Cricket 1911

lo 4 C R IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. A pril 29, 19 11. March 13.— Hamilton, Southland v. Kangitikei (Hawke Cup Final) ,, 14.—G. Marshall, Kangitikei v. Southland (Hawke Cup Final) ,, 18.—E. P. Barbour, University v. Sydney ................... „ 18.—P. Thomas, Toowoomba v. Combined Country Team ,, 18.—C. B. Jennings, North Brisbane v. Nundali „ 18.—N. Y. Deane, North Sydney v. Paddington ,, 18.—11.Arthur, South Launceston v. West Launceston 25.—N. Claxton, North Adelaide v. East Torrens „ 25.— G April 24.— P. ,, 24.— B. H. S. Trott, South Melbourne v. University... J. Richardson, Jesus College, Cambridge, Trial Match S. Evers, Jesus College, Cambridge, Trial Match 25.—H. Austin, sen., Eton College Servants v. Coworth Park ... ... ... * 25.—G. Watson, St. John’s College v. Christ’s College (Cambridge) ... .......................................... * Signifies not out. 110 *166 153 120 114 *102 *103 126 130 *141 104 126 119 THE ESSEX COUNTY C.C. A DEBT OF ELEVEN HUNDRED POUNDS. In the Annual Report oi the Essex County C.C. occur the following statements, which show that the present position of the Club leaves much to be desired:— It will be remembered that in last year’s Report a strong appeal was made for a largely increased number of members, in order that the Club might be carried on successfully from a financial point of view. The appeal was, however, but poorly responded to, and this, coupled with the fact that extremely wet weather was experienced during the cricket season, resulted in the Club, at the end of the year, being in debt to the extent of about £1,100. It was, therefore, necessary to seriously consider the position of the Club, and for this purpose a Special General Meeting was held at Liverpool Street Hotel on the 3rd November last, when it was unanimously decided to start a “ s h il l in g e c n d ,” with a view of entirely freeing the Club from debt. Your Committee have to report that a sum of over £600 has already been received towards this Fund, and, as a great many collecting cards, which were issued, have not yet been returned, it is hoped that a further large amount will be subscribed, and that before long a sufficient sum will eventually be collected to pay off the whole debt. Your Committee are, however, very anxious that the regular income of the Club shall be sufficiently increased to preclude the necessity of making further special appeals, and, as it seems impossible to obtain the requisite number of members, they decided, as you have already been advised, to ask the present members if they would be willing to increase their subscriptions from one guinea to two guineas, and it is earnestly hoped that as many members as possible will assist the Club in this way. It may be mentioned that the response made to this appeal hasj up to the present time, been most disappointing, as only 115 members have agreed to the higher subscription. Unless, therefore, many more members will consent to the voluntary increase, or a larger number of new members are elected, your Committee fear that.it will be quite impossible to carry on the Club. The roll of members on the 31st December, 1910, w as:—1,567 gentlemen and 210 ladies, making in all 1,777, as against 2,198 at the corresponding date the previous year, a decrease of 421. In consequence of the present financial position of the Club, it has been decided not to arrange any 2nd Eleven matches for 1911. The usual three weeks’ special early practice for the team and selected players will commence on the County Ground on the 19th April. The new bowling green was opened in April, and has proved a great success. It has been much appreciated by members, and the Committee hope that this additional attraction to the ground will be an inducement to many others to join the Club. At the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday last Lord O’Hagan was elected President for the ensuing year, and all the officers were re-elected. The ground will be opened to members on Saturday, the 22nd April, when the ground bowlers will be in attendance at the nets at 2 p.m. The following bowlers have been engaged for the season, viz. :— J. F reeman , A. C. R ussell , P. W inter , H. D avis , H. S mith and H. M ead , junr. The S i t u a t i on . A C onversation W ith M b . C huckerup , the U mpire of a T hriving W eak - medium C lub . “ Good evening, Mr. Chuckerup. You look pensive.” “ You may say so, sir. I was just thinking that if there had been any gumption in the census people they’d have found out whether there was anybody in England except newspaper writers that cared a tuppeny about the discussions which as usual has took place about the county championship.’’ ‘ ‘ But surely cricketers take a great interest in the Somerset scheme ? ” ‘ ‘ Somerset your grandmother ! What difference do it make, I ask you, whether you count 3 points or 30 for a win on the first innings or not ? It all comes to the same thing in the end. One county gets on top and the others is below it, and it’s only the position of the first county that matters. Do you suppose there’s a single Worcestershire or Essex man, for instance, whose heart beats a fraction of a second quicker per annum because his county is sixth instead of seventh, or seventh instead of tenth ? Do you suppose that a single man in any county will plank down an extra tanner to see a match because if his county wins it they might go up two places ? Not much he won’t.” “ You are getting pessimistic, Mr. Chuckerup.” ‘ ‘ No, sir—only sick. This everlasting fiddling and faddling about points in the hope of arousing more interest in the championship is too aeroplany for anything. The long and short of it is that points and positions in a table don’t count for nothing among spectators unless that position is likely to be Number One. Look at Yorkshire last year. Its position wasn’t so dusty, but its crowds wasn’t big enough to raise half as much dust as a small motor car. Why was this thus ? Simply because there wasn’t any more life in the Yorkshire game than there is in most of the skittles that’s written about the champion­ ship.” “ But don’t you think that the Somerset scheme will compel the counties to play lively cricket ? ” ‘ ‘ Well, what do you think ? A county, let’s say Notts for instance, wins the toss in fine weather, with the wicket hard and good, and the betting against the game being played out about 20 to 1. The Notts captain, not being a born fool, says ‘ Now, boys. This match will be decided on the first innings. So take care not to get out quickly.” Is it likely that any man who goes in will be simply panting to score as fast as possible ? Is it likely that when they have made 400 they will declare ? Not much, it ain’t ! The other side might do that on their heads. Is it likely that the other side, with more than 100 runs to face, will be anxious to play anything except for keeps ? ” “ But. think of the fierce fight, the unbounded excite­ ment and enthusiasm (here might be when one of the sides won on the first innings by two or three runs only.” 1 ‘ Think of the excitement there will be on the third day when Warwickshire have beat Kent by one or two runs on the first innings just before stumps were drawn on the second day. With the wicket still good can’t you imagine Warwickshire taking all sorts of liberties with the bowling and running the risk of losing the three points which they already have up their sleeve, just for the sake of bucking up the Somerset scheme ? But there, some side or other will do something wonderful in the course of the season and that will cover a multitude of sins, as the Psalmist says—