Cricket 1911

102 CE ICKET : A W EEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. A p r i l 29, 19 1 1. of 56 not out, is now up at Cambridge, and there ought not to be much doubt as to his winning his blue in his first year. He has already a hockey blue to his credit. His figures in the one season he had in the'Marlborough eleven, 1907, were by no means sensational— 224 runs in 12 innings. The Cambridge captain of this year, Mr. J. F. Ireland, was his skipper then, and had the splendid record of 712 runs in 11 completed innings—an average of just on 65. But Mr. Saville does not depend on his batting alone, though that has developed since his schooldays. He is quite an exceptional cover-point, and can bowl a decent slow ball. A t Oxford this year Mr. R . C. Burton may do some­ thing to redeem the reproach which has been cast at Malvern —that, while producing so many fine batsmen, the school under the lulls has never given cricket a really first-class bowler. Captain A. II. Newnham, of Gloucestershire, and Mr. W. W. Lowe were pretty good fast bowlers in their time ; but neither could fairly be styled great. Mr. Burton is right-hand fast-medium, and in the past three seasons has had the following figures for the school Season Overs. Runs. Wickets. Average. 1908 ... 92 ... 395 ... 19 ... 20-78 1909 ... 133 ... 509 ... 21 ... 24-24 1910 ... 153 ... 593 ... 33 ... 17’96 In estimating the value of these, it is well to remember that the Malvern ground is a particularly easy one. M r . W in s t o n C h u r c h i l l spent the week-end as the guest of Sir A. Bailey, a well-known supporter of South African cricket, at Yewhurst, Ashurst Wood. A t a meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association on March 13th a letter was received from the Collingwood Cricket Club soliciting an enquiry into the no-balling of F. Pitcher in the return match between Victoria and South Africa. It was decided that the matter be referred to the executive committee, the Collingwood Club to supply all the information in its possession relating to the case. J a c k M a r s h , the aboriginal cricketer, has (according to the Melbourne Age) been playing in great form for Lake Moodemere, a Wahgunyah (Victoria) team. In his last two matches he obtained six wickets for 0 runs and seven for 13. He has a record for 100 yards of 10 seconds, at the Flemington Grounds, and at Sydney in first-class cricket for three seasons he held a bowling record of under 9 runs per wicket. He can now do a 46 feet hop, step and jump, a broad jump of 22 feet 3 inches, at back jumps is supposed to be able to break the world’s record easily. An offer has been made to back Marsh for £200 for the world’s champion­ ship on points at single-wicket cricket and mixed athletic feats. F o r Mosman v. Balmain 2nd., in Sydney on March 11th, J. Anderson took four wickets with consecutive balls. On the same day, McBeath, the old inter-State player, obtained eight for 22 for Y.M.C.A. against Ramblers. T h e Sydney Referee announces that Mr. Charles Eady is not able to accept the presidency of the Australian Board of Control for the reason that he is not accepting the position of Tasmanian representative, owing to stress of pri vato business. Mr. Charles Hughes, who formerly represented Waverley District on the N.S.W.C.A., is likely to be the official representative of Tasmania, and, if so, he will fill the position of Chairman of the Board for the term ending September, 1911. I n the first grade match Toowoomba Past Grammars v. Willowburn Asylum, on March 11th, Willowburn made 78, E. P^Barbour taking five for 32. Past Grammars replied with two for 256 (P. Thomas b Campbell, 16 ; E. P. Barbour, c sub., b Hoddinott, 111 ; G. P. Barbour, not out, 124 ; extras, 5). The second wicket put on 229 runs in 75 minutes, a very rare performance for father and son. T h e New Zealand Cricket Council have decided that it is inadvisable to send a New Zealand team to Australia next season. There is nothing surprising in this news seeing that an English team—possibly under the leadership of Mr. Gilbert Jessop—will be in Australia at that time. A b a tsm a n named Lux, playing on the Albion ground, Dunedin, on March 4th, performed a somewhat remarkable feat, which is described in a local report in the following words:— “ For absolute pace, Lux, of Grange second eleven, in compiling his 101 against Albion Ground on Saturday, had wireless telegraphy beaten to death. The batsman swung his blade like a sword, and flashed the ball to all points of the compass. In something like 40 minutes by the clock he hit up his 100 , made in good style, and claimed 101 out of 127, which was the total when he was dism issed.” N a t a l won the Currie Cup, polishing off Griqualand West with ease. But, while giving the winners all praise for their performance, one would like to point out that, while they had to do without Ormerod Pearse, and had lost Nourse, their giant of the 1906-7 tournament, the runners- up, Transvaal, had only a second eleven in the field. Hardly that, indeed, for they had a full eleven absent in Australia, or, rather, on the way home, and besides lacked the services of Gordon White and Frank Mitchell, both still great players. In 1906-7 Natal were runners-up to Trans­ vaal, with Western Province, as now, third on the list. I t is very pleasant to see that Louis Tancred has not altogether lost his old ability. To suggest that he is as good as ever would be an exaggeration, no doub t; but scores of 160 against Western Province, 85 v. Griqualand West, and 56 against Eastern Province point to the fact that he is by no means done with yet. After all, he is only 34, and it seems likely that we may see him in England again next year. A serious illness from which he had hardly recovered when the team sailed from Cape Town handicapped him in 1907, and it was not until near the end of the tom- that he fairly got going ; but in 1904 he scored 1640 runs with an average of 48, and ran up six centuries. W it h ninety or more players taking part in the tourna­ ment, there were still several notable absentees, apart from the men who were on tour, and Messrs. White and Mitchell, already alluded to. Western Province lacked their old leader, Murray Bisset ; from the Border Team A. E. Cook, who showed so much promise when the last English side was in South Africa, E. M. Hartigan and A. W. Norton were all missing; Eastern Province fared even worse in the absence of D. S. Lumsden, A. E. Fock, R. P. Hannam, E. B. Lundie and others ; A. G. Richardson, the old Gloucestershire player, II. V. Baumgartner, who has appeared for Bedfordshire, F. J. Wyatt, of Hampshire, and the veteran C. G. Fichardt did not make the journey on behalf of the Orange River Colony. P. J. H e a t h e r , who scored a century for Transvaal v. Border, is an Australian, and was resident in Natal for some time before going to the Rand. D. K. Pearse, who batted with exceptional consistency for Natal, is a younger