27, 1908. H. GRADIDGE And SONS, Manufacturers o f all Requisites for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets, Hockey, Football, and all British Sports. PATENTEES AND SOLE MAKERS OF THE Used by all the Leading Players. Made in Men's, Small Men's, or College, 6, 5, 4, * 3 sizes. r r i c e f r e e o i l A p p l i c a t i o n . O f all First=Class Outfitters and Dealers. Reblading a Speciality, Factory: Artillery Place, WOOLWICH. C r ic k e t : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27 th , 1908. $ a \ r i l t o n The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. A s the result of the recent Test match at Melbourne, Australia regained the cricketing supremacy of the world. Their success, although naturally disappoint­ ing to Englishmen,can hardly be regarded as a surprise when one recalls the various ways in which the visiting team has been handicapped. A t Melbourne, when a great effort was required in order to save the rubber, England accomplished a splendid performance in dismissing their powerful opponents on a perfect pitch for 214, and it was cruel luck for rain to come down just afterwards and ruin the wicket. The weather was certainly all against us, but our batting was lament- I ably and inexcusably weak. O n e can ask, without being charge 1 with making excuses for a beaten Bide, whether any team totiricg Australia has ever experiencedso much misfortuneas the one now there. Almost every week the cable has brought news of s >me unlucky occurrence. No sooner was Jones able to resume bis place in the team, after bis long illness, than Crawford strained his heart and Humphries found it necessary to undergo a surgical operation in Mel­ bourne. Furthermore, Fielder sustained a strain whilst playing against New South Wales and was unable to take part in the last Test match in consequence. Fortune has cerlainly been unkind to the Englishmen throughout. T h e b e was some interesting play in the final Test, England, although deprived of the services of Fielder, gain­ ing a most valuable lead on the first innings. Jones, although not having very much bow ling at his command, did not hesitate to put Australia in, and his policy was abundantly justified. Gunn, who made 119 and 74 in the former Test match on the same ground, again showed his partiality for the Sydney wicket by going in first wicket down and carrying out his bat for 122. Australia, as usual, played a splendid up-hill game, Trumper being seen at his best in making 166. P b io r (o Tuesday last Trumper bad met with very little BUiceis in this season's Test matches, having, indeed, at one period ecored only four runs in four sue jessive innings. Probably ninety - nine batsmen out of every hundred have, at one time or another, had a similar dispiriting experience, and Trumper can therefore rest assured that the sympath> of cricketers in all parts of the world went out to him during his period of non-success. His two ducks in the Test match at Melbourne recall the la‘e Arthur Shrewsbury’s similar performance against New South Wales, in February, 1887. But luck was bound to turn before long, and Tiumper, to the great jo y of the Sydney crowd, played a characteristic innings of 166 the day before yesterday. The batting average) of Trumper, H ill, and Noble in Test matches are now as follow s:— No. Times Most of not in an Total inns. out. inns. runs. Aver. O.H ill.......................... G6 ... 1 ... 188 ... 2392 ... 36 80 V. Trumper ........... 55 ... 3 ... 185*... 1783 ... 34-28 M. A. Noble ........... 59 ... 6 ... 133 ... 1726 ... 32\.6 * Signifies not out. Murdoch scored 896 runs in 32 completed innings, average 32 00. It is worthy of mention that Noblehas reached double figuresevery time he has batted thi-. season for Au-tralia, his scores being 37, 27, 61, 64, 15, 65, 48, 10, 35, and 34. And his captaincy has been as good as his batting was consistent. B u t little interest centred in the return match with Victoria owing to the State being so poorly represented, and the pro- ‘ nounced success of the visitors was fore­ seen. Some surprise has been expressed that New South Wales, without Noble, Cotter, Carter, S. E. Gregory, and Duff, should have given the Englishmen so goad a game, it evidently being over­ looked tnat the mother State possesses so many excellent cricketers that it can place more than one first-class team iu the field. New South Wales have played two splendid up-hill games this season on the Sydney grou n d : against South Australia they made 572 when set 593 to win, and in the return match with Eng­ land scored 375 for nine wickets towards the 387 required. T h e New South Wales match brought L slie Minnett and Warren Bardsley prominently to the notic9 of English cricketers. It is only this season that Minnett has done anything as a bowler ; in fact, during 1906-7 he took but a couple Of wickets for his club, North Sydney, at a cost of 61 runs. Recent mails from Australia show that his bow l­ ing must have developed wonderfully,'as in three consecutive innings for North Sydney he performed as follows :— v. Balmain, at N. Sydney . v. Burwood, at Burwood O. .3 8 3 13 M. R. W. 0 0 2 5 9 4 3 33 5 Ho is a light-liaud, fait-mediuai paced bowler, a very useful run-getter, and the eldest of three brothers, all cricketers. W a k r e n B a r d s l e y , whose 108 almost ecabltd the State to defeat the English­ men, is a left-handed batsman who plays well on the on-side and has strong defence. His fielding at point is spoken very highly of by those in a position to express an opinion. He haB made eight hundreds for Glebe, and at the end of last season scored 107 against West Australia at Fremantle. He completed his twenty-four years a few months ago. I t is stated that George Gunn has expressed a wish to settle in Melbourne for the benefit of his health. F r o m the Sydney Referee: — “ An amusing interlude to cricket is reported from Melbourne. At the District Court there on Thursday, A. Fielder, J. Hardstaff, and W . Rhodes were fined 20s. each for being “ unlawfully on the premises of the Old White Heart Hotel on Sunday, December 29.” A t a meeting on February 3rd, the M.C.C. Committee expressed themselves in favour of the proposed Triangular Imperial Tournament in this country next year, and adopted a resolution to the effect that steps be taken to prepare a scheme on which invitations might be sent to Australia and South Africa. This detailed plan, after being submitted to the counties for consideration, will be referred to the Cricket sub-Committee of the M .C.C., who shall have power to co-opt the representatives of Australia and South Africa.