Cricket 1909

A u g u s t 5, 1909. CR ICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 3 i 3 by A . P . D a y and some very effective bow ling by W oolley. T h e former, w ith more opportunities, w ould probably make a name for him self as an E n g la n d player, for he possesses the ab ility to score w ell against all kin d s o f bow ling and on all kinds o f wickets. Furtherm ore, he scores at a good rate— his 177 runs against Essex were obtained in less than three hours and a-quarter— and, possessing m any fine strokes, is always w ell worth w'atch- ing. U n lik e his elder brother, who was born in Surrey, he is a K e n t m an by birth, and even now is in only his twenty- fifth year. M a n y w ill recall that in his first year o f C ounty cricket, 1905 to wit, he made 1149 runs w ith an average of 32-82. T h e funeral of the late M r. W . N ich o l­ son took place at H o ly T rin ity Church, near A lto n , on Th u rsday last. A t one tim e on Saturday it appeared probable that Sussex w ould gain their first success at the O val since 1896, Surrey having to strain every nerve in order to evade defeat. T h a t they managed to effect a draw was largely due to the batting of Platt, who showed fine nerve and judgm ent at the most critical tim e and. carried out h is bat for 19. Th e player named was accorded a well-deserved ovation upon the con­ clusion of the game, for it was clearly his clever tactics w h ich saved the side. Platt was born at R ichm on d twenty- seven years ago, and was playing w ith the Claygate C lu b when he came to the notice of the Surrey authorities. T h is is his eighth season as a member of the Oval ground-staff, and the fourth in w hich he has been given a trial in the C ounty Eleven. The great feat o f his career was performed in the match at Dorchester between Surrey 2nd X I . and Dorset last year, w hen he scored 79 and 44 not out and took all ten wickets in an innings for 15 runs. C. A . S m ith , the captain of Bedford H ouse School, W addon, Surrey, has taken 52 w ickets during the season for 101 runs. H e also has a batting average o f 14. F r o m the F i e l d :— “ It has been settled by the Imperial Cricket Conference that matches between representative elevens of England, Aus­ tralia, and South Africa shall be played so as to recur in a regular order in cycles of four years, no team being required to go abroad in two successive seasons. The nor­ mal cycle is, however, to be interrupted in the summer of 1912, when the triangular contest w ill be held in England, and in view of this there is to be no South African visit to England in 1911 or Australian visit in 1913. Unless some unexpected development takes place it is to be feared that the lavish display of Test match cricket to be afforded by the new scheme w ill both produce satiety in the public and tend to augment the already strong tendency towards the pro­ fessionalising of the game. By the new qualification rules a cricketer w ill be eligible to represent the country of his birth or the country in which he has resided for the four years immediately preceding a Test match, but only with the governing condition that, having once played, he may not represent another country *without the consent of each of the contracting parties.’ The quoted clause, if it ever comes into play, may cause trouble, irrespective of the fact that it does not define whether the consent of all or two out of three countries is necessary. In the triangular contest each of the three repre­ sentative teams will plav six Test matches, i.e ., three with each of the others.” D e . L y t t e l t o n S t e w a r t F o r b e s W i n s lo w — it is necessary to be exact, for there are at least three members o f the Forbes W in slow fam ily in the m edical profession, and tw o o f them members at L o rd ’s— has subm itted the follow ing reso­ lu tio n to the Comm ittee o f the M .C .C . for their consideration :— “ That when a side has declared, the side that is put in shall finish their innings. In the event of their score being in excess of the side declaring, then the other side shall be empowered to continue their innings.” D r. Forbes W in slow points out that the resolution, if passed, w ould “ ensure that the best side wins, w hich m ight be the opposite under the present existing state of affairs.” B u t that would, in itself, be an excellent