Cricket 1909

186 CR ICK E T A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. June io , 1909. matcli in which that feat was accomplished was played on a hard, true wicket, and Shrewsbury, Gunn, Barnes, Flowers, Scotton, Mr. Dixon, to name no others, were engaged in it. In explanation of their cheap dismissal the Notts men suggested that there was a spot on the pitch which caused leg-breaking balls to come in from the off, and Dr. Grace was content to accept the theory. Doubtless he remembered that the second innings remained to be played. But the truth is that the fatal ball was delivered some­ thing after the manner of the modern googlie bowler.” C h a r l e s O y s t o n , the well-known Yorkshire slow bowler, will take a well- deserved benefit on Saturday on the occasion of the Leeds v. Wakefield match at Headingley. He was born at Armley on May 12th, 1869, and appeared in four matches for Yorkshire in 1900 and in three in 1902. Between 1900 and 1906 he took 277 wickets for the Second Eleven at a cost of 13'51 runs each, and since 1899, when he joined the club, has performed as follows for the Leeds Club :— Runs. Wickets. Average. 1899 931 68 13-69 1900 830 83 lft-30 1901 942 73 12-90 1902 425 43 9-88 1903 568 77 7-37 1904 647 74 8-74 1905 ... 1,030 67 15-37 1906 991 ... 100 9-91 1907 650 ... 100 6-50 1908 696 77 9-03 If Oyston had not been at his best just as Wilfred Rhodes was making a name for himself, he would probably have played regularly for the County. There was, however, room for only one left-handed slow bowler and Bhodes proved equal to doing all that was required. At various times Oyston received more or less in­ viting offers from Essex, Durham, Hamp­ shire and Perthshire, but has always remained loyal to his county. A. C. E d w a r d s , playing at Shorncliffe for Folkestone v. Shorncliffe Garrison on Friday last, bowled unchanged through the home side’s innings of 118, taking seven wickets for 45, and batted through the other, scox-ing 49. He was the only player to make double-figures for Folke­ stone, the next highest score in the innings of 85 being 7. T he Ulster Cricket Union have appointed Messrs. A. N. M’Clinton, W. T. Graham, and Oscar Andrews to represent them at a meeting of the Irish Cricket Union, to be held in Dublin to-morrow in connection with the newly- formed Irish Representation Board. T. A. B o o t h , of the Idle C .C ., which takes part in Bradford League matches, has scored 6, 69 not out, 65 not out, 109 not out, 27 not out, and 89 not out in consecutive innings this season. This shows an aggregate of 365, which is also his average. Booth did not give a single chance in either of his not-out innings. F r o m the Sporting L ife :— “ The Mortlake eleven defeated both the Brussels Racing C.C. and the Beerschot Club during their visit to Belgium this Whitsuntide. On Saturday they met the Racing team, but unfortunately the latter were unable to put a full eleven into the field, owing to their engagement in Paris with the Standard. However, a pleasant game was played, in which the visitors scored 114 against 58. On Sunday, in their first match against the Beerschot Club, Mortlake won by 99 runs, the home players not making a brilliant show against some good bowling by Blackburn and Denham, who got their opponents out in an hour and a-balf for 65 runs. R. Brotherton was top scorer for the Beerschot with 15. Black­ burn obtained five wickets for 42 runs and Denham five for 19. Mortlake compiled 164 runs, of which Blackburn made 54 not out and G. Hughes and H. Pike contributed 22 each. Count d’Oultremont, the Beerscbot captain, bowled well, taking six wickets for 62. The match on Monday was quite exciting, for after the Londoners had dis­ missed their opponents for 90, they made a disastrous start on going in to bat, losing six of their best wickets for 35 runs. How­ ever, Brierley saved the game for them with a very useful 35 out of a total of 104. Goadall made 17, Hearsey 12, and Denham 10. Lewis played well for Beerschot in the second match, as, besides making top score (21), he took seven wickets for 37 runs. Blackburn again bowled well for Mortlake, taking seven wickets for 44, while Brierley got three for 21.” I n the course of a letter which I have just received from a member of the New Zealand Cricket Council it is stated that “ The