Cricket 1909

394 CR ICK E T : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . g, 1909. a lly when facing H irs t w ith a new ball. One o f them s a id : “ I have played a good deal of first-class cricket, but I never im agined that a bow ler could make a new ball swerve so consistently as does H irs t.” T h is opinion coincides w ith that expressed some few years ago by 0. B . F ry . “ N o t O u t ” of the Sydney R e fe re e , after comm enting on the agreement arrived at between the N ew South W ales C ricket Association and the Sydney C ricket G round Trustees w ith respect to the forjner’s use of the ground, remarks : — “ The Association, now having an as­ sured annual income, m ay be expected to take steps to develop the game in the State that were not possible in other years owing to w ant of funds. One of the first moves should be the appoint­ m ent o f a coach for the younger cricketers, the big schools, and the younger members of the ground. A . C. Bannerm an only recently was retired from the G overn­ m ent P rin tin g Office ow ing to an old in ju ry to his leg, m aking it impossible to carry on his duties in winter, though it does not trouble h im in summer. A cricketer having the w ide experience and shrewd judgment, as w ell as the personal stability of A . C. Bannerm an, is not often available for the purposes o f coaching. H e is a m an w ho has done m uch to make A ustralia renowned in cricket, and now that he has left the Service, it w ould be a well-m erited rew ard i f he were appointed coach to the Association. There is plenty of scope for such a man.” getting performance on the part of J . H . Gordon, w ho appeared for Surrey occasionally a few years ago. P la y in g at P o rt W ashington against S .S . L u s it a n ia on August 17th he went in first and scored 108, and in partnership w ith E . Stevenson (102) put on 198 for the opening partnership. F ro m the same source I learn that W . Short took all ten wickets in an innings for 18 runs for Grace C hurch v. Parkdale at Toronto on August 2nd. A n o t h e r instance of a player securing all the wickets in an innings occurred in last Saturday’s m atch at B rom ley be­ tween E lth am and Brom ley. Pla y in g for the latter, L . S. W e lls had an analysis of ten for 65 in a total of 160 ; the hat-trick was included in the feat. O n Tuesday afternoon, at B risto l, the D uke of Beaufort handed a cheque for £'600 to D r. E . M . Grace, in recognition o f the services he rendered to G louces­ tershire cricket during the m any years he served the C ounty Club as secretary. In m aking the presentation, the D u ke ex­ pressed the hope that the doctor w ould live long and go on p layin g till the end o f his days. D r. Grace, in replying, recalled playing for X X I I . o f W est Gloucestershire against the A ll E n g la n d E leve n in 1855, when he was given out lbw . w hen the ball h it his breast-bone. H e also referred to the fact that he was a m em ber o f the only E n g lish side w h ich has ever toured A u stralia w ith o u t being defeated. less it could have been done, but the eleven would have been so weak that it would have been an insult to South Africa to send it out to meet them. So many of our best ama­ teurs who piny all the summer through have to work through the winter months that we had to fall back upon professionals, so as to get a team worthy of South African cricket, for the M.C.C. thoroughly realise what South African cricket is. “ As at present arranged we are to play sixteen matches in all, including five tests, which w ill be played at Cape Town, Johan­ nesburg and Durban. During the last tour we played many more matches, and the long distances we had to cover were rather a strain upon us. Still, I think that eleven ordinary matches w ill hardly give us sufficient practice on the matting wicket, and I have suggested that four more should be arranged. Our present fixtures do not take us to Pretoria, Potchefstroom, or Grahamstown, and I think that we might well play at those towns, particularly at Grahamstown, in view of the number of boys at the colleges there. “ We leave England probably on November 13th, and play our first matches at Cafe Town, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, and Jo­ hannesburg. We expect to get back about the middle of March.” T h e final m atch of the Bom bay C lu b ’s tour was against K ath iaw ar at Rajkote on August 73th and 14th. G. N . Foster made 92, the Jam Sahib of N aw anagar (Banjitsinhji) 76, and H . L . Simm s 