Cricket 1908

9 2 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 23, 1908. Stuckey has never played first-class cricket since ; but he may yet appear once more, for quite recently he started making big scores again for East Melbourne, his old club. The 170 of Algernon Gehrs, made in 4hr. 5mm., was the great feature of the South Australian innings. He hit 19 fours, and batted in great form. Hack (67) helped him to sent up 168 before a wicket fell; Darling (35) stayed while 75 were put on for the third w icket; and Claxton scored 58. On the rain- soaked wicket the veteran Reedman met with astonishing success as a bowler. He had always been a useful change; but to take 13 wickets at a cost of less than 12 each, as he did in Victoria’s two inn­ ings, was a feat of which few would have believed him capable. Laver (41) and McAlister (34) did best in Victoria’s first; in the follow-on Armstrong played great cricket under difficult conditions for 85 ; and W. J. Scott, a new man who has not retained his place in the team, made 45, and helped the big man to add 101 for the fourth wicket. Victoria had a big win in the Adelaide match of 1905-6, in which Roy Hill for the home side, and A. H. Christian (now of Westralia) and E. V. Carroll for the visitors, appeared for the first time in the series. Pellew’s 87 was the outstand­ ing feature of South Australia’s first effort, a really fine innings, perhaps the best he has ever played. Sooner or later Pellew should gain international honours. Hack (43) helped him to add 78 for the third wicket. Claxton, though short of practice, made some good drives in his 48. One Victorian wicket fell cheaply ; but afterwards the home side always seemed engaged in a hopeless effort. Warne (62) and McAlister put on 146 for the second w icket; McAlister and Arm­ strong added 189 for the fourth ; and the tenth did not fall until the total was 526. McAlister’s 157 was a better innings than Armstrong’s 165, for the big man was four times let off, while Peter A. gave only two distinct chances. The South Australian fielding was execrable. It was calculated that fourteen lives were given in the course of the long innings. That it should have been a long innings was, therefore, very far from surprising. The wicket crumbled; Darling (36), Jennings (29), C. Hill (23) and Claxton (18) were all who could make double figures; and Victoria won in an innings with 148 to spare. But the Wheatfielders pulled off the return in fine style, thanks to Norman Claxton and a new bowler, A. W. Wright, who lowered 7 for 66 in the home side’s first. Claxton was top scorer in each innings; he made 67 in the first, and played right through the second for 199 of 364 from the bat. Originally a dashing player, he has steadied down much of late, and his defensive powers were more conspicuous than his hitting in this game. His big score took over six hours to make. He gave only two chances, at 48 and 51. Wright was run out in trying for Claxton’s 200th run, and very narrowly run out at that. In the first innings Darling (48) and Clax­ ton made 67 for the second wicket after Hack had gone for a duck ; and Pellew (33) helped Claxton to add 60 for the third. In the second the big scorer’s most efficient coadjutors were young Dol­ ling, who helped him to add 80 for the fourth, and John Reedman, who batted faultlessly for 64, and stayed while 155 were put on for the fifth in a trifle over two hours. The only real stand in Vic­ toria’s first was a plucky one of 85 for the eighth wicket by James Horan and the home side’s stumper, Carkeek, who scored 50 not out and 52 respectively. In the second innings Ransford (24) and McAlister (56) made 72 for the second w icket; Armstrong scored 64, Horan 37 and Laver 27; but the result was really never in doubt. Besides W’right, C. E. Dolling and H. S. C. Jarvis (a son of A. H., and a promising wicket-keeper) for South Australia, and Gervase Haz­ litt, who has since gained international honours, for Victoria, were among the new men who took part. For the first time in twelve seasons Clem Hill was an absentee. Hack had a pair of them ” in this, his last game of the series. The visiting side won a fine victory by 70 runs in the Adelaide game of 1906-7. They lacked Armstrong, and were rather an experimental-looking team. McBeth (4 for 41) and Wright (4 for 42) sent them to the rightabout on a good wicket for 125. McAlister (39) and J. Ainslie, a new man (29) alone scored more than 13. When South Australia went in Dar­ ling showed his old fine forcing form for 77. Hill (40) helped him to add 86 for the second wicket. The young players on the Victorian side were chiefly respon­ sible for the fine recovery made by the visitors. Carroll played a perfect innings of 112; F. Vaughan made 65, T. Rush 2, and Ransford 46.Rush, who hit inely, helped Carroll to add 131 for the leventh wicket, and RansTord and Car­ roll put on 90 together for the