Cricket 1908

A u g u st 20, 1908. CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 355 The construction o f the Dem on Drivers is fully described in The E volution of a Cricket B at , which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. k;l m m g p CRICKET BALLS T CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. BUSSEYS RACKETS CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. CATALOGU E UPON APPLICATION. FOOTBALLS IMPROVEDMAKE-KEEPTHEIR SHAPE-LASTLONGER fr\ CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. CATALOGU E UPON APPLICATION TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co.. L td .. 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills — PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. Agents all over the world. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F . S. A sh le y -C o o p e r. For som e time it had been generally recog­ nized that in m eeting Surrey at the Oval Yorkshire would probably experience their greatest task of the season. Earlier in the year Yorkshire, on a wicket altogether against heavy scoring, had won com fortably, but it was felt that if the Oval m atch were played on a fast wicket Surrey m ight succeed in turning the tables. T he game, however, did not take place under such circum stances, and Surrey, who certainly had the worst o f the wicket and the light, and were handicapped by the retirement of Strudwick early in the m atch, suffered defeat by seven wickets. Yorkshire, however, let it at once be added, thoroughly deserved to win. Their bowling and fielding were alike excellent, and not a catch was dropped. W atson kept wicket very finely indeed, and Yorkshire are fortu­ nate in possessing so capable an understudy to Hunter. Perhaps the feature of the side’s cricket was the bowling of Newstead. Although this player first appeared for his county five years ago, at the age of twenty- three, it is only this season that he has obtained a regular place in the side. Per­ haps he did not then have an opportunity of showing his true worth, or perhaps he has since developed his cricket to its present high standard. There must, however, have been som ething very good in his play even then, for it was arranged, when he became a m ember of the ground staff at L ord’s, that he should not becom e automatically qualified for Middlesex. Judged by his perform ances this year, Yorkshire appear to possess in him an all-round player of the greatest possi­ bilities. Although a capital man to have on one’s side when runs are badly wanted or a collapse has to be stopped, his bowling is his greatest asset. H e bowls right hand m edium -paced, maintains a fine length, and com es quick from the pitch. H is delivery is so easy as to give one the impression that he could bowl for hour after hour without fatiguing him self. H e seems, too, to be at his best on the greatest occasions. At M an­ chester the week before last he took nine Lancashire wickets for 89 runs, whilst against Surrey, at Kennington, his record was ten for 92 . In view of the visit which we shall probably receive from the Australians next year, his fine form is particularly interesting. W hether he will succeed in obtaining a place in the Test match side time alone can show, but very m any things are m ore unlikely. I am considerably surprised that so little has been heard of the invitation extended to the M .C.C. to send a team to South Africa after the conclusion of the present season. On July 11 th the South A frican Cricket A ssociation cabled to Capt. W ynyard, their representative in L ondon, authorizing him to ask the M .C.C. to undertake such a tour in the event of no triangular contest taking place in England in 1909 . As the proposal concerning the Tournam ent has fallen through, it is only reasonable to suppose that Capt. W ynyard carried out his instruc­ tions and, on behalf of the A ssociation, form ally invited the prem ier club to under­ take the trip. I im agine there is very little possibility of such a tour taking place, if only for the reason that som e of the players who would be chosen will require a rest after their trip to Australia last winter and in view of the visit o f the Australians next year. It would be useless to send out an inferior side and so court certain defeat. It m ay be taken for granted that the next series of international m atches will be played in this country next year, and it is also probable that before England again meets the South Africans the latter will have made a tour through Australia—probably in 1909 - 10 . A feature of the present summer has been the failure of Notts to achieve anything like the success with which they met last year, when they went through the season without a reverse. W ith the same side available, they have been defeated twice by Lancashire and M iddlesex and have also gone down before Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire. W hy they should have shown such a falling-off is difficult to understand, for the fact that they have had m ore fast wickets to play on than last year cannot be held wholly accountable. Perhaps it would be safest to attribute their deterioration to the “ glorious uncertainty” which is so surprising and delightful a feature of cricket. In this respect an analogy may be drawn between their reversal of form and the poor display shown this week by Kent at the Oval, for in either case the side inexplicably failed to play up to reputation. N othing m ore re­ markable has been seen during the season than the way in which Surrey so thoroughly outplayed their opponents on M onday and Tuesday. Kent, in fact, appeared to be quite help less: they failed lam entably in batting on a good wicket and were beaten by an innings and over 300 runs although Surrey declared their innings closed with two wickets in hand. Kent’s experience during the past week has been extraordinary and, perhaps, unprecedented. At Taunton they carried everything before them and set up a record for the county by m aking four separate hundreds in an innings, and when the gam e was half over held a lead of over 400 . At the Oval they were so thoroughly outplayed that they found them ­ selves over 400 behind on the first innings. It would be useless to attempt to ascribe a reason for such a remarkable occurrence. SCARBO ROUGH F E S T IV A L . The official team s for the Soirborough Festival are as fo llo w s:— M.C.C. and GROUND v. YORKSHIRE. M.C.C and Ground: H. D. G. Leveson-Gower (capt.), Lord Dalmeny, R. H. Spooner, K. L. Hutchings, F. L. Fane, G. G. Napier, J. W. H. T. Douglas, W. S. Bird, Buckenham, East, and Mead (W.). Yorkshire (selected fi’om) : Lord Hawke (capt ), Hunter, Hirst, Rhodes, Denton, Haigh, Newstea^, Myers, Rothery, Wilkinson, Bates, and Hardisty. GENTLEMEN v. PLAYERS. Gentlemen (selected from ): Lord Hawke, Lord Dalmeny, A. C. MacLaren, R. H. Spooner, B. J . T. Bosanquet, H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, K. L. Hutchings, W. S. Bird, F. L. Fane, J . W. H. T. Douglas, G. G. Napier, and W. Brearley. Players: Hayward, Tyldesley, Hirst, Denton, Hunter, Newstead, Haigh, Tarrant, Buckenham, East, and Mead (W.). LORD LONDESBOROUGH’S ENGLAND X I. v. M.C.C.’S ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN X I. Lord Londesborough’s XI. (selected from): Lord Hawke, H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, H.H. the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, A. C MacLaren, B. J . T. Bosanquet, R II. Spooner, W. Brearley, Hayward, Tarrant, Tyldesley, Hirst, Haigh, and Hunter. M.C.C. Australian X I. (selected from): A. O. Jones (capt.), K. L. Hutchings, J . N. Crawford, F. L. Fane, R. A. Young, Braund, Hardstaff, Hobbs, Hayes, Barnes, Fiolder, Gunn (G.), Rhodes, Blythe, and Humphries. Seaton scored 510 (G. Elers, 148) against Incogniti at Seaton on August 14 and 15. S. Moss took all ten Great Harwood wickets for Padiham on Saturday at a cost of 19 runs.