Cricket 1908

3 20 CR ICK ET : A W EEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u l y 30, 1908. as cricket continues to be played, so lon g will N yren’s C ricketers o f M y Tim e be considered the finest and m ost graph ic piece of w riting in the literature o f the gam e. M acauley’s N ew Zealander will, if he be a w ise man, contem plate the ruins o f L on ­ don from L ondon B rid ge with a copy of the classic in his inner pocket. T h e perusal o f N yren spoils the en­ thusiast for other books, for nobody who has ever written about the gam e used so facile and vivid a pen as the old H am ble- don player. W ould there were m ore N yren s! Several cricketers, w ho could have furnished the historians with much valuable inform ation in an entertaining m anner, unfortunately failed to follow the goo d exam ple o f the old H am bledon player. It is m atter for regret that the illustrious W illiam Beldham , who died in 1862 at the great a g e o f 96, failed to meet his Bosw ell. T h e old p layer’s rem inis­ cences were well w orth recording, for he knew personally men w ho had played in all stages o f the g a m e ’s history. And why did not the charm ing Felix— artist, scholar, musician, and the m ost genial o f men— give his recollections to the w orld ? He w as the author o f m ore than one treatise exclusively practical, and if— a la s ! very rarely— he discovered him self driftin g into rem iniscence, he prom ptly apologised for “ w anderin g' alon g the narrow path, strewn with pretty flow ers.” There is no book which can be com pared with N yren as a classic, though P y croft’s C ricket Field possesses considerable charm and literary m erit. T h e R ev. Jam es P ycroft was greatly devoted to the g^m e, and before he settled dowji seriously t o life m ade a pilgrim age, with inkhorn at his button, am on g the cottages which reared the fam ous players of the eighteenth century. For this reason, if for none other, his name deserves to live, as he saved from oblivion several facts o f interest con cerning the early history of the gam e. C ricket S cores and B iographies is, by universal consent, the greatest w ork ever published on the gam e. Fourteen volum es, containing ten thousand pages, have been issued, dealing with the history o f cricket from the earliest tim es to the com m ence­ m ent of the year 1879. T h e author o f this stupendous w ork w as the late M r. Arthur H aygarth, a w ell-know n old H arrovian, w ho, from first to last, devoted sixty vears of his life to the collection of scores and facts of interest con cerning the gam e and its chief exponents. B y his unrem itting zeal he unconsciously raised a m onum ent to his ow n m em ory. In obtaining material for his w ork he spent quite a small fortune, and, in consequence, died a poorer man than he would have done had he adopted som e profession. H is interest in the his­ tory o f the gam e rem ained as great as ever until the day of his death, but he w as by no m eans enthusiastic con cerning the tre­ m endous scores m ade during the last few years of his life, for he m aintained, and with reason, that the hard w ickets had caused the gam e to becom e far less in­ teresting than it had been in previous times. T h e m ost valuable books to a student of first-class cricket are S cores and B iographies and W isden's Alm anack. The last-m entioned publication was first issued in 1864, and a com plete set is now som e­ what difficult to obtain. Other Annuals which are very useful for purposes o f re­ ference are Fred L illyw h ite’s Guides, 1849- 1866— now extrem ely scarce— the Green Lillyw hite, 1865 to 1885, and the well- know n R ed Lillywhite, from 1872 to 1900. M any other Annuals have been issued, the m ajority o f which are no doubt frequently referred to by those w hose duty and plea­ sure it is to write about the g a m e’s history. Am erica, Australia, N ew Zealand, Ceylon, South A frica, Barbados have all issued periodical publications dealing with cricket, but in m ost cases only a few numbers were given to the w orld, ow in g to the poor sup­ port accorded them. It is rem arkable that a great cricketing comm unity like Aus­ tralia is unable to support an Annual. The dem ise o f Mr. J. C . D a vis’ excellent ven­ ture in 1897, after a brief life o f three years, was little less than a catastrophe. T h e books which have been issued deal­ in g with the history of various clubs are very numerous. Perhaps the best of them all is that issued at a gu inea by Messrs. Eyre and Spottisw oode entitled “ T he H is­ tory of Kent C ounty C rick et,” edited by Lord H arris. Surrey, M iddlesex, N otting­ ham shire, Y orkshire, Sussex, Lancashire, Gloucestershire, C am bridge University, Derbyshire, &c., have all had their history published, m ore or less fully, in book form . Am ongst the m inor clubs the Incogniti, the Free Foresters, and the Ham pstead, R och ­ dale, Liverpool, Granville, W est Kent, W im bledon Clubs, &c., have contributed to the literature o f the gam e. T he book dealing with the W est Kent C .C . is the m odel o f what such a book should be, but the price— a guinea— is apt to lim it its circulation. H istories o f the various great tours have frequently been penned, whilst m any schools have from time to time pub­ lished their scores. B ooks o f rem iniscences have o f late years been somewhat num erous, the best o f all being The W alkers of S outhgate, by the old Sussex cricketer, Mr. W . A. Bettesworth, which is destined to becom e a classic. T he books and pamphlets dealing with the practical side of the gam e are far too numerous to m ention, ranking from T hom as B oxa ll’s of 1800 to T om H ayw ard ’s of 1907. In addition to all the above are histories of various matches— such as Gentlemen v. Players, Eton v. H arrow , &c.