Cricket 1909

2 8 o CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u ly 22, 1909. The AMERICAN CRICKETER. F ounded 1877. P u blish ed b y H . H . C orn ish on b e h a lf o f The A sso cia te d C rick et C lu bs o f P h ila d e lp h ia . An Illustrated Journal of Cricket, Association Football, Tennis, Golf, and Kindred Pastimes No. 632, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, P a , U.SA. price — 10/- p er a n n u m , p ost p a id a n y w h e re . Specimen copies mailed on request. n O Y A L B A . n R E I D ’ S O V A L W H I T E . The celebrated preparation for cleaning Cricket and all Buff Leather Goods, W arranted not to rub off or cake. A s used at K en- nington Oval, and h ighly recom m ended by K . S. R anjitsinhji, Dr. W . Q. Grace, O. B. Fry, Lord Dalm eny, Australian X I., 1905, G . L . Jessop, Ac., Ac. P a c k e d in z in c b o x e s , 6 d . p e r b o x . J. J. REID, 878, Kennlngton Rd., London. C v i c f c e t : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY, JULY 2 2 nd , 1909. ^ataltnn ffiflsstp. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. — Hamlet. T h e record of the Australians is now as follows:—Matches played, 22 ; won, 9; lost, 3; drawn, 10. They have won the toss 13 times and lost it 9 times. R a in again proved a spoil-sport during the latter part of last week and caused four very interesting matches—those at Lord’s, the Oval, Nottingham, and Tun­ bridge Wells—to be left drawn. The position in which the games were left makes it fairly certain that if no inter­ ruptions had been experienced all four would have been finished. Sussex were thoroughly outplayed at Tunbridge Wells and only just managed to evade defeat, whilst Yorkshire would in all probability have triumphed over their old rivals and neighbours, Notts. S u k r e y , at the Oval, gave a splendid account of themselves in their return match with the Australians, despite the fact that they put a comparatively weak side into the field. Hobbs, Leveson- Gower and Crawford were unable to play on account of irjuries, Marshal was omitted owing to temporary loss of form, and Rushby was not invited. The omission of the last-named naturally occasioned considerable comment, especially as in the former match between the two sides he had taken eleven wickets for 88 runs. His inclusion in the team instead of Hitch or Kirk would have strengthened the side, and would perhaps have enabled the County to defeat the tourists for the second time. At one time on Saturday, when the Australians were still six runs behind with two wickets down in their second innings, a definite result appeared to be just possible, but with Ransford and Armstrong together the chance of the County forcing a win gradually lessened. When the match finished the position appeared to favour Surrey to no small extent, but it would not be wise to attach too much importance to the fact. Two innings played in the match were especially fine efforts. I refer to Hay­ ward’s 80 and Noble’s 65 not out. The former, considering that he was handi­ capped with a weak knee, played a really great game, whilst the Australian captain, who made his runs at a very critical time, showed himself possessed of more strokes on a wet wicket than certain critics are willing to credit him with. It was due to a very great extent to Noble that the side made as many as 180, for the total was only 66 when the sixth wicket fell. The position was one which called for a player of great ability, nerve to face a crisis, and sound judgment. Noble had faced such a situation successfully more than once, and he did everything required of him in last weed’s match. N o t less meritorious than the batting of the players named, however, was the bowling of Smith. The Australians lost sixteen wickets in the match and he obtained twelve of them for 124 runs. In addition, he played a most useful innings of 39 and should therefore have very pleasant recollections of the game. He was born at Oxford on October 4th, 1877, and joined the ground-staff at the Oval in 1901. He came into note owing to his doings with London County, and in 1900 played his first match for Surrey, for whom he was qualified by residence. His bowling figures for the County have been as follows:— Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. 1900 ........... ...........146-2 32 385 16 24-06 1901........... ........... 283*1 90 728 33 22 06 1902 ........... ........... 205*5 54 558 28 19-92 1903 ........... ...........112-5 17 377 15 2513 1904........... ...........400 102 1146 64 17-90 1905 ........... ........... 379-5 82 998 59 16-91 1906 .......... .......... 212-2 39 728 20 36-40 1907 ........... ........... 322-3 85 888 52 17 07 1908 ........... ...........374 107 895 57 15-70 1909f........... .......... 287-3 77 590 61 9-67 t To July ISth. He has frequently made very useful scores in quick time, his greatest feat being to make 201 in 130 minutes for Surrey 2nd XI. against Buckinghamshire at Reigate in August last. He hit a 7 and twenty-eight 4’s and in partnership with Harrison (121) put on 274 in 105 minutes for the seventh wicket. C r ic k e t is ever furnishing coincidences, but it would be difficult to recall anything quite so remarkable as the fact that in each of the two matches at the Oval in which Smith has bowled for Surrey against the Australians he has taken exactly the same number of wickets— twelve—for the same number of runs— 124. Thus in the return match of 1905 he took six wickets for 27 runs in the first innings and six for 97, or twelve for 124, while in the return match left drawn last Saturday he took seven for 70 in the first innings and five for 54 in the second, or in all twelve for 124. T w e n t y - t w o matches have now been played between the Australians and Surrey, with the result that the former have won ten and the latter six. The remaining half-dozen were unfinished. S h o r t l y after four o’clock on Saturday afternoon it appeared as though the game at the Oval might be interrupted by two balloons from Hurlingham which for some moments seemed likely to settle on the playing pitch. Bags o f sand were frantically thrown out and some of the spectators were deluged with their con­ tents. Both balloons managed to clear the ground, but the guide-rope of one swung within a couple of yards of the people on the ring side. The incident did not occasion an interruption in the game. It may not be considered out of H. GRADIDGE A n d S O N S , Manufacturers Used by all the Leading Players. Made In Men’s, Small Men'a, or CeUefe, 6, 5, 1, * 8 sizes. P r i c e L i s t s F r e e o n A p p l i c a t i o n . 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