Cricket 1908

A pril 16 , 190 8. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. -69 in 33 hours by some splendid hitting. Laver carried his bat for an excellent 105. The total was 464. In the visitors’ second Hack (60) was again top scorer; Ilill made 43 ; and the partnership of these two added 92 for the second wicket; Reedman ran up 53 ; but no one else did much. Peter McAlister was exactly 100, not out, when Victoria pulled off the match by five wickets, he and Laver (40, not out) having added 126 since the fifth wicket fell. Both were missed, however. McAlister batted about 3 ! hours. Each of the 1902-3 games presented some remarkable features. At Melbourne M. Ellis and T. Hastings, the wicket­ keeper, turned a moderate total of 261 for nine into a big one of 472 by their stand of 211 for the last wicket. Ellis batted 3 hours 5 minutes for his 118; Hastings put in half-an-hour less for his 106 not ou t; and both showed notably good form. Neither had played against South Australia before. Earlier in the innings McAlister (68) and Armstrong (40) had added 90 for the second wicket, and Noonan (54) and Laver (46) had put on 81 for the sixth. Clem Hill’s 124, an almost faultless innings of 3 hcurs 25 minutes, was a long way the highest score for the visitors. Two men new to the match, but now to be reckoned among the side’s best, gave him good help. Norman Claxton (37) was with him while 101 were added for the fourth wicket; and Algernon Gehrs (45) helped him to put on (>7 for the fifth. Philip Newland, the wicket-keeper of the 1905 Australian team, was a third newcomer on the visit­ ing side. The second innings of both sides provided little of note. Mailer made 49 for Victoria, Kirkwood 44 for South Australia, but no one else reached 30. The visitors collapsed before Armstrong in the last stage of the match, and the home side won easily. George Giffen played his last game against Victoria in the return match ; and, at close on 44 years of age, scored 178 runs for once out and took 15 wickets for 185 ! Everything else in the match was overshadowed by this great all-round performance, but Saunders was very prominent for the opposition, and his 13 wickets for 194 (8 for 110 in the last in­ nings) had much to do with Victoria’s winning by 35 runs. Graham (59) and McAlister (39) sent up 89 before the first wicket of the match fell; Stuckey (63), Laver (50), and Armstrong (40), were the other chief contributors to the Victorian total. Reedman (50) helped Hack to retaliate with 97 for the first wicket of the home side ; Hack (88) and Giffen (81) added 86 for the third, but no one else offered much resistance. In Victoria’s second Graham (45) and Armstrong (66) added 79 for the third ; Laver scored 61, and E. E. Bean 30 not out. South Aus­ tralia went in to make 257 to win, on a wicket that kicked a good deal. Reed­ man, Hack and Hill were all out for paltry scores. Claxton (29) helped Giffen to add 64 for the fifth wicket. The next four fell with only 20 runs added, and 136 were still wanted when Joseph Travers, last man in, joined the hero of a hundred fights. They plodded on in dour style at first; but when Travers got set runs came faster from the bats of both, and the hopes of the spectators rose high. As many as 101 runs were put on before Collins got the slow bowler l.b.w. for 41. Ihe veteran carricd his bat for 97. The pity of it ! What a finish it would have been to his wonderful record against Vic­ toria if he had achieved the round three figures, and had won the match for his side ! But, after all, what a finish it was even as it stood ! Claude Jennings made his first appearance against Victoria in this match. Only one match—at Melbourne—was played in 1903-4, and South Australia gained a well-deserved and most welcome win (after nine successive defeats) by the narrow margin of 17 runs. A great feature of the game was the return to first-class cricket after a long and re­ gretted absence of Harry Trott, who, though his figure had developed somewhat aldermanic proportions during his long months of seclusion, proved easily the best all-round performer on the beaten side, with 106 runs and 7 wickets for 76 in the match. The leg-breaks of R. B. Rees troubled all the Victorians. In this, his only match against them, he took 10 wickets. Removal to the Straits Settle­ ments and pressure of business since his return to Adelaide have combined to de­ prive South Australia of the help of this most promising young player. Laver made 79 not out in Victoria’s first, but it was a wearisome innings. Clem Hill’s 147 in the first innings was South Aus­ tralia’s only really big score. It was absolutely perfect. Gehrs was top scorer in the second hands with 47. Clem Hill first and the rest practically nowhere was again the order of the day (as far as the home side was concerned) at Adelaide in November, 1904. He scored 178 for once out ( in not out and 67); Claxton made 43 and 32, and helped h m to add 90 for the fifth wicket in the first innings; Newland scored 8 and 37, Hack I 18 and 27, Gehrs 23 and 19, and Darling, j making a welcome re-appearance, 16 and 19. Victoria had four down for 66 in their first innings; but then Laver and Charles McLeod (65) added 154 in about two hours for the fifth, and Vernon Rans­ ford, a youngster of 19 making his d:but in the series, helped to add 129 for the seventh before Laver left for 164, his best in first-class cricket, absolutely free from chance, and lasting 