Cricket 1909

5 « CR ICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A pril , 15, 1909. 157 made against tliem without loss of a wicket, Howard and Banks being the successful batsmen. On the following Saturday the pair continued the partner­ ship, and when the innings was declared closed the score stood thus :—- S outh F rem an tle . Howard, not o u t .......................... 134 Banks, not out ...................... 132 Byes, &c.................... (5 Total (no wkt) ... 272 Subiaco responded with 161 for six wickets, playing out time and evading defeat. T h a t the old Australian Eleven man Walter Giffen, playing for the Mitcham Cricket Club, has not lost all his old skill with the bat some of his recent performances will show. In his last three innings for the club, says the Adelaide Observer, he has scored three consecutive hundreds, making 101 retired against Brighton, 118 not out against Coromandel Valley, and last Saturday (February 20tli) 104 retired against Have­ lock. This equals a record made many years ago in the club by Cecil De Mole and P. Heath. Giffen has been in splendid form all the season, and only once has he failed to reach double figures. At the end of February his average for the season was as high as 88. A S o u t h A u s t r a l ia n cricket enthusiast has given his impressions on “ How to Improve Cricket.” He says : “ This abominable off theory is taking all the interest out of cricket.” Continuing, he observed :—■“ I have had several chats on the subject with umpires and others, and they have without exception agreed that it is time the laws of cricket were altered so as to compel bowlers to bowl at the wickets instead of on the off in the hope of having the batsmen caught.” “ What would you do to alter the existing con­ ditions ? ” the critic was asked, and he promptly replied:—“ Well, I have given the matter a lot of consideration, and it seems to me the authorities ought to re-arrange the crease marks. There should be a line within a foot or 18 inches of the stumps, and bowlers should be required to pitch the ball inside it. Then I would widen the wicket 2 in. by placing an oval-shaped stump broadside to the bowler in the middle. If that were done the bowlers would not be able to indulge in off-theory as they do now, and cricket would be far more interest­ ing. We all know that many bowlers do not bowl at the wicket once in perhaps a dozen overs, the ball generally being dropped a foot or 18 inches from it at times, for the express purpose of having the batsman caught, and how many times will a good batsman make no attempt to touch sucii deliveries ? More than half the maiden overs are the result of the off-theory bowling, and in my opinion it is spoiling cricket. First-class cricket is becoming less interesting every year, and unless the laws are revised the decadence will go on.” T h r e e alterations were made in the constitution of the South Australian team which left Adelaide on March 27th for a short trip to West Australia, C. Hill, in addition to O’Connor and Whitty (on their way to England), not making the journey. The places were filled by the selection of W. P. Stuart, W. Sterling, and J. C. Reedman. Concerning the in­ clusion of Reedman, “ Recorder” of the Adelaide Observer remarks : “ With the last choice I do not agree on a point of principle. Reedman’s cricket this year no doubt justifies the compliment paid to him, but these visits have an educational influence, and it would be far better to take a young man from whom the State could reasonably hope to secure future service. In Reedman’s case this cannot be. The veteran has done splendidly in the past, but the selectors should have followed on the lines adopted in the case of Stirling, to whom the trip should prove valuable.” I n a match in South Australia on February 20th between Windsor and Avon, A. Crouch played an innings of 212 not out for the former side. “ I n the literature of cricket it is easy to relive the past,” says The Observer ; “ and very much of the past is associated with our Australian kinsmen. There are only two schools in cricket : the English school and the Australian school. That is one of the reasons why the Triangular Tournament made so little an. appeal to cricketers; South Africa was merely sending Home men who had either learned or developed their game in England. Mr. Reggie Schwarz and Mr. Frank Mitchell were not Colonials in the usual sense of the word, and Vogler owed to his engagement on the Lord’s Ground much of his advancement in the science of the game.” P l a y in g for Goodwood A.N.A. v. Es- sington in South Australia on February 27th, H. Patten took eight wickets for 21 runs. In his fourth over he bowled four batsmen with successive balls. This was the second time during the season that he had performed the feat. F it z r o y , playing on their own ground against Melbourne on February 20th., were all out for 30 in half-an-hour, G. Lanigan (12) alone reaching double fig­ ures. Warwick Armstrong and A. John­ ston bowled unchanged throughout the innings, each obtaining five wickets, the former at a cost of 15 runs and the latter of 14. News of Armstrong’s suc­ cess should prove of interest to English cricketers at the present time. I n a match at Williamstown, Victoria, on February 20th, H. Blackett, of the Ivanhoe C.C., took all ten wickets of Broughton Street (North Melbourne) for 2 runs. I n the Pennant match at Richmond on February 27th between Essendon and Richmond, one of the umpires lost his count on three occasions of the number of balls delivered during the over. In each instance a seventh was sent down, with the result that Kelly was stumped off one, Collins run out off another, and Dean, who made 73, missed off the third. A m a tc h was played on the Melbourne cricket ground in February between old players of the Melbourne C.C. and All Comers. The respective sides included several players of the early days, and amongst the onlookers was Mr. J. C. Brodie, who played for Victoria against New South Wales in 1860. It is intended to make the match an annual fixture, in order to bring the veterans together. A number of apologies were received from old players who were unable to attend, and general regret was expressed at the absence of Mr. J. Conway through severe illness. At lunch Mr. G. B. Gordon, of the M.C.C. Committee, presided, and the toasts included “ The King,” “ The Captains” (Messrs. T. Horan and W. H. Peryman),“ The Originators of the Match” (Messrs. Horan and Duthoit), and Messrs. B. J. Wardill and E. B. Manning, who had got the teams together. It was arranged that a batsman making 30 runs should retire, and that distinction was achieved by Messrs. Horan and Propsting for the M.C.C., and McAlister for All Comers. Begg, for the latter team, made 28. The most successful bowlers were Robertson, four for 41; Power, two for 27, and Fairbairn, two for 11, for M.C.C.; and McAlister, six for 30, for All Comers. After a most interesting game M.C.C. won by 1 run, scoring 122 against All Comers’ 121. The veteran T. Horan, after surviving a doubtful decision for stumping, played a great defensive innings for M.C.C., going in first and retiring with 32 to his credit, when only one wicket had to fall. T h e r e was some remarkable scoring in the match between Wesley College and Geelong College on the latter’s ground, in Victoria, on March 13th. Wesley College scored 710, of which number J. A. Prout, the captain, was responsible for as many as 459, which is the fourth largest indi­ vidual innings upon record. He gave four chances, the first at 190, and hit seven 6’s, a 5, and sixty-two 4’s. W a r r e n B a r d s l e y , who made 264 in the match at Melbourne between the Australian Eleven and Rest of Australia, scored 217 not out for Glebe v. North Sydney on February 27th. F rom the Sydney Referee :— “ J. R. M. Mackay has decided to return to Uralla to take up station life. Though physically he looks in the pink of health, he has not yet thoroughly regained his wonder­ ful sight, and this fact makes it difficult for him to achieve any success, with the bat. He sees the ball too late to make the strokes of which he was such a masterly exponent. He may yet regain all his optic powers, and if so cricket may know his features again; but if not, “ Sunny Jim ” will never be for­ gotten by his chums of Sydney cricket for his bright and happy disposition, or by the