Cricket 1910

J an . 27, 1910. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 9 hon. secretary, and Mr. Fowler lion, treasurer. Miss M a r y L i l l y w h i t e , sister of the well-known cricketer James, has just resigned her position as organist at the parish church at Westhampnett, near Chichester, after fifty years’ service. During the half-century mentioned she took holiday on only five Sundays, and she has always lived in the parish in a house belonging to a Duke of Bichmond. Two alterations have been made in Lancashire’s fixture-list for the coming season. The match with Essex arranged to be played at Manchester on May 23rd, 24th and 25th has been transferred to Liverpool, while that with Somerset on the three following days will take place at Old Trafi'ord instead of at Aigburth. T h e work accomplished by the brothers Crawford during 1909 worked out as follows :— Runs. Wkts. V. F. S................... 1,461 ... 17 R. T ....................... 683 ... 138 J. N....................... 1,259 ... 81 Y . F. S., who bowled only five times during the season, has now scored 38,220 runs and taken 1,257 wickets during his career. T h e Gloucestershire balance-sheet to be presented at the Annual General Meeting at Bristol to-day shows that, thanks to the generous response from guarantors — ,£430 — the financial con­ dition of the Club is not so bad as was anticipated would be the case. This sum, with ifcl,8S2 match receipts, ,±'958 members’ subscriptions, .£308 share of Test-match profits, and .£368 balance in hand, brought the total receipts to .£'3,967. The normal income, however, amounted to only .£2,851, while the expenditure was .£3,585, the principal item being ±'1,467 expenses of players. The net balance in hand is .£253 shares in the Gloucestershire County Ground Company held by the Club. J. H. King, of Leicestershire, has selected the match with Nottinghamshire for the benefit allotted to him this year. The rivalry between the neighbouring counties is invariably keen, and only fine weather is necessary to make the match the success everyone hopes it will be. F r o m the Adelaide Observer of December 1 1 th :— “ Miss Pearl Manuel, playing in Ladies' Association cricket against Broken Hill teams, has put up some good bowling averages. On the last three successive Wednesdays she has secured 8 wickets for 6 runs, 7 for 9, and 7 for 7. The latter performance was against the Mignonettes, and included the hat-trick. Miss Manuel bowls lefthanded." “ Possibly never has a more remarkable run been scored than one by Meldrum (Sturt) against Ports last week. Howard sent down a “ daddy " ball, and Meldrum literally did not know where he was. Instinctively he jammed down his bat, and then at Windsor's call made a lightning dart down the pitch. The ball squirmed a few inches and then settled in the b lo ck ! But fieldsmen were too astounded to make an effective dash for a run out. ’’ The late Mr. W . J. Ford used to relate how a batsman at Cambridge played the ball from a bowler gently and made a run whilst it was actually touching the stumps. A fast bowler was on at the time and the wicket-keeper standing back. “• F e l i x ” is responsible for the state­ ment that when play should have com ­ menced on the Saturday in the match between South Australia and Yictoria at Adelaide, “ part of the ground was under water, and the Victorians actually spotted a frog on the pitch. The frog was alive.” “ L a w s ,” someone once said, “ were made to be broken.” Especially would such seem to be the case concerning the appearance in Sheffield Shield matches of players not qualified to do so. In the annual report of the New South Wales Cricket Association for 1893-4 it was stated:— “ The Associations of Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales have adopted a resolution to the effect that no player shall be eligible for selection in future inter-colonial matches unless he has been a bona-fide resident of the colony for three months immediately preceding the match to be played. ” The rule, however, has frequently been violated, and the latest instance— that of J. N. Crawford, who played for his State eleven days after his arrival at Adelaide —will probably result in the question of qualification being discussed again at an early date. C r a w f o r d arrived at Adelaide on December 6 th, and five days later took six wickets for 39 runs for East Torrens against Adelaide. Since then he has shown such excellent all-round form in the matches with New South Wales and Victoria that the winning of the Sheffield Shield by South Australia must be attribu­ ted to no small extent to his skill. With Clem Hill still able to make runs as pro- lifically as ever, and many o f the younger brigade developing into players of the very front rank, South Australia possesses to­ day perhaps the strongest team it has ever had. Bees, since his return from Singa­ pore, has developed the Bosanquet ball, and the advent of Crawford of course strengthened the side enormously. The only occasion before this season on which the State gained the Shield was in 1893-4, when the Competition took place for the first time. “ T h e A lm a n a c ,” writing in the Melbourne paper Sport and Playgoer, says “ 1 was shown a great curiosity the other day— an egg laid by a cockatoo 40 years of age. It formerly belonged to Mrs. Hill, Clem Hill’s mother, and when he was a little boy this cockatoo used to chase him all round the yard and peck his legs. It was a splendid talker, and they did not like to destroy it, so they made it a present to Mr. Geo. Palmer, who has had it ever since ; and now this is where Clem Hill comes in. Every time this cockatoo has laid an egg Clem llill has made a century ; and after the last egg it laid, a few days ago, Clem camc along and made 176 at the Victorians’ expense. The next time Hill plays against Victoria some well-wisher of Victoria should buy or smuggle the bird, to upset ‘ Hill’s mascot.’ ” One can only surmise that the cockatoo has been very busy this season, for Hill, in addition to scoring well in club cricket, has made 176 against Victoria at Adelaide, 205 at the expense of New South Wales at Adelaide, and 185 in the return with Victoria, at Melbourne. I n the opinion of Dr. Bamsay Mailer, a member of the Melbourne Club Com­ mittee, who was in England last season, “ Cricket is on the down-grade all over the world.” He attributes the decadence to golf, and the great hold it has taken on the public. Such a sweeping state­ ment is easy to make, but impossible to justify. F o r Carlton v. St. Kilda, on the latter’s ground on November 6 th, Sewart (149 not out) and Dick (112) put on 245 for the fourth wicket. The total of the side was 322 for five wickets, innings declared closed. Sewart played occasionally for East Melbourne a few years ago, and afterwards went to Brisbane for a season to coach the local cricketers. He is regarded as one of the .most promising batsmen in Melbourne. On November 27th he was responsible for another three- figure score, making 110 against Mel­ bourne. In successive innings this season he has made 26, 29 not out, 149 not out, 110 and 27. In the ladies match between East Melbourne and Loongana on November 13th, the latter were dismissed for 30 and 7 and beaten by an innings and 49 runs, The feature of the match was the bowling of Miss Pearl Scanlan, who took five wickets for 12 runs in the first innings and nine for 1 in the second. Her analysis in the final stage of the game w as:— Balls. Mdns. Run. Wkts. 24 3 ........... 1 ........... 9 She obtained two wickets in each of the first, second and third overs, and wound up by securing the hat-trick with the last three balls of the fourth over. Eight of her wickets were bowled and one caught. She bowls over-arm and medium pace. “ I f Saunders, Beeves and Cannon all get a place in the Victorian Eleven, there will be a rare opportunity for some bowler to improve his average,” says “ Observer” of the Melbourne Argus. “ Three worse batsmen have rarely played in a first-class eleven. Yet Saunders, I am told, was originally selected by the North Mel­ bourne Methodists as a batsman. Either Saunders has had a bad relapse or the North Melbourne Methodists are without ambition.” In the C section match in the South Suburban Churches Association (Mel­ bourne) on November 27th between St. Michael’s, North Carlton, and H oly Trinity, Coburg, the latter collapsed for 6 and 7 and were beaten by an innings and 64 runs. G. Gardner took eight wickets for 2 runs (3 for 1 and 5 for 1) and F. Dunn ten for 10 (7 for 5 and 3 for 5).