Cricket 1909

Dec. 21, 1909. CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 475 22.—Liverpool, Lancashire v. Derbyshire. 22.—Bristol, Gloucestershire v. Northamptonshire. 22.—Brighton, Sussex v. Essex. 25.—Lord’s, Middlesex v. Hampshire. 25.—Leyton, Essex v. Worcestershire. 25.—Brighton, Sussex v. Yorkshire. 25.—Bristol, Gloucestershire v. Notts. 25.—Leicester, Leicestershire v. Surrey. 25.—Manchester, Lancashire v. Northamptonshire. 27.—Birmingham, Warwickshire v. Derbyshire. 20. —Lord’s, Middlesex v. Surrey. 20.—Brighton, Sussex v. Worcestershire. 29.—Taunton, Somerset v. Yorkshire. 20.—Bournemouth, Hampshire v. Kent (Bourne­ mouth Festival). SEPTEMBER. 1.—Bournemouth, Hampshire v. Worcestershire. 1.—Scarborough, Yorkshire v. M.C.C. and Ground (Scarborough Festival). 5.—Scarborough, Gentlemen v. Players. 8.—Scarborough,Lord Londesborough’s England XI. v. M.C.C. South African Team. 12.—The Oval, England v. Champion County (four days). Other important fixtures at Lord’s are :— May 20.—Middlesex 2nd XI. v. Kent 2nd XI. June 6.—Army v. Navy. July 15.—M.C.C. v. Egypt and Soudan. July 25.—Royal Artillery v. Royal Engineers. July 27.—Rugby v. Marlborough. July 20.—Cheltenham v. Haileybury. Aug. 1.—M.C.C. v. Public Schools. SOME CHAPTERS OF AUSTRALIAN CRICKET HISTORY. Bv J. N. PENTELOW. C hapteb II. N E W SO U TH W A L E S v. VICTO RIA. (Continuedfrom page h(‘>3.) The return was a most remarkable game, though it was to be eclipsed by the wonder­ ful scoring in the match a year later. J. C. Barnes, good bat aud googly bowler, and C. Kelleway, who should yet prove one of the best all-round men in Australia, for he has a capital batting style, a high action as a bowler, and keenness which leads him to get up at half-past five in the morning to practise, made their first appearance v. Victoria. The visitors had first innings, and M cAlister (69) and McKenzie (51) made a fine start for them, 104 being registered in 81 minutes before the latter left. Tarrant (79), missed early by Kelleway in the slips, and McAlister added 58. Armstrong and Tarrant put on 62 for the fourth wicket. The latter made his 79 in I f hours. The younger Horan (35) helped Armstrong to add 99 for the fifth wicket. Little was done after that. The Victorian crack left at 382 for a chanceless 110, made in 2f hours, and the innings closed for 402. Noble had three wickets for 54, Johnson three for 73. E. F. Waddy made 28 and Macartney 21; but they and Hopkins were all out when the third New South Wales wicket fell for 95, and Syd Gregory joined Noble. Then came a tre­ mendous stand. Slow at first, the run-getting quickened later; and the 315 added were made in 257 minutes. Vernon bowled Noble for 176, made in a little over 5J hours, the only chance being one of stumping at 53. Gregory was out a little later for 201— his highest against Victoria, and equal to his previous best in first-class cricket, in the first Test match of 1894-5. He was missed twice, but not until after he had passed 150. The little man who had dropped out of big cricket was back in the Australian eleven soon after this, and is now in England again. Vernon’s four for 87 in a total of 461 was by no means a bad analysis. Victoria had two down for 42 in their second in n in gs; but then began the best of a succession of part­ nerships between Tarrant and several col­ leagues. Bansford, batting beautifully for 129, including sixteen 4’s, helped him to add—or, rather, had his help in adding— 175 for the third wicket. Carkeek (26) aided the M id ­ dlesex crack to put on 49 for the seventh wicket, Warne (46) 122 for the eighth, and Collins (26) 65 for the ninth. Tarrant batted 7J hours, hit twenty-two 4’s and gave no chance in his 206. The total was 511. New South Wales wanted 453 to win. Noble went in first with Hopkins. Three wickets were down for 84 (Carter 23) when his partner of the long stand in the first innings joiued him. They had added 101 when the end of the day’s play came, and given continued fine weather might have won the match for their side. But a day rendered blank by rain spoiled their chance. Noble had just reached the century, his second in the match, when play ceased on the fifth day. He and Gre­ gory added 35 more on the last day, before the little man was out for 63. Noble left at 238 for 123 made in 3J hours. No one else did anything; and Victoria won by 211 runs, her first victory since the Melbourne match of 1903-4. Saunders had six wickets for 61. As many as 1,615 runs were scored in the game; six centuries were made, and three batsmen made over 200 runs each— Noble 299, Tarrant 285, Gregory 264. Fifteen bowlers were put on, and eleven of the fif­ teen had more than a hundred runs each hit off them. Barnes’s googlies were hit for 171 runs in thirty-one overs, and he took only two wickets. Kelleway had two for 137, Hopkins two for 111, Collins threo for 130, and Tarrant three for 103 ; while Armstrong bowled as many as fifty-two overs (for 104 runs) without getting a single wicket. There were only twenty-one byes in the match, and Carkeek only allowed five of them in the course of 702 runs. There were two new men on the New South Wales side in the eighty-fiist match, at Melbourne last Christmas — Warren Bardsley, who