Cricket 1910

4 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J an . 27, 19 10 . TH E D IV IS IONAL CHAMP ION ­ SHIP. (Concludedfrom Vol. 28, page kf>9.) On several occasions the writer has posted up a season’s results by a Divisional method during its progress and this course has always shown what a pain its adoption would have meant in the impoitance of particular matches. Under the accepted conditions one usually sajs of the result of any game: ‘ It doesn’t matter much yet,” or “ now,” <r “ at all to poor old So-and-so,” but under the other conditions nearly every match would matter from start to finish. Interest would develop more quickly, as every decision would have an in­ versely greater bear'ng on the result of a curtailed competition ; and it would be sus­ tained for much longer, as a club would seldom be out of the innuing for the lead, or inextricably at the foot of a table, till its last match was decided ; and that interest would be spread over the doings of all the counties instead of being confined to the most for­ tunate or unfortunate two or three, lteverse the results of a couple of matches, of a club that stands at zero, and it is within a point of the Champions at 5 ; reverse two othet s, and it ties the whippers-in at—4. Under the M.C C. percentage mode it would have gone up <>r down a couple of places, perhaps, in the midst of a long tale of names. What a spur to int< rest! As things are, aud few people profess to understand them, counties vill frequently substitute two or three opponents in their re­ spective programmes; or one will even play half-a-dozen couniies that fome other fails to meet ai d they, therefore, cannot all be judged by results in co. responding matches. The Divisonal System would provide in­ stead a uniform as well as a simple, orderly, and under-tandable method of comparing results, together with a provision for promo­ tion and reduction, according to merit, quit * unaffected l y ] artiality. . And, above all, it would effcct a wonderful reduction in the numb* r of arduous competition matches, and the various forma of strain they entail on players and management—not to mention scribes and spectators who, of cour?e, count only a l.ttle bit. For example : Of the 2,444 matches that, I be i« ve, have been reckoned as in the Championship since 1894, only 970 would have been included in the Ch^mpionehip Proper ; 272 others would have been trans­ fen el to the Qualifying Competition; and no fewer than 1 , 202 , practically half the total, would have survived as slotting fix­ tures entirely outside the direct competi­ tion. These latter games between clubs, generally undeniably strong and wei.k on either side, have so usually ended in victories for the “ C. P.” clubs that the few excep­ tions lose all their value; yet thtse excep­ tional freaks of fortune in a game of chance have been a lowed to undo all the labours of effort and skill even to the extent,-as we have seen, of depriving counties of the Championship. As 1,152 matches would have made a com­ plete series in the Competition Proper, and 470 (since 1895—except for engagements with the Minor Chnmpions) in the Qualifying Competition, both sections could have been absolutely filled by the addition of 380 games between t-ides of approximately the same standard of strength; which would still have allowed 822 inter-divisional “ friendlies” to be played without adding one whit to the Counties’ fixtures as they have been ai ranged. Nor would the balance of extraneous matches have been entirely purposeless even from the competition standpoint. For, in cases where top or bottom clubs tied in their own competition, their inter-divisional games might be taken into account in deciding the better title to honours or translation. Such a means of adjudication was employed, in fact, in framing the accompanying tables, to three times award the championship and to five times elect a candidate for promotion. It would never have been necessary to use it in the matter of reduction. A few more words, showing how the com­ petition on Divisional lines would have effected the different counties, may possibly be acceptable. Yorkshire, during the whole sixteen years, would have been seven times Champions (as under the M.C.C. award) and would never have done worse than tie for third place in the Competition Proper, in which they wou’d have won, in all, 121 games to 29 defeats, a consistency that approaches the wonderful. In extra-competition games (against Qualify­ ing clubs) they would have scored 110 wins to 17 losses. Lancashire would never have done worse than tie for fourth place, and would twice Lave taken first honours (as under M.C.C. rules), scoring in all Competition pames 102 w'ns to 55 losses, aud 88 to 21 outside. Middlesex would once have held the front position, ar d never have dropped lower than seventh; scoring 68 wins to 54 losses iu the contest and 4L to 20 outside : another good level record instead of the absurdly unequal