Cricket 1908

A ugust 27, 1908. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 371 The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in The Evolution of a Cricket Bat, which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. CRICKET IMPROVEDMAKE-KEEPTHEIRSHAPE-LASf LONGER] CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. CATALOGUE JPON APPLICATION. — - ~ M r - M I C l CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. u t i w M i m i s IMPROVEDWAKE-KEEPTHEIRSHAPE-LASTLONGER CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. 8 ^ d e n i o n d r i v e r s n u ARE OUT AND OUT THE BEST, f O 0 THEn grades 7-6 '-S'- -Ac3 '6 - 3 2'6-2 - AI-OGUE~ON;;APPLICAfrnNr;||j CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION TO GEO . G. BUSSEY & Co., Ltd., 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory— Timber Mills— PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. A gents all over th e w orld. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F . S. A s h le y -C o o p e r . Whatever happens during the remainder of the season, nothing can deprive the Yorkshiremen of the Championship. They start their last inter-county match to-day against Sussex, and even in the very unlikely event of being beaten will still be very comfortably ahead of their nearest rival. At the beginning of the season it was generally thought that the side would not enjoy a very successful season, it being felt that their batting would not be sufficiently strong to enable them to windup with a very flattering record. No one, however, could have seen what a great acquisition to the side Newstead was to prove. The addition of his bowling caused the side’s attack to be equal to dismissing even the most powerful teams for very reasonable totals, and thereby prevented the comparative weakness of its batting from being so noticeable. It is of interest to recall that, before the season started, Hirst advised Hayes to decide upon the Lancashire match at the Oval for his benefit in preference to that with Yorkshire, it being apparent that he did not anticipate his county having anything like so successful a season as they have experienced. Steady and true bowling and very keen fielding have combined to enable the side to pass through the season without a reverse. Haigh, Hirst, Newstead and Rhodes have between them taken 463 wickets in first-class matches this year, those of Rhodes, which cost fifteen and a-half each, being the most expensive. The Eleven have been in form throughout the season. Newstead’s all-round cricket has been largely responsible for this, as it prevented so much work as was feared falling upon the old players. The batting of Wilkinson has also been of the greatest use to the side, for he is not only left-handed but can play a free or defensive game as occasion requires. Yorkshire’s cricket has lacked the dash which has characterised that of Kent during the last two or three years, but of its soundness and high standard there cannot possibly be two opinions. Not the least pleasing feature of the past week’s cricket has been the success as a bowler met with by Jessop in the Gloucester­ shire v. Surrey match at Bristol. At one time he was regarded as one of the mainstays of the side with the ball, but owing, I believe, to an internal injury, gave up bowling at all regularly. At the moment it is of interest to recall that he was once the only fast bowler in the side in a Test match at Lord’s, and that more than once he has obtained over a hundred wickets in a season. In 1897 and 1900 he scored over a thousand runs in addition, his aggregate in the latter year being as high as 2,210. If his success at the expense of Surrey is an instance of coming events casting their shadows before, his return to his best form as a bowler should do much to increase the match- winning powers of his side. At the present time, however, when so much depends upon his run-getting, to say nothing of his fielding and captaincy, he has plenty of responsibility; but if he should decide to bowl again regularly, it would only be characteristic of him, for, like J . N. Crawford and one or two others, he is a glutton for work. The present season has produced several curious incidents concerning the application of the closure. Hampshire furnished an instance of a side declaring its innings closed before the opposing total had been reached; Lancashire quite recently twice used the closure in the course of a single m atch; and at Lord’s this week both sides made use of Law 54, the home team doing so when the scores were level, and afterwards suffering defeat by 117 runs. Middlesex’s severe reverse must have caused much disappointment to Warner, who evidently considered that runs would not be so difficult to make in the fourth innings. Unless my memory deceives me, Kent were beaten a few years ago at Lord’s in a match between the same sides after declaring their first innings: if this is so—I am far from my books at the moment of writing—a very remarkable coincidence has occurred. A correspondent has kindly supplied me with particulars of a remarkable run-getting performance at Hanwell on the Sth inst. in a match between Hanwell Asylum and Harefield Place C.C. After the latter had been dismissed for 180, the Asylum ran up 421 for two wickets in 140 minutes, E . S. Litteljohn scoring 180 and Dr. A. R . Hobbs 212 not out. The pair made 392 together for the first wicket, the former hitting a 0 and seventeen 4’s, and the latter two 6 ’s and twenty-eight 4’s. It was less than a fort­ night before that Dr. Hobb 3 (165) and his brother, E . C. Hobbs (133), had made *297 in partnership for the first wicket of Shepherd’s Bush against London County, as recorded at the time in Gossip (p. 330, col. 3), Dr. Hobbs has proved such a prolific scorer in good-class club cricket that it is to be regretted that he does not take part in county matches. The partnership of 392 for the first wicket, referred to above, has been exceeded only twelve times in the whole history of the game. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE v. M.C.C. AND GROUND. Played at Buckingham on August 17 and 18 and won by the M.C.C. by eight wickets. Score and analysis:— M.C.C. an d G round . C. Hulton, b Stacey. G. Senliouso, c Ray­ nor, b D w yer...........76 Rev. E. D. Shaw, b Raynor ..................30 Wainwright, c Stacey, b Dwyer .................. 95 R. Lambton, b Stacey 17 N. Haig, c Lonsdale, b Stacey ..................59 B.O.Bircham,bStacey 6 E. Rodriguez, not one 14 M. Raynor, c Dwyer b Stacey .................. 0 Whiteside, b Stacey 7 Needham, e Raynor, b Price .................. 0 B 7, lb 3 ... 10 Total ..317 Second innings: G. Senhouse, b Stacey, 8 ; Wain- wright, not out, 3 ; E. Rodriguez, not out, 3; M. Raynor, b Price, 0 ; byes 4. Total (2 wkts.) IS. B uckin gh am sh ire . First innings B. (). Corbett, b Needham 23 C. Cursham, run out ... 1 K. Raynor, not out ...........131 J. P. Hey wood- Lonsdale, b Needham ................... 3 R. Pricc, lbw, b Needham 13 Dwyer, b Needham ........... 1 T Stacey, b Haig...................36 Hon. A. Pennant, b Need­ ham .................................. 1 H. E. Bull, b Needham .. 0 Dr. Pemberton, b Needham 0 T. Gibling, b Needham... 0 Lb 4, w 1 ................... 5 Second inningr. b Needham............ 0 c W h itesid e, b Needham ... 2 run ont ...........47 c Hulton, b Haig 0 c Bircham, b Haig 0 lbw, b Needham 52 b Needham ... 2 run out .. . b Needham b H aig................ not out ... . B 9 ,lb 2 . 0 1 5 0 11 Total .........................214 Total ...120 M.C.C. an d G round . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. o: M. R. W. Dwyer ... 25 5 94 2 ... . Stacey ... 28 0 128 6 ... . .’ 2*3 1 6 1 Cursham ... ... 4 1 20 0 ... Raynor ... 4 0 38 1 ... P ric e ........... ... 3-4 0 27 1 ... to o CO B u ck in gh am sh ire . O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Wainwright ... 19 0 70 0 ... Needham ... ... 28*2 6 76 8 ... 23 5 52 5 S h a w ........... ... 1 0 8 0 ... Senhouse ... ... 5 0 32 0 ... Haitr ........... ... 4 0 28 1 ... 22-3 5 57 3 Wainwright bowled one wide.