Cricket 1909

170 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 3, 1909. well in 1835 and played occasionally for the United South and once — against Gloucestershire at Clifton in 1871—for Surrey. For very many years he has been located in Scotland, much to the benefit of the game there. For twelve seasons he coached the boys at Mer- chiston, and was afterwards associated with Loretto, Fettes and the Eoyal High School. By followers of the game this side o f the Border, however, he will always be chiefly remembered as the editor of the Scottish Cricketers’ Annual and Guide , which fan through seventeen annual issues, commencing in 1870-71. As far back as June, 1867, a game on his behalf was played in Merchiston Park between the Gentlemen and the Players of Scotland. Few other living cricketers, I imagine, can claim to have been accorded benefit matches covering so long a period from first to last. F. W . D u n n ’s Sydney team which visited the Goulburn district at Easter, played four matches and won them all. In their match at Kenmore Asylum on April 13th and 14th they ran up a total of 563, J. B. O’Neill andB . Kortlang each scoring 151 and G. Maidment 131. O’Neill and Kortlang added 267 together for the second wicket. The Kenmore wicket is said to be one o f the best—from a batsman’s point of view—in New South Wales. There are two kinds of volcanic soil—light and dark—in the district suitable for making wickets, and the latter is used at Kenmore. It is very difficult for a batsman to make an impression on it with the bail to mark his guard, so chalk is used. T h e final matches in the A. Grade Competition at Hobart on April 3rd and 17th produced some heavy scoring. North Hobart declared with two wickets down for 303 (R. J. Hawson, not out 140) and New Town replied with 305 for three (P. Payne, not out 130). East Hobart made 412 for two wickets (J. Hudson, not out 203; E. Free, not out 146) and then dismissed their opponents, South Hobart, who batted four short, for 132. B o t h Hudson and Hawson made over 1,000 runs in Premiership matches at Hobart during the season, the former scoring 1,052 in eleven completed innings (average 95'63) and the latter 1,009 in fifteen (average 67'25). I n the match at Launceston on April 3rd and 17th between North Launceston and East Launceston, the former, going in first, scored 409 and appeared qnite safe from defeat. The East, however, made a great effort to obtain the runs and were beaten by only 20. Of the 383 scored by their side E. A. Windsor was responsible for as many as 234, made by fine, forcing strokes all round the wicket. The only other score of over 20 from the bat during the innings was 50 by N. R. Westbrook. I t is worthy of note that on Monday last the first-class bowling averages were headed by Leach and R elf (A. E.) with the following figures:— Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. Leach .................. 87‘2 21 208 24 8-66 Relf (A. E.)........... 148-3 00 290 33 8*78 It must have been some considerable time since the list had been headed by two Sussex men. Blythe, Rushby, and Den­ nett, all of the South, followed in the order named. Brearley, who occupied sixth place, was highest among the representatives of the North. J o h n E d w a r d W e s t , for whose benefit this week’s match at Lord’s between Middlesex and Kent was played, is a Middlesex man by birth and rendered excellent service to his county from 1885 to 1896. He scored 1,092 runs with an average of 11'37, took seventy-six wickets at a cost of 24'29 runs each, and often kept wicket. He was a member of the ground staff at Lord’s from 1886 to the end of last season, and is well known as an umpire. Five years ago he was accorded a benefit by Middlesex. As many as 10,000 persons were present at Southampton on Monday to watch the play in the match between Hampshire and Sussex. This is easily a record for the ground, and the receipts, which amounted to .£186, were almost £10 more than the highest sum previously taken there in a single day. R e s u lt s of matches between Leicester­ shire and the Australians :— 1878. Australians won by eight wickets. 1S80. Drawn. 18S2. Australians won by 74 runs. 1884. Australians won by 10 wickets. 1888. Leicestershire won by 20 runs. 1890. Australians won by an innings and 04 runs. 1893. Australians won by an innings and 57 runs. 1896. Drawn. 1899. Australians won by 248 runs. 1902. Australians won by seven wickets. 1905. Drawn. 1909. Drawn. Twelve matches in all, o f which four have been left unfinished. The Australians have won seven matches and Leicester­ shire one. W i t h the downfall of Surrey and Lan­ cashire yesterday on bowlers’ wickets four of the strongest counties have already experienced defeat this season, Yorkshire having been beaten by Worcestershire, and Notts, the conquerors of Surrey, by Sussex. One result will be to make Kent stronger favourites for the Championship than ever, especially as they had all the best of their game against Middlesex which was abandoned at Lord’s this week. L a n c a s h ir e ’s match with Yorkshire at Old Trafford produced so many bowling triumphs that it reminds one of the games which used to take place forty or fifty years ago between Notts and York­ shire. The fact that each side possessed several fine rungetters and that only 357 runs were made in the match for the loss o f forty wickets is eloquent testimony to the difficulties with which batsmen had to contend. Seldom indeed in modern times have so many bowlers distinguished themselves during the course of a single match. L o s in g the toss had a very great deal to do with the reverse sustained by Surrey at Trent Bridge, though it seems probable that the game might have been saved but for several blunders in the field early on the first day. Still, missed catches are all part of the game, and the side which performs badly in the field deserves little sympathy. Hayward played a really great innings when everything was against Surrey, and was unfortunate to be on the losing side. He alone of the Surrey men will be able to look back upon the match with any satisfaction. J. C h a p m a n , who played a capital innings of 52 for Derbyshire at Leyton on Monday, was in the Uppingham Eleven in 1895 and 1896, being a contemporary of T. L. Taylor, C . E. M. W ilson and K. E. M. Barker. In the former year he averaged 11 42 for fourteen innings and in the latter 26 for eight. In 1907 he scored 39 and 102 in the Old Boys’ match. I n the early part of the Essex innings on Monday the Derbyshire field was placed in an unusual manner. When Warren was bowling only one man was stationed on the leg side— at mid-on, whilst Cadman was satisfied with only one on the off—at mid-off. The latter bowled leg-breaks over the wicket and kept a splendid length. F a v i e l l — S ie d le . —On June 1st, at St. Michael’s Church, Colombo, Ceylon, William Frederick Oliver, of the Worces­ tershire Regiment, eldest son of F. H. Faviell, of Loughton, Essex, to Aida Ernstine, only daughter of Louis Siedle, of Colpetty, Colombo. (By cable.) R o b s o n ’s two excellent innings against Gloucestershire at Taunton in the early part of this week came somewhat in the nature of a surprise, seeing that he had not made a hundred for Somerset for eight years, and that last season his average was only 16'80. He is a player well worth watching, for he is a free hitter possessing many strikes. He entered upon his thirty-ninth year at the beginning of last month. The same match also saw Dennett, who has much improved as a batsman during the last season or two, play the best innings of his career. As it was quite recently that he completed his twenty-ninth year, it is probable that the best has not yet been seen of him. I am asked to slate that o w in g to a trial m atch at Oxford to-d a y th e A u th en tics h ave h ad to ca n cel their fixture w ith W in­ ch ester College.