Cricket 1908

A u g u s t 6 , 1908. CR ICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 329 A . I. Steel, who is a son of the old Lancashire and E ngland cricketer, A. G. Steel, K .C ., has enjoyed a very successful season at Eton in Junior Cricket. Play­ ing for E. Im pey’s H ouse, he scored 545 runs in eight com pleted innings, average 68.125, and took sixty-five wickets at a cost of 4.29 runs each. Im pey’s was beaten by P . W illiam s’ in the ante-final by four w ickets, but the reverse was not due to any failure on the part of young Steel, w ho, in fact, scored 73 and 102 and bow led six and caught tw o in the first innings of his opponents. Another well-know n cricket name, that of Freem an-Thom as, is well to the fore in the sam e class of cricket. G. Freeman- T hom as headed the batting averages of A. A. S om erville’s with the capital figures of 44.16 for thirteen innings comm enced, and also took forty-four wickets for 7.56 runs a-piece. H is father played in his day for Eton, C am bridge, and Sussex, and in 1887 distinguished him self by playing an innings of 114 for the University against Yorkshire, who had Preston, Em ­ mett, Peel, W ade, Bates and Ulyett to bc.wl for them . H is paternal grandfather, the late M r. Frederick Freem an-Thom as, who died at the early age o f 30, played occa­ sionally for Sussex between i860 and 1867. H is other grandfather is Lord Brassey, whose seat, N orm anhurst, near Battle, was so severely dam aged by fire on Sunday last. M r. Chas. M . Scott, of Bath, writes :— Surely if the county cricket matches started earlier we should have less of them drawn. On the first day of a match of course the visiting county cannot always arrive in time to start before 12 o’clock, but on the second and third days I can see absolutely no objection why it shoul'l not be commenced at 10 o’clock. This would lengthen the match by 3 hours, and certainly would have brought at least a dozen matches which have been drawn this year to a definite result. I sincerely hope that we shall have matches starting at these times next year. M y correspondent’s suggestion has som e­ thing to recomm end it, but it is neverthe­ less one which first-class cricketers could scarcely be expected to fall in with. T he lot of the average county player is already no ligh t one, and to ask him to add to it w ould, I think, be scarcely reasonable, and certainly of little use. It is announced that H ardstaff, of Notts, has accepted an engagem ent to play in South A frica after the conclusion o f the present season. M any large scores are generally recorded during August, and the present m onth’s cricket has already provided m ore than one noteworthy instance o f the fact. In the tw o-day match at N orw ich on Friday and Saturday last, between N orfolk and H ar­ row W anderers, the latter scored 561 for five wickets in four hours, and, altogether, i»o53 runs were made for the loss of only twenty w ick e ts:— N o rfolk . First innings. Second innings. C. E. Dunning, c Kemp, b Kaye ..........................41 c and b Eyre ... 31 Hon. J . Coke, b Hopley ... 2 G. A. Stevens, c Eyre, b Hopley ..........................14 not o u t ......12 L. Barratt, b Hopley ... 41 b Hopley............. 8 Stevens, c Kemp, b Mann 16 st Gore, b Eyre... 4 T. H. Wharton, b Mann ... 93 c Crake, b Eyre 48 V. Stephens, c Eyre, b Bird......................................3 c. Studd, b Eyre 9 Allsopp, b H opley.............. 79 R. G. Pilch, c Eyre, b Hop­ ley ......................................48 Gibson, c Crake, b Mann .. 14 Smith, not out .............. 0 Byes, &c..........................18 Byes, &c. ... 11 Total ................369 Total (5 wkts.)123 H a rro w W an d erers . C. H. Eyre, b Ste­ vens ........................... 102 C.B. Baker, b Stevens 25 M. Falcon, c Cooke, b Stevens ..................25 H. S. Kaye, c Ste­ phens, b Stevens ...122 M. C. Bird, notout ... 72 E . B. T. Studd, b All­ sopp ............................167 F. J . V. Hopley, not out .............................30 Byes, &c. 18 Total (5 wkts.)*501 •Innings declared closed. E. W. Mann, E. H. Crake, G. P. Gore, and M. C. Kemp did not bat. It will be seen that there were three individual hundreds in the WTanderers’ in­ nings, and that M . C. Bird was well on his w ay to three figures when the innings w as declared closed. O n the sam e days 1,116 runs were made for 23 W ickets in the m atch xm the Saffrons, Eastbourne, between C . E. H am - b ro ’s X I. (225 and 336 for five wickets) and Old C liftonians (555 for eight w ickets, innings declared closed). T h e latter’s big score w as put together thus :— O ld C lifton ian s . T. Miller, c Palmer, b A. Torrens ...115 G. J . G. Hanson, c A. Torrens, b Mar­ riott .............4 Capt. Broadhurst, not out ...........38 B. Hatch, not out ... 