4! hours. Ransford carried out his bat for an excellent 80. Victoria won with great ease. Claxton’s bowling was as good as that of anyone on the winning side. Two of his victims .played- on, it is true; but the balls with which he bowled Stuckey and Armstrong were beauties; and to have only 130 runs scored off 360 balls while his colleagues had 301 scored off 617 is a record that should speak for itself. He has batted better against Victoria, but has never shown better all-round form than in this match. J. H. Pellew (“ Nip ” to his friends) played his first game against Victoria on this occasion. (To be continued .) The AMERICAN CRICKETER. F o u n d e d 1877. Fnbllshed by H. H. Cornish on behalf o f The Associated Cricket Clubs o f Philadelphia. An Illustrated Jourm l of ( ricket, Association, Football, Tenais, Golf, and Kindred Pastimes. No. 632, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., U .S.A p rick :— 10/- per annum , post paid anyw here. Specimen copies mailed on request. THE M.C.C. TEAM IN AUSTRALIA . (<Continued from page S3). 17T11 M a tc ii.— v . AUSTRALIA. (F ift h T e s t .) Played at Sydney on February 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, and 27. Australia won by 49 runs. England having: lost three out of the Test matches previously played, it was not very surprising- that the fifth should fail to create much excitement. On the home side Hartigan appeared in lieu of McAlister, whilst England entered the lists without Blythe, Fielder (han­ dicapped by a strain), Hayes, and Humphries (in Melbourne). There had been about twenty hours of rain in Sydney aud Jones, upon win­ ning the toss, put Australia in—a policy which was fully justified, although the wicket was never really bad. Rhodes and Barnes opened the attack, and with only ten runs scored the latter got Macartney caught for a single. O’Connor, a left-hander, was sent in first wicket down, as he possesses strong defensive powers, and as it would be an advantage, owing to the wicket gradually improving, for the better bats­ men to go in when the pitch had recovered it­ self as much as possible. He and Noble caused many changes to be made in the attack. At 21 Crawford weut 011 for Rhodes, who had bowled five overs for six runs, and who resumed the attack in Barnes’ place thirteen runs later. At 44 the last-named displaced Crawford, who crossed over and relieved Rhodes two runs later, and, with his second ball, got O’Connor caught at the wicket. The second wicket had put on a much-needed 36. Without any addition, how­ ever, Noble, who had seized every opportunity of scoring, was bowled by Barues; he hit five 4’s and made his 35 out of 46 in 55 minutes without a mistake of any kind. The half- century went up an hour and seven minutes from the start, but at 64 another disaster befell the home side, Hill being dismissed by an un­ usually fine one-handed running catch by Hutchins's on the leg side. Nine runs later Armstrong was caught and bowled by Crawford and then half the side were out for 73. Trumper, who went in very low down, helped to add 21 in 17 minutes before being caught at slip off a false h it ; at this point Barnes had taken four wuckets for 43 runs. W ith Gregory, who was playing a skilful game, and Ransfcrd together, the 100 was reached in 119 minutes, and the seventh wicket put on 30 ere the left­ hander succumbed to a fine, right-handed catch by Gunn at long-on. Hartigan failed to repeat his Adelaide success, being caught and bowled for a single by Crawford at 129. whilst eight runs later Gregory, who had played a really clever innings, was also sent back. The latter, hitting well all round the wicket, scored 44 out of 91 in 100 minutes and hit five 4’s. Saunders did nothing, and, with his dismissal, the in­ nings, after lasting 155 minutes, closed for 137. Barnes, in taking seven wickets for 60 runs, was seen at his b est; he kept a fine length and turned the ball both ways. The fielding was very keen throughout, and not a catch wa° missed. Hobbs and Fane opened the innings for England, but w ith only a single scored the latter was bowled in the first over of Noble, who commenced the bow ling with Saunders. This was a blow to the side, and it would not have been surprising if a couple, or even more, wickets had fallen that afternoon. As it hap­ pened, however, H obbs and Gunn remained un­ beaten to the close, when, with nine v/ickets in hand, England were only 21 runs behind. Both men were naturally cautious to commence with, especially as the wicket, although greatly im­ proved, did not favour the batting side to any great extent. Gunn, when 13, was let off by Trumper, standing at silly-point, and, as it happened, the miss proved an expensive one. With 40 scored O’Connor relieved Saunders, but 50 went up in the same number of minutes. At 54 Macartney took the ball from Noble, but the change did not effect a separation, and, after batting 87 minutes, Hobbs completed his 50. At 79 Armstrong went on for O’Connor, and 14 runs later Saunders relieved Macartney, but, notwithstanding these changes, three figures were sent up without further loss in 100 minutes. Gunn, after batting an hour and three-quarters, reached 50, and a little later play ceased for the day—at, 5.55, owing to poor light, the English total being 116 for one wicket, and Hobbs and Gunn carrying out their bats, the former for 65 and the latter for 50. The attendance during the day reached 7,000, and the takings £2<c5. On