Cricket 1909

34 6 CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g u s t 19, 1909. old gentleman, w ho was um piring, insist upon standing on the off-side ow ing to the reputation an in - com ing player possessed as a leg-hitter. T h e conse­ quence was that a little later the veteran found h im self unable to get out o f the w ay of a rousing cut made by the other bats­ man, and had to be assisted off the field. K e n n e t h H u t c h in g s deservedly enjoys the reputation of being one of the finest fieldsm en in the w orld, but on Saturday he m ust have felt that he could not pos­ sibly do anything right. H e m issed L e w is (201 not out) w hen 128, B ra un d (08) when 27, and K o b so n (26) when 8. As the last-named stayed w ith L ew is w h ilst 70 were added for the seventh w icket the blunder in his case proved more serious than one w ould at first im agine. B u t H u tch in g s is not the player to be disheartened b y such an experience, for doubtless m any friends have explained to h im long ere these lines appear that such things are bound to happen occasionally to every cricketer. I n proposing “ Success to the Selby G o lf C lub ” at the opening of the new lin ks last Saturday, the H o n . F . S. Ja c k ­ son said that g o lf was a game w h ich all ages could play and enjoy. There was supposed to be a lim it for cricket, but reading the newspaper o f to-day one was in clin ed to w onder w hether there was any age lim it in regard to Test-matches. W o r c e s t e r s h i r e have recently ex­ perienced the “ glorious uncertainty ” o f the game, for, after defeating two of the strongest counties in Y o rksh ire and Lancashire away from home, they succumbed on th eir own ground to H am p sh ire by 173 runs, after their opponents had declared their second innings closed w ith only h a lf their w ickets down. Th e b ow ling of B row n and M c D o n e ll and the batting of Stone, Sprot and Capt. W h ite contributed chiefly to th eir downfall. I n this connection it m ay be pointed out as a genuine curiosity that each o f the batsmen mentioned had obtained a pair o f spectacles on his previous appearance for the County— Capt. W h ite against K e n t and Sprot and Stone in the m atch w ith Northants at Southampton. In the game w ith W orcestershire Stone scored 78 and 109, Capt. W h ite 59 and 70, and Sprot 138 and 12. M cD o n ell, the old Cantab, did a really fine piece o f w ork on Saturday in taking six wickets on a perfect pitch against such a run-getting side at a cost o f 19 runs each. I t m ay be recalled that for Surrey against Gloucestershire at C heltenham five years ago he and—- I almost wrote “ the late ” -— J. N . C raw ford bow led unchanged through­ out the match, the combined ages of the two “ m e n ” being only 38 years. I n the twelve a-side m atch between W estern and B irken h ead P a rk on August 7tli, K . D . R . M o rrice obtained a ll eleven w ickets o f the form er in an innings at a cost of but 17 runs in a total o f 47. N in e o f the wickets were bow led down and two caught. I t was a m atter for regret that F . H . Batem an C ham pain was unable to take part in the Cheltenham Festival, for at h is best he is one o f the finest amateur batsmen in the country and his appearances in first-class cricket are all too infrequent. Com pensation for his absence, however, was found in the presence o f Charles Townsend, whose cricket is nowadays unfortunately restricted to club-matches in Durham . O w in g to the claim s of business m any amateurs have found themselves unable to play for Gloucestershire as frequently as they w ould w ish, and in no instance has this been more noticeable than in the case o f Townsend. I t is sixteen years since, as a schoolboy o f 17, he played his first m atch for the county. In h is two first seasons, w ith o u t doing anything very startling, he showed there was cricket in him , and in 1895 he bowled so successfully in m atch after match that his record for the year showed 131 wickets at a cost of something over 13 runs each. I n more than one more recent season he has taken over a hundred wickets, but 1895 ranks as h is great year as a bowler. T h e more he played in first-class cricket the more did his batting powers develop, u n til in 1899 he scored 2,440 runs w ith an average o f 51. H a d he been able to devote all his tim e to the game, the h istory o f Gloucestershire cricket during the past decade w ould probably have been very different. H is innings against the A ustralians this week, though not faultless, was an excellent d is p la y : he scored his 329 in a couple o f hours, and w h ilst he was in only 40 other runs were made. B e s u l t of matches between Gloucester­ shire and the Australians :—- 1878...Clifton, Australia won by ten wickets. 