Cricket 1910

J une 30, 1910. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 235 M id d l e s e x have been playing at the top of their form of late, and at the moment are a good second in the Cham­ pionship table to Kent, the percentage of the two leading sides being 70'00 and 66'66. Sussex, Notts, and Lancashire, with 5000, are bracketed for the third place. Middlesex possess one of the most promising all-round cricketers of the day in Hearne (J. W .), and unless something unforseen occurs it is likely that the famous name will be kept before the public for several years to come. The play of Middlesex at Portsmouth on Sat­ urday and at Lord’s on Tuesday left nothing to be desired. T h e following table shows what the present position of the counties would be in the “ A D ivision”— the actual contest for the Championship—if Lord Hawke’s reform scheme had been accepted this yea r:— Won. Drawn. Lost. Points. Kent ............... 4 ... 2 ... 0 ... 4 Sussex ... ... 3 ... 0 ... 2 ... 1 Yorkshire............... 3 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 Surrey ............... 3 ... 1 ... 3 ... 0 M iddlesex............... 2 ... 1 ... 2 ... 0 Worcestershire ... 2 ... 2 ... 2 ... 0 Lancashire 2 ... 3 ... 2 ... 0 Notts......................... 2 ... 1 ... 3 ... —1 Northants. ... 2 ... 0 ... 3 ... —1 Hampshire ... 1 ... 1 ... 5 ... —4 These figures show how the principal counties have fared in matches worth seriously considering, and ought also to make the fact plain that, in order to prove the value of winning matches outright, it was not necessary to resort to an eccentric method of scoring that reduces the whole competition to an incoherent handicap. I n the “ B Division ” Warwick, with 2 points, and Essex, with 1, would be lead­ ing at the moment. The remaining first- class county matches—those between clubs in the different divisions, which would have been outside the competition, —had up to Monday resulted in 21 vic­ tories, 11 drawn games and 4 defeats for the members ofthe “ A ” reservation, who would thus seem to be, collectively, about five times as strong as the other group of clubs that are supposed to be trying to win the Championship. E v e n persons high in authority have before now found the revision of the mode of reckoning the Championship beset with pitfalls. But what shall be said of a writer in a “ cricket edition ” of last Saturday who, after premising “ that it is fairer this year than it has been here­ tofore,” proposes further to improve this year’s method by basing the percentage “ on the matches won to the matches played to a finish ! " This, of course, is a simplified formula for the very system which had been in use for fifteen years, until an amateur contingent last spring revolted against the trammols of arithmetic ! I t would be wonderful indeed if the most extravagent method of computation ever devised did not possess some sort of advantage or merit in some respect. One cannot grudge the favourers o f “ the Lancashire rule,” therefore, the short­ lived jo y with which they fancied they had discovered such in their bantling and ascribed to it a couple of fine finishes on Saturday week. W e may even forgive them for claiming its triumph upon the arrival of this first piece of “ evidence ” instead of awaiting the whole season’s testimony which we had just settled down to collect in patience. B u t from the precipitate burst of jubilation which these two 1 definite re­ sults ” evoked, one might have imagined that never before in the history of cricket had a county team thought it advisable to “ go for a w in ” instead of playing out time. It does not flatter the intelligence of county cricketers to assume that the only way of impressing them with the advantage of such a course was to penalize unfinished games of all descriptions equally with defeats of the greatest mag­ nitude. And it is preposterous that such splendidly successful efforts as Sussex and Derby have recently made to escape defeat from Warwick should not only avail them nothing but be regarded as positive offences against the spirit of the game. W h e n the anti - arithmeticians claim that their innovation is “ livening up the gam e” and “ reducing the average of draws,” one is tempted to counsel them, in the historic phrase, to “ wait and ^ee,” or failing that to refer back to friend “ W isden ” and discover whether such things were always entirely unknown under the old order. S m it h , of Surrey, is the only bowler who has secured as many as a hundred wickets in first-class matches during the present season. When this week’s match between Surrey and Oxford University commenced he required one wicket to make his aggregate a three- figure one, and he obtained it when Sale was caught off him on Tuesday morning. Although Smith has done much fine work during the past decade, this is the first season in which he has taken as many as a hundred wickets. Last year he secured 95 for 12-43 runs each. T w ic e within the space of nine days Lancashire have been beaten without the match extending beyond the second afternoon, Surrey defeating them at the Oval last week and Notts at Trent Bridge as recently as Tuesday last. The latter side took ample revenge for the reverse they sustained at Manchester ten days before, seeing that the margin in their favour was an innings and more than a hundred runs, but fortune was very kind to them throughout and the probability is that, under precisely similar conditions, several less powerful counties would have succeeded in inflicting a heavy reverse. B a t t i n g first on a perfect wicket, Notts scored over 400 and then saw the whole nature of the ground change, as the result of bright sunshine after heavy rain, before Lancashire could go in. Notts certainly did excellent work in making so many runs, but the match will always be chiefly remembered for the superb batting of Tyldesley (J. T.) in the firsts innings of the losers. When no other member o f the side seemed equal to keeping up his wicket, he not only succeeded in doing so but forced the game so brilliantly that in the course of an hour he scored 77 whilst only eleven other runs were made. It was a display which none but a great master could have given. T h e first match between Lancashire and Nottingham took place in 1868, and of the 68 which have now been played the former have won 26 and the latter 19. The remaining 23 have been drawn. A t St. James’ Church, Spanish Place, yesterday Mr. Basil S. Foster was married to Miss Gwendoline Brogdeu, who has been playing Cinderella in “ Pinkie and the Fairies ” at His Majesty's. Father Bernard Vaughan, assisted by Canon Gildea, performed the ceremony. All the bridegroom’s cricket­ ing brothers were present with the exception of Mr. M. K. Foster, who is in the Malay States, and among the others present were Mr. Simpson-Hayward, the Hon. C. N. Bruce, the Duchess o f Rut­ land, the Countess of Londesborough and many stage celebrities. After the cere­ mony Mr. and Mrs. Foster left for Paris on the way to Venice, where the honey­ moon will be spent. T h e absence of the Foster brothers from the Worcestershire team naturally had much to do with the victory of Yorkshire at Leeds on Tuesday by 109 runs, though whether the visitors would have pulled off the game even if fully represented is open to question, for the match was played cn a wicket which gave the bowlers assistance, especially on the second day. Last year, it will be remembered, Worcestershire won both their matches with Yorkshire, and the probability is that on a hard wicket they are quite as strong this season as the north-countrymen. T h e improved batting form shown recently by N. C. Tufnell for Cambridge reminds one that during the three years he wa3 a member o f the Eton Eleven he was a very useful run-getter. H is best season was in 1906 when, with 65 as his highest score, he made 343 runs with an average of 28’58, occupying second place to Pearson-Gregory. In South Africa during the past winter he did very little, his scores in chronological order being 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 16, 2, 5 and 14. In the middle of the present month, how­ ever, he played an innings of 69 against Yorkshire and on Monday scored 102 before lunch against H . D. G. Leveson- Gower’s X I. at Eastbourne. He belongs to a family which can place eleven members in the field, and is qualified for Surrey.