Cricket 1908

5 ° CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 9, 1 908. never missed a Test match since. No one doubted that he would be among the first chosen for the team to visit England in 1899 , but he was not prepared to risk anything, and when the bank in which he was employed refused him leave of absence for the Sheffield Shield games in Adelaide and Melbourne in 1898-9 he promptly re­ signed his place in it. Among his perform­ ances in that season were the “ hat-trick” against Tasmania at Sydney, and three centuries in quick succession, one each against South Australia and Victoria for New South Wales, the third for the Aus­ tralian Team against the Rest of Australia, all three on the Sydney ground. Noble made a century in the first match of his first English tour, and he finished up with the fine total of 1,608 runs at an average of over 37 per innings, while his bowling had 82 wickets at under 23 runs each in a season of very big scoring. But these figures, good as they are, do not express adequately his great value to his side. The most outstanding performance recorded of him was undoubtedly his stone­ walling feat in the Test match at Old Trafford, when in his two innings he batted over nine hours for a gross total of 149 runs. It was terribly wearisome, no doubt ; but it was cricket for all that, and it saved his side from defeat. He was in tremendous batting form in the following Australian season, and did notable work also in 1900-1 ; but in 1901-2 he hardlv did himself justice as a batsman, though he was responsible for one very sensational feat (7 wickets for 17 runs) in the second Test match against MacLaren’s team, and throughout the campaign was almost at the top of his form as a bowler. There were more bad pitches in 1901-2 than an Australian season usually produces, but 47 wickets at an average cost of under 18 each was a really remarkable record nevertheless. On his second trip here he was handi­ capped bv influenza in the early part of the tour, but he did great things later on, and, considering the markedly different condi­ tions, his average of close on 34 for 1902 was really better than his 37 in 1899 . He was one of the mainstays of the side as a bowler, but missed three figures in the wickets column by two only. Had he not been contemporary with Hugh Trumble during his best bowling years it is verv unlikely that Noble would have failed to join Trumble himself, George Giffen and George Eugene Palmer as a scorer of 1,000 runs and taker of 100 wickets dur­ ing an English tour. His greatest innings of the season and of his whole career to date was his 284 against Sussex on the Hove ground, a feat which he came very near equalling with his 267 in the corresponding match of 1905 . The short South African tour which fol­ lowed the English campaign of 1902 hardly showed him at his best; but his next three seasons in Australia saw him in grand fettle. Especially was this the case in 1903 - 4 , when he scored over 500 runs in three big matches between December 4 th and 21 st inclusive, making 230 v. South Aus­ tralia at Sydney, 133 and 22 in the first Test match on the same ground, and 147 v. South Australia at Adelaide. He came within forty of achieving the verv rare feat of totalling a thousand runs in an Australian first-class season. Thus far this has been done only by Clement Hill, A. C. MacLaren, and His Highness the Jam of Nawanagar (one ought to get used to thinking of Ranjitsinhji in that form, but it is difficult) in 1897 - 8 , by Hill again in 1901 - 2 , and by Joseph Hardstaff, Warwick Armstrong and Noble himself in the season not yet ended. Victor Trumper was even nearer than his older colleague in 1903 - 4 , though, for ten more runs would have given him the round four figures. Noble did not punish the rather mode­ rate bowling of the Maorilanders during the short New Zealand tour of the Aus­ tralian team of 1 9 0 5 as Hill, Armstrong and Trump’er did, but the bowling he did there was very effective. He was in magnificent run-getting form during the English tour, his aggregate and average being higher than those credited to any­ one during an earlier tour, except Trumper in 190 2 ; but as a bowler he was scarcely at his best. On his return home he more than maintained the standard of his bat­ ting, his average for seven completed innings in the big matches actually being 9 0 . His scores, in chronological order, were 2 7 v. S.A., 281 v. Victoria, 4 3 and 3 7 not out v . S. A ., 20 and jo o for Australian Team v. N.S.W., and o and 1 2 3 v. Vic­ toria. Hut his bowling was very unsuc­ cessful, and the general opinion was that as a trundler he was a spent force. That this was a mistaken idea his form in 1906-7 showed very plainly, for he took 25 wickets at a cost of less than 14 runs each, including 3 for 10 in the first inn­ ings of S.A. at Adelaide, 6 for 101 in the match with Victoria at Melbourne, 7 for 48 v. S.A. at Sydney, and 6 for 21 in the second