Cricket 1910

CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 5, i g i o H. GRADIDGE And SONS, Manufacturers o f all Requisites for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets, Hockey, Football, and all British Sports. PATENTEES AND SOLE MAKERS Used by all the Leading Players. Il&de In Men’a, Bin&ll Item's, *r C «U «f • , 6, 5, 4, * I ■lzea. P r i c e L la ta , F r e e o n A p p l i c a t i o n . Of all First-Class Outfitters and Dealers. R e b l& d ln g a S p e c ia lity Factory ; A rtillery P lace , WOOLWICH. C r i c k e t : A WEEKL V RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET. LONDON, E.C. TH U R SD AY , MAY 5 t h , 1910. i j p a b t t u m ( B n s s t p . The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. — Ilavilet. A t the Annual General Meeting o f the M.C.C. at Lord’s last evening the retiring President (the Earl o f Chesterfield) nom i­ nated the Earl of Londesborough as his successor. William Francis Henry Deni­ son, who succeeded liis father as second Earl o f Londesborough in 1900, was born on December 30th, 1864. lie has been closely identified with cricket, and especi­ ally with the Scarborough Festival, for many years. T h is year the four members of the M.C.C. to retire by rotation were Messrs. C. E. Green, A. .T. Webbe, H . W . Cam ­ bridge and J. R . Mason. They have been succeedcd by the Earl of Chesterfield (the retiring President), the Duke of Rutland —who, as the Marquis of Granby, was President of the Club in 1934—Mr. P. J. de Paravicini and Mr. W . H. Patterson. L a s t year there were 5,248 members of the M.C.C., 353 of whom were life members and ‘265 abroad. It is proposed to limit the membership to six thousand. H .R .H . t h e P r in c e o f W a le s , who is the Patron of the Surrey County C.C., has headed the list of subscriptions for Apted’s benefit— Surrey v. Kent at the Oval in August— with a donation of three guineas. Needless to say, the beneficiare is naturally much pleased at this mark of Royal favour. A t the annual dinner of the Hampstead C.C. at the Trocadero on Saturday last, Mr. E . W . H . Beaton, the chairman, in the course of his speech announced that new members were required, not only to increase the playing strength of the club, but to assist in putting it on a sound financial basis. There was a deficit of nearly a hundred pounds to be made up, and it came as a genuine surprise to the great majority of those present when, later in the evening, Mr. F. R. D ’O. Munro announced that Mr. E. F. Weatherall, who had recently returned from abroad, and was not a member of the club, had offered to wipe otf the deficit. Fortuna fa vet fortibus. The musical portion of the evening, for the arrangements of which Mr. R. Leigh-Ibbs was responsible, was also a most pronounced success. M r . C la u d e G baham e W h it e , who made such a plucky attempt to fly from London to Manchester in order to win a prize of ten thousand pounds offered by a London newspaper, is a useful cricketer, and has taken part in a fair number of club matches in Sussex. I t will be remembered that last season there was much speculation as to the constitution of the team which would represent England in the Triangular tournament in 1912. Suggestions were made to the effect that it would prove a good plan to arrange a series of trial matches in which the most likely candi­ dates for selection could take part. W rit­ ing on this matter in the R eferee, Balin says “ Certain it is that several of our greatest players will in two years’ time be too old for Test matches. Ia order to give the younger generation a chance it would not be :i bad idea to restrict the Gentlemen and Players matches at Lord’s and the Oval this summer to men of under thirty, but it is not at all likely that such a drastic step will be taken. Our crickct authorities are not fond of innovations, f-till, something must be done to test the powers of the younger men, and the sooner we set to work the better the clnncc of building up a fine team.” This is a proposal which has much to re­ commend it, and one hopes that the powers that-be will give it careful con­ sideration. Its acceptance would not con­ stitute an innovation inasmuch as a prece­ dent could be found in the Gentlemen v. Players’ match at Lord’s in 18G2, when, owing to the fact that the former had not proved successful since 1853, all who were chosen were under 30 years of age, the idea being to make the match a more even one than it had been. I n my last budget of Gossip I chronicled the fact that E. C. Kirk, the Surrey amateur, had played a three-figure innings in his first match of the season. Last Saturday he again distinguished himself by taking eight wickets for 13 runs (performing the hat-trick) for Private Banks against Blackheath on the latter’s ground. Unfortunately, the claims of business will prevent him from being seen more than once or twice this season in county cricket, and that at a time when Surrey bowling in not too strong. M. J. S c s s k in d , the Middlesex cricketer who played such a fine innings last year at Lord’s for the Public Schools against M.C.C. and Ground, scored 130 not out for Pembroke v. Caius on the latter’s ground at Cambridge on April 27tli. H is chief strokes were a 5, twenty 4’s and five 3’s. He has already secured his Blue for athletics. I n the course of an article in last Satur­ day’s Field, Mr. G. J. V. Weigall re­ marks “ Like most cricketers, I am personally dead against the pooling of gates. I f a county cannot stand on its own legs, that is hardly a reason why its neighbours should have to buy crutches for it.” N e x t season Deyes, the Yorkshire fast bowler, will be qualified for Staffordshire, as also will Gill, who has played for both Somerset and Leicestershire. W illia m E r n e s t D a v is, who made 70 runs in the trial match at the Oval in the latter part o f last week, is a player whom the majority of the first-class counties would be glad to possess, for, in addition to being a free-hitting and successful batsman, he is a useful change bowler and a good field. He was born at Wimbledon on November 26th, 1880, and has been a meluber of the ground-staff at the Oval since 1897, when he was only sixteen years of age. Among his many good scores for Surrey may be mentioned his 1 1 2 v. Derbyshire at Chesterfield last season and his 102 v. Leicestershire at the Oval five years earlier. H is highest innings in any class cricket is 286 not out for Surrey Club and Ground against Leatherhead on the latter’s ground in 1907. This is the largest score ever obtained for Surrey Club and Ground, exceeding the late Mr. M. P. Bowden’s 284 against Northamptonshire at the Oval in 1888. W r it in g in the R eferee “ Gareth” says, concerning the season’s prospects, “ We are on the eve of the cricket season, and