14 Byes, &c............. 25 Total (8 wkts.)*555 B. Meakin, c and b Williams .............. 40 G. C. Wall, b Williams 21 G. Meakin, lbw, b Williams .............. 3 G. J. W. Holloway, c R. V. Hambro, b Williams .............. 237 A. D. Imlay, lbw,b A. Torrens ...............58 K. J . Key, b A. Tor­ rens ............. ... 0 •Innings declared closed. E.A. Sainsbury did not bat. H ollow ay and M iller put on 236 together for the sixth w icket, the form er hitting a 5 and thirty-two 4 ’s, and the latter seven­ teen 4 ’s. In the second innings of Mr. H am b ro’s X I. C . E. H am bro (141) and “ H . B ollinger ” (102 not out) added 277 for the fifth w icket. From T h e M o r n in g P o s t :— Golfers say that swerve in the air plays an even more important part in their pastime than it does in the game of orioket, and those of them wh > have sufficient capacity for science to have read the late Professor Tait’s work regard it as proved that when a ball flies to the right in the air it has what cricketers call “ off- break ” on it. If that is so then the difference in size between a golf ball and a cricket ball must make it impossible to argue by analogy from one to tho other. It is as certain as any­ thing can be that the off-swerver is bowled with a leg-break action. This curve is seldom produced except by left-handed bowlers, and the action of all such left-handers, from Walter Wright, of Kent, to Hirst, of Yorkshire, is of the kind whioli might be expected to make the ball break back from leg on pitching. More­ over, when their balls do not swerve in the air they do nip back from the pitch. The only ercuse for mentioning this subject here is that some thoughtful people with a natural gift for bowling may be led to investigate the causes of the various cap rs which a cricket ball can be made to cut. And knowledge is power. T he strength of this year’s Repton eleven is apparent from the fact that as m any as four of its members will be found takin g part in first-class cricket before the close of the season. R . Sale is qualified for Derbyshire, H . S. Altham for Surrey, W . T . Gresswell for Somerset, and A . T . Sharpe for Leicestershire. I am pleased to know that the idea of appointing a coach— R . G . B arlow for choice— for the you n g players of Lanca­ shire is everywhere being unanim ously ap­ proved. T h e cricketer named seems to be so thoroughly qualified in every w ay for the position that it is surprising such an appointm ent was not created for him some years a g o . I have the very best authority for stating that B arlow was sounded on the subject not lon g since by one occupy­ ing a very prom inent position in connection with Lancashire cricket, and that the fam ous ol— I alm ost wrote old— player then expressed his willingness to under­ take the duties o f such a position if the County C .C . offered him the appointment. It becam e know n last week that W alter Brearley is engaged to be married before the end o f the year to M iss B ow nas, of Bowness, Lake W inderm ere. O n Saturday afternoon a m eeting was held in the pavilion at Old T rafford, at which it was unanim ously decided that a fund should be raised in order that a w edding present m ight be made to him . M r. A. N. H ornby took the chair, and a comm ittee, consisting of his H onour Judge Parry, Messrs. Jas. H orner, A. H . H ornby, W . Eckersley (Tyldesley), J. H . Maden (B acup), J. A. H . Catton (M anchester), and S. R oberts (B ury), w as selected, power being given to co-opt some Liverpool gen ­ tlemen. M r. H orner will act as honorar^ treasurer, and Messrs. J. R . C le g g and T . J. M atthews as honorary secretaries. N o subscription may exceed one guinea. From T h e A th le tic N e w s :— “ Those who have been at all behind th« scenes cannot fail to notice and lament the fact that there has been a far greater amount of 1 1 pleasantness in the cricket world of late than r.sual. There is no need to mention names, b u, it is becoming an open secret that at least two well-known amateurs have been creating discord in all parts of the country..................... It is whispered that in one instance, at least, there may be no renewal of fixtures next sum­ mer. This is very sad, and we cannot help feeling that it would be better for cricket if the players referred to could see their way to retire from tho game. However prominent a cricketer a man may be, his room is preferable to his company if he cannot behave like an ordinary mortal.” T he gam e is certainly greater than the man, w hoever the latter may be.