Cricket 1909

O c t . 28, 1909. CR ICK E T : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 441 I t is said on the best authority that Schofield H a ig h ’s benefit w ill realise £2,000, notw ithstanding that the actual profit on the m atch was only £900. I f this should prove to be the case, his benefit w ill be equal to those of D enton and H u n ter, superior to T u n n icliffe’s, and below only those o f the late J. T. B row n and H irs t. There was, by the way, a slight loss experienced by the Yorksh ire C ounty C.C. on the year’s working, but this cannot be considered surprising when it is remembered that the receipts o f one o f the most attractive matches did not go into the C ounty funds, and that play in m any o f the other games was seriously curtailed by the weather. M r . J. W . H . T. D o u g l a s has been elected captain of the O ld Felstedians F .C . S in c e the publication o f the last issue of C ric k e t D a vid H u n te r has announced his retirem ent from the game, and all who know h im w ill regret that he has arrived at such a decision. Alth ou gh he played h is first match for Y orksh ire as far back as 1888, the year iu w hich his brother, the late Joseph Hunter, made his last appearance for the county, the form he showed during the recent season was w o rthy o f his best days, n o tw ith ­ standing that he was in his fiftieth year. T h e game generally, and not Yorksh ire cricket only, w ill be the poorer through the loss of such a cricketer, who has always played the game in the true spirit and whose worth to his county it w ould be quite impossible to gauge by a perusal of score-sheets. D a v id H u n t e r ’ s benefit match was Y o rk sh ire v. Lancashire at Bradford in 1897, w hich, despite one wet afternoon, realised ,£1,950. H e w ill now receive from the Y o rksh ire Comm ittee a further £500, to w hich he has become entitled under the provident scheme. H is wicket- keeping record for the County m ay be summarised as follows :— Year. Ct. St. Total. Year. Ct. St. Total. 1888 . . 5 1 6 1899 .. 41 15 56 1889 . . 32 28 00 1900 .. 44 27 71 1890 . . 41 30 71 1901 .. 42 31 73 1891 . . 41 14 £5 1902 .. 35 22 57 1892 . . 44 10 54 1903 .. 44 13 57 1893 . . 51 16 67 1904 .. 64 11 75 1894 . . 51 22 73 1905 .. 54 16 70 1S95 . . 55 20 75 1906 .. 44 5 49 189(5 . . 48 14 62 1907 .. 38 13 51 1897 . . 31 10 41 1908 .. 46 6 52 1898 .. 31 20 51 1909 .. 38 8 46 Totals. 920 352 1,272 T h is is, o f course, by far the largest num ber o f wickets ever obtained by any wicket-keeper for a county. T h e follow ing letter, issued just too late for inclusion in the last number of C ric k e t, was sent to the newspapers by L o rd Londesborough:— Sir,—For twenty-one years David Hunter has given loyal and invaluable service to the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Occupying a position of some danger and risk, it seems to me a remarkable fact that we find Hunter, after all these long years of strenuous work behind the wicket, still a tower of strength to the team, and in Lord Hawke’s regrett­ able absence a worthy leader. It has been suggested to me by some of his admirers that we should show our practical appreciation of his long and invaluable service, and also our recognition of his sterling character and ability. I have the greatest pleasure in acceding to this request, and I should esteem it a great kindness if you would further this most desirable object by publishing this suggestion, and by opening a list in your most valuable medium whereby Hunter’s many admirers may have an opportunity of subscribing thereto. I have consented to act as honorary treasurer to the fund in conjunction with Mr. Popplewell the president of the Scarborough Cricket Club. No one is more worthy of recognition than David Hunter, and so long as we have men like him in the Yorkshire team the honour of the county is in safe keeping.—Yours, etc. LONDESBOROUGH. Londesborough Lodge, Scarborough, September 23rd. L o r d A l v e r s t o n e presided at the annual dinner of the Cranleigh C.C. on September 30th and made a most interesting speech. H e pointed out that the success of a club did not depend solely upon the num ber o f games w on : that cricket was a game in w h ich a m an learned to support his fellows, in w hich he learned loyalty to his captain, in w hich he learned to bear defeat as w ell as to enjoy victory. H e also said that he w ould like it to become a point of honour w ith all counties to encourage good amateurs who had played for their universities or public schools. N o t w it h s t a n d in g the extent to