Cricket 1910

24 - CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F e b . 24, 1 9 1 0 . H. GRADIDGE And SONS, Manufacturers o f all Requisites for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets, Hockey, Football, and all British Sports. C t i c h e t : A WEEKL V RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. PATENTEES AND SOLE MAKERS & OF THE % $ I Used by Q all the Leading yA Players. ^ Made in Man’s, Small Mem’s, *r Calle*•, 6, 6, 4, A I llZM. P r i c e l.lH 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. Rebladlng a Speciality. Factory; A r t iller y P l a c e , WOOLWICH. NOTICE TO OUR RE&DERS. Cricket will be published monthly during the Winter as follows :— No. 827.—OCTOBER 28th, 1909. No. 828.—NOVEMBER 25th, 1909. No. 829.—DECEMBER 21st, 1909. No. 830.—JANUARY 27th, 1910. No. 831.—FEBRUARY 24th, 1910. No. 832.—MARCH 31st, 1910. The above series sent post free to any part of the world for 9d. T erm s o f S u b s crip tio n 3,9 per annum. Payable in advance. All communications ta be sent direct to the Offices of Cricket, 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. Cricket is the only paper in the world solely devoted to the game. Weekly, April to September. Monthy, October to March. THURSDAY, FEB . 24 th , 1910 . The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. — Hamlet. E a c h of the last four games played by the English team in Soutli Africa has been won, but, except in the match with the Transvaal at Johannesburg, the opposing sides were not particularly strong. The Border put up a good fight, and, after holding a small lead on the first innings, were beaten by only four wickets, but both Queenstown and Eastern Province were defeated by an innings. Th e Transvaal match, which was won only a few minutes before time, and after a stubborn and plucky stand for the last wicket by L e Roux and Ward, was deprived of some o f its import­ ance by the absence o f S. J. Snooke, Faulkner, Campbell and Floquet. The success, however, was still a meritorious one, and due, one can add with much pleasure, chiefly to the batting of Denton, who until then had seemed quite unable to reproduce the form which had placed him in the first flight of English batsmen. I t is remarkable that, after scoring 232 runs in eleven a-side matches with an average o f 17'84, Denton should have made 139 and 138 in a match wherein Vogler, White, and Schwarz were among the bowlers opposed to him. This sudden return to form will enable Englishmen to look forward more hopefully to the three Test matches which have yet to be played inasmuch as it points to the probability of the efforts of Hobbs and Rhodes being better supported than they have been hitherto. Denton has now made two separate hundreds in a first-class match on three occasions, the former instances being for Yorkshire v. Notts at Trent Bridge in 1906, when he made 107 and 109 not out, and for Yorkshire v. M.C.C. and Ground at Scarborough in 1908, when his scores were 131 and 121. Other players who have made two separate centuries in a match in South Africa are E. Beech, E. G. McDonald, Capt. A. C. Richards, P. Smith, A. B, Tancred and T. Walker. T he chief honours of the match now in progress against the Transvaal have gone to Zulch (176*) and Strieker (101), who made 215 together in 155 minutes. This feat was a noteworthy one, despite the absence o f Thompson and Buckenham, inasmuch as it is the largest score ever made by South Africans for an opening partnership against English bowling. Whereas nine Test - match players appeared for the Transvaal in the first game, only five are taking part in the present fixture. C oncerning the success of Simpson- Hayward’s lobs in the first Test match— at Johannesburg, in January—Mr. E . W . Ballantine, writing in the Latest, re­ marks “ The Wanderers Ground used to be surrounded by a cycle track, which was banked pretty high. It had been removed, except by the bowling screens. Consequently, there is quite 3ft. of red sandy soil at the bottom of the bowling screens to the level of the ground proper. Simpson-Hayward got several of his wickets with a ball very low in flight, and, as the ball is delivered from the height o f the knee, I believe that the background, being the same colour as the ball, had something to do with the phenomenal bowling.” R eaders of Cricket can hardly be unaware of the war that is waging in the cricket world over the proposal to divide the County Championship. The first response to Lord Hawke’s circular has been an almost unanimous refusal on the part o f the County Committees to support the scheme, tempered only by recom ­ mendations from some o f them to amend the existing arrangement in different respects. Meanwhile, those who are advocating an alteration mainly on the lines mentioned by Lord Hawke express confidence that it will be effected in the near future. An impression certainly exists that the dislocation of County Cricket which must result from the visit of two Colonial teams in 1912 will lead to a large reduction of the principal counties’ fixtures, and that, as it comes to be better understood, the Divisional scheme will recommend itself as the best means of averting a possible fiasco, and so will at least be accorded a trial. T he flood of controversy that this proposal has let loose has covered every real or imaginary evil of modern cricket, many o f the writers bowling very wide of the question at issue. The alternative remedies for a defective system o f con­ ducting a competition have ranged from fancy methods of scoring, lbw amendment and adjudication on drawn games right down to covered seats, cheap refresh­ ments, and a band at the interval. But why not living pictures and a flip-flap ? T h e Yorkshire County C.C. Committee have decided to approve o f a trial being accorded the scheme in 1912, subject t o . the method of scoring being that a win should count one point and drawn and lost games be ignored, and Essex have expressed themselves in favour o f the project. The counties which have re­ solved not to support the scheme are Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Somerset, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Notts, and Derbyshire. F o r some time past it has been rumoured that Lord Dalmeny will frequently captain the Surrey Eleven during the approaching season. His return to the position, especially if he could assist the side at all regularly,