Cricket 1910

J u l y 7 , 1 9 1 0 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 2 4 3 AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By P. S. A siiley -C ooper . The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in The Evolution of a Cricket Bat , which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. CRICKET IMF ROVED MAKE - KEEP THEIR SHAPE-LAST LONCERl C A T A L O G U E UPON APPLICATION. BUSSETS RACKETS C A lA L O G U E U PO N A P P L IC A T IO N . C A T A L O G U E U P O N A P P L IC A T IO N . R T T O S ’ U U u u j j H'.'T.v j r « ■ r s m r^sOCIAT,^ f A N D ‘ el II r O T l M L O MMPflOVEDMAKE-KEEPTHEIR SHAPE-LASTLONGER I « U G B V Hite* J C A T A L O G U E U PO N A P P L IC A T IO N . IH IB h M B B I ^ D E M O N D R I V E R S 8 fC.[ Q ARE OUT AND OUT THE BEST. ^OTHER GRADES 7 - 6 ' 5 * - ^ g- V-J Q 3 '6 - £ - Ci'.TA'uOGULONAPPUCATION. P .^ C A T A L O G U E U PO N A P P L IC A T IO N TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co.. L td 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills — PBCKHAM, S.E. ELMSWBLL, SUFFOLK A g e n ts a ll ov er th e w o rld . Nothing more surprising has been seen for a long time than the play in this week’s University match at Lord’s. Before the sides entered the field Cambridge were favourites, and that they should have been beaten by an innings and over a hundred runs in a couple of days was an event which not even the most enthusiastic supporter of Oxford could have prophesied in his least sane moments. When it is stated that the Oxonians gained an advantage by winning the toss one has said everything which can be advanced in mitigation of the Cambridge rout. For their severe reverse the Light Blues had only themselves to thank. Their work in the field was often anything but brilliant, and they appeared to lack a batsman capable of facing Le Couteur with any determination. Many bad-length balls they allowed to escape punishment, and their tactics in playing back to almost everything that Le Couteur sent down must be held chiefly responsible for their dismissal twice in just over four hours for an aggregate of 189. The game will go down into history as “ Le Couteur’s Match,” and rightly so, for no player could hardly have done more for his side either with bat or ball. Le Couteur, as most «people are aware, is a Victorian Bhodes scholar, and, although he played with success for Melbourne Grammar School and Melbourne University before coming to England, his form was scarcely such as to suggest that he would be capable of winning a University match almost single-handed. When batting against Cambridge he, quite rightly, took risks, and therefore the fact that his play was not chanceless was not surprising. Four times he offered a chance of being got out, but on each occasion the catch was dropped and very dearly did Cambridge have to pay for the blunders. When speaking of Le Couteur’s batting one must not overlook the fact that Hooman also scored well at a criiical time. The pair came together when four men were out for 30, and by adding 104 in partnership prevented the collapse which appeared possible, if not probable. Le Couteur, after his great innings, took eleven wickets for six runs each. He is a leg-break bowler with a leg-break action about five balls an over. He has a different ball, like every other leg-break bowler, and there may be batsmen who cannot see the change of action. On the other hand Lock­ hart, with whom he has at times been compared, is an off break bowler with a so- called leg-break action, and an occasional leg-break: hence he is a “ googly ” bowler. He seems to have turned on a new ball occasionally which is apparently an ordinary off-break with ordinary action. It was in 1827 that the Universities met for the first time. Charles Wordsworth, a nephew of the poet, and for five years a member of the Harrow Eleven, was respon­ sible for the match being arranged. He himself was an Oxford man, whilst his father was Master of Trinity, Cambridge: he thus had peculiar advantages in forming ac­ quaintances at both Universities, and to this fact the success of his negotiations must chiefly be attributed. Wordsworth, who became Bishop of St. Andrews, tried to bring about a match in 1826, but was unable to do so : and it was only through telling his tutor, Longley (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), that he wished to visit London in order to consult a dentist that he succeeded in playing at Lord’s in 1827. A few words concerning the founder of the inter-Univer- sity match may be considered appropriate at the present time. He learned to play cricket when quite a small boy at Sevenoaks, in Kent, his father being Vicar of Sundridge, a village near, and throughout his long life — he died in his eighty-seventh year — retained his interest in the game. Of his Sevenoaks days he himself has told how “ Once when we were playing a game in our school ground, I made a good catch, and the Doctor happening to see it, as he was standing just then at his study window, threw me out a sixpence as a reward for my dexterity, and an encouragement to future achievements in the same line! ” Words­ worth was a left-handed bowler, but batted right. That he was a good player is evident from the fact that in May, 1831, he made 328 runs in three in n iD g s on consecu­ tive days at Oxford—very heavy scoring for those days of rough wickets. So good a judge of the game as the Bev. James Pycroft has said that he was “ a brilliant bat—a very free hitter. No University eleven, before or since, could ever have left him out,” which was praise, indeed coming from such a source. But, although his bat­ ting was so good, it was as a bowler that he shone in the famous match of 1827: he scored only 8 runs, but took seven wickets in the Cambridge innings of 92. The match was drawn, but, as Oxford led by 266 runs on the first innings, there cannot be much doubt what the result would have been had it been found possible to play out the game. Wordsworth’s success as a cricketer was somewhat remarkable, for he had a constitutional weakness which attended him through life. He has said that ‘ ‘ In cricket its effect was such that I could never hope to do myself justice, or to make a good score in any great or excit­ ing match.” It was owing to the fact that he was delicate that he was sent to Harrow, instead of with his brothers to Winchester, where a far sterner discipline was main­ tained. During the five years (1821—1825) that he was in the Harrow Eleven he played in the four matches which took place against Eton during that period, being virtually captain in his two last years. Eton and Harrow almost met on the former’s ground in 1821 : in fact, arrangements had gone so far that the Harrovians had actually ordered the postchaises to drive them over when the news arrived that Keate, the Etonian head­ master, had forbidden the match. Words­ worth played with distinct credit to himself in the four games mentioned, but was only once—in 1822—on the winning side. In his last year he played side by side with Henry Manning, afterwards the famous Cardinal, who was one of his greatest friends. In 1825 the Harrow v. Winchester match was played for the first time, and it is somewhat remarkable that the rival sides should have been led by brothers—Winchester by Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, and Harrow by Charles Words­ worth, who became Bishop of St. Andrew’s. The University match of 1827—the first of the long series—was drawn, there was no game in the following year, when Words­ worth averaged 41, but in 1829 the match was played for the second time, on the Magdalen ground, Oxford, and Cambridge were beaten by 115 runs. Wordsworth himself did little in the latter match, for he had thrown himself with zest into many sports—he was an expert at skating, rowing, tennis and rackets, as well as at crioket—