Cricket 1908

4 io CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . io , 1908. each association club and £25 to each subdistrict association club. T h is Adelaide Observer states that South Australia has received an important addition to its bow ling strength in W. W hitty, of Sydney. H e left Syd n ey on the invitation of the E a s t T orren s Club, whose executive was moved to secure his services b y the firm ly-expressed opinions of Noble, C. H ill, and Trumper that he w as a bowler of prom ise. H e is about 22 years of age, bowls left-hand at more than m edium -pace, and has already won a reputation for first - class work am ong the Sydney clubs. L a st season he was chosen to represent N ew South W ales against Queensland. H e arrived in Adelaide on August 4th, aud went to the employment found him by the E ast T orren s Club. A n o t h e r inter-State importation is J . H . E . Woodford, for Adelaide. H e is a good wicket-keeper, and played against E n glan d last season in the match with a V ictorian E leven on the South Melbourne ground. P r i v a t e letters received from Sydney state that the old international cricketer, Charles B annerm an, h as expressed a desire to take up his residence in H obart. He is still active and able to m ake runs. L a st season he scored over 500. As a coach he has done splendid work in N ew South W ales and N ew Zealand, and if he could secure an appointment at Hobart next season it would be a great benefit to Tasm ania and the gam e itself in the island. T h e Parson was at the Saffrons, E a s t­ bourne, and his brother cricketer with the swollen face was describing how he had heard his dentist w as staying at H ailsham and so pursued him in his motor-car irom H ailsham to Tunbridge W ells, and from T unbridge W ells to Redhill, where he caught him . B u t the Parson called it a wildgoose chase. I t would have been easier, he said, to have motored over to H astings Cricket Ground, where stumps w ere advertised all over the place to be drawn at 6 punctually. O n T uesday the L ib eral agent at the B a th R evision Court withdrew the ob­ jection that had been made to the name of B raun d being retained on the list because of his absence in Australia. S t a f f o r d s h i r e , as was generally an ­ ticipated, experienced little difficulty in beating Glam organ in this w eek’s match at Stoke which was to decide the M inor Counties Championship. B arn es proved a host in him self, as, in addition to m aking the highest score on either side, he took 15 wickets for 54 runs—a brilliant piece of work. G lam organ have now reached the F in al two years in succession since the new system of deciding the Championship came into force. L ast year Lancashire I I . beat them by 108 runs and this season Staffordshire bave proved their masters. In a London B a ily Newspaper League m atch between The Daily Telegraph and D aily Chronicle teams, on the Old A lleyn ians’ Ground, at Dulw ich on T u es­ day, a capital bowling performance was witnessed. B attin g first, The Daily Telegraph compiled 57 (W. Pearse 31), and then disposed o f their opponents for 3 runs. J . F ish commenced by securing the first five wickets with successive balls, and in all dismissed eight batsm en without a run being scored off him. Only twenty balls were required to complete the innings. A great h it ! T h e Pope has ju st sent a leg-eight from R om e to England. T h e concluding stage of the H astings F estival was m arked by a characteristic innings on the part of Jessop, who pulled off the m atch for the South after the odds had seemed all against them. T h e visitors at Scarborough, too, were almost as well rew arded on Tuesday, when the Ja m of N aw anagar played a three-figure innings in his own inim itable style. So, despite the rain, the lovers of F estival cricket have had much to be thankful for. A NEW TRIANGULAR SCHEME. The following account of an interview with Mr. A. Bailey, whose name recently became familiar to cricketers in England in connec­ tion with ih -3 proposed Tournament in this country next year, appeared in I he Sportsman of Monday la st:— “ So the scheme has been abandoned so far as next year is concerned ? ” “ Yes, we bave, of course, given up the idea for next year. We have done our best, hut have failed to induce the Australians to join in the scheme. The responsibility for .this lies with the Australians themselves, and I think all fair-minded people will agree that the Cornstalks have not shown the true sporting spirit in the negotiations. Sports­ men and the public in the Old Country and in South Africa were of one mind as to the desirab lity of giving the thing a trial. We have tried to meet every one of the Austra­ lians’ objections in a fair and reasonable manner, but evidently their minds were made up from the beginning, and no matter how the scheme might have been modified in order to fit in with their views it would have met with refusal. However, the resources of civilisation are not exhausted (Mr. Bailey used this phrase with a broad smile on his face). I intend to ask the South African Cricket Association to ask the Australians to come here after their visit to England next year, and also to invite the M.C.C. Committee to send out a team at the same time, and thus have, if possible, a Triangular Tournament on South African soil. I hope the Australians will not refuse to join in such a scheme, as, if they did, they would show clearly that they wished to avoid us, and nothing we could do would satisfy them.” “ You have not taken umbrage at the attitude of the Australians with regard to the scheme for which you have worked so hard? ” “ Not a bit, and I wish to tell the good people at home through The Sportsman that we are not going to sulk like children just beeause we have not been able to get our own way. Neither do we wish to make mischief between tbe Old Country and the Australians. That is quite foreign to our minds, and would be hateful to us. I have lost many races, been beaten in sports and games, aud disappointed at the results of negotiations, vet X have always tried to take defeat like a spoilsman, and I think I may claim that I have succeeded. It would be idle to disguise my keen disappointment at the turn the Tournament scheme hss taken, especially as we seemed at one time to be so near realising our hopes. If you ask the real cause, X think it is that the Australians are afraid of us, and afraid we may displace them in public favour.in the Old Country. But, once more I say we are not going to sulk, aud personally I shall keep pegging away for au Imperial Tournament until it comes off. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to accept the invitation to visit Australia at present, owing to the fact that it is extremely difficult for our cricketers, who are mostly in clerical and mining billets, to get leave for anything but an important Triangular con­ test, having so recently returned from a tour in England, and it would be scarcely fair to either country that we should attempt to visit Australia with anything but our strongest side. If the Australians will not take part in the scheme in England, let them come here. We will take all the risks, and I think beat them in the Tests.” “ So you think the South Africans can beat tbe Australians “ I do. The fact is we shall startle the world of sport | i tbe future. The South African climate is at the bottom of it all. It is the free and invigorating atmosphere which is tbe cause of it. Perhaps you and I will not live to see it, but the people of this part of the globe will grow to be the strongest race in the w oril.............................” ‘ ‘ And what about new cricketers ? ” “ We shall find new cricketers to take the place of the men who now do duty. What I say to the sportsmen of other portions of the Empire is ‘ Wait and see.’ We are only a handful of whites, so to speak. The city of Manchester is equal to the whole of our white population. We have proceeded quietly in the sporting w o 'll, but the time has come when we must be recognise I, and even tbe Australians will have to face the matter. The Triangular Scheme has received a check, but it is bound to come off, and then I think we shall surprise everybody. No, we are not going to be sulky or peevish, but we shall not rest until the Imperial Cricket Tourney has been given a trial. It can result in nothing but good all round.” “ You think it can be made to pay in South Africa ? ” “ Well, we will take all the risks and provide all the guarantees. We want to do away with any and every excuse for not making a beginning with the great contest.” ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. H. E ntage . —Many thanks for communication. P. Ii. C hichester .—(a) There was probably some foundation for the reports which reached you. (6) It was not on that subject that the correspondent you name wrote to us. {<:) He is brother. ( d ) Your suggestion shall be acted upon as far as possible next season, though it will be impossible to publish the averages weekly owing to pressure on space. U m pir e . —The batsman would have been out. “ Hampshire shares with Kent in the awakening of the old sporting fire; it likes well enough to win, but it knows well how to lose ."—The Observer,