Cricket 1909

S e p t . 23, 1909. CR ICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 425 from C anw ick H ouse on the 12th inst., said :— “ A most unusual sight was to be seen yesterday during the progress of a cricket match in the village of Canwick, near Lincoln. The cricket ground is surrounded by trees and a covey of about ten partridges had fed out of the woods towards the game and, quite undisturbed by the noise of the ball being hit or the shouts and actions of the players, came nearer and nearer. A wicket fell, and while waiting for the fresh batsman we watched the cartridges approach the pi'ch till they were quite surrounde I by the fleldi rs. The keeper's son, who was fielding, bent down and pretended to throw them a few grains of corn ; they ran up quite close, to within a yard or so of where we were all standing between the wickets. “ It was only owing to the advent of a fresh batsman and to the fear of their being h uit by the ball that we were obliged to ‘ shoo’ them away. They did not seem to be much alarmed, only flying a short distance, and apparently took a deep interest in the remainder of the match. “ They had, of course, been brought up by hand, but they were full grown, and their extraordinary tameness was doubtle-s attri­ butable to the absence of the parent birds. M y only regret was that a camera was not obtainable. The photograph would have been of a scene as rare as it was interesting.’’ George Anderson, E d g ar W illsher, M r. W . J. F o rd and other old cricketers have vouched for somewhat sim ilar occurrences happening in their own experience. T h e concluding first-class match of the E n g lish season— that between K en t and E n g lan d at the O val— was ruined by the weather, rain preventing a ball being howled on the first day and the state of the w icket being responsible for a sim ilar state o f things on the last. Th e game, so far as it went, was certainly against the county, who were still 44 runs behind w ith three men out in their second innings when play ceased. U n lik e the team w h ich represented us in the Test-match on the same ground last month, the En g lan d side included a good fast bowler in Buckenham , who emphasised the wisdom o f his selection by obtaining the best figures in the match. In both in ­ nings of K e n t he showed excellent form, and the success w ith w hich he met was thoroughly merited. T h e opening stage of the game was marked by a very valuable innings of 78 by Rhodes. Tho wicket, after previous heavy rain, had recovered well, but was slow, and there can be little doubt that if the ball had travelled faster in the outfield his score w ould have reached a hundred. Several o f his hits w h ich would, on a dry ground, have reached the boundary, yielded only three— sometimes but tw o— runs. Rhodes is a batsman who generally obtains a good proportion o f his score by hits for four, and the fact that only three such strokes marked h is innings of 78 speaks for itself. It is, by-the-way, cus­ tom ary to speak o f this player’s bow ling as disappointing, but there m ust surely be a lot of lin e cricket in a m an who, besides scoring 2,094 runs w ith an average of 40’26, takes 141 wickets at a cost of only 15'80 runs each. F o r nine successive seasons the C h am ­ pion County has met the Rest of E n g lan d in Lon don at the end o f the season, but only once has the latter side been defeated, Yorkshire proving successful by 65 runs in 1905. O f the rem aining eight matches as m any as six have been drawn. A feature of the games has been the con­ sistent batting of M r. P. F . W arner, who has played the follow ing innings :— Year. Scores. 11*01. Lord’s ... England v. Yorkshire ,.. 29 1902. Lord’s ... England v. Yorkshire .. 12 1903. Oval .. Middlesex v. England ... 6 & 115 1904. Oval .. England v. Lancashire .... 24 & 16 1905. Did not play. 1906. Oval .. England v. Kent ... ,... 2 & 77 1907. Oval ... England v. Notts ... ...116 & 113* 1908. Oval .. England v. Yorkshire ... 16 1909. Oval .. England v. Kent ... , 70 * Signifies not out. T h is shows an aggregate o f 59C runs w ith an average of 54'18. R e s u l t s of all matches played between K en t and E n g lan d :— £ >> co > When Fi Played Won b Kent. Won b Englan | Q Result JJnknov Total. Kent XI. v. XI. 1739 23 37 6 3 69 Kent XI. v. X I11. ... 1863 2 6 0 0 8 Kent XI. v. XIV. ... 1861 2 0 0 0 2 Kent XI. v. XV. ... 1861 1 0 0 0 1 Kent XI. v. XVI. ... 1860 2 0 0 0 2 Kent XII. v. XIX ... 