innings of Victoria at Sydney. Dur­ ing the present season his batting has been in the ascendant. He scored only three runs in two innings for New South Wales against Mr. A. O. Jones’s band ; but he did not fail to reach double figures in any other innings. Victoria once more suffered at his hands, for he followed up scores of 101 and 41 not out at Melbourne with a double century (176 and 123 ) in the return. He played three innings of over 60 and five more of between 50 and 20 in the Test matches, and he made 93 and 51 against South Australia and 87 in his own' benefit match. His--total for the first-class season —unless he should play at Brisbane against Queensland during the Easter holidays— is, therefore, 1,071 for 18 completed inn­ ings, a record which would seem to point to his being as good as ever as a batsman. In the attack, there can be little doubt, he has seen his best days. He is still, and may long continue to be, a fine bowler, very deadly on a wicket that, helps him, and always a good change on any sort of pitch ; but he can hardly be expected to do the amount of work that is looked for from a stock bowler in an Australian team tour­ ing England. But it would not be sur­ prising if on his next visit here he scored even more heavily than in 1905 , given similar conditions ; and he is yet, as he has always been, a very fine field at point. As a player, he has never been as popular with the crowd as some of his comrades. His baiting lacks the witchery of Trumper’s, the vigour of Darling’s when Darling is fairly on the hit, the apparer insouciance of Syd. Gregory’s. Yet it is very great batting, with a fine variety of strokes, all accomplished in a style that will bear, if it does not actually defy, criticisrty. in spite of one or two stone­ walling performances, Noble is no stone- waller; he only—to use the expressive Australian vernacular—plays for keeps. His benefit match is said to have realised about 1 , 000 . If this includes subscriptions as well as gate-money, the result is somewhat disappointing, especi­ ally when one remembers that he has just led Australia to victory in the Test rubber. But possibly the amount may yet be largely increased. For as a man, apart from his cricket prowess, Noble is justly and widely popular, in the best sense; he has the respect and esteem of those whose opinion counts, not only the fickle plaudits of the unthinking crowd by whom Tom, Dick or Harry is idolised to-day, forgotten to­ morrow. Noble has taken 100 wickets and scored 1,000 runs in Test matches, a feat only equalled by George Giffen. So notable a record justifies the giving of his figures rubber by rubber. N oble ’ s B atting A verages in T est M atches . Not H ’g ’st Rubber. Inns. out. Runs. Aver. Sc. Aust., 1897-8 5 1 113 28-25 39 Eng., 1899 9 2 367 52-42 89 Aust., 1901-2 9 0 138 15-33 50 Eng., 1902 7 0 12918-42 Aust., 1903-4 10 3 417 59-57 133 Eng., 1905 9 0 173 19-22 62 Aust., 1907-8 10 0 396 39-60 65 Totals 59 6 1,733 32-69 133 N oble ’ s B o w lin g A verages in T est M atches . Rubber O. R. W. Aver. Aust., 1897-8 152.5 385 19 20 26 Eng., 1899 170.2 406 13 37-23 Aust., 1901-2 224.5 598 32 18-68 Eng., 1902 127 307 14 21-92 Aust., 1903-4 137.1 328 16 20-50 Eng., 1905 148.2 409 6 68-16 Aust., 1907-8 147 299 11 27-18 Totals ... 1,107.3 2,732 111 2461 The following figures of his batting in first-class cricket in Australia may be of some interest:— N oble ’ s B atting A verages in A ustralian C ricket . No. of Not Match Series. M. Inns. out. Runs. Test matches in Aust. 19 34 4 1.057 N.S.W. v. Victoria 24 42 6 2.447 v. S.A. 23 33 2 2^031 v. Q’land 3 3 0 39 „ v. Tasmania 1 1 0 38 v. New Zealand 1 1 0 37 v. Eng. Teams 8 16 0 330 Aust. XI. v. Rest and other mixed matches 7 11 0 613 Aver. 35-23 67-97 65"5.1 1300 38 00 37-00 20-62 55-72 Totals N oble ’ s B atting C ricket , ... 86 141 12 6,592 51 10 A verages in F irst -C lass S eason by S eason . etc. Not H ’e-h’st bson, Inns.. out. Runs. Aver . Score. N.Z., 1893-4 10 1 93 10-33 26 A., 1894-5 2 0 12 6-00 A., 1896-7 6 1 344 68-80 153* A., 1897-8 17 2 447 29-80 80 A., 1898-9 13 1 552 46-00 111 Eng., 1899 50 7 1,608 37-39 156 A., 1899-00 10 0 694 69-40 200 A., 1900-1 7 0 352 50-28 153 A., 1901-2 17 0 430 25-29 74 Eng. , 1902 48 5 1,416 32-93 284 S.Afr., 1902 7 I 125 20-83 53* A., 1902-3 9 2 356 50-85 108 A., 1903-4 20 3 961 56-52 230 A., 1904-5 6 0 373 62-16 112 N.Z., 1905 5 1 102 25-50 42 Eng. , 1905 49 2 2,084 44-34 267 A., 1905-6 8 1 631 90-14 281 A., 1906-7 7 I 269 44-83 99 A., 1907-81 19 1 1,071 59-50 176 Totals 310 29 11,920 42-41 284 * Signifies not out. +At the time of w riting the Queensland v. N.S.W. match at Brisbane, fixed for Easter, has still to be played. If Noble takes part in this his figures, both batting and bowling, for 1907-8, will need additions made. The “ overs ” column in the table that follows 1 cannot complete, owing to the fragmentary analysis with which some Australian papers expect their readers to be satisfied.