sixth. When the home side went in to make 257 to win they looked to have a really good chance; but C. Hill’s faultless 71 in about 100 minutes was the only score of note, and all were out for 186, Saunders having bowled finely. His record for the match was 10 for 143. E. R. Goss, a slow bowler, had 6 for 114. There were six men playing who had not taken part in the series before; John A. O ’Connor and A. McBeth, N.S.W. bowlers im­ ported into South Australia, and E. A. Bailey, brotherof “ Dick,” for South Australia; Vaughan, Rush and Goss for Victoria. There was consistency on both sides at Melbourne, where, although without both Darling and Clem Hill, South Australia won by the tremendous margin of 319 runs ; but the consistency was of different kinds. The visiting batsmen all did well except Pellew; save for Carroll and Tom Horan, junior, the home batsmen failed signally. No one made a century for S.A. ; but in the match Don McRae aggregated 119, Dolling 97, Mayne 93, Claxton 84, Gehrs 78, Jennings 72, Roy Hill 52 and (wonderful to relate) McBeth 42. Carroll aggregated 149 for Victoria, and young Horan, a worthy chip of the old block, 75. Gehrs and McRae added 120 for the third wicket in the visitors’ first, Jennings and Mayne 79 for the sixth. In the second Claxton and McRae added 84 for the fourth, Jennings and McRae 78 for the fifth, Roy Hill and Dolling 55 for the seventh, and Dolling and McBeth 98 for the ninth. Carroll’s form was really great. His second in­ nings of 85, of a total from the bat of 154, was made in 2 hrs. 10 min. Horan shaped well, too ; but of the rest the less one says the better. Collins and Saun­ ders were both absent, and consequently only eight wickets fell in the Victorian second innings. Wright had 9 for 96 in the match. There were again several new men—McRae, E. R. Mayne and Horan—and all disinguished themselves. In a series of 42 matches, of which not one lacked interest, the last played is in some ways the most remarkable. Vic­ toria ran up her record total, 699 ; South Australia, though again lacking Clem Hill and Darling, put up a gallant fight against such a mammoth total, scoring 357 and 177. From the very outset the bowlers had the worst of it. McAlister sent in Colin McKenzie, a new man, with the steady Warne ; and the debutant made 51 of 80 scored for the first wicket. Warne (82) and Ransford added 149 for the second. Ransford was joined by Frank Tarrant, home on holiday, and 48 more were scored before Ransford left. Then Armstrong came to Tarrant’s help; and a stand of 224 was begun. Even that was not the end, for McAlister helped Armstrong to add 76 for the fifth wicket, and Carroll 58 for the sixth. The total fell only one short of 700. Arm­ strong batted 5! hours for his 231, the only 200 score made for Victoria in these matches, and gave only one chance, at 170. Tarrant was in 3 hrs. 50 min. for his 105, Ransford a little over 2 hrs. for his 109, Warne 3 hrs. for his 82, while McKenzie’s 57 Were made in 53 minutes. O ’Connor stuck to his work like George Giffen in the old days; and his analysis of 83 overs, 249 runs, 6 wickets was very like some of George’s. The fielding naturally fell off towards the end. When S.A. went in Mayne (75) and Gehrs ran to 55 before the latter was out, having secored only nine. Dolling (62) helped Mayne to add 56 for the second wicket; Pellew (41) and Dolling added 70 for the third ; Jennings (52) and Pellew contri­ buted 45 for the fourth ; Claxton (65) and Jennings carried on the plucky resistance with 59 for the fifth; and Roy Hill (32) and Claxton made 55 for the sixth. Throughout the whole series there was no other such instance of consistent scoring for the early wickets as occurred in the Victorian and South Australian (first) innings in this match. The follow- on was a different sort of affair. Hope­ lessly in the rear, the South Australians batted tamely, and lost 6 wickets for 80 ; but then Roy Hill was joined by the colt L. W. Chamberlain, a youngster of 18 or 19, and these two pluckily added 62. Hill made 58 and Chamberlain 34. Hazlitt bowled well. His figures were nothing out of the w ay; but the impression that he is better than his analyses suggest ap­ pears to be pretty general, and he got a place in the first two Test matches, a place to which either Wright or O ’Con­ nor or Claxton would seem to have had at least as good a claim. In spite of Victoria’s succession of twelve times first in, the luck of the toss has not been very uneven, on the whole. Of the first 17 games South Australia had first innings in eleven, once being sent in after the Victorian captain had won the toss. The next 12 saw Victoria first at wickets on each occasion. In the 13 since then, South Australia has had first turn 8 times, Victoria 5. The totals are, therefore, as regards the actual winning of the toss, Victoria 24, South Australia 18; as regards first innings Victoria 23, South Australia 19.