Cricket 1909

F eb . 25, 1909. CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 27 1906-7.—New South Wales. 1907-8.—Victoria. 1908-9.—New South Wales. It will be seen that premier honours have been gained by New South Wales ten times, by Victoria five, and by South Australia once. P rior to last month Queensland had never beaten New South Wales in Sydney. Then they won by two wickets. J. S. H utcheon , whose innings of 259 not out for Brisbane v. Richmond River was duly chronicled in the January issue of Cricket, scored 145 for Toowong against South Brisbane at West End on December 19th. Of the first hundred runs made by his side his share was 84. In Brisbane on January 9th he con­ tributed 177 not out to the total of 261 made by Toowong v. Woolloongabba. H e hit seven 6’s and twenty-one 4's, offered no chance, and carried his bat through the innings. I s a match at Hobart on December 26th and 28th New South Wales Teachers (513) beat Tasmanian Teachers (144 and 68) by an innings and 301 runs. F. McMullen scored 145 for the successful side. The Weekly Press records that on December 12th, during a match in Nelson between Dovedale and Moutere on the latter’s ground, a collision occurred between two players, Hall and Eban. Eban became unconscious, but after­ wards so far recovered as to be able to walk part of the way to his hotel, about half a mile distant. Soon after reaching the hotel he again relapsed into uncon­ sciousness, and expired about two o’clock on Sunday morning from concussion of the brain. It is believed that an artery of his heart was also injured. Hall was in a stooping position owing to the sun’s rays in his eyes, and Eban first struck his shoulder and immediately after their heads clashed together. Deceased was about twenty-three, and was shortly to be married. His fiancee was at the match and witnessed the accident. I t will be recalled that on February 3rd, 1908, the M.C.C. Committee passed the following rule, which had been recom ­ mended the previous week by the Ad­ visory Committee of the Counties : - “ A cricketer may not play for more than one county within the calendar year. The penalty for infringement of this rule to be disqualification for two years. A British colony, dependency, or state shall for the purposes of this rule be regarded as a county.” Upon the law coming into existence the Middlesex County C.C. cabled to Tarrant, stating that he would run great risk of disqualification if he continued to play first-class cricket in Australia, and for this reason he did not play again for Victoria. These facts were recalled to me by seeing that A. E. Relf and Humphreys have recently been playing in interprovincial matches in New Zealand, the former for Auckland and the latter for Canterbury. I f the law forbids Tarrant to appear for. Victoria, his place of birth, it surely should not countenance the other players assisting sides in representative matches in New Zealand for which their qualifica­ tion is of the slightest. A ruling on the point by the M.C.C. would be welcomed. A. E. R elf recently scored 135 not out for Eden Colts against Eden. Do cricketers in New Zealand take their pleasures sadly ? Judging from the following, which appeared in The Weekly Press (9/12/1908) o f Christchurch, they do n o t:—■ “ Wednesday, the 16th, should be a red letter day for cricketers in Christchurch, for on that day the long-talked-of floral fete will be held at Lancaster Park. The programme is a most comprehensive one, embracing almost every conceivable competition in floral decorative work. Among the items worthy of special mention are the ladies’ four-in-hand, motor cars, menagerie race, and the human poster. There will also be a fancy costume cricket match, the characters being Chinamen, Dutchmen, jockeys, hard- ups, grandmothers, and Japanese. On the whole the programme is a most attractive one, and it only remains for cricketers to do their share. They should not only all go themselves, but they should see that their friends and their friends’ friends attend the big show on the 16th.” And again:— “ One of the St. John Ambulance lady canvassers showed considerable pluck and enterprise at Hagley Park on Saturday, for she invaded the pitch while play was going on. I do not think she had as much luck as her pluck deserved, for the players had the good excuse that they didn’t carry their millions in their flannels. However, she made the umpire “ stump up,” at which a general laugh went round. Tim Raphael reckoned she would be worth her weight in gold as canvasser for the Cricketers’ Floral Fete.” T he Wellington Cricket Council has declined the offer of the Australian Cricket Board of Control to send a second Australian eleven to New Zealand, as owing to the lateness of the season the tour would not be a financial success. The Council asked on what terms the Australian Eleven could visit the Dominion on their return from England. T he Pioneer of Allahabad understands that by way of sustaining interest in cricket in the United Provices, which has rather languished among the European community of late years, it is proposed to hold a Tournament at Naini Tal during the summer, open to all European teams and clubs in the provinces. The idea has been taken up by Messrs. Perry and Co., jewellers, who are presenting a Challenge Shield, and Sir John Hewett, by giving permission that the trophy shall be called “ The Hewett Challenge Shield,” has signified his sympathy with the movement, D uring the present month a Phila­ delphian team has been playing a series of matches in Jamaica. The side con­ sisted of J. H. Mason (capt.), P. N. Le Roy, Capt. J. J. MacDonogh, Edward Norris and H. P. Wright of the Phila­ delphia C.C. ; H. V. Hordern of Penn­ sylvania University and Belmont; C. H. Winter o f Frankford ; R. L. Pearson, W . P. O’Neill and W . P. Newhall of Germantown; H . G. Pearce and S. W . Mifflin of M erion; and J. R. Conyers of Bermuda and Merion. No full scores have yet reached England, but it is known that the team beat All Jamaica by 172 runs. ---------- W est I ndian cricketers, by-the-way, are hoping to receive a visit from an English team in the spring of 1910. I am given to understand that oppor­ tunity was taken o f the presence of Captain Wynyard in Barbados to settle the question. Delegates were appointed by British Guiana and Trinidad to discuss the matter with Captain Wynyard and the Barbados representatives during the Inter-Colonial Cricket Tournament. The team will play in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and British Guiana, it having been decided not to include the smaller islands. The next Inter-Colonial Tourna­ ment, which ordinarily would have taken place in Trinidad next year, will be post­ poned until 1911. On another page will be found the score of a match between Johannesburg and Rest o f Transvaal. “ E .J.L P.,” the able critic of The Transvaal Leader, remarks:—1 . “ It was essentially Faulkner’s match, fie made 100 not out in the second innings without giving the vestige of a chance, and in the match he scored 140 for once out and took seventeen wickets for 130 runs, besides having all the cares of captaincy on his shoulders. His feat of scoring 100 out of 150 in a little over an hour and a-balf with fifteen men in the field, after bowling un­ changed for two hours, is a wonderful one, and stamps him as the best all-round cricketer in South Africa to-day. The fielding of the visiting team was splendid, and they tried for everything.” I t had been decided that, in the event of the match not being finished on the Saturday, play should be continued on the Sunday. “ This,” writes “ E .J .L .P .” “ had it been necessary, would have deprived the visiting team of several members, who objected to play Sunday cricket, and I do not think, even in the interests of cricket, that such procedure was desirable. The parents of many of the lads in the country are more strict in their observance of the Sabbath day than we are here, and naturally object strongly to what they deem its desecra­ tion. There every youth has opportunity for recreation during the week, and he more or less lives an open-air life ; whilst here a very large proportion find in Sunday their only day of recreation. If our friends in the country have religious scruples about playing on Sunday, we must respect those scruples, and thus it were better to leave the match a draw than to offend them ; for, above all, we desire their co-operation in fostering our sport.”