had already made his mark in no undecided fashion against both Western Australia and the Second M.C.C. English Team, and S. H. Emery, a young bowler of whom a good deal is hoped, as well as a good hitter. Victoria again won; but possibly they would not have done so had Noble sent them in first. There was no play on the first day till after lunch on account of raiu ; and the wicket played queerly. Moreover, no Trumper was present to score a century and knock the bowlers off their length. The only stand of note was made by Syd Gregory (44) and the Rev. E. F . Waddy (47), who added 64 for the fifth wicket. Both played well, Gregory rather the better of the two, since his clerical partner had some luck. Macartney made 22. Armstrong had the best bowling figures— 4 for 41. Victoria, batting on a much improved wicket, headed the N.S.W. score by nearly 200. Warne (27) and llansford added 83 for the third wicket, and McAlister and Hansford 80 for the fifth. Bansford made 94 in about 2£ hours by capital cricket, giving only one chance. McAlister’s 79 took about a quarter of an hour less, and he too shaped well. Carroll, who has not so far generally done as well v. N.S.W. as against South Australia, showed excellent form for his 60; Laver (35) helped him to add 57 for the eighth wicket, and Hazlitt (27 not out) and Laver put on 42 for the ninth. Hopkins bowled with most effect, taking 4 wickets for 56. The N.S.W. second innings was little better than a fiasco. H alf the side were out for 69, Bardsley having made 31; but then Macartney played really good cricket for his 39 not out, and the tail wickets more than doubled the score. The result m ight have been reversed had Noble elected to send Victoria in ; but there was no sufficient excuse for the inglorious display of the visitors at their second attempt. Of all the eighty-two matches the last was in many respects the most remarkable. A world's record aggregate, seven individual centuries, the double century feat by one batsman, and in spite of all the run-getting 11 wickets taken by one bowler— these were surely sensations enough, and these did not exhaust the list. The game was dealt with so fully in C rick et a few months ago that to expatiate at length upon it here seems superfluous. Th e only new man was D. Smith, on the Victorian side. He did not accomplish very much in this match, but performed well v. Tasmania subsequently, and seems to be a coming batsman of the dashing type. In the course of the match Saunders was h it for 235 runs, Vernon for 182, Cotter for 175, H azlitt for 152, Emery for 140, Armstrong for 128, Hopkins for 118, Laver for 113 and Kelleway for 106; Cotter took four wickets, Armstrong three, Saunders, Vernon, Hazlitt, and Emery two each, Laver one, Kelleway and Hopkins none at all. But Barnes had 11 for 206! He bowled as he had never done before in a big match, keeping a length and pegging away with admirable persistency. On his form in the game many people thought he would stand a good chance of inclusion in the team for E n g la n d ; but he did not show to great advantage in the two T rial matches. To indicate what the bowlers and fieldsmen had to bear the following list of partnerships over 40 in the match may speak for itself. The figure 40 has been chosen because there chanced to be four stands between 40 and 50 which seem worthy of inclusion in such a lis t :— N ew S ou th W ales , 1 st I nnings . 42 for 1st wicket, Bardsley and Hopkins, in 43 min. 304 for 2nd wicket, Bardsley and Noble, 223 min. 125 for 5th wicket, Noble and Gregory, 75 min. 74 for 6th wicket, Gregory and Macartney. 44 for 7tli wicket, Gregory and Barnes. 52 for 9th wicket, Gregory and Emery. 86 for 10th wicket, Emery and Kelleway. V ic to r ia , 1 st I nnings . 178 for 2nd wicket, Ransford and Horan, in 180 min 47 for 3rd wicket, Ransford and Armstrong, 46 min. 131 for 4th wicket, Ransford and McAlister, 120min. V ic to r ia , 2 nd I nnings . 41 for 2nd wicket, Armstrong and Horan. 68 for 3rd wicket, Armstrong and Smith. 207 for 4th wicket, Armstrong and Ransford. 67 for 8th wicket, Hazlitt and Vernon. N ew S outh W ales , 2 nd I nnings . 40 for 3rd wicket, Noble and Waddy, in 45 minutes. Continuing in tabular form, one may deal with the seven centuries made in the match th u s:— Noble’s 213, of 484, in 356 minutes, no chance. Bardsiey’s 192, of 346, in 266 minutes, no chance. Ransford’s 1S2, of 356, in 360 minutes, chance at 104. Gregory’s 170, of 328, in 202 minutes, two chances in first 10. Armstrong’s 171, of 316, in 243 minutes, only chance at 154. Ransford’s 110, of 232, in 105 minutes, no chance. McAlister’s 108j of 238, in 200 minutes, no chance. In the whole match 1,911 runs were scored for the loss of 34 wickets. This is 180 runs ahead of the former record, achieved in the match between New South Wales and vStoddart’s Second Team in 1897-8, when Gregory was among the century scorers, and Noble was also taking part. Carkeek’s wicket-keeping won high approval; but the bill of extras in the match— 114—has only once been beaten in the series, in the game, standing as a record aggregate for years, at Sydney in 1881-2, when New South Wales ran up 775, Murdoch, Garrett, and S. P. Jones making 593 among them. (T o be continued.)