Cricket 1909

S e p t . 23, 1909. CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. C a p t . G r e ig , it w ill interest his m any friends in E n g la n d to know, continues to score largely in good-class matches in India. P la y in g for Poona G ym khana against Bom bay H in d u s on the form er’s ground in the first week of this month, he made 118 in his first innings and 46 not out in his second. Th e score o f the m atch w ill be found on page 418. I n club cricket this season R . C. A lw in , who is w ell-know n in M etropolitan c ir­ cles, has scored 2,736 runs and been dism issed 45 times, thus averaging 60'80 an innings. Considering the wickets experienced this season his performance is altogether remarkable. O n page 432 w ill be found the score of an interesting match played at D arlington last week between two very strong sides. One of them contained as m any as eight Yo rksh ire County players, yet were beaten rather easily. M orris, o f Durham , took six w ickets for 40 runs in the first innings and three for 33 in the second, w hilst T u rn b u ll, o f the same county, scored 17 and 33 not out. F rom the A s ia n , o f C a lcu tta :— “ It is rumoured that Warwick Armstrong! the great Australian cricketer, who is at pre' sent touring in England and playing in the Test and other cricket matches, is likely to be coming to India about October, and if in ­ ducements are good enough this gentleman may be settling in the country, either in Calcutta or in Bombay. Mr. Armstrong is thinking of opening sporting stores, and would also be glad to coach cricketers. There is no doubt that a man of M r. Armstrong’s experience and capabilities in the cricket line would be a great acquisition to the country, and if this gentleman decides upon staying in India it is to be hoped he w ill choose Calcutta as a place of residence. We feel sure Mr. Armstrong would receive strong patronage from all sportsmen, and would meet with success.” A C ric k e t reader stationed in Banga­ lore, in the course o f an interesting letter w h ich reached me recently, remarks :— “ As you are aware, cricket is not patro­ nised very much in this part of tbe world, but those who do play it play it properly and at times some very good cricket is seen, especially in the H ill stations where it is not necessary to wear topies — a great incon­ venience to a player when fielding. The doings of county cricketers are followed very closely out here, and of course everyone talks about his own county, which invariably causes a little excitement. At some of the native colleges there are very useful bowlers and fair batsmen, but the fielding is not very good. We are very poorly off for records concerning this country’s cricket. The news­ papers say little about the game, and some­ thing extraordinary must occur for it to be given publicity. We generally get into correspondence with another unit, and in that way learn a little about out-station cricket.” M y correspondent adds :— “ D irectly the m a il comes in there is an eager rush for copies o f C ric k e t A c o m m u n ic a t io n from Melbourne, dated August 17th, reads :— “ Cricketers are notoriously superstitious, and m em ­ bers of the present Au stralian Eleven were chaffed prior to th eir departure from A u stralia on their ill-lu ck in being members of the 1u n lu cky thirteenth ’ team. As a matter o f fact ‘ 13 ’ has been a mascotte to the team. M r. F ra n k Laver, the A u stralian s’ manager, in a letter to his brother, M r. A . E . Laver, Superintendent o f the M elbourne Benevolent Asylum , has an interesting series of coincidences. H e writes thus just after the second Test m atch :— “ ‘ On the last morning of the match A. C. MacLaren went out to the ground with us in our motor, and I told him we were going to win, as 13 was my lucky number. We are the thirteenth Australian cricket team. He said “ I suppose you w ill make 13 and get all the wickets.” I replied— “ I do not care whether I get any wickets as long as we win.” Speaking of 13, other curious coincidences have occurred this season. In our first tour in the provinces we only took 13 with us and won all our games. Then we were all together and had a succession of draws and defeats. Our next trip to the provinces was with 13, and we won everything, and have not lost a match since. I forgot to mention that after my talk to MacLaren on the morning of the third day I made 13 not out. A wager was also made during England’s second innings that they would not make 100. They failed by 13 to do so. How does this do for thtf superstitious 13? I only took the number to upset the superstitious ideas. I could go still further, for I was the thirteenth chosen when first picked for Australia.’ ” C h a r l e s B a n n e r m a n , the o ld in te r­ national cricketer, has announced that he is open for engagement as coach in any part of Australasia. F ro m the S y d n e y R e fe r e e :— “ An Australian sportsman, who has seen a good deal of the world, writes to a Sydney friend to the effect that the English Press (with exceptions) is tbe most unfair and most one-sided in the English-speaking world. ‘ Tbe strange thing about it,’ he adds, 1is that the English people themselves are such good sports. Their views are not reflected in the Press.’ The Australian cricketers have found it so this year.” Th e Australian sportsman referred to evidently attaches undue im portance to what has been w ritten by people whose opinions carry little weight. E . F . U p h a m , the N ew Zealand player, has been made the recipient o f a unique memento o f his long association w ith the M id la n d Club. T h e presentation was in the form of an album , handsom ely bound in the club colours, m aroon and white, w ith the cricketer’s monogram in gold on the cover. It contains the records of the M id la n d Club since its inception on September 21st, 1883, to the end o f 1908, when the Club disbanded ow ing to the institution of D istrict cricket. Th e Club w on 104 matches, lost 43, and drew 10 during the period mentioned, and won nine of the twenty-six Cham pionship and tied for- first place in four others. F o r over twenty years M r. U p h am ’s bow ling and slip-fielding were features o f club and inter-provincial cricket. H e obtained 1033 w ickets for 11'99 runs each, delivering 34,216 balls, and averaged 13'64 w ith the bat for 264 innings. M a s t e r G u y B o a s , o f Summer Field s School, near Oxford, sends me some verses entitled “ A Schoolboy’s K n o w ­ ledge.” M aster Guy, it should be added, is only twelve years o f age, but is already learned in the lore of cricket A SCHOOLBOY'S KNOWLEDGE. If you ask the modern schoolboy What Guy Fawkes tried to do, He’ll look about with vacant eyes, And then he’ll stare at you : And if you ask him other things, Such as the names of all the Kings, Or the date of Waterloo. Now what is it, you will ask me, This modern schoolboy knows ? Well, try him on the cricket field, With the names of all the “ pros.” Hirst, Hayward, Blythe, Hobbs, Keif and Barnes, He’ll reel them off like sailor’s yarns. He wonders that you’re ignorant, Of the average of the great Tarrant, And that you do not know the cause "Why IVumper gets so many fours. Then he will ask you dreadful things, About the “ Googly ” b a ll; Why do you think that it will break, When it never does at all ? [G. Gunn ? And what about the average of Ransford and But you put your fingers in your ears, And then you turn and run. T H E LONDO N S CO TTISH C R IC K E T C LU B . BATTING AVERAGES. Times Most not in an Total Inns. out. inns. Runs. Aver. S. Lienard................ 25 7 122* 823 45*72 C. P o w e ll................ .. 10 0 112 588 36*75 L. Lienard................ .. 23 1 140* 63S 29-00 R. Suttill ................ .. 12 1 114 257 23-36 C. C. Tollit.................. 9 0 111 198 22-00 J. Lam ont................ .. 16 2 49 301 21-50 E. A. Homer ... ... 21 2 89 386 20-31 F. R. Connell ... ... 18 2 82 306 19-12 E. A. Bennett ... ... 18 1 61 308 18-11 E. Hogg ................ .. 12 2 98 175 17-50 L. J. Bush................ .. 11 3 45 140 17-50 J. C. Cooper ... ... 5 1 27 70 17-50 S. A r ta u d ................... 11 4 30 114 16-28 H. A. Easton ... ... 14 3 3S 172 15-63 H. G. V. Homer ... 10 1 56 224 14-93 R. A. Bennett ... ... 20 6 29* 201 14-42 H. H. Grindley... . 5 1 32 51 12-75 H. D. Aylwin ... ... 17 0 33 131 11-90 A. H. Read ... ... 13 3 33 95 9-50 P. Child ................... 13 1 35 106 8-83 H. C. Hodgson ... .... 9 1 59 68 8-50 J. H. Adamson... ... 9 2 15* 59 8-42 G. F. Trench ... ... 9 0 53 74 8-22 J. S. Chown ... ... 13 0 18 100 7*69 W. G. Henderson ... 13 2 16 78 7-09 C. K. Child ... . 0 1 18 30 6-00 J. L. Chown ... ... 5 1 6 21 5-25 The following also batted : H. Summerhayes, 5, 14, 0 ; A. P. Morris, 0*, 4*, 7, 0 ; H.- Chown, 3, 0, 0, 0*, 0* ; F. R. Cowling, 0, 1. * Signifies not out. BOWLING AVERAGES. Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. C. C. Tollit ... ... 31 3 108 11 9-8L E. H o g g ........... ... 73 11 262 23 11-39 S. Lienard ... 279 53 859 66 13-0! J. Lamont ... 94 5 385 28 1375 K. A. Bennett... ... 151 25 427 29 14-72 A. H. Read ... ... 139 29 434 28 15-50 11. A. Easton .. ... 120 18 374 24 15-58 R. Suttill.......... ... 71 9 231 14 16"50 H. G. V. Homei ... 135 20 442 26 17-00 L. Lienard ... 194 32 605 35 17-28 P. C h ild ........... ... 42 2 178 10 17-80 F. R. Connell... ... 93 2 418 22 19-00 C. Powell.......... ... 58 0 283 11 25-72 The following also bowled : H. Summerhayes, 1 for 5 ; L. J. Bush, 7 for 47; G. F. Trench, 4 for 44 ; E. A. Homer, 7 for 103; S. Artaud, 9 for 144; W. G. Henderson, 2 for 42; H. Chown, 1 for 33; R. A. Bennett, 3 for 114 ; H. H. Grindley, 2 for 70.