Cricket 1910

4 2 6 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 2 2 , 1910. Africans were not thereby interfered with. It was also stated with regret that the services as Hon. Secretary of Mr. S. C. Whittred will not be available next season. The report says:—“ No praise can be too high for the untiring energy he has shown in the work o f the Association, and much of the successful working of the past two seasons is due to him .” O w in g to the visit of the South African team to Australia this winter, it has been found necessary to curtail the number of matches in the Sheffield Shield compe­ tition. It has been decided that Victoria and New South Wales will play only once against South Australia and each other, as follows :— November 25, 26, 28 and 29.—Victoria v. South Australia, at Melbourne. December 2, 3, 5 and 6. —New South Wales v. Victoria, at Melbourne. December 24, 26, 27 and 28.—Victoria v. New South Wales at Melbourne. It is understood that another match will be arranged if necessary. To my good friend F. F. Kelly I am indebted for the following n o te :—“ An unusual occurrence happened in the course of a League match between McGill and M .A.A.A. at Montreal on August 27th. When T. B. Motherwell was bowled by Lane, the ball which knocked the off stump out of the ground came straight back down the pitch and hit the wicket at the non-striker’s end, though not with sufficient force to dislodge the bails.” E l e v e n members of the Abel family, under the captaincy o f “ The Guv’nor,” will take the field against the Early Birds at the Oval to-day. Several of the famous batsman’s sons and nephews will be in­ cluded in the side. The match has been arranged as a benefit for George Abel, a brother of “ The Guv’nor,” and will com ­ mence at 11.30 a.m. A S c a r b o r o u g h correspondent writes: — “ In your present issue you say the outfield of the Scarborough ground is bad ‘ owing, it was said, to the fact that football was allowed to be played on the ground during the winter.’ This is not correct. The authorities would as soon drink poison as allow football, all requests for this privilege being refused. Very inconsistently they allowed hockey a year or so ago, which game is every bit as bad as football for ploughing up the ground. The hockey club is now non­ existent and would never have been allowed on the ground only the club had friends at court.” ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. J. G. W h itfie ld . —Pressure on space prevents, and we fear the statistics would not be of sufficient general interest to warrant publication. E d w a r d L. T h orold . —Can you supply date and title of match 1 As the ball reached the boundary, runs should have been scored in your case. “ Z um m erzet .” —Your letter will appear in next issue. You arc correct as to Surrey v. Sussex matches. AUSTRALIAN NOTES. S ydney , August 15th. Long ere this letter reaches England the cable will have informed you of the hitch in the proceedings connected with the South African visit to Australia. It seems to me that the South Africans are ridiD g the high horse. Comparatively speaking, they are cricket “ babies ” —rather precocious ones : I will admit they are prodigies—but a compaet is a compact, and should not be broken. From a private source I learn that the South African Cricket Association are experiencing some difficulty with their players : money, so it is said, is the bone of contention—not for the first time in the history of Australian-African cricket. It i3 to be feared that the Australian cricketers made a bad impression when in Africa in 1902 by their bargaining for terms. They did remarkably well, too, each man making £200 out of the short tour. The English trip realised £728, so that each member made nearly £1,000 altogether. There are many people outside Australia who are of opinion that the Australian Board of Control is composed of men whose trend of thought is at one with the Australian players’. Of course, outsiders are not expected to know the personnel of our Board, but almost without exception it is composed of gentlemen of standing—men whose time is given in the interest of the game and whose ideals are just as lofty as are those of your M.C.C. Committee. Un­ fortunately, of late years the game of cricket has been badgered from pillar to post by the action of certain players who shall be nameless. Until recently letters—inspired ones—appeared almost daily in the papers complaining about this and that action of the Board of Control. The letters have been published during a period of about three years, and, what with the actions of three or four cricketers, the public have become nauseated with the whole thing and CRICKET