one that the M.C.C. arrangement has foist'd on the County of England’s favourite captain. Notts, a’so once flaring up to Cliampiou- ship point, would immediately have flickered down to eighth, and would have been some­ what lucky on the whole always to escape relegation, as eleven times their brackets were minus ones. Only these four would have avoided cool­ ing their heels at some time or other in the Qualifying Division. Surrey, twice Champions (instead of three tinns, as undfr authorized rules, in which 'ict rles over the lower counties have favour­ ed them), would have twice dismounted in the daik days of 1901-4, when they used to change their captain about twice a week. Arranging a full programme of sixteen matches, they would have succeeded, on each occasion, in winning only one match, and that, curiously, each time against the eighth county in the table, so that relegation was amply merited. But each time they would have proved the facility of getting back by emerging at the first attempt, iu spite of defeats from Somerset and Gloucester in the ranks of the Qualifiers. Kent, twice Champions, too (after battles whose excitement would have been tremend­ ously enhanced), would also have “ felt the draught ” in the 90’s, when they actually won the woo len spoon under the M.C.C. regula­ tions. During the three years of their supersession, it may be noted, their figures would never have earned them a higher place than seventh in the upper table, so that they would have had little reason either to cry out against fate. Yet they also got back with ridiculous ea«e. And, since their return in 1898, it is instructive to learn tbat Kent would have scored 70 wins to 12 losses, in extra matches, as against 47 to 48 in the Competition Proper; figures that should satisfy everybody of the foolishness of re­ taining the lower counties in the principal contest. Sussex would l ave gained the Champion­ ship in the palmy da's of “ Fry and Ranji,” au honour that the M C.C. lu’es have never accorded them, and which they have certainly deserved enjoying once. How it would have gratified the Jam Sahib! They would also have easily recovered from two periods in the Qualifying Division, during each of which retention in the other would only have meant a deficiency of points. Of the remaining nine counties, not one would ever have obtained the Championship under Divisional rules, anymore thau by the authorised reckoning; but, instead of all of them being permitted to encumber and dis­ organise its decision all the while, only six of them would have taken any part in it, for periods varying from the 14 years of War­ wick to the three of Leicester. Of these six Gloucester, with a total of 23 wins to 44 losses in six years of Championship ciicket, would have had the best return; Essex, Somerset, Warwick, Hants, and Leicester coming next in order. Worcester, Derby and Northampton would never have had a finger in the Cliampionsh:p pie, from which the plums they have actually t xtracted have not been many, though Northants would now be going up owing to a slightly superior record t > Worcester’s in inte:-divisional games (having won 5 to 6 losses, as agaiust the 6 to 8 of Worcester, and 0 to 7 of Essex, when playing the “ Proper ” candidates of 1909). The full re­ cords in finished games of the three least successful clubs, since their admission as Qualifican's, wou’d have leen :— Qual. Compn. Inter-Div. W. L. W. L. Worcester ... 29 18 ... ... 28 55 Nortliaiits ... 11 18 ... 9 34 Derby ... 20 45 ... ... 25 100 Judging by these, would it have been hardship or mercy, from theclubi’ own point of view to have restiicted their efforts, ex­ cept in Worcester’s best years, to a more modest sphere than a competition for the premiership amon,' the counties ? Onlookers, proverbially, see most of the game ; and, agam proverbifil'y, those who help to p iy the piper may help to call the tune ; so that it is open on a double qualifi­ cation for mere spectators to suggest remedies for the illsthey recoguise iu cricket. Onerealises, none the less, the wisdom of leaving the management of cricket to practical cricketers, and even regrets, perhaps, that the principle was not carried further, and County Cricket always left to the Council of County' Cricketers. Anyway, one is glad to find the Divisional system in favour among respected and influential leaders in the game’s existing councils, and perhaps after going through this mass of confirmatory matter, one of them may feel strengthened to put his hand o the plough and give it a practical introduction. So hopes onewhose desire for the welfare of thegame could not be keener if the hours he has spent in thinking out its problems had been passed in hopping between the creases. H. P.-T. P.S.—The terms of the Divisional Cham­ pionship referred to in this article are :— The Championship to be decided by the First class Counties competing among them­ selves in two Divisions. One Division, engaging in the Competition