Cricket 1910

4X0 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 1 5 , 1 9 1 0 . Worcestershire Eleven being seen at Dudley next year, and that as soon as convenient work will be commenced to make the ground fit for inter-county cricket. N o t w it h s t a n d in g that they lacked the services of the bowler o f the year, Lord Londesborough’s England Eleven beat the M.C.C.’s South African team by almost a hundred runs— a result which did not occasion the least surprise. Hobbs and Rhodes, who made so many fine scores for the first wicket whilst 011 tour, could score only 27 runs in their four innings and their failure naturally meant much to the side. Probably both are suffering from a surfeit of cricket, for they have been playing almost without a break since April, 1909. It was a fast bowler’s match, Buckenham, Burns and Hirst proving deadly in turn. Sight must not be lost, however, of the most skilful batting on the part of Mr. Warner, who made exactly a hundred runs in his two innings against some excellent bowling. T h e pitches provided during the Scar­ borough Festival were all that could be desired, but the outfield was bad, owing, it was said, to the fact that football was allowed to be played on the ground during the winter. Efforts had been made to repair the turf in places, but the result was not very satisfactory for not only were some of the newly-planted patches an eyesore but in some of them the grass was apparently quite dead. Two unusual entries are to be found in the score of the last match of the Scarborough Festival. They are: — J. W. H. T. Douglas, lbw, b Buckenham ................... 13 Denton, b Hirst ................... 28 Blythe also made Hutchings appear quite uncomfortable, though he did not succeed in getting him out. A m o n g the spectators present at Scarborough on Friday was H is Royal Highness Prince Henry o f Prussia, who was attended by Lord and Lady Londes­ borough. S. H . S a v il l e , who was introduced into the Middlesex team with such success this year, scored 104 not out for South Lynn against Eastbourne Banks on Satur­ day. On the same afternoon, Tate, the Sussex bowler of former days, made 115 for Beckton v. Lessness Park and, like Saville, carried out his bat. R e f e r r in g to the fact that this week marks the close o f the first-class season, the Morning Post observes :— “ What makes the first-class cricketer regretful rather than relieved at the call of ‘ Time ” is the undoubted fact that in the intervals between showers the game has been played more briskly and more cheerfully than usual. The credit for this is due to the captains of the teams competing for the County Championship, though the new system of scoring points in that competition may have had something to do with it. On the whole luck has been kind to that system. True, the position of Lancashire in the table does great injustice to the merits of the Lancashire Eleven : the strong sense of humour notoriously possessed by the good folk of Manchester is being severely tried by the knowledge that if they had not devised a scheme which penalised draws equally with defeats their team would have won a place more worthy of its merits. But the possi­ bilities of absurdity have not been thoroughly realised. Some few years ago Yorkshire went through the season undefeated, but gained one less victory than Kent. If the present system of scoring had been in vogue the undefeated team would have lost the Championship. What ‘ Old Ebor ’ and all the young Ebors would have said in public and in private cannot be printed here.” T h e same writer remarks:— “ In such a summer as that from which we have recently suffered the bowler needs no artificial assistance. But when for weeks on end a succession of hard, fast pitches place him at a disadvantage the cry for fresh legis­ lation is bound to be heard again. When that time comes we trust that the Minor Counties will, if their offer is still open, be asked to try the effect of a very simple alter­ ation in the rules. At present it is the umpire’s duty to give to the batsman the benefit of any doubt which he may have in his mind. Substitute “ bowler ” for “ bats­ man” and the effect may turn out to be far-reaching. We shall, of course, be re­ minded that the rules are intended to govern all classes of cricket, from the big matches at Lord’s down to those played in Victoria Park, where the cover-point of one game and the long-leg of another stand back to back for mutual protection. We shall be told that our suggestion would only work well when the umpires are men of the highest capacity and strictly impartial. Our answer is that the umpire who is incapable will make the same number of mistakes, however the laws are worded whieh he is supposed to adminis­ ter, while he who is the twelfth man of his side never has any doubt in his mind from which either batsmen or bowlers of the op­ posing team can derive any benefit.” P l a y in g for Richmond Park against Hounslow Garrison on the latter’s ground on the 7th inst., F. L. Hunt took four wickets with consecutive balls. L a s t month a Tournament, in which the Wanderers, Minneapolis, Toronto, Winnipeg aud a United States team took part, was played at Chicago. In the first game Dr. E . R. Ogden, turning out for the Wanderers, scored 50 not out after h aving'been away from the game for fifteen years ; he will be recalled by the majority of Cricket readers as the captain of tho Canadian team which visited England in 1887. The games in last month’s Tournament resulted as follows :— A ugust 6 th . Wanderers ............................................... 240 M inneapolis............................. 54 and 49 W anderers won b y an innings and 137 runs. A ugust 8 th . M inneapolis............................. 57 and 76 T o ro n to ........................... ........................... 167 Toronto won b y an innings and 34 runs. A u g u st 9 t ii . W innipeg ..................... 222 and 53 for 1 T o ro n to ...................................... ........... 187 W innipeg w on b y 35 runs. A u g u st 10 t h . W innipeg ............................................... 198 M inneapolis............................. 52 and 65 W innipeg w on b y an innings and 81 runs. A u g u s t 1 1 th . W anderers .............................. 57 and 142 T o ro n to ........................................................ 166 Toronto w on b y 109 runs. A u g u st 12 t h . A Canadian X I.......................................... 281 A United States X I........................ 302 for 8 The latter w on b y tw o w ickets. Three of their players did not appear, and their places w ere filled by Canadians. A u g u st 13 t h . W innipeg .............................. 83 and 86 W anderers .............................. ............ 148 Wanderers w on by 65 runs. Winnipeg, Toronto and the Wanderers tied for first place, each team winning two matches and losing one. F. P e a r s o n , of Worcestershire, is going out to New Zealand for the winter to take up the engagement at Auckland usually filled by A. E . Relf, who, in company with Robert R elf and Killick, sailed for India last week. T h e South Africans who have accepted the invitation to visit Australia this winter are:— P. W. Sherwell, G. A. Faulkner, C. B. Llewellyn, B. O. Schwarz, A. D. Nourse, A. E. Vogler, T. Campbell, M. Commaille, J. W. Zulch, L. Stricter, O. Pearse. Replies have not yet been received from Gordon White, M. Hathorn, S. J.Pegler and S. J. Snooke, though, Ibelieve, that the first-named declined the invitation for business reasons and was asked to reconsider his decision. The team is due to sail for Australia on October 7th. In the circular letter to the invited players the sum o f twelve shillings a day was set down for out-of-pocket expenses — an amount which by some of them was considered quite inadequate. A l a n M a r s h a l sailed for Australia on the 12th inst. from Liverpool in the s.s. Ayrshire. On the previous day he had played a magnificent innings o f 259 not out for Whitcomb Wanderers v. M r . W . Jones’ X I. at Acton :— W h it c o m b W a n d e r e r s . G. Pratt, c Travis, b P a g e .................... ... 66 E. H endrcn, c Knapp, b Travis ........................24 W. Giddings, c Travis, b Jones ........................62 A. Marshal, not out ...259 T. Ilalsall, c Ford, b P a g e ................................ If J .W . Filliston, c Allec, b Phipps ............ E. Shackelford, c Green, b Allee S. Page, run out J. Sm ith, n ot out ... Byes, &c............... Total (7 wkts)*457 G. Ford, R. A. Philpot, and G. Cooper did not bat. His most remunerative hits were thirteen 6’s and thirty-six 4’s. This is the second largest score he has ever made in England, being surpassed only by his