Cricket 1909

2 l8 CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 24, 1909. scoring 71 and 48, he accounted for seven of the fifteen wickets of his opponents. He played his first match for Gloucester­ shire in 1891 and is now in his forty-third year, but he seems, like good wine, to improve with age. It is nine years since he played the highest innings of his career—214 against Somerset at Bristol— and, although he has made only one hundred for the County since 1901, it would not be at all surprising to find him entering three-figure land again in the near future. If he had been able to devote all his attention to rungetting he would probably have proved good enough for the Players’ eleven at Lord’s for his batting. I t is unlikely that Llewellyn will for­ get his experience on Thursday last for some time to come. He took one wicket for 120 runs—Jessop made 61 off him in four overs—and at the end of the day was caught at the wicket off the first ball he received. As a result of their excellent batting for Oxford in the Worcestershire match last week H. V. L. Hooman (Charter­ house and Brasenose) and R. O. Lagden (Marlborough and Oriel) have been awarded their Blue. A t a meeting of the South African Cricket Association, held on May 7th, details in connection with the English visit during 1909-10 were arranged. The team will leave England in the middle of November, and will probably consist of six amateurs and eight professionals. Only eleven a-side games will be played. Five Test matches will be arranged, three in Johannesburg, one in Durban, and one in Cape Town. The guarantee was fixed at £4,000. It was decided that if Bhodesia were able to provide the necessary guarantee, the team would play a couple of matches there. The tour is to open at Cape Town on December 4th and end on March 3rd. T h e different centres were given until June 10th to decide which match they required and what amount they were prepared to guarantee. The centres were expected to guarantee £ ‘22:1 for ordinary matches and £400 for Test matches. The Rhodesia Union was asked to guarantee .£'800 lor two games. The provisional fixture lists are as follows :— Nov. 30.—Team arrive at Cape Town. Dec. 4, 6, 7.—v. Western Province, at Cape Town. Dec. 11, 13, 14.—v. Griqualand West, at Kimberley. Dee. 17, 18, 20.—v. Orange River Colony, at Bloem­ fontein. Dec. 27, 28, 29, 30.—v. Transvaal, at Johannesburg. Jan. 1,3, 4, 5.—v. South Africa, at Johannesburg, (first Test). Jan. 8.—Leave for Rhodesia. Jan. 12, 13, 14.—v. Rhodesia, at Bulawayo. Jan. 17.—v. Rhodesia, at Salisbury. (As an alternative, leave for Victoria Falls after playing at Bulawayo, miss the Salisbury match, and return to Johannesburg from the Falls, arriving on Tuesday, Jan. 25). Jan. 28, 29, 31.—v. Transvaal at Johannesburg or Pretoria. Feb. 4, 5, 7.—v. Natal, at Maritzburg. Feb. 11, 12, 14, 15.—v. South Africa, at Durban (second Test). Feb. 17.—Leave for East London. Feb. 19, 21, 22.—v. Border, at East London or King William’s Town. Feb. 23.—Leave for Port Elizabeth. Feb. 26, 28, March 1.—v. Eastern Province, at Port Elizabeth. March 5, 7, 8, 9.—v. South Africa, at Johannesburg (third Test). March 11, 12, 14, 15.—v. South Africa, at Johannes­ burg (fourth Test). March 19, 21, 22.—v. Western Province or Cape Colony, at Cape Town. March 26, 28 , 29.—v. South Africa, at Cape Town (fifth Test). The alternative tour is to leave out Khodesia and continue from Johannes­ burg on January 5th as follows :— Jan. 5.—Leave for Natal. Jan. 8, 10, 11.—v. Natal, at Maritzburg. Jan. 14, 15, 17, 18.—v. South Africa, at Durban (second Test). Jan. 20.—Leave for East London. Jan. 22, 24, 25.—v. Border, at East London or King William’s Town. Jan. 2(j.—Leave for Port Elizabeth. Jan. 28, 29, 31.—v. Eastern Province, at Port Elizabeth. Feb. 4, 5, 7, 8.—v. Transvaal, at Pretoria or Johannes­ burg. Feb. 11,12,14,15.—v. South Africa, at Johannesburg (third Test). Feb. 18,19, 21, 22.—v. South Africa, at Johannesburg (fourth Test). Feb. 2t>, 28, March 1.—v. Western Province or Cape Colony, at Cape Town. March 4, 5, 7, 8.