Cricket 1909

S e p t . 2, 1909. CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 379 him out— a fault common to m any fast bowlers— M r. Brearley m ight w ell serve as the m odel o f a fast bowler, who, in spite of recent decisions to the contrary, is indispensable to the strongest eleven in fine weather and on a good wicket.” T h is year the M in o r Counties’ C ham ­ pionship has been won by W iltsh ire, who have thereby repeated their success of 1902. W h ils t congratulating them on their success one must also sympathize w ith Glam organ, who, for the th ird year in succession, have reached the F in a l w ith ­ out carrying off the honours. The list of winners o f the Cham pionship is appended: Year. Won by Second place. 1901 .... Durham .................. Surrey 2nd XI. 1902 .. W iltshire.................. Surrey 2nd XI. 1903 .. . Northamptonshire.. Durham. 1904 .. . Northamptonshire.. Wiltshire. 1905 .. Norfolk .................. Monmouth. 1906 .. Staffordshire .......... Devon. 1907 ..„ Lancashire 2nd XI. Glamorgan. 1908 .. Staffordshire .......... Glamorgan. 1909 .. W iltshire.................. Glamorgan. I t was in 1901 that the Com petition re­ ceived the official recognition of the M .C .C . M o r e than passing reference deserves to be made to the success w ith w hich Rhodes has recently met as a batsman. In the abandoned m atch w ith K e n t at Dover he made 58, against Essex at Leyton 27 and 35 (in addition to taking nine w ickets for 56), and in this week’s came at B rig h to n w ith Sussex 199 and 84. In the last-mentioned match he was -playing so w ell just before he got out in his first innings that it appeared certain that he w ould complete his second hundred. B u t a ball from Robert R e lf brought about his retirement when he was “ one short.” H is 201 against Somerset at Taunton in 1905 therefore still ranks as his highest innings. A v a l u e d correspondent w rites :— “ I noticed a peculiar circum stance last week and wonder if you did. A spectator m ight have watched the Gloucester- Middlesex and Kent-Leicester matches, both, through from beginning to end. I have no means handy of ascertaining whether such an opportunity has ever occurred before in connection w ith two first-class matches set for simultaneous decision.” H e adds “ The stop-press portion of an evening paper comm only affords amusement o f the variety that solving acrostics, &c., provides,” and forwards the fo llo w in g :— Middlesex 159—2 Warner nt 68 Tarrant nt 11 Gloster 109—4 Langdon nt 62 Tarrant nt 20 Worcester 79—4 Parson 25 H. Foster 7 H e remarks : “ In that enclosed, apart from deciphering blurs, one had the fun of calculating w hich was the real T arra n t’s score, w ho was the other Tarrant and what the Parson had to do w ith it all. N ot a bad exercise for a budding Sherlock H olm es.” I t has happened not seldom that when bad weather has been experienced during the greater part of a season September has proved a m onth of cloudless skies. But, if one m ay judge from yesterday’s conditions, there is to be a continuance of the rain w hich has been so undesirable and prom inent a feature o f this summer. The Australians’ return m atch w ith the M .C .C . had been looked forward to w ith the greatest interest, but was so seriously interfered w ith that the decision to abandon play was come to at 3.45 p.m. yesterday. Despite a first-w icket stand of 157 in their second innings the M .C .C . were still £9 runs behind w ith nine wickets in hand when the game was given up. The honours o f the m atch clearly rested w ith Ransford, w ho scored 190 and thereby exceeded his opponent’s firsf- innings total off his own bat. H e gave more than one chance, but his innings should rank deservedly high taking the occasion and the bow ling w ith w h ich he had to contend into consideration. R e s u l t s of matches between M .C .C . and the Australians 1878 Lord’s, Australians won by nine wickets. 1882 Lord’s, drawn. 1884 Lord’s, M.C.C. won by innings and 15 runs. 1888 Lord’s, Australians won by 14 runs, ison J Lord’s, M.C.C. won by seven wickets. ' 1Lord’s, M.C.C. won by four wickets. 1SQo f Lord’s, drawn. I Lord’s, M.C.C. won by seven wickets, isofi/ Lord’s, M.C.C. won by innings and 18 runs. \ Lord’s, drawn. ' Lord’s, Australians won by eight wickets. I Lord’s, Australians won by nine wickets. 1902 i Lord’s, drawn. i Lord’s, Australians won by inns, and 34 runs. 1905 Lord’s, drawn. mnn I Lord’s, M.C.C. won by three wickets. 