Committee have invited the South African Cricket Association to include New Zealand in their Australian tour when they come out, and we sincerely trust they will accept the invitation. The visit of foreign teams naturally gives the game a tremendous impetus out here, and we are straining every nerve to get first-class English coaches for each of our chief centres solely with the idea of improving the standard of our cricket.” P e r u s a l of the thirteenth Annual Report and Balance Sheet of the New Zealand Cricket Council discloses the fact that the finances of the Council have not yet recovered from the loss incurred in con­ nection with the tour of the Marylebone C.C. It is, however, satisfactory to note that the Council’s guarantors have all been repaid, in full, the amount they were called upon to pay under their respective guarantees. It was hoped by the Council that a visit from an Australian team would have been arranged for the past season, whereby an endeavour could have been made to clear off the Council’s overdraft, but the short tour, which would have provided the Australians with some valuable practice, did not eventuate. R e s u l t s of matches played between Hampshire and the Australians :— 1S96. Australians won by an innings and 125 runs. 1899. Drawn. 1902. Australians won by an innings and 79 runs. 1905. ,, „ ,, „ and 112 runs. 1009. ,, ,, M six wickets. Five games in all, of which the Aus­ tralians have won four and one has been drawn. I t must have been some time since bowlers had matters so much to their liking as on Monday last, when 144 wickets went down in eight first-class matches for 2,162 runs, thus averaging only 15'01 each. As a record of a remarkable day’s play, brief particulars deserve to be placed permanently upon record in Gossip :— Runs Wkts Gloucestershire v. Notts, at Gloucester ... 223 for 30 Cambridge Univ. v. Sussex, at Cambridge 350 ,, 23 Essex v. Surrey, at L e y to n .......................... 252 ,, 20 Worcestershire v. Middlesex, at Worcester 295 ,, 19 Lancashire v. Warwickshire, at Liverpool 298 ,, 1(5 Hampshire v. Australians, at Southampton 105 ,, 12 Derbyshire v. Leicestershire, at Derby ... 255 ,, 12 Yorkshire v. Kent, at H uddersfield........... 324 ,, 12 It is an interesting fact that at Hudders­ field, where the twelve wickets which fell averaged as much as 27 runs each, Yorkshire won the toss and put Kent in. T h e match at Gloucester produced only 310 runs for the loss of thirty-eight wickets, yet, curiously enough, no player obtained spectacles. Of the 156 overs delivered during the two days as many as 46 were maidens. The best batting in the match was shown by John Gunn, who made 25 in his first innings, and whose steadiness whilst scoring 9 not out in the second had much to do with Notts getting home with a couple of wickets in hand. Cricket at Gloucester, by the way, dates back to 1719, in which year—on September 22nd — two elevens played in the “ Town-ham at Gloucester, for upwards of twenty guineas.” A t Wormholt Farm, on Saturday, D. Griffiths took all ten wickets in an innings for 4 runs for Turnham Green against Denison. He also performed the hat-trick. F. F. K e l l y , of New York, draws my attention to the fact that the first three- figure scores of the American season of 1909 were made in Philadelphia on May 15th. A. M. Wood made 102 not out for Belmont v. Germantown B., Bennett 112 not out for Merion B. v. Germantown A., and P. H. Clark 104 for Germantown A. v. Merion B. T h e first hundred of the Canadian season was 120 not out, made by the old Epsom and Sussex cricketer, H. J• Heygate, for Ottawa v. McGill at Ottawa on May 24th. H a m p s h ir e , taking the field without their full side, gave the Australians a very good game and, although eventually beaten by six wickets, will be able to recall the match with considerable satisfaction. Owing to the fine bowling by Newman they more than held their own for a day and a-half: in fact, to within a couple of hours of the close a w in for them appeared quite likely. On the second morning Newman took seven wickets in 38 balls fo r 24 runs, his analysis for the innings being eight for 43. A collection made on the ground for him realised .£18 6s 8d. As he was b o r n as recently as N o v e m b e r. 1887, he should prove of use to the County for several years to come.