Cricket 1909

IO CR ICK E T : A WEEKLY RECORD OF TH E GAME. J an . 28, 1909. Decima, Veronica, Esyth, Undine, Cyssa, Hylda, Eowena, Adela, Thyra, Ursula, Ysabel, Blanche, Lilias, Dysart, and Plantagenet. The Daily Graphic is responsible for the rumour that the engagement will shortly be announced in India of the Jam o f Nawanagar and a well-known Indian princess. The Jam recently celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday, while his future bride is said to be very much his junior. G. J. M ordaunt , the well-known Kent and Oxford cricketer, has resigned the secretaryship o f the London Playing Fields Society after many years’ labour o f love. He is succeeded by another Oxonian, R. S. H. Baiss, who has also appeared occasionally' for Kent. So far as is at present known the following players will leave England on February 19th to take partin the M .C.C.’s tour in E g y p t:—Lord Brackley, Col. H . C. Moorhouse, Capt. A. C. G. Luther. G. H. Simpson-Hayward, R. M. Bell, G. T. Branston, B. P. Dobson, E. J. Metcalfe, K. L. Gibson, E . Ebdon and A. V. Drummond. Lord Hawke will not form one of the party. The tour will extend over three weeks, during which matches will be played at Cairo, Port Said, and Alexandria. O wing to the Victorian team being unable to visit Western Australia until Easter time, it is probable that negotia­ tions will be opened between the W . A.C.A. and South Australia for a team to be sent over from Adelaide early in the new year says the West Australian. E rnest P arker , the “ crack ” batsman of West Australia who was in England last summer, was in capital all-round form on the first Saturday in December. Playing for Wanderers [against Fre­ mantle, he scored 100 in forty-five minutes, hitting a 6 and nineteen 4’s, and also took three wickets for 6 runs. Of the 110 runs made for the first wicket with Canny (18) his share was 92. A week later he made 102 out o f 134 in forty-three minutes for Wanderers v. Corinthian B., his chief strokes being a 0 and seventeen 4’s. N o rth A delaide accomplished a fine run-getting performance at the expense of West Torrens on the Adelaide Oval on November 21st and 28th, running up a total o f 536 for eight wickets in reply to a score o f 179:— N orth A d e la id e . C.B.Jennings,run out 35 H. H. Sando, c Rich­ mond, b O'Connor. 10 J.H. I’elleWjC Gooden, b Polkinghorne ...215 A. Jenkins, c Jarvis, b O’Connor .......... 0 P. Desmazures, c & b Geddes ................... 0 Turner did not bat. The last occasion D. R. A. Gehrs, c Day, b G eddea.................. 104 N.Claxton,bO’Connol- 1-20 G. Bloomfield,stJarvis, 1) Day.......................... 7 J. C.Beedmam, notout IS P. Crick, not out ... 7 B II, lb 2, w 3...........14 Total (S wkta)...536 upon which three individual hundreds had been made in an innings in club cricket in Adelaide was as far back as March, 1896. D. M. B a l l a n s , the old interstate and South Adelaide cricketer, is playing with the Woodville Club this season, and is showing exceptionally good form. In seven innings he has made 367, as follows :— 12, 53 not out, 36, 10 not out, 130 not out, 70, 56 not o u t; average, 122-33. ---------- A n unusual performance was credited to Graham, the Erindale wicket-keeper, in a match in South Australia on Decem­ ber 5th against Coromandel. L. W . A. Peacock, who took eight wickets for Erindale at a cost of 80 runs, did the hat- trick, but lie was very largely indebted to Graham inasmuch as all the three players were stumped. D. R. A. G ehrs has been batting very consistently this season, and would appear to be well in the running for a place in the team for Englajid. In successive innings for North Adelaide he made 104 v. West Torrens and 155 v. Glenelg (adding 232 for the sixth wicket with Claxton, who made 83), whilst in Sheffield Shield matches he has scored 70 and 15 v. Victoria at Adelaide, 75 against the same side at Melbourne, and 102 v. New South Wales on the Sydney ground. P l a y i n g for Richmond Socials against Waverley in a Victorian Junior Associa­ tion match at Melbourne on October 31st, J. James took all ten wickets for 17 runs in an innings o f 35. The hat-trick was included