1JUJ t Lord’s, drawn. The fixture arranged for 1886 was abandoned ow ing to rain. Seventeen matches have been played, the M .C .C . w in n in g 6 and the A ustralians 5. C o n s id e r a b le comment has been oc­ casioned in some quarters by the action o f the M .C .C . in retaining the services of R e lf (A. E.), Llew ellyn , Fielder, and Tarra nt for their game w ith the A u s ­ tralians this week w hilst the counties to w hich those players belong were taking part in championship matches. B u t the objections w hich have been raised to the action of the Club must be due either to unreasonableness or ignorance o f the fact that the M . C . C . has always the first right o f call upon the services of a player engaged on the ground-staff at L o rd ’s. Furtherm ore, that rig h t is so seldom exercised that no county has reason to complain. A t the end of last week Vogler, the South A frican, scored a century and took all ten wickets for 41 runs in an innings for W oodbrooke v. C ounty G alw ay. F o r the match his analysis was sixteen for 113. W . W . Trellon played for G alw ay in the same match, and, strangely enough, he also accomplished the feat o f taking all ten wickets in the first innings o f W o o d ­ brooke, w hich realised 300. M r . J. N. C r a w f o r d has forwarded us a copy o f the correspondence w hich passed between h im self on the one hand and L o rd Alverstone and M r. Leveson- Gower on the other w ith reference to liis decision not to captain the Surrey team in the return match w ith the Australians. A s the letters contain m uch that is obviously o f a private nature, we do not see that any good purpose could be served by their publication. E N T E R IN G T H E PADDOCK. [Concluded from page 347.] Nineteen-nine over, from the finish’d course Mason leads in the rollicking W hite H orse; — Jockey who well as anyone can ride him, The greatest, p’rhaps, who ever sat astride him ;— And all the ring, not Kent nor South alone, Now chcers him for a victory well won. For all confess he's run a handsome race, W ithout a taint of craft to shed disgrace. So take your hats off, boys, and join th’ acclnim That, through the victor, honours more the game! As for the other gee-gees— well, next season, They’ll all be first as well, or know the reason. H. P.-T. WILTSHIRE v. SURREY 2 nd XI. Played at Chippenham on August 16 and 17 and left drawn. Score and analysis S u r r e y 2n d XI. First innings. Second innings. H. B. Brooker, b Newman 57 not out ......... 0 Vigar, c Nicholson, b Miller 62 runout ......... 0 C. T. A. Wilkinson, b Mit­ chell ..................................11 not out ......... 6 Harrison, lbw, b Mitchell... 1 J. E. Jewell, c Grant, b Newman .......................... 24 Spring, b Newman ........... 3 J.P. F. Campbell, c Fawcett, b M itchell..........................18 Platt, b Newman..................47 c Davenport, b M itchell...........11 Blacklidge, b Newman ... 1 A.W. F. Rutty, notout ...19 Edwards, b M itchell.............. 1 B 16, lb 2 ...........18 B 5, w 1 ... 6 Total ..................262 Total (2 wkts) 23 W iltshire . First innings. Second innings. C. S. Awdry, c Platt, b Harrison ............................. 5 b Harrison .. 6 S. R. Nicholson c Vigar, b Platt ..................................42 b Platt ...........15 H. Taunton, bPlatt ... ... 1 b Platt................... 3 G. C. Davenport, c Platt, b c Blacklidge, b W ilkinson..............................16 Harrison..... 0 R. W. Awdry, b Wilkinson 22 c Campbell, b Edwards....57 Newman, c Jewell, b Wil­ kinson.................................. 4 b Platt................... 76 A. M. Miller, b Platt..........12 c Rutty, b Platt .. 17 E. S. Grant, c Vigar, b Platt 15 cHarrison.b Platt 5 E. Fawcett, runo u t ........... 6 b Platt................... 1 Smith, not out ......................10 c Jewell, b Platt 10 Mitchell, c Platt, b Black­ lidge .................................. 0 not out ........... 4 B10, l b l ...• ...1 1 B10,lbl,w2,nbl 14 Total .................... 144 Total...208 S urrey 2 nd XI. First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Mitchell......... .2 5 6 81 4 ... ... 3 1 10 1 Newmau . 23 5 81 5 .. Smith ......... . 6 2 19 0 ... ... 4 1 7 0 Grant .......... . 8 1 41 0 ... Miller .......... . 3 0 22 1 ... Smith bowled one wide. W iltsh ir e . O. M. R. W. O. M. R. w. First innings. Second innings. Platt .......... .2 0 3 63 4 ... ... 24 6 65 7 Harrison . 7 2 22 1 ... ... 14 3 43 2 Wilkinson .. .1 2 1 38 3 ... ... 7 0 21 0 Blacklidge . . 2 1 10 1 ... ... 5 1 19 0 Edwards ... ... 6 0 31 1 Spring ... 4 0 15 0 Platt and Wilkinson each bowled one no-ball and Harrison two wides.