Cricket 1910

A p r i l 2 8 , i g i o . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 89 another. In discharging the cabman at the Courts Sir Richard handed his card, in case he should he wanted as a witness. In due course the case came on, and Sir Eichard was asked to take a seat near the Bench. The verdict was ultimately given in his cabman’s favour. On the w£y out, there stood cabby waiting for him. “ jum p in, sir,” he cried : “ I ’ll drive you anywhere. I knowed it would be all right when I saw you up there a-squaring the-beak.” L. W . B r id g e s , a Freshman hailing from Australia, was seen to advantage in a match on the Selwyn ground, Cam­ bridge, on Monday last between Selwyn and Queen’s. Playing for the former he made 34, the highest innings in a total of 92, and took six wickets for 42 runs. Queen’s, however, won by 33 runs. T h e E a b l o f D a e n le y , who is better known perhaps to cricketers as the Hon. Ivo Bligh, has recently been playing a lot o f golf at Sandwich. Like many other cricketers who have dropped out of the game, he finds that an occasional match at golf with an old friend is one of the greatest pleasures in life. O w in g to business engagements, Mr. C. L. A. Smith has found it necessary to resign the captaincy of the Sussex Eleven. He will be succeeded by Mr. H . P. Chaplin, who has retired from military service. Before joining his regiment in India Mr. Chaplin took part in many matches at Eastbourne, and in 1905 played twenty- eight innings in county matches for Sussex, his highest score being 96 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. He also played in a few matches in 1907 and last year. It is hoped that Mr. Smith will be be able to assist the side occasionally, for his hard hitting is frequently most valu­ able, whilst of his popularity with the other members of the side and the general public there cannot be two opinions. One may doubt whether Sussex ever had a more popular leader. T h e Annual General Meeting of the Wiltshire County C.C. was held at Trowbridge on Monday last, Mr. H er­ bert Harris presiding. Although the receipts for the year just exceeded the expenditure, there remains a debt o f ±181. Mr. H . Leaf, o f Marlborough, was elected President and Mr. R. W . Awdry honorary secretary and treasurer. The captaincy will again bo undertaken by Mr. A. M. Miller, under whose lead it was that the County won the Minor Counties Championship last season. The match against Surrey 2nd X I. at Swin­ don will be for the benefit of Overton. W e a t h e r permitting ,1 the first-class season will open on Monday next, when Surrey are due to meet Warwickshire at the Oval. On the same date a com ­ mencement should be made with the Seniors’ match both at Oxford and Cam­ bridge, and two days later Notts begin their annual match with the M.C.C. at Lord’s. A s p e c ia l appeal has been made to the members of the Nottinghamshire County C.C. with the object of increasing the membership from its present number of 2,300 to 3,000. In 1895, when there were slightly over 900 members, a sum of .£4,845 was owing to the bank. In order to meet the difficulties strenuous efforts were made to increase the membership to 2 , 000 , and this was accomplished in four years. Since that time improve­ ments and alterations to the ground have been carried out at a cost of ±6,447, but, notwithstanding this and various other items o f expenditure, the debt at the present time on the Extension Account is ±'2,962 and the deficit on the General Account ±874 0s. 5d., the latter after paying last year a sum of over ±900 to­ wards benefits. These figures plainly show what has been accomplished in reducing the debt and improving the ground, whilst the ordinary expenses of the Club have had at the same time to be provided for year by year. It is estimated that an increase o f the membership to 3,000 would not only provide a sufficient income to enable the Club to meet its expenses, and take steps where necessary to place it in the front rank o f county cricket clubs, but would to a large extent render it independent of the very serious loss which falls upon a club during a wet season. In a match for the junior premiership in Melbourne on March 20th, W . B. Bobertson, who played for Australia against England at Melbourne in January, 1885, did the hat-trick and took six wickets for 15 runs. F rom ‘ Observer’s ’ notes in the Mel­ bourne Argus : — An incident unusual in cricket occurred during the game [Carlton v. St. Kilda, on the Carlton ground,-/ 011 March 19th}. While Jinks was in and Matthews bowling, Dudgeon, the St. Kilda captain, came right forward to “ silly point,” close on to the bat- Jinks objected that the fieldsman’s position inter­ fered with his play, which is generally recognised |to be one of the reasons for which fieldsmen are posted. He appealed to one of the umpires, who said that Dudgeon was quite right, but the second umpire, on being appealed to, decided that he was hampering the batsman, and asked him to take another position. Dudgeon crossed over to mid-on, and the next ball wTas “ cocked u p ” right in the iplace which he had just vacated. “ Can I go back inow ? ” said the St. Kilda captain, quietly, and this time the objecting umpire graciously permitted him to do so. It is the first time I have ever heard of such an objection being raised in criekct. If a fieldsman does not actually catch hold of the bat he does not hamper the batsman. If he is daring enough to go very close in lie takes the risk; the batsman puts up with the difficulty. He may have the sense of being cramped in his play, but, as I said before, the fieldsmen are there in order to cramp him. jE. M. Grace must have stationed himself at silly-point more frequently than any other cricketer, but I never heard of any serious objection on the batsman’s part to the procedure. And to “ E .M .” ‘ very N ORTHBROOK C.C. (Lee) 2nd XI. have open April 30th Away and May 10th (Whit Monday) whole day, Home. F. W. Allardyoe, 38, Torridon Road, Hither Green, S.E. close in ’ meant standing almost on the pitch. It has been said that more than once he has dived forward to make a catch, and has caught, not the ball, but the end of the bat. H e a r t y congratulations to Mr..Vernon Bansford upon his wedding this month to Miss Macrow, and to Mr. G. L. Garn- sey, o f New South Wales, who entered upon the state matrimonial a short time ago. A y o u n g man named F. Barton, recently died under peculiar circumstances at Yackandandah (Vic.). On March 6 th Barton was playing cricket, and the ball struck him on the forehead while he was wicket-keeping.. He went on playing, and felt no ill-effects until two or three days afterwards, when, on going to his paddock to plough, and stooping to pick up something, his nose commenced to bleed. Barton was taken to the hospital, but died on the 14th. In the match between South Melbourne and St. Kilda on March 12th, the latter, set 178 to win, lost their sixth wicket at 90. “ Then,” says the Melbourne Argus, ;“ Hotchin and Matthews got together, and, while Matthews did the scoring, Hotchin simply held the fort. The result was that they carried the score to 205 for the seventh wicket, and had won the game before they were separated. In the partnership there were some remarkable contrasts. At one stage Hotchin had scored 13 and Matthews 23. Then Matthews put on 50 runs before his partner got another single, and the first run that Hotchin did get was the winning hit for the match. He, of course, played the game in simply keeping up an end as sofin as he saw that Matthews was well set and scoring, but all the credit o f the win goes to Matthews.” Hotchin scored 15 and Matthews 90, and the total of the innings reached 265. A t Goulburn, New South Wales, on March 24th a match was played between two teams composed entirely of members o f the Horton families of W ingello.. At the moment of writing no details of the play have reached me, but I believe I am correct in stating that on no previous occasion have twenty-two players o f the same name ever appeared in one match. “ T h e absence of a limb or two does not prevent a man playing cricket,” says “ Becorder ” of the Sydney Sportsman, “ as will be seen by the following cases ” :— Early last century two elevens of Greenwich pensioners, one side composed of one-arm ed and the other of one-legged players, had a match, the former winning, as several of their opponents had their wooden legs broken. A match was once played between two teams from the S.W. Cripples’ Branch of the Ragged School Union in Battersea Park. Every player was maimed in some way, and the best bowler had but one leg. The long-stop allowed six byes owing to the ball getting jammed in the heel of his big boot so firmly that it could not be extracted for some time.