Cricket 1908

A u g u s t 6, 1908. CR ICKET : A W EEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 323 The construction o f the Dem on Drivers is fully described in 7 he E volution of a Cricket B at , which may be obtained free up >n applica­ tion. n i n a a m CRICKET ilMFROVED MAKE-KEEP THEIR S H APE-LA S LONGER CATALOGU E UPON APPLIC ATIO N . CATALO GU E UPON APPLIC ATION . p T l i l 'S T I C K S * ' . H I G H C R A D E ^ A CATALOCUE ONAPPLICATION. CA TA LOGU E UPON A P PLIC ATIO N . o ^ d e m o n d r i v e r s n j - , 6 ARE OUT AND OUT THE B E S T , J 0 E . oto£r grades 7 ^ 5 /- 4 ' 6 -V - 3 's - 3 '- 2 / 6 - 2 '- CA TA LOGU E UPON APPLICATION TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co.. L td .. 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDOy. Manufactory — Timber Mills — PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. A g e n ts a ll o v e r th e w o r ld , AT T H E SIGN OF TH E WICKET . By F. S . A sh le y -C o o p e r. T he tw o matches played by the Phila­ delphians in L ondon must have been very disappointing to them , seeing that they were beaten at L o rd ’s in a day and that their wickets went dow n like nine-pins at the O val on Saturday. They opened their tour in a fashion which w as distinctly prom ising, but have done little since to justify the good opinion their successes at Cardiff and W orcester led one to form . Fortunately there is still time for their batsmen to settle dow n to their best form . Judged by what they have so far accom ­ plished, they seem to have fallen off in their play since they paid us their last visit, five years a go. H ordern, of whom so much was expected, has presumably yet to be seen at his best as a bow ler. Last year he proved very successful when he cam e over with the Pennsylvanian team, but he was then pitted against a very different class of player from what he is m eeting now . H e is said to be able to m ake the ball turn both ways with leg- break action, but the only tw o occasions upon which I have seen him perform the twist from leg has escaped me. The strong man of the side is undoubtedly K in g, who has been bow lin g excellently, but has yet to be seen at his best with the bat. H is swerve is still as m uch in evi­ dence as before, but his pace appears to have fallen off som ew hat since he came over five years a go. Still, he gets wickets and at a seasonable cost, and that, after all, is as much as any bow ler can expect to do in a series o f important matches. It is perhaps som ew hat early to specu­ late upon the constitution of the next team which will visit us from Australia, but certain it is that several men new to English cricket will be found in the side. Tt is only reasonable to suppose that R ans­ ford, M acartney and R oger H artigan, am ong others, will be well in the running for places after the fine form they showed last season, and it will be interesting to see whether Sydney G regory will again be selected. T he manner in w h:ch the last- named cam e right to the front again, after it had seemed that the last o f him had been seen in great m at hes, was quite one o f the features of a season by no means devoid of incident. H ’s fielding is said to have been as reliable and brilliant as ever and the m any fine scores he made furnished abundant proof that his batt:ng powers were unimpaired. If he were chosen on his merits to visit us again his selection would prove very popular in both countries. N oble will presumably be in charge o f the team , and a better choice of leader it would be impossible to make. Several who saw his captaincy in last season’s Test m atches told me it was so good that it alone would have been suffi­ cient recompense for anyone with cricket in his soul to have made the lon g journey to Australia. T o how great an extent his leadership was responsible for h:s cou ntry’s success in the series o f m atches mentioned does not appear to be as fully recognised generally in this country as it deserves to be. It is betraying no confidence to state that he was disappointed at not being chosen to lead the last team which came over r to captain a side throughout an E nglish tour has been his ambition— a very natu al and laudable one— for some time, and everything points to the great proba­ bility o f it being gratified in the near future. Carter can be counted upon as a certainty for the next team, for his w icket- keeping has been as of high a standard as ever and he has shown a great ad­ vance as a batsman. W ho will be selected as his understudy is not easy to conjecture, though G orry, o f N ew South W ales, who was considered goo d enough to be chosen for N oble’s testimonial match between the Australian Eleven and the Rest o f Aus­ tralia at Sydney, would appear to stand as good a chance as anyone. My friend H am ish Stuart furnishes me with four instructive examples of what “ a curious gam e ” cricket is, and how true is the saying “ gloriou s uncertainty.” Mr. Stuart writes, “ T he phrase 4 G lorious uncertainty ’ m ay be trite, but it is em inently true, as witness my experience in four successive gam es in which I have played. In the first, W hitcom b W anderers v. South London Amateurs, w e lost nine wickets for 74 ru n s; the last w icket put on 143 ! In the second match, Surrey C. and G. v. Beddington, w e made 136 and B eddington lost seven w ickets for 47 ru n s; yet the eighth w icket put on 82 and Bed­ dington w on. In the third match, E aling Dean v. H ounslow , the last H ounslow w icket added 62. In the fourth, W hitcom b W anderers v. N om ads, w e made 233 and the N om ads had 111 up with only tw o men out and looked likely to register an ex­ cellent win. Then E. Dancer, a m edium -to- fast right-hand bow ler, took five wickets with successive balls, and so com pletely altered the aspect that the W hitcom bs won. ” W ith every w ord uttered by D r. W arre in his speech (reported on another page) at D ulw ich C ollege last week I am in hearty agreem ent, for I have not the slightest sym pathy with the man who makes gam es or athletics the be-all and end-all of life. From being a healthy relaxation, to be enjoyed in spare time as a means of recreation, athletics have becom e part and parcel o f our national life to an undesirable exten t; in fact, in­ stead of being indulged in judiciously they are being abused. It is a rem arkable fact that a man w ho has gained great dis- tn ction in the cricket field, or has made a name for him self in some other leading pastime or form of athletics, may challenge publicity wi'.h, and far out-distance in popularity, our leading Divines and Cabinet M inisters. It is characteristic of the times, and surely no sane person would regard it as a healthy sign. BRIXTON WANDERERS 2 nd v . CROYDON 2 nd * —Played at East Dulwich on Argust, 1. B rix to n W an derers 2 n d . •T. Faulkner, not out 143 I B 4, 1-b 1. n-b 3 8 W. A. Mitchell, not “ * __ out .............. ^ ..160 I Total (no wkt.) *311 •Innings declared closed. IT. C. Edmonds. R. J. Burlington, A. R. Whitley G. Hoffs'. C. W. Phillips, J. E. Bohrmann, J. U[ Woodfall, J. W. E. Murray, and A. Harbert did not bat. C roydon 2 nd . O. F. Long,b Burling­ ton .............. 19 H. F. Groom, c and b Burlington ... ... 14 G. T. Gardner, run out .......................... 5 H. R. Hefford.cHogg, h Burlington . 1 1 6 J. Brierley, b Harbert 0 R. H. Inder, e Bohr­ mann, b Burlington 8 M. Reichert, c Phillips, b Mitchell ...............10 F. W. Fifield, c Bur­ lington, b Mitchell 0 S. J. Ching, c Hogg, b M itch ell............. 17 P. Hoerder, c Hogg, b H a rb e rt.............. 26 F. C. Dight, not out... 8 B 5, 1-b 3, 1 Total 1, n-b 1 10 ...233 CA TA LOGU E UPON APPLIC ATION .