Cricket 1908

Ju ly 23 , 1908 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 297 one, almost unnecessary to add, without a parallel in modern times. At half-past eleven, when the Hampshire players were ready to take the field if necessary, only two Sussex players— Nason and Leach— were on the ground. The weather was quite fine then and play would have been possible by noon, if not before. At twenty minutes past twelve C. B. Fry and Vine arrived, and, as there was no. sign of the seven remaining players, it was decided to take lunch earlier than usual and so, if possible, make up for lost time. It was not until half-past three that the seven truants put in an appearance, and shortly after their arrival rain set in and continued so persistently that at 4.30 play was aban­ doned for the day. I t was explained that many of the Sussex players were staying as guests of the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar at Shilling- lee, about 22 miles away, and that, as it had been raining heavily there all the morning, they took it for granted that similar weather was being experienced at Chichester, and that it would involve a fruitless journey to put in an appearance on the ground. There was, of course, no excuse for their dilatoriness and their lack of consideration for the public. The spectators made no demonstration, but they were keenly disappointed, as it was the only county match allocated to Chichester. It may prove of interest to point out that on the same day play was altogether out of the question at the Oval, but at Lord’s, only a few miles distant, 241 runs were made for the loss of eleven wickets. • T h e Chichester incident recalls a similar occurrence, though on a much smaller scale, in connection with the Gentlemen v. Players match of 1833. Charles Harenc, the first amateur to become proficient in the round-armed bowling revived by Lillywhite and Broadbridge, was asked to assist the Gentlemen. He accepted the invitation, but did not make his appear­ ance at L ord’s until two o ’clock, because it had rained in the morning at Chisle- hurst, where he was th6n residing with his mother, though not a drop fell at L ord’s. Mr. Benjamin Aislabie, the hon. secretary to the M .C .C ., referred to the ludicrous incident in one of his cricket songs :— “ Charley H arenc loves good w ine, Charley loves good brandy, Charley loves a pretty girl, as sweet as sugar ca n d y ; Charley is as sugar sweet, w hich wetted melts away, Sir, Charley therefore stops away upon a rainy day, Sir. Charley knocks the knuckles o f m any an awkward clow n, Sir, If Charley stops aw ay again, he’ll chance to rap his ow n, Sir. H arenc’s name appears thus in the first innings of the . Gentlemen :— “ C. J. Harenc, absent, o .” R . A. S iie p p a k d , who has played occa­ sionally for Surrey, was in good all-round form on the 15th inst. Playing for Sutton against Bexhill on the latter’s ground he took seven wickets for 21 runs in a total of 49 and played an innings of 131. D u r in g the last three seasons the matches between Lancing and Brighton have produced interesting and keen cricket. In 1906 Brighton won by two wickets on the stroke of time, in 1907 the game was left drawn in an even condition, and this year Brighton pulled through by 7 runs. All three matches were played on the County ground at Hove. T h e Philadelphians were to have played a two-day match* at Folkestone against Mr. A. C. Edwards’ X I. in the latter part of last week, but the weather was so un­ seasonable that not a ball could be bowled. On Friday evening Lord Harris took the chair at a dinner given to the Philadel­ phians by the Folkestone C.C., and, in feplying to the toast of his health, proposed by Dr. Lester, said :— I have always hoped that you w ould go on im ­ proving, so that some day you m ight feel justified in asking for a m atch w ith an England X I. ; and I shall continue to entertain that hope, though I quite realise whafc tho difficulties are that have im peded your progress during the 3(j years since I played against you at Philadelphia, when you m ade such a gallant fight against the strongest Gentlem en’s Eleven that has ever left England. Gentlem en, w e appreciate the com plim ent im plied in these dem ands, that roll in on us from all quarters of tho globe, for m atches against county elevens and against elevens of England, but I think you w ill realise that they do tax our players severely. Including the visit of the England Eleven to A us­ tralia in 1904-5, there have been no less than five Test m atch tours in four years, and it is, 1 think you w ill agree, not to be w ondered at if som e of the counties w hich supply the m ajority of the Test m atch