Cricket 1908

A ugu st 20, 1908. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 361 and scored 70 not out. London County made 18G for one wicket. “ I n view of the very indifferent sup­ port accorded to the Worcestershire County C.C. at Worcester, which itself is not a thickly populated area, during this and preceding seasons,” says the Sporting L ife, “ and having in mind the club’s indebtedness to Mr. Paul F oley for some time past, it has been suggested that a change of the club’s headquarters is very advisable. Dudley, at which town it has been proposed that the m ajor portion o f next season’s matches be played, is in the heart of the B lack Country, and is only eight m iles from Birm ingham . F o r some time it has been mooted that a transference to Dudley, where a B irm ingham and D istrict Cricket Club draw s from 3,000 .to 4,000 spectators on a Saturday, would be beneficial to the County’s funds, and next year, we learn on good authority, it seems like taking practical shape. The ground of the Dudley C.C. is un­ fortunately not quite good enough for County gam es, but it has been proposed by several of Worcester’s best supporters, that £5,000 be raised, which would am ply guarantee an improvement and erection of stands, &c., sufficient for the purpose, to embrace several fields which adjoin that occcupied by the Castle Town Club. The co-operation of Lord Dudley, who is landlord of the ground referred to, has been practically guaranteed, so that an early rem oval seems imm inent.” W h i l s t appearing for M .C.C. and Ground v. Lew es Priory, on the Dripping P an ground at Lew es, on the 12th inst., Woodcock, the Leicestershire fast bowler, sent a bail 149 ft. G in. from the stumps. The bail flew over a 14 ft. bank and a wall on the boundary. S i l v e r l o c k , the well-known Newport and Monmouthshire cricketer, has an­ nounced his intention of retiring from the gam e at the end of the present season. H e has been associated with Monmouthshire cricket for eighteen seasons, during which he has scored over twenty-five thousand runs and taken more than eighteen hun­ dred wickets. In ten completed innings for the County in 1905 he made 826 runs with a highest score of 200 not out. He has been show ing capital form this season and his retirem ent w ill be a distinct loss to cricket in South W ales. H e w ill in all probability settle down to a business life in London. A t Worcester last week the unusual spectacle was witnessed of two brothers, the K eifs, bowling to two brothers, H . K . and G . N . Foster. F r e d e r i c k R e g in a ld R e y n o ld s , the ground manager at Old Trafford, has resigned on account of advancing years. H e w'as born at Bottisham , in Cam ­ bridgeshire, on August 7th, 1834, and was a good, fast, straight, round-armed bowler, though never chosen to assist the fla y e rs . Ho was engaged by Charter­ house and the M .C .C . and played with United and A ll E n glan d E leven s before becoming associated w ith the Manchester C.C. in i8 0 1. In M ay, 1870, the match between Lancashire and Su rrey at Old Trafford was played for his benefit, and Scores and Biographies records that in November o f the same year, at a Com ­ m ittee meeting of the Manchester Club, lie was (in consideration of about ten years’ faithful and efficient service and general conduct as first bowler and ground manager) promoted to the offices of A cting A ssistant Secretary, Collector, and General M anager of the Manchester Cricket Club. I n the course of a very readable interview with a reporter of the Sporting Chronicle , Reynolds expressed view s that w ill be interesting to all lovers o f the game. H e said :— “ In my judgment there never has been a fast bowler to equal Freeman. The wickets were not so good then as they are now, but he rarely bumped a a b all; lie hit the sticks. Along with Fr« email I should place Jackson, Tarrant, and Willsher. Amongst Lancashire men I should say that there are no bowlers to compare with Mr. Appleby and Martin M’Intyre. Mr. Royle at cover and Frank Sugg in the out-field were great, but 110 better all round man has ever done duty for the county than little Johnny Briggs. Pilling is to lie coupled with Pinder as the pair of really great wicket-keepers. It was Pilling who first took fast bowling without a long stop, and in this particular I remember him saying that Jack Crossland’s deliveries were the easiest to take. You see Crossland did not go in for bringing the ball down from somewhere up in the heavens. Mr. A. N. Hornby, to my mind, shares with Lord Hawke the honour of being amongst the best captains I have ever known.” Reynolds him self played for Lancashire for several seasons, his last m atch being against Derbyshire at Old Trafford thirty-five years ago. In the annual report of the London County Council the following interesting table is given showing at a glance the comparative popularity of the various games played during the tw elve months under review in the parks and open spaces o f London :— Places to Grounds Games Games play. provided. played. Bowls ... 