— books of fiction, books of verse, & c., &c. Every phase o f cricket, in short, appears to have been written about, and it is at times difficult to im agine that a publication could possibly be issued dealing with a fresh branch of the gam e. In order that one m ay realise how prolific o f “ literature” the gam e has been, it is only necessary to state that M r. Alfred D . T aylor, o f H ove, B righton, one o f the greatest o f cricket bibliophiles, possesses over 1,700 separate publications apart from duplicates. LUDGROVE 2 nd v. ELSTREE 2 nd .— Played Elstree on Ju ly 22. E lstree 2 n d . F. M. B. Lutyens, b Dunville ... ... 0 0. M. Benjamin, b Barry ................ 1 H. H. Jackson, c and b D un ville.............. 35 H. W. Thoreley, b Barry ... ... 0 R. II. Sauter, b Dun­ ville .......................... 36 VV. L. Roseveare, b Dunville G.T. Hanmer, b Barry K.C.W. Hyde, not out E. H. Gough, c and b Barry.......................... C. A. Lutyens, not out Wide ............... * Inninsrs declared closed. L. F. D. Lutyens did not bat. L udgrove 2 nd . Total (S wkts.)*S8 R. H. Walker, b Gough .............. 2 R. M. Lees, not out... 30 J . F. Burbury, c Ben­ jamin, b Hyde ... 3 T. Philipson, b L. F. D. Lutyens.............. 3 and b G. Barry, Gough .............. J . E. Impey, not out Byes.. Total (4 wkts.) 45 J. Tabor, J. E. A. Hoare, J. S. Dunville, P. S. Guthrie, and C. J. D. Smith did not bat. C R I C K E T IN C E Y L O N . Y.M.C.A. v. S in h alese S ports C lub .— Played at Colombo on June 20 and 27. Only seven wickets fell in the match for 493 runs. The unfinished partner­ ship of Gunewardene and Molamure produced 163 runs, and the pair won the match against time. Score Y.M.C.A. A. C. Amath, st Gun- asekera, b E. R. de Saam ...............24 N. L. Joseph, c Jaya- singlie, b E. R. de Saram ............... 5 V. D. Dickman, b Mendis ...............50 E. I. Gunasekera, Schokman,b Amath 16 R.E. S. Mendis, c and b Schokman ... 23 E. G. M. Gunewar­ dene, notout ... 99 F. de Saram,c Joseph, b Schokman •Innings declared closed. S in h alese S ports C lu b . A.T. Pollocks, notout 67 J. Peries, c Gunase­ kera, b F. W. Dias... 63 Byes, &c.................28 Total (4 wkts.)*237 A. F. Molamure, out ............... not Byes, &c. Total (8 wkts.)256 The above fast scoring by the Sinhalese S.C. recalls their match against the Colombo C.C. two years ago. The latter made 255 for four wickets (W.F.O. Faviell, 105) in just over three hours and then declared, leav­ ing 90 minutes available for play. In that time the S.S.C. scored 232 for the loss of only one wicket, Douglas de Saram (110 not out) and his brother, Fred de Saram (89 not out), indulging in an unfinished partnership of 208. On June 26 and 27 the second eleven of the Colombo C.C. established a record for Ceylon by going down against the Braybrooke C.C. in their second innings for 5 runs. The wickets fell thus :— 1 2 and 3 4, 5, 6 and 7 8, 9 and 10 LONDON SCOTTISH v. HAMPSTEAD. — Played at Brondesbury on Ju ly 25. H am pstead . E.W.H.Beaton, cW.G. Henderson, b I end 43 D. J. Crump, b S. Lienard .............. C. C. Monkhouse, c E. A. Homer, b S. Lienard ............... R. C. Proctor, b I.. Lienard ............... F. J. Potter, c L. Lienard, b Read H. S. Maclure, b S. Lienard 11 L. A. Pavitt, not out G. M. Hodgson, b S. IJenard ............... A. C. Hayhoe, c Hogg, b S. Lienard R. S. Cliallends, c and b Read ............... F. A. Atkins, b Read B 12 ,1-b 4, w 1 Total L ondon S cottish . E. A. Homer, b Chal- le n d s .......................... 1 W. G. Henderson, c Proctor, b Hayhoe... 5 L. Lienard, b Chal- len d s..........................44 S. Lienard, c Beaton, b Challends............... 1 E. A. Bennett, b Hay­ hoe .......................... 10 A. II. Read,b Pavitt .. 19 H. G. V. Homer, c Proctor, b Chalknds 29 E. Hogg, c Beaton, b Challends ... C. C. Tollitt, not out H. C. Hodgson, run out ... .............. R. A. Bennett, b Chal­ lends... B 1 1 , 1-b 1, w 1 Total SOUTH HAMPSTEAD 2 nd v . HORN SEY 2»r Played at Cricklewood on July 25. Soum H a v pst r a d 2 'D . F. C. Barre.t, c Leach, b Biiggs .............. 10 J. G. Besch, b Biigsrs 29 C. Thornhill, c and b Stoker 14 S. Eli*ton, b Briggs .. 0 J. Thornhill, b Stokes 0 Stewart Rtmsey, b Murch ...............68 G. L. Worl »ck, b Biigsrs .............33 T. W. Hine, not out... 29 B 2, 1-b 6, w 2 ... 10 Total (7 wkts.)* 193 •Inrings declared closed. T. C. Johns, L. Barrett and G. L. Spa^ forth did not bat. H ornsey 2 nd . G.R.Love, b J . ThornW. R. Briggs, lbw, b J. Thornhill hill .......................... 2 0 E. G. Theatston, b H. S. Dix, b Hine ... 14 H in e ........................ 0 H. Jones, lbw, J. E . F . Stokes, Ibw, b Thornhill ... 1 J. Thornhill 17 F . Jones,'b Hine 5 W. Watkins, b J. R. J . Leach, not out 1 T h o rn h ill............. 4 W. H. Wrightson, b J . Thornhill 2 Byes........................... 9 H. W. Murch, lbw, b — Elston ............... 32 Total............... 87 Printed and Published by M e rritt & H atcher, Ltd., 167, 168 and 169, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C., Ju ly 30th, 1908