Cricket 1908

4 c 8 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . io , 1908 H. GRADIDGE And SONS, Manufacturers o f all Requisites for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets, Hockey, Football, an d all B ritish Sports. PATENTEES AND SOLE MAKERS , Hl— m III III OF THE Used by ^ all the m Leading: y i Players. ^ Made in Men's, Email Men’s, or College, 6, 5, 4, ft S size*. P r ic e Lts ta F r e e oil A p p lica tion . Of all First>Clasa Outfitters and Dealers. Reblading a Speciality. Factory; A rtillery P lace , WOOLWICH. ( ( O Y A L B A . ” R E I D ’ S O V A L - W H I T E . The celebrated preparation for cleaning Cricket and all Buff Leather Goods. Warranted not to rub off or cake. As used at Kennington Oval, and highly recommended by K. 8 Ranjitsinhji, Dr. W. Q. Grace, 0. B. Fry, Lord Dalmeny, Australian XL, 1905, G. L. Jessop, Ac., Ac. Packed in zinc boxes, 6d. per box. J. J. REID, 378, Kennington Rd., London. TH O S . J. T A T E , All England Championship Racket Maker. C R I C K E T B A T S a n d B A L L S . 1 8 , Princes Street, Cavend ish Squa re , LONDON , W The Sportsman, says: —“ The bound volume of Cricket for 1907 is now ready, and affords a valuable record of the game not only in England, but in Gieater Britain.” I'rice 8*4. 6d., post free 98. C r i c k e t : A WEEKL V RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAM ES STR EET, LONDON E.C . THUBSDAY, SEPT. 10 t h , 1908 . Pavilion Gossip. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. — Hamlet. T h e D erbyshire Comm ittee have had under consideration the question of the best days for beginning matches, and a resolution has been passed to the effect that the Comm ittee were of opinion that it would be to the financial benefit of county cricket if all first-class matches were to begin on W ednesdays and Satu r­ days. A copy o f the resolution, I am given to understand, has been forwarded to all first-class counties. F r o m a financial point of view the idea m ay have everything to recommend it, but there can be no doubt that if the playing of week-end cricket became general the counties would not be able to depend so much upon the support of their am ateurs. This would be very regrettable, for such a state o f things would, in course of tim e, do the game harm . Cricket professionals are an adm irable class of men, but the more gentlem en players there are taking part in first-class cricket the better it is for the game. There must be m any am ateurs w illing to play regularly for a county under present conditions who would kick against the idea of spending their Sundays in strange neighbourhoods. B y all means let us indulge in an occa­ sional week-end match, but let us also be careful that in so doing we do not lose the support of the amateurs. “ C r i c k e t historians have striven hard to get at the beginning o f the gam e," says The Observer, “ but the B ritish Museum apparently has no dead to give up to cricket, and the time of the passing lrom two to three stumps could not be fixed even b y such an authority as the late Fred Gale (the ‘ Old B uffer ’), that great believer in the Su rrey eleven’s being re­ plenished from the village green, that Parliam entary law yer who spent in chariot rides from old Parliam ent-street to M itcham Green, and on the green itself, the time that he should have devoted to the law . And so old Fred Gale, who loved W inchester College and Su rrey so much, pathetically ended his days in the Charterhouse. The gentle spirit of Gale must be made unhappy in an y visits to the Oval nowadays ; the village green recruits of Surrey have given w a y to importations from E ast A n glia and Australia. W ell, ‘ F . G .’ could never discover the three stumps beginning, and was content at last to give up the tryin g.” E . H . D. S e w e l l hit sixteen 4’s in scoring 8 1 in forty-three m inutes for Young Am ateurs of Surrey against M itcham on the latter’s ground on Thursday last. S t a f f o r d s h i r e have never possessed a stronger team than at the present time, and the prospects of cricket in the county have never been brighter. In the great strides accomplished in recent years, Staffordshire owes a very great deal to the League system in club cricket. The North Staffordshire and D istrict League is the oldest o f such bodies, the pioneer of League cricket, for it w as the first cricket organization o f its kind to be formed in En glan d. A p le a s in g episode at dinner at Scar­ borough on Thursday evening was the presentation of a silver salver to Lord H aw ke by the am ateurs playing in the Festival. T h o s e who were present at Scarborough on Saturday were fortunate indeed, for Hutchings was seen at his best. F u rth er­ more, he made his runs at a critical time and scored with equal facility against all the bowlers brought against him . He obtained -his 12 0 out of 16 4 in one hundred m inutes, Fan e being his vis-a-vis throughout the innings, and not even during his wonderful year of 1900 had he been seen to greater advantage. He m ade his runs against H aigh, Tarrant, H irst, Newstead, Buckenham, and Myers, and not only gained a great personal triumph but saved the Gentlem en from defeat. T h e follow ing table w ill show at a glance the results of all m atches which have taken place between the Gentlem en and Players :—- T_. I a i it-biuu Lo d s | Against Odds Oval .......................... Hastings ........................... Prince’s ... ............... Scarborough.. „ . . . . I X I a-side Brighton Against Odds Canterbury (Against Odds) •d £ g S3 >» „ QJ V o J3 £eiH P h P- 3 o Q 7(5 29 38 9 17 7 9 1 52 15 25 12* 7 1 2 4 5 4 1 0 9 2 2 5 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Totals / XI a-side ... 151 51 00 31* \ Against Odds ... 19 7 9 3 Grand T otal............... 170 58 78 34* * Includes a tie-mateh. The Players have never received odds in an y shape or form when m eeting the Gentlemen. “ I d a r e s a y it has struck m any lovers of cricket,” says “ Short-leg ” in The People, “ that, despite the extraordinary success of the South A frican bowlers last year, no serious attempt has been made by our players to im itate their methods. So far as I know, the only m an who has shown an y capacity to bowl the off-break with, to all appearance, a leg-break action, is Hordern of the Philadelphians, who, by the w ay, is a native o f Australia. On the one or two occasions that I saw him his off-break escaped me, but I am told that he bowled it with great skill at L ord ’s