1860 1 1 0 0 2 Kent XII. v. XXI11. 1800 1 1 0 0 2 Kent XIII. v. XXIII. 1807 2 0 0 0 2 Totals 1739 34 45 6 3 88 The history o f the match, it w ill be seen, covers a period o f one hundred and seventy years, w h ilst as far back as 1729 K en t met the combined forces of Surrey, Sussex and H am p sh ire in what were E n g lan d matches in all but name. T h e matches wherein Kent, Surrey and Sussex have met England have resulted as follows :— Won by Won by Results Cowry. England, brawn. Unknown. Total Kent ........... 34 ... 45 ... 6 ... 3 ... 88 ' S u rrey.......... 33 ... 31 ... 7 ... 1 ... 7*2 S ussex.......... 9 ... 16 ... 1 ... 0 ... 2(j From this it will be seen that Kent has played more often than any other county against England single-handed. T h e question whether any county is strong enough to play E n g lan d w ith any chance of success was touched upon by M r. E . B. V. C hristian in S u r re y C r ic k e t: Its H is to r y a n d A s s o c ia tio n s . M r. C hristian remarked that it “ does not seem likely that any county w ill in the future be able, save on the rarest occasions, to attempt w ith success so arduous an enterprise. The greatly in ­ creased number o f counties, and the gradual equalisation o f strength which these are lik e ly to experience as the result o f the training o f colts, m igration, and popular support, make it unlikely that any single county eleven w ill be long the equal o f such an eleven as the rest could supply. A team such as Y orksh ire were in 1900, a team in w hich every man could bat and field, and the best pair of bowlers in En g lan d were included, m ight occasionally succeed. B u t u n til some happy shire possesses a player such as D r. Grace was in his prime, it is u n likely that it w ill be able to w ithstand the force of n um b e rs; and the heavens have not since 1848 blazed forth the birth o f such a prince o f cricket.” A t a meeting convened by Alderm an F. Bennett Goldney, the M ayo r of C an ­ terbury, and held at the G u ild h all, Canterbury, on F rid a y it was decided to entertain the members of the K en t C ounty team at d inner in Canterbury on October 23rd to m ark their success in regaining the Cham pionship. A sub­ comm ittee, consisting of the M ayor, Sir George Collard, M r. F . W . Fu rley, Alderm an Mason, and M r. A. J. L a n ­ caster, who has undertaken the secretarial duties, was appointed to make the necessary arrangements. M r . C h a r l e s H e n r y R ic h a r d s , of 35, P a rk Row, Nottingham , editor and publisher of N o tts C ric k e t S co res a n d B io g ra p h ie s , &c., who died on M a y 15th last, aged fifty-eight years, left estate valued at ;£607 8s. lOd. gross, o f w hich i ’495 19s. (id. is net personalty. M r . J. A. D ix o n has been expressing his opinion of league cricket. H e says that it has been his effort for the last twenty years to keep cricket clear of leagues. H e is firm ly convinced that they do no good to the sport and that it is better to play the old friendly matches. H e has taken part in league cricket, but is of opinion that the extra keenness introduced into it does not im prove the game or the enjoyment of it or the spirit in w h ich it is played. The introduction o f the competitive system into cricket is a step in the w rong direction. I believe that M r. A . N . H o rn b y holds sim ilar views. I t seems strange to pronounce the cricket o f a m an who has made over 1,000 runs and taken more than 100 w ickets during the season disappointing, but w hat other word could be used more appropriately to describe the play this year of H irs t ? T o a certain extent it has been a m isfortune for h im to have done so w ell in previous seasons, for ever since he has been judged by the standard of play he then set up. D u rin g the past few months his bow ling has very often lacked the sting and fire w h ich marked it in earlier days, and his batting has been less resolute and defiant than formerly. H e is now in his thirty-ninth year, and it is probable that a few years hence he w ill be only a m em ory— a very pleasant memory, it is true, but still nothing more than a memory. It is to be regretted that such a whole-hearted cricketer, one who has always played the game in the true sporting spirit and against whom no word of calum ny has ever been breathed, should become handicapped by the burden of years. P e r h a p s the most outstanding feature of the past season has been the successful