Cricket 1909

M ay 20, 1909. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. !37 Mr. A. E . Lawton, the captain of the Eleven, to the effect that he has been obliged to proceed to America on im ­ portant business, and that in consequence his services will not be available for some time. This is indeed bad news for Derbyshire, who seem always to have had more than their fair share of mis­ fortunes. A p r a c t i c e game, in which several of the Gloucestershire cricketers took part, was played on the 12th inst. at Bristol under unusual conditions, four stumps being used instead of three. The ex­ periment was revived by G. L. Jessop. A. G. Powell’s side scored 166 and Jessop’s side 188 with one wicket in hand. Several batsmen retired on reach­ ing a limit of runs that had been agreed upon. D r. L. O. S. P o id e v in , writing in the Pall Mall Gazette, makes the following remarks concerning the Cricket Con­ ference which is to open at Lord’s on June 15th :— One of the principal points likely to come up for settlement is the question of the future arrangement of colonial visits to England. The feeling seems firmly enough established amongst the counties that visits oftener than every three years are more than county cricket can entertain. With two countries visiting us, that would mean for both South Africa and Australia a visit to England every six years in rotation—intervals which cannot but fail to commend themselves to colonials. Now, if the English counties are determined upon triennial visits a real difficulty arises, the simplest way out of which seems to be for both South Africa and Australia to come here together in the same season triennially. Such an arrange­ ment seems feasible enough at first sight, provided it does not in any way interfere with the customary series of visits of England to the Colonies, and always pro­ vided representative teams are sent. There are many matters of detail, however, which can only be satisfactorily threshed out in this and in other connections on the maturer consideration which must come from a general and free exchange of the views of all parties concerned. The Conference will be held under the presidency of the Earl o f Chesterfield. England will be represented by Lord Harris and Lord Hawke, Australia by Dr. Poidevin and Mr. McAlister, and South Africa by Messrs. H . D. G. Leveson-Gower and G. W. Hillyard. In the Freshmen’s and Seniors’ matches at Cambridge last week as many as six three-figure innings were played—two of them, 113 and 138, by D. C. Collins, the New Zealander, in the latter game. I t was certainly somewhat remarkable that three such strong counties as York­ shire, Surrey and Notts should experience defeat in the latter part of last week. Perhaps the superstitious among cricketers will attribute the occurrence to the fact that the matches commenced on the 13th °f the month. Without in any way under-rating the value of what Oxford accomplished, one may say that the defeat of Surrey was the least unexpected of the three inasmuch as the County, lacking as it did the services of Hayes, Hobbs, Strudwick and others, was not at full strength. It is too soon to attempt to compare the strength of the Univer­ sities, the most that can be said being that Oxford give evidence of proving a capital side. Their two best bowlers are still in residence, the fielding is keen, and the batting appears to be stronger than it was last year. W o r c e s t e r s h i r e are to be heartily congratulated upon their splendid victory over Yorkshire on Saturday, a capital bowling performance on the part of Arnold and Cuffe pulling the side through by 12 runs after Yorkshire had established a lead of 86 on the first innings. Prior to Thursday last Yorkshire had not known defeat since their last match in 1007, when M.C.C. beat them at Scarborough by 44 runs. During that period they played 36 matches, of which they won 20. Badcliffe played a great game for the side at the crisis, and it was certainly no fault of his that success did not attend his efforts. It would seem as though the Yorkshire bowlers have to a great extent lost their ahility to obtain wickets on hard pitches. The drawn matches with Northants and Somerset give strong sup­ port to the view. A t one time—not many years ago— Somerset was the team which, more often than others, upset the calculations of Yorkshire. Now the Somerset mantle appears to have fallen upon Worcester­ shire. In 1907 the western county won both matches— at Worcester by 54 runs and at Bradford by 30. Last year, owing to some magnificent bowling by Hirst, Yorkshire proved successful on the W or­ cester ground after being headed on the first innings: the return match, at Sheffield, was ruined by defective light, play lasting whilst only eleven wickets fell. D u r in g their visit to the West the Yorkshire Eleven were entertained by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Society of Worcester at a smoking concert at the Hop Market Hotel. Wilson sang “ Thora ” in excellent style, and Hirst made a genial speech in response to the toast of the health of the Yorkshire team, pro­ posed by the president, Councillor W. H . Kershaw. W r i t i n g from Worcester to The York­ shire Post on Saturday, “ Old Ebor ” remarked :— “ Mr. Foster developed an extraordinary mannerism yesterday, which I note is absent this morning. At every ball delivered to his batting partner his left arm shot up just like the umpire’s signal ‘ Out." This semaphore arrangement continued throughout the whole of his partnership with Arnold, and I suppose it must be regarded as evidence of passing excitement or nervousness.” Two of the Crawford brothers were busy on the Coulsdon ground on Satur­ day, when playing for Cane Hill against Purley. “ J. N.” was responsible for a hard-hit innings of 196, and “ B. T ,,” in addition to scoring 53, took all ten Purley wickets for 58 runs. The score of the match will be found on another page. B. T. Crawford must, I should think, be quite the best all-round amateur available for Surrey who has never been tried for the County. If I remember rightly, he played some years ago for the second eleven. It is a pity such a fine playey should not be seen in first-class cricket. T h e very pronounced success gained by Sussex over Notts at Brighton last week gave rise to considerable enthusiasm among supporters of the home side. Sussex certainly showed superior form in all departments of the game, but were especially indebted to the brothers Belf. A. E. Belf is at the present time perhaps the best medium-paced bowler in England, and his record of twelve wickets for 93 runs was one of which he had cause to be pardonably proud. It is interesting to recall that Sussex have beaten Notts on only eight occasions at Brighton since 1835, and that their success last week was the most pronounced of all. P l a y i n g for Trinity Hall v. Magdalene College at Cambridge last week, L. O. G. Blackburn and W . E. Smith scored 105 in twenty-seven minutes, neither player giving a chance. “ E v e r y o n e ,” remarks The Observer, “ readily sympathises with batsmen whose hands may be damaged by a kicking ball, or others whose big toes may have met a ball that should have been played with the bat. But all this outcry about the Lord’s wicket becomes a satire. The modern day cricketer has been swaddled in cotton-w ool; immediately that the batsman finds that he is not on a marl wicket, that the ball will shoot and kick, that he does not know over much about the usefulness of ‘ quick feet,’ he begins to squeal. It is a good idea for batsmen to cultivate that bowlers were only made to hit, but when the bowler^occasionally ‘ strikes oil ’ the bat must take the rough with the smooth.” So cold was the weather at Kennington on Monday that Armstrong donned his sweater after every over he bowled. T h o s e who would wish to read an account of a cricket match from the pen o f Mr. George Meredith, who died this week, can safely be recommended to obtain a copy of Mr. E. B. Y. Christian’s A t the Sign o f the W icket (J. W . Arrow- smith, Bristol, Is.) where, in the chapter entitled “ The Cricket Matches of Fiction,” the deceased novelist’s description of the game between Fallowfield and Beckley is reproduced and commented upon. The result of the game is left unrecorded, for “ Evan was taken away by his Bose : the historian accompanied them.” Mention of Mr. Christian reminds me that Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. have just published