Cricket 1909

Nov. 25, 1909 CR ICK E T : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in The E vo lu tio n of a Cricket B a t , which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. l i H k W f i CRICKET JMf ROVEDMAKE- KEEP THEIR SHAPE LAS LONCERgPl CATALOGU E UPON APPLIC ATIO N . Bussiri RACKETS C ATALOGU E UPON APPLIC ATIO N . C ATALO GU E UPON APPLICATION . r a n FOOTBALLS IMPR VEDMAKE-KEEPTHEIR SHAPE-1ASTLONGER CATALOGU E UPON APPLICATION . K DEMON DR IV ERS "If y O ARE OUTAND OUT THE BEST. / Q OTHER GRADES 7 - 6 -S'- A-'e-A-'-3'e-3'-Zf6~Zr- 'C A T A L O Q U B UPON APPLICATION TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co.. L td . 86 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills— PECKHAM, S.E. EI.MSWELL, SUFFOLK. Agents all over the world. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. B y F. S. A shley -C ooper . N O T EW O R T H Y E V E N T S O F 1909. (Cjntinued from page U87.) III.— T he B owlers . Although there were considerably more bowling triumphs than in 1908, no player succeeded in obtaining all ten wickets in an innings. There were, however, as many as five instances of a bowler taking nine, Blythe and Dean each accomplishing the feat twice and W. Brearley once. The latter’s perform­ ance— against Yorkshire at Manchester - was unquestionably the most meritorious of all, though both Blythe and Dean on each occasion obtained their wickets at a much smaller cost. Blythe alone dismissed more than fourteen men in a m atch: for Kent against Leicestershire on the latter’s ground he took nine wickets for 42 runs in the first innings and seven for 60 in the second. The player named, Dean, Dennett and S. G. Smith obtained fourteen wickets in the course of a game, the instance by Dennett being somewhat noteworthy from the fact that he did not once hit the stumps. From a figure point of view the following rank as the most prominent performances of the season :— Wkts. Runs. 9 for 35, Dean, Lancashire v. Warwickshire, at Liverpool. 9 ,, 31, Dean, Lancashire v. Somerset, at Man­ chester. 7 ,, 28, East, Northants v. Notts, at Northamp­ ton. 7 ,, 25, Haigh, Yorkshire v. Lancashire, at Man­ chester. 6 ,, 23, Hirst, Yorkshire v. Lancashire, at Man­ chester. 6 ,, 20, Hirst, Yorkshire v. Surrey, at Sheffield. 6 ,, 15, A. J. Hopkins, Australians v. Lancashire, at Liverpool. 8 ,, 24, Huddleston, Lancashire v. Yorkshire, at Manchester. 6 ,, 19, Huddleston, Lancashire v Warwickshire, at Liverpool. 7 „ 27, F. Laver, Australians v. Hampshire, at Southampton. 8 ,, 31, F. Laver, Australia v. England, at Man­ chester. 7 ,, 26, Leach, Sussex v. Middlesex, at Lord’.-. 7 ,, 28, Mignon, Middlesex v. Gloucestershire, at Lord’s. 7 ,, 20, S. G. Smith, Northants v. Leicestershire, at Northampton. 7 ,, 18, Tarrant, Middlesex v. Gloucestershire, at Bristol. Laver’s analysis at the expense of England at Manchester is worthy of perusal inasmuch as on no previous occasion had a bowler taken as many as eight wickets in an innings at so small a cost in a Test match between England and Australia. The hat-trick was recorded gn four occasions, the instances being as follows :— ( Yorkshire v. Lancashire, at Manchester. Leicestershire v. Derbyshire, at Leicester. Middlesex v. Surrey, at Lord’s. Middlesex v. Haigh Shipman Tarrant... Gloucestershire, at Bristol. I Heap. ; W. Brearley. ) Worsley. | Morton. I H. G. Curgenven. j R. Sale. Ducat. Lees. Hitch. Board. W. M. Brownlee. Langdon. Douglas, Drake, D. W . Carr, J. W . H . T. Fielder aud A. J. Hopkins took three wickets in four balls, Drake obtaining four in six. There were four instances of two bowlers being unchanged though both completed innings of a match :— Huddleston ( Lancashire v. Essex, at LiverpooL Hallam ... j Nottinghamshire v. Derbyshire, at W ass.......... ( Nottingham. Only three players— in the previous year the number was nine—obtained over one hundred and fifty wickets during the season, Blythe taking two hundred and fifteen (average 14 '54), Thompson one hundred and sixty- three (average 14-67), and Dennett one hundred and fifty-six (average 19 08). IV.— T he W ick et -K eepers . In not a single match during the season did a wicket-keeper succeed in allowing neither byes nor leg-byes in the two com­ pleted innings of his opponents. But Murrell gave away no extras of the kind mentioned whilst Somerset were scoring 247 against Middlesex at Taunton, and Bale proved sim ilaily successful during Hampshire’s innings of 241 for five wickets on the Worcester ground. As a curiosity it may be mentioned that neither bye nor leg-bye was scored in the match between Surrey and Gloucestershire at the Oval, although fifteen wicket fell. The largest number of extras allowed in an innings was 56 (34 byes) by Gaukrodger for Worcestershire v. Kent at Stourbridge, which was almost equalled by 52 (41 byes) by Lilley and T. S. Fi-hw ick for Warwickshire'V. Worcestershire on the Edgbaston ground. The match at Stour^ bridge produced as many as 98 extras, of which exactly half were byes. This was the largest number recorded in any game during the season, although no less than 68 byes were registered in the match mentioned at Edgbaston, wherein 89 extras were allowed. Whereas no wicket-keeper dismissed more than five men in an innings during 1908, tbree— Bale, Butt aud Hunter— disposed of as many as six this year. In the cases of Butt and Hunter all the wickets were caught, but four of Bale’s opponents -the Australians — were stumped. N. C. Tufnell, now in South Africa with the M .C.C.’s team, alone accountel for more than seven victims in a match : playing for Cambridge University against Yorkshire on the former’s ground he caught one and stumped seven—all the latter off the bowling of J. Bruce Lockhart. The performances of the chief wicket­ keepers of 1909 may be summarised thus:— N. C. Tufnell .. Board ........... Murrell ......... B ale.................. Smith (E. J.)... B utt.................. Lilley .......... Strudwick J. Shields Huish .......... Humphries ... C h idgey.......... Hunter ........... Oates .......... W orsley.......... Gaukrodger ... H. Carter Stone ........... A. E. Newton B lom ley.......... Russell (E.) ... B u sw ell.......... Sturman........... A. G. Pawson W. Carkeek ... 42 39 22 22 64 30 65 18 41 32 16 42 33 32 13 25 31 9 8 16 21 12 16 27 20 16 4 5 9 11 10 25 8 4 10 7 7 1 17 7 5 2 2 12 4 24 69 59 38 26 69 39 70 28 66 40 20 52 40 39 14 42 38 14 10 18 33 16 11 11 102 309 301 196 147 452 260 514 205 49* 304 152 404 331 323 120 371 336 127 92 170 339 168 137 183 23*52 22-33 19-60 19-38 17-68 15-16 15-00 14-78 13*65 13-K. 13-15 13-15 12-87 12 08 12-07 11-75 11-32 11-30 11-02 10-86 10-58 9-73 9-52 8-02 6 01 Only those players who obtained ten or more wickets are mentioned above. V . — A l l -R ound P erformances . Four players taking part in English cricket succeeded in making over a thousand runs in