has been obliged to pay the penalty. Last season the public would not turn out in force to witness the inter-State matches — “ Too much squabbling! ” was the general excuse. The clubs are now holding their annual meetings. Gordon, Trumper’s team, passed a resolution to the effect that the best interests of cricket would be served if the captains of teams were elected by the sides. Paddington followed in their foot­ steps, though prior to this year they had always elected their captain at the Annual Meeting. One may be excused for inferring that the idea is to harass the Assooiation. St. George’s Association have decided to have eight balls to an over. The innovation has led the Association’s official recorder— Mr. R. Bruce—into an analysis of the time likely to be saved, taking last year's figures as a basis. He shows that in the A and B grades 13,345 overs were bowled, which, under the eight-balls system, represented a saving of 3,336 changes. Allowing one minute for each change, the saving effected in the season meant 55 hours, or 18£ playing afternoons of three hours each. The altera­ tion also of the time between innings from 10 to 5 minutes was also worked out, and this showed a further saving in the aggregate of 26 hours, or nearly nine afternoons. A wonderful amount of cricket is played in Sydney on Saturday afternoons, and when the Saturday univerfal half-holiday is gazetted there will be still more. Young Jack Scott, of the Petersham Club, is a regular “ cannon-baller.” He is only a midget—reminds me of Squire Osbaldeston, of long ago, though he is about a stone heavier—bowls “ right over ” and flies about somewhat, and, what is better still, he bowls a fine length. Cotter will be found on his mettle during the coming season. James Randell is a real “ Bosie ” bowler, and met with great success last year. He is, I think, the caretaker of Manly Oval. (Manly is the Brighton of Australia. There are 700,000 people in Sydney, and Manly, which is about eight miles away (by water), is crowded with surf-bathers in summer. Land which brought £10 a foot in 1901 brought £110 a foot recently). S. H. Emery, just at present, is practising finger-spin. On his day he is a wonder, his off-break whipping off tbe ground at a terrific rate; it is a “ Bosie” ball, too. G. C. Willcocks and W. J. Stack, both of Sydney University, are clever googly bowlers, and so is Ayers of Central Cumber­ land—all fit to represent the State for their attack. Dr. H. V. Hordern will also be available, so you see that South Africa will not have a corner in “ googlies” if they come. A. Vincent, of Redfern, is a coming batsman. He plays with a very straight bat and takes no risks ; at the same time he scores fairly fast. Of the Minnett boys, I like Roy B,, of the Sydney University, who is a magnificent forcing batsman : he hits with the power of a Lyons, and has strokes all round tbe wicket. Last season, when he was handi­ capped by a very bad knee, I had the pleasure of seeing him play several innings well on towards the hundred. Rupert V. Minnett is a very neat batsman who obtained several centuries last year; he has undoubted ability, but has a habit of playing across in attempt­ ing to hook. CRICKET IN INDIA. POONA GYMKHANA v. BOMBAY HINDUS. Played at Poona on August 30 and 31 and left drawn owing to rain. Vithal Palwanker made 147 out of 195 in two hours by free cricket: his placing to leg was good, and although he offered two chances he hit twenty-three 4’s. His stand with Divekar for the second wicket realized 163. Score :— B om bay H indus . V. D. Pai, c Tillard, b Anstruther ........... 6 S. K. Divekar, c Burn­ ham, b Anstruther 41 Vithal Palwanker, b Anstruther ...........147 W. Talpade, b Burn­ ham .......................... 4 B. Dalvi, e Lucas, b Anstruther ........... 72 M. Deo, b Burnham... 9 K. Seshachari,e Lucas, b Anstruther.......... T. Javeri, c Weber, b Anstruther ........... M. Goradia, st Tillard, b Anstruther.......... P. Erasha, c Burnham, b S prin g......... . ... R. Kethare, not out... Byes, &e.............. Total P oona G ym k h an a . Capt. Anstruther, e Deo, b Erasha........... 1 Capt. T. C. Lucas, b Krasha .................. 24 — Burnham, b Erasha 1 Capt. Davis, c Pai, b Erasha .......... ... 4 Major Arnold,bErasha 0 Capt. Ritson, lbw ... 5 Capt. Webber, b Tal- p a d c ..........................17 Capt. Spring, c Pai, b Erasha .................. 5 Major Wood, e Tal- pade, b Palwanker 5 Capt. Tillard, b Deo... 70 — Taylor, not out ... 11 Byes, &c..............15 Total . 158 The steamer Cricket , of London, sank at Rotherhithc on Sunday afternoon. R i c h a r d d a f t ’ s N o t t i n g h a m s h i r e M A R L.—Particulars apply Radcliffe-on-Trent, Notts.