reason for its rejection. I f the law s are to be altered so that the success of the stronger side is “ ensured,” one of the greatest charms of the game— its “ glorious uncertainty ” — would be lo s t ; there w ould be considerably less interest in cricket if the chances o f an adm ittedly weak side against powerful opponents were lessened. Furtherm ore, the resolu­ tion w ould enable a captain to declare his innings closed when the w icket became sticky w ith the certainty of resum ing it at a tim e when it w ould not be worse. M r. J, B. W o s t in h o lm , for nearly forty years secretary of the Y orksh ire County C.C., who died in A p ril last aged 73 years, left estate o f the gross value o f .£54,822 5s. 9d. T h e W arw icksh ire County C.C. C om ­ m ittee have decided to accord W . G. Quaife a benefit next season. H e was born at Newhaven, in Sussex, on M arch 17th, 1872, and played in one m atch for his native county in 1891. T w o years later he became qualified for W a rw ic k ­ shire, and has played for that county ever since. It is w orthy o f note that he made a hundred on his first appearance for the side. I t is welcome news that the m atch between H am pshire and Y o rksh ire w ill be revived next season, after being in abeyance for two years. It w ould be even better to hear that K e n t and N otts had decided to let bygones be bygones, especially as supporters o f both counties are anxious that the sides should meet again. S t a f f - S u r g . R. H . M o r n e m e n t played a b rillian t not-out innings o f 188 for U n ited Services v. Inco g n iti at P o rts­ mouth on Saturday. So accomplished a cricketer deserves to be seen more frequently in the great matches o f the day. I f m y m em ory does not deceive me, he possesses a qualification for H am pshire. T h e follow ing players w ill represent the G entlem en o f Ireland in the fo rth ­ com ing tour in Am erica ;— J. G. Aston (Clontarf), F . H. Browning (Phoenix), W . L. Coffey (Pembroke), B. Ham ilton (Phcenix), G. W. F. Kelly (Phcenix), R. H. Lambert (Leinster), T. 1). Lambert (Leinster), G. J. Meldon (Dublin University), L. A. Meldon (Leinster). W. H. Meldon (Co. Wicklow), W . Mooney (Phoenix), W. H. Napper (Dublin University). W. Pollock (Hollywood), and T. C. Ross (Phoenix). A t a meeting of the Lancashire County C.C. Comm ittee on Saturday, under the presidency of M r. 0. P. Lancashire, it was decided unanim ously “ T h a t the M a ry le ­ bone C ricket C lub be cordially supported in their endeavour to obtain exemption for cricket and recreation grounds from the operations o f the proposed Fin an ce A ct,” and the Secretary, M r. T. J. Matthew s, was authorised to circularise the lo cal clubs in the county w ith a view to their forw arding to L o rd ’s w-ithout delay a copy of a sim ilar resolution. O n e who is very interested in Surrey cricket k in d ly w rites to me :— “ It m ay interest you to know that in the Sutton “ W eek ” w h ich concluded on Saturday, A. N . Jew e ll made three consecutive hundreds,’ viz. :— July 28.—v. Hampstead .......... 141 ,, 29.— y . Butterflies .......... 144 ,, 31.—v. Forest Hill ..........132 E a rlie r in the week he had scored 4 and 19 v. Surrey Club and G round and 10 not out v. Banstead, m aking in all 450 runs in five completed innings— an average of 90.” Since the above note was penned Jew e ll has scored 154 for Surrey 2nd X I. v. Berkshire, at Reading, thereby credit­ ing h im self w ith h is fourth successive hundred. In this connection one m ay recall that in 1889 D r. C. A . S. Leggatt made five centuries running for E w e ll, scoring 153 v. Thespians, 152 v. Cheam , 188 v. Beddington, 112 v. Epsom , and 109 v. H ersham . W h i l s t D ucat was batting at the Oval on Tuesday m orn in g he h it a ball w ith great force to square-leg, where Mason, the umpire, was standing. M ason en­ deavoured to dodge the ball, but was not successful, as he received it fu ll in the m iddle of his back. N o th in g m ore was thought of the incident u n til during lunch time, when the um pire com plained of being in pain. H e afterwards went into the field, but retired from the game when Notts had one w icket down in their second innings for 60. T . G . G r i n t e r , who has been drafted into the Essex team this season w ith such success, has scored 1,623 runs for Essex C lu b and ground in sixteen completed