—v. South Africa, at Cape Town (fifth Test). C o m in g immediately after their two defeats at Tonbridge, it was certainly somewhat startling to find Kent beating Gloucestershire in such easy fashion at Catford. The vigour of their batting was reminiscent of their best form during 1906, when they passed from success to success and carried off the Championship. They had this week’s match in their hands from the start and thoroughly overwhelmed the opposition. Their total of 593 was run up in four hours and a- half, and established a fresh record in the matter of fast scoring so far as first-class cricket is concerned. Humphreys, by making 208, had the personal satisfaction of playing the highest innings ever obtained for Kent, surpassing Seymour’s 204 against Hampshire at Tonbridge in 1907 and C. J. Burnup’s200 in the match with Lancashire at Manchester nine years ago. K e n t have now lost the toss six times in succession. R e s u l t s of matches played between the Australians and Yorkshire :— 1878-f Australians won by six wickets. \ Yorkshire won by nine wickets. 1880 JAustralians won by five wickets. \ Drawn. / Drawn. Australians won by six wickets. 1882 J Drawn. I Australians won by 47 runs. VAustralians won by seven wickets. 1884 Australians won by three wickets. 1886 I Australians won by six wickets. ( Drawn. ( Australians won by an innings and 264 runs. Drawn. Drawn. 1890 I Yorkshire won by seven wickets. ( Yorkshire won by eight wickets. ( Yorkshire won by 64 runs. Drawn. Australians won by 145 runs. ( Australians won by an innings and 8 runs. 1896 \ Drawn. ( Australians won by 140 runs. H S r a - 1902 *Y °rk8hire won by wickets. I Australians won by 44 runs, j Australians won by 174 runs. ' ° I Drawn. 1909 Drawn. O f the 30 matches played, the Australians have won 13 and the County 5. Twelve games have been drawn, It is an interesting fact that in 1882, when the sides met five times, Ephraim Lockwood averaged 61 runs an innings for the first three matches but was dismissed four times without a run in one week in the other two games, Spofforth, Boyle, Garrett and Palmer taking his wicket in turn. D a v id Denton’s 106 is only the third century which has been hit against the present Australian team. A. 0. Jones made 125 not out in the opening game, with Notts at Trent Bridge, and F. L. Fane scored 115 for Essex at Leyton. It is worthy of remark that four years ago Denton made 153 for Yorkshire against the Australians, the runs then, as this week, being scored at Bradford. “ T h e Test match as a subject of criticism has been pretty completely exhausted,” says Dr. Poidevin in the Pall Mall Gazette, “ so I leave it alone with the suggestion that the Australian batting deserves rather better of some of its critics than the notices it received. Noble, usually so hard to ‘ draw,’ was moved to remark, apropos of the criticisms: ‘ The marvellous thing is that we get any runs at all; our batting seems all mistakes, according to these accounts.’ ” A so h o o l - boy named Bell, aged 13, took seven wickets in 8 balls in a school match at Pembroke Lodge, Southbourne, on June 16th. Five of the wickets were bowled down and two leg-before-wicket. He did the hat-trick twice, on one occasion taking four wickets with consecutive balls. “ T h e comments which have been evoked by the size of ladies’ hats at Ascot,” says the Field, “ may have been lightly passed over by such cricketers as care little for racing or millinery, but, in view of the near approach of the matches between Oxford and Cambridge and Eton and Harrow, the matter is worthy of attention. What may perhaps be described as the thin end of the wedge has already been introduced at this year’s Tonbridge festival, where anyone who happened to be seated behind a lady obtained not a view but merely glimpses of the game. Yet on the average the hats at Tonbridge were merely large, or, at any rate, not quite enormous. The prospect of looking at (or for) the Oxford and Cambridge match from behind rows of hats of the dimensions of sunshades is not to be contemplated with equanimity.” S. F. B a b n e s , the Staffordshire and England bowler, did very well for his county on Monday, when he took eight Worcestershire wickets for 45 runs. He is evidently at the top of his form just now. On Saturday, when playing for Porthill, he made 55 run out and took four wickets for 28. During Whitsuntide he obtained twenty-one wickets at a cost of 65 runs in three successive North