1880... „ ,, ,, 68 runs. ■.009 J >, „ ,, innings and 159. I ,, drawn. 18841 >> drawn. j Cheltenham, Australia won by innings and 136. 1886 J Clifton, drawn. t Cheltenham, Australia won by 26 runs. i CCQ f Clifton, Gloucestershire won by 257 runs. ' 1 ,, ,, „ eight wickets. ,oqn j Bristol, Drawn. | Cheltenham, Australia won by eight wickets. 1893 1 drawn. I Cheltenham, Australia won by eight wickets. , j Bristol, ,, ,, innings and 91. ( Cheltenham, ,, ,, innings and 54. , 800 j Bristol, ,, ,, six wickets. t Cheltenham, drawn. 1902 I Bristol* Australia won by an innings and 222. j Cheltenham, Australia won by innings and 10. , or.r f Bristol, drawn. 0 ( Cheltenham, drawn. ion(i J Bristol, Australia won by innings and 5. t Cheltenham, drawn. O f the 24 matches played the A ustralians have won 13 and Gloucestershire 2. The rem aining 9 have been drawn. T h e follow ing m atch-list has been arranged for the B elgian team now in this c o u n try :— August 14—v. Walthamstow. ,, 16—v. Mortlake. ,, 17—v. Pinner. ,, t l8 -v . Uxbridge. „ 20—v. West Kent Wanderers. ,, 21—v. Ivor C.C. t Two*days match. Am on g those from whom the teams w ill be chosen are G. A lp en (captain), W . W helan, G. W helan, W . Seeldrayers, O. Lom baert, A . G. Slater, T. H eaton, K id- stone, J. Peschier, and K . Brotherton. J. B . M a s o n has shown during the last fortnight the extent to w h ich the K e n t team is handicapped by his in a b ility to assist the side regularly. D u rin g the period m entioned he has played the fo llow ­ ing innings in succession :— 67 Kent v. Hampshire, at Canterbury. 179* Kent v. Sussex, at Brighton. I ll Kent v. Somerset, at Taunton. 152* Kent v. Surrey, at the Oval. * Signifies not out. F iv e years ago, also, he made three con­ secutive hundreds, sco rin g :— 138 Kent v. Yorkshire, at Tunbridge Wells. 126 Kent v. Somerset, at Beckenham. 123 Kent v. Essex, at Canterbury. It w ill be noticed that, whereas all the three-figure innings were in each year made for h is county, they were played on K e n t grounds in 1904 and aw ay from home this year. T. B o b e r t s , playing for L ittle H eath and Goodmayes v. Beacontree Heath, on T hursday last, took five w ickets in six balls. H e clean bowled four m en w ith successive deliveries. I n the course o f this week’s match between Y orksh ire and Middlesex, H irs t obtained his one hundredth w icket of the season; he had previously scored over a thousand runs. T h is is the tenth occasion on w h ich he has met w ith such pronounced all-round success during his remarkable career. H is earlier aggre­ gates o f runs and w ickets were as fo llo w s; Year. Runs. Wickets. 1896 ... ... 1,122 ... ... 104 1897 ... ... 1,535 ... ... 101 1901 ... ... 1,950 ..,, ... 183 1903 ... ... 1,844 ..., ... 128 1904 ... ... 2,501 ..., ... 132 1905 ... ... 2,266 ..., ... 110 1906 ... ... 2,385 ..., ... 208 1907 ... ... 1,884 ..., .. 188 1908 ... ... 1,598 ..., ... 174 Bhodes, like H irst, has also brought off the double event in each of the last seven seasons. F . G e e s o n , the L in co ln sh ire cricketer, has been engaged by the Transvaal C ricket U n io n to go out to South A frica on September 11th to coach schools under the superintendence o f the U nion. Th e engagement w ill be for six months, and it is expected that he w ill visit Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Potchef- stroom. A t Tren t B ridge on Tuesday Notts. 2nd X I. beat Cheshire by an innings and 15 runs, after declaring w ith only one w icket down for 283. Jam es scored 172, and A . W . Carr, a schoolboy, 102 (not out.) Jet. J jmmi ■> iJL M r . W . S. H a m ilt o n , of W innipeg, has forwarded me an account o f a local match in w hich the follow ing remarks o ccu r:— “ Counting a run for every minute, Ambition lived for twenty-six parts of an hour and then lapsed into comatose unconsciousness, while his sparring partner walloped him to death with seven casket lids for 135 runs and then carried the shattered remains to a seltzer spring for lubrication.”