41 for K athiaw ar, w ho w on by an innings and 10 runs. Simm s also took ten wickets. Th e score o f the match, w h ich was played on cocoanut m atting, w ill be found on page 386. T en o f the K a th iaw a r players had topped the century earlier in the season. T h e feature of the game was the partnership of 162 by R a n jitsin h ji and Foster. T h ey came together upon Cheet- h am ’s dism issal at 30. T h e B o m b a y G a z e tte says :— “ H . H . the Jam Sahio now joined .Foster and the p air gave a splendid display o f h ittin g once they had placed themselves. E v e ry bow ler was treated alike and the score mounted very rapidly. O f the pair Fo ster scored the faster. A t this point Sanderson went on and bowled rem arkably well. A single off his first over was follow ed by a good catch by Reid, dism issing Fo ster who had played a fine innings w h ich was greeted w ith great applause. It should be m entioned that he received two lives in the first over. H e got one from P h illip s before he had scored. Th e very next over from Sanderson had the Jam Sahib out, caught also by R eid. H is score o f 76 was a m asterly display and quite w o rthy o f the batsman. T w o for 192 and three for 196.” L a te r in the innings Simms, in scoring 41, made 24 (four 4’s, a 6 and a 2) off an over bow led by Sanderson. A local account says that he “ gave a most exhilarating display o f the firew orks type o f batting, w h ich received tremendous applause.” O n e of the new m en in the Au stralian team w ritin g home told am usingly o f the fear and trem bling w ith w h ich the open­ ing batsmen went to the wickets, especi­ T h e Singapore F r e e P re s s states that the Singapore C ricket Club are negotiating w ith some members o f the Australian E lev e n w ith the object of in d u cin g them on the return voyage to go on to Singapore from Colombo and play a m atch there. A copy o f the fifth edition o f A n th on y H o rd e rn ’s W o r ld ’s C ric k e t R e c o rd , com ­ piled by M r. F . J. Ironside, senr., has reached me from Sydney. Th e pu blica­ tion is, unfortunately, of little value for reference, several o f the performances recorded being given either in an in ­ accurate or an incomplete form . The notorious U lste r v. M acquarie game, in w h ich the form er side is supposed to have made 1,238 runs in an innings, is again trotted out, w ith this illum in a tin g rem ark appended as a foot-note :— “ T h is has been questioned, but from personal knowledge of the com piler (F. J. Ironside), having handled the o rig in al scoring sheet, must be accepted as correct. Occupied four half-days, and w ith surrounding circum ­ stances, a steep quarry on the out-field. n oth in g really remarkable.” T h e “ must be accepted ” is quite Gilbertian. O n M onday evening M r. Jo h n B am ­ ford, upon whose ground at U ttoxeter the A ustralians met A n E n g lis h X I . this week, entertained the teams at dinner at Oldfields H a ll. A ball afterwards took place. M e . F . F . K e l l y , of N ew Y ork, draw s m y attention to a good run- T h e story o f a boys’ burglary club was told at W est H a m last Thursday, when tw o schoolboys were charged w ith break­ in g in to a shop and stealing an ink-stand, four pens and six pencils. T h e ir defence was that they started a cricket club, but, not having sufficient funds to carry it on, formed it in to a burglary club. One of the youths was the captain of six m em ­ bers, but two resigned. E a ch o f the boys charged was sentenced to receive three strokes o f the birch. A v e r y deserving in stitution is the Lo n d o n P la y in g F ie ld s Society, w hich was formed some years ago for the p u r­ pose o f securing open spaces in the M etropolitan area as permanent recrea­ tion grounds for the people. Its officers are now appealing to sportsmen to send them old cricket-balls and other dis­ carded sporting equipments for d istribu­ tion among school children. I am sure that several G o ssip readers w ill respond to this appeal. T h ey should com m uni­ cate w ith the secretary, 14, Launceston- place, Kensington, W . “ W h a t ’s in a n am e?” A t Spring H ill on Saturday a m atch w ill be played between X Y . o f U p per Clapton and a S o u th o f E n g la n d X I . , for the benefit of G . Osborn. Th e latter side w ill be selected from :— P. A . Pe rrin (capt.), C. P. M cG ahey, J. W . H . T. Douglas, Reeves, Freem an (E. J.), Freem an (J.), Young, Mead, Benham , Russell (T. M .), Russell (E.), Russell (A. 0.), and Carpenter.