w h ich play was interfered w ith by the weather, the profit on the Scarborough F estival amounted to about £250. The total receipts during the nine days were about £1,100, and for the A u stralian s’ match about £700, o f w hich the visitors received half the gate-money. M . B lf . r io t , w ho flew across the channel during the summer, has accepted the office o f Vice-President of the C ity of L o n d o n C ricket Club. M r . J. N . C r a w f o r d has received, and has accepted, an offer of a resident mas­ tership at St. Peter’s College, Adelaide, and it is understood that he w ill be settled in his new quarters before the end of the year. There is no need at the m oment to deal w ith his career in detail as he should have his best years still before him , but one m ay recall the fact that he is the best all-round player turned out by the P u b lic Schools since the tim e of A. G. Steel. Surrey’s and E n g la n d ’s loss w ill be A u s­ tra lia ’s gain and cricketers, in regretting his departure, w ill congratulate h im on receiving such a good appointment and w ish h im success both on and off the field. M r . D a v id C r ic h t o n , o f Coatbridge, N .B ., for over tw enty years captain of the D rum pellier C ricket Club, who died on M a y 28th last, left personal estate valued at £1,585 2s. 10d., of w h ich £1,260 5s. 4d. is Scottish estate. I n the second innings o f M r. C. L . B lackburne-M aze’s X I. against F . H . H u ish 's X I . at T o w n M a ilin g on Sep­ tember 20th and 21st, S. H . D ay played a rather remarkable game as the appended score w ill show :— Mr. B lackbu rne -M aze ’ s XT. S. H. Day, c Fielder, b Blythe ....................100 E. Humphreys, c Fair­ service,b F.E. Woolley 5 M. C. Bird, b Fair- service ................... 6 K. L. Hutchings, c Collins,b Fairservice 1 L. H. W. Troughton, lbw, b Fairservice... 0 K. Barlow, b Seymour 13 C. L. Blackburne- Mazc, b C. N. Wool- ley .......................... H. Preston, c Collins, bC . N. Woolley ... G. J. Bracher, c and b Blythe .................. L. H. Hardy, b Blythe F. Groves, not out ... L eg-bye........... Total .. 145 In their first innings H um phreys, M . C. B ird and IC. L . H u tch in gs had scored 53, 59 and 71 respectively. A t a special general meeting o f the M in o r Counties C ricket Association held at L o rd ’s on September 23rd., M r. B . H . M a lle tt (Durham ) in the chair, the follow ing resolution was proposed by B ucks and seconded by D e v o n :— “ The twenty-two counties shall be grouped into two divisions for 1910, and they shall be (1) the counties in the North and East; and(2) the counties in the South and West, with Hertfordshire reckoned in the South. Each county shall play out-and-home two-day matches with a minimum number of counties in its division, and the two group winners shall play a three-days final match. M r. Toone (Yorkshire) moved an amend­ m ent to the effect that no alteration be made in the system o f conducting the com petition for another twelve months. Th e amendment was lost by nine votes to eight and the resolution carried by the same figures. Subsequently H e rtfo rd ­ shire proposed and Notts seconded that the m in im um num ber o f matches to be played by each county be five, and the resolution was carried. One advantage the new m ethod o f arrangement w ill possess over the old is that it w ill afford each county greater scope in arranging its match-list. M r . F . G. H a r d in g , an old and valued contributor to C ric k e t, recently entered upon h is eightieth year. A t the dinner given to the members of the K e n t team at Canterbury on Saturday last, the M ay o r read the follow ing telegram from the Archbishop o f C an terbury:— Please convey to your eminent guests an ex. pression of my proud recognition of the county’s prowess. A blast on the ancient burghmote horn, w h ich for over 700 years has been sounded on im portant occasions in Canterbury, followed. M r . F r e d e r ic k P e r r in , of Suffolk House, W oodberry Dow n, N., brother of M r. P. A. Perrin , the Essex cricketer, left estate valued at £72,127 gross, w ith net personalty £64,121. A fte r providing for h is w ife and children, he left the residue on trust for his brother, M r. P. A . Perrin, for life. It w ill bo remembered that in August it was stated that, ow ing to his failure to put in an appearance for the match at D erby against Northants, Bestw ick had been suspended by the County C lub for the rest of the season. H e has since been inform ed that his services w ill no longer be required, and so henceforth his energies