in the performance. “ F e l i x ” has received from a friend in Brisbane a letter in which a batsman named P. [C. E. ?] Simpson is referred to in the highest terms. “ He is just lovely to watch,” writes the correspon­ dent, ‘ ‘ both for style and variety of stroke. Y ou would walk miles to see him. He is a real Australian Eleven man if ever there was one com ing along. He made 84 when I saw him, and his’ preceding scores were 95 not out, 84,148, and 94. He is also a splendid field and good change bowler. I f he doesn't turn out trumps I shall never tip again.” It will be inter­ esting to see if the prophecy is fulfilled. V ictoria , who won the Sheffield Shield a year ago, have this season been beaten twice by South Australia— by two wickets at Adelaide and by 15 runs at Melbourne. They had the satisfaction, however, of defeating New South Wales in Melbourne by an innings and 47 runs, but at present are playing a very uphill game in the return at Sydney. L .V ernon , the Victorian cricketer, was in his best form on the first Saturday in December. Playing for South Melbourne against Carlton on the former’s ground, he carried his bat through the innings of 170 for 90, batting two hours and three- quarters without a chance and hitting ten 4’s. His ten comrades made only 67 rims as their joint contribution, for the extras totted up to 13. “ Felix ” stated that Vernon’s innings was entitled “ to the bestowal of the best superlatives you can find.” I n successive innings for Melbourne during November F. Vaughan scored 48 v. St. Kilda, 202 not out v. Collingwood, 10 and 41 not out v. North Melbourne, and (on the first Saturday in December) 110 not out v. Ballarat. He made his large score against Collingwood on November 9th and 14th in four hours and a-quarter without a chance and hit fifteen 4’s in the course of the innings. H o g h T r u m b le has just been appointed manager of the National Bank at Kew, a Melbourne suburb. I n the match in Sydney on December 5th and 12th between Bexley Oriental and Bexley the former batted all the first day, and when stumps were drawn Harry Don- nan, the captain, was 135 and Alan Cooper 190, both not out. In order that the latter might have an opportunity o f making the highest individual score on record for the St. George Junior Association, Donnan decided that the innings should be con­ tinued on the following Saturday. The result was that, by the time play ceased, the total had reached 784 for nine wickets, Cooper making 228 and Donnan 353. One feels more ready to sympathise with the Bexley team than to congratu­ late the Oriental captain upon his tactics. Donnan indulged in a precisely similar proceeding when South Sydney played North Sydney in February, 1897. Then he scored 308 and his side 613 for seven wickets. “ N ot O u t ,” of the Sydney Referee, expresses the opinion that S. E . Gregory is “ an infinitely greater batsman than in 1890, when he first earned fame as a fieldsman on English greens.” He adds :— “ It was A. C. Bannerman, one believes, who prevailed upon him to think seriously of the game again. And it was he who kept the little man regular at practice last.season, with the result that S. E. Gregory was perhaps a sounder and a better batsman than ever. There was a time when practice troubled him not, but that time is not now. And in him we have a batsman still fit to go to England and represent us. On his last few trips to England S. E . Gregory has not done justice to his powers. But if, as one believes, he makes one of the next party, it is to be hoped that whatever causes operated against his higher success— and it is not correct to measure such a batsman by ordinary success— these will not be there to mar his form in 1909.” A. C otter scored 70 in twenty-seven minutes for Glebe v. Redfern, on the Redfern Oval at Sydney on Novem ­ ber 14th. He hit two 6’s and a dozen 4’s. Glebe, after losing their first four wickets for six runs, ran up a total of 348 in three hours. G. Gallagher carried out his bat for 166. “ R e c o r d e r ” o f the Sydney Sports­ man, after asking whether it does not seem absurd that a bowler who is pos­ sessed of the skill to make the ball break