15 ... 74 ... 24,749 Cricket ... 35 ... 452 ... 28,904 Croquet ... 22 ... 31 ... 1,535 Football ... 35 ... 231 ... Hi,228 Hockey ... 23 ... 39 ... 2,240 Lacrosse ... 5 ... 7 ... 120 Lawn Tennis.. 40 ... 470 • ... 102,049 Quoits ... 20 ... 30 ... 2,003 In 1904 the number of cricket matches played was 24,797 and in the following year 22,397. command just now, but the batting needs strengthening, although a very good young player of much promise Iras come to the front in R . Sale, of Repton. A. E . R e l f leaves E n glan d for New Zealand on September 18 th , his engage­ ment at Auckland having been renewed. H e will be accompanied by Humphreys, of Kent, who has secured an appointment at Christchurch. D e r b y s h ir e brought a very successful week’s cricket to a close on F rid ay when they beat Nottingham shire on the Glossop ground by 36 runs. A s they had fairly shared the honours of a somewhat rem arkable match with Lancashire two days before, they had every reason to be satisfied with what they accomplished against two such powerful sides. The county has some very good bowling at H e r t f o r e s h i r e were seen to great advantage in their match w ith Cam ­ bridgeshire at Fen n er’s on F rid ay and Saturday last. On the first day they dismissed the home side for 390 and lost a couple ot wickets for 47, and on Saturday scored so freely that they were able to declare with only five wickets down for 5 2 1. Golding and Butcher added 2 7 1 for the third wicket and Titchmarsh carried out his bat for 10 3 :— H ertford sh ire . II. M. Harford, c L .J. Reid, b G ra y ..............32 G.G. Dumbleton, c L. J. Reid, b Coulson 4 A. Butcher, run out 100 Golding, c Coulson, b Swann-Mason ...195 White,lbw,b L. J. Reid 9 C. H. Titchmarsh, not out ........................... 103 J. N. Cowley, not out 58 Byes, &c..................20 Total (5 wkts) *521 * Innings declared closed. The match was drawn, Cambridgeshire m aking 68 for two wickets in tbeir second innings. On the second day 542 runs were scored for the loss of only five wickets. W i t h so m any of the leading counties engaged last week, the M .C.C. were not able to put a very strong side in the field at L o rd ’s against the Philadelphians, but the team chosen almost proved equal to the occasion, being beaten by only 25 runs. The result must have given the visitors much satisfaction, for it is known that they regard the fixture as the most important o f their tour. Furtherm ore, they must have been anxious to do some­ thing to remove the poor impression which their display on the same ground earlier in the season caused m any people to have of their cricket. Fo r their success they were very largely indebted to the capital all-round cricket of Hordern, who did so well over here last year as a member of the Pennsylvanian team . A closer finish, and perhaps even a different result, would have been recorded if Buckenham had been sent in as early as his ability entitled him to be. P l a y in last Saturday’s match at Birm ingham between K in g ’s H eath and Moor Green came to an abrupt con­ clusion owing to the sudden death of T . Clifton, the Moor Green umpire. The meeting o f the two clubs is generally productive of considerable excitement, and it was whilst following the play very closely that Clifton suddenly fell forward and expired. O n the same afternoon P ercy Eaton, an Evesham farm bailiff, was struck on the temple by the ball whilst batting for Honeybourne against Fladb u ry and killed instantly. D o u b t le s s v ery m any followers of the game w ill be interested to hear that a vocal march w ith chorus has ju st been published entitled “ A Cricket Song,” the words by A . A . P u rry and the music by G. Lishrnan, The air is a pleasing one, and the swing o f the chorus should prove