players are not quite as anxious for Test m atch tours as arc the public. W hen you do arrive at the stage that you can challenge England I really do not know how we shall be able to oblige you unless we can arrange to have a Cricket Olym piad. I have all m y life lived in hopes of seeing first-class teams from different parts of the British Em pire com peting against each other, as w ell as against England, on British soil ; and a short tim e ago I was quite hopeful m y antici­ pations wore to be realised, but I am sorry to see the chance has vanished, not on ly because of the intense interest w hich I believe tho public w ould have taken in the m atches, but also because I think the pre­ sence here of the leading cricketers of the great cricketing Colonies w ould have afforded a useful opportunity of personal com m unication as to future arrangem ents for Test tours ; and it is inevitable that som e arrangem ent m ust be com e to, for it w ill be quite im possible for the England Eleven to do for each of two Colonies w hat they have hitherto done for one. Gentlem en, these remarks do not perhaps im m e­ diately concern you, but they w ill m ost certainly becom e appropriate should you, as I unfeignedly hope you w ill, im prove up to the highest rank of cricket. T h e Daily Mail reports that while the members of the Hucknall C.C. were play­ ing cricket a more than usually lusty hit landed the ball into the adjoining garden and, incidentally, smashed the glass of a greenhouse. Mrs. Sarah Vann, the owner, promptly secured the ball and re­ fused to give it up even to the police officer, with the result that on Saturday she appeared in the dock at Nottingham Police Court charged with stealing a cricket ball. The magistrate ordered her to hand it over to the club secretary and dismissed the case. A n amusing match was played in the cause of charity at Nottingham on Wed­ nesday of last week, a team of Crimean and Indian Mutiny veterans opposing a team of ladies. Trooper Holland, the only local survivor of the Balaclava Charge, played with a bat wider than the wicket, and the ladies bowled to him with a football so that he could see it. He scored two. The veterans, for whom an eighty-year-old Chelsea pensioner bowled, won by 107 to 79. After the match the veterans presented each lady who took part in the match with a small Union Jack. F r o m The Doily Telegraph :— “ The E ight Hon. Jam es R ound, w ho for thirty-eight years represented East Essex and the H arw ich Division in Parliam ent as a Con­ servative, hag been presented w ith an illu­ m inated address, expressing adm iration of the w ay in w hich he had discharged his duties, and em phasised the fact that, w ithout distinction of party, all in his constituency had regarded hifn as their friend, and respected him as their m em ber. The address, whose eleven hundred signatures included the names of m any prom i­ nent Liberals, was accom panied w ith a portrait of Mr. Round,painted by Mr. A. S. Cope, A .R .A .’’ Mr. R oun d,. forty years or so ago, was well above the average of batsmen and wicket-keepers. He was a member of the Eton X I. of i860 and assisted the Gentle­ men against the Players occasionally be­ tween 1864 and 1868. In the match at the Oval in 1867 he allowed only one bye in the Players’ innings of 249, and caught 3, stumped 2, and ran out 3. His highest score in a match of note was 142 for Southgate against Oxford University at Oxford in 1867. In later times he played for Essex, and for many years was Hon. Treasurer to the County C.C. In a match at Spondon, in Derbyshire, on Saturday, between Spondon and Derby Nomads, the latter, in response to a total of 76, scored 95 for two wickets, of which number B. Hall, the Derby County half­ back, was responsible for as many as 73 (not out). Three days before he had con­ tributed 113 to a total of 168. T h e Brixton Wanderers held, or at­ tempted to hold, their usual Week from the 13th to the 18th inst. Of the dozen or so they have had, the last, owing chiefly to the weather, will stand out in painful prominence. On Monday, when the open­ ing match was to have been played, v. Surrey Club and Ground, it rained from early morn till dewy eve, and not a ball was bowled ; in fact, the Oval contingent never reached the ground. On Tuesday Hampton W ick knocked up 260, of which the skipper (Sivers) was responsible for 101 not out and Gale for 53 ; the home side only just escaped defeat with 157 for 9, F. Odell scoring 46 of the number. On Wednesday the Brixton Wanderers’ first innings totalled only 112, but that proved sufficient for a win, for Dulwich were all disposed of for 104. On Thursday and Friday “ J .P .” prevented any play, and the