Cricket 1911

124 C E IC K E T : A W EEK LY EECOED OP THE GAME. M ay 6, 1911. town, East London, and Queenstown, meeting an eleven of the Border in each case, considered him the best batsman and the best bowler they ran up against. The Border did not send a team to that season’s Currie Cup competition in the Transvaal. I n the Tournament at Cape Town in 1908-9 Hartigan scored 54 v. Western Province and 53 v. Eastern Province, and bowled well, though with nothing like his Durban suc­ cess ; and in his one match against the last M.C.C. team lie showed good form without achieving anything remark­ able. He is a stylish and vigorous batsman, particularly strong to the off, and a right-hand fast medium bowler of the orthodox type, keeping an excellent length, varying his attack with great judgment, and bowling an occasional ball that comes in nastily from leg. B ut perhaps even more important than this fine all­ round form of Hartigan is the promise shown by Joseph Cox, of Natal. One knows little about this hero, to whom the rout of the Transvaal team was largely due ; but, from the fact that he was unknown in big cricket till this season, and that he has only been playing for Greyville—Nourse’s old club—for a season or two, one judges that he should be still quite young. If so, it seems more than likely that South Africa has found the much-needed fast bowler. Kotze will never fill the post again ; he did not bowl badly for Western Province in the Tournament, but there was not the old sting and deadliness in his attack. Of the other fast bowlers engaged at Durban, R. A. Thompson, of the Transvaal, and F. Le Roux, the Eastern Province captain, who has only lately left Johannesburg, seem to have been the best ; but it is doubtful if either of these possesses just that extra bit of pace which means so much. F. Van Zyl, of the Orange Free State, is said to be very fa s t; he wrought no havoc, however. A m o n g others who did so well that they must surely be considered for places in the South African team of 1912, were H. W. Taylor, L. J. Tancred, N. V. Lindsay, B. H. Floquet, D. K. Pearse, P. J. Heather, B. G. Melle, and W. F. Yeoman as batsmen, and S. V. Samuelson, N. O. Norton, C. P. Carter and C. Newberry as bowlers. Yeo­ man was a reserve man in the original Western Province selection ; but two seasons ago at Cape Town he showed capital form against both Border and Eastern Province, for scores of 65 and 60, and at Durban in March he scored 86 against the strong Transvaal attack. Heather, Floquet, Melle, Pearse and Lindsay are all more or less of the hitting persuasion ; Taylor is steadier, possibly sounder ; Tancred we know already in England. W. K. Thomson is something of a veteran, and his methods are slow, though of late he has cultivated a greater variety of strokes ; he is scarcely likely to be in the running, however. S a m u e l s o n and Newberry are googly bowlers, the latter quite young, deadly on his day, but hit freely when not in form. Norton is fast medium right, a trifle faster, one gathers, than his comrade Hartigan ; Carter, formerly of Natal, is slow to medium left. Thompson and Le Roux, as well as Cox, Kotze and Hartigan, have already been referred to. Of the rest, Captain Fawcus, who bore the brunt of the attack for the Free State, bowls a ball that gets up sharply from the pitch, and his chief helper, H. Hill, sends down slow leg breaks. Ward, who got his chance at Durban in the absence of the other two. The Rev. C. D. Robinson, of Natal, is quite first-class at his best. So is George Sennett, of the Free State, who fought on the ‘ ‘ other side ” in the war, and was, we believe, among the prisoners in Ceylon. C. Johnson, of the Border, is not only a capable stumper but a con­ sistent run-getter also. H. B. Londt, of Eastern Province, has not the double claim, but seems to be quite an efficient man behind the sticks. Walter Dickens, of Griqualand West, shaped well, as did D. J. Nicol, who deputised for the Natal captain in a match or two, and P. Rigal, who took the place of Dickens one or twice. But the general fielding, one is sorry to learn, left much to be desired, though it is an open question whether the surface of two out of the three grounds played upon did not contribute to deficiencies in this direction. G r iq u a l a n d W e s t had very hard luck in not winning a single match. Their bowling lacked sting ; in batting, they were ahead of at least a couple of the other contending sides. The three brothers Tapscott, two of them still schoolboys, ought to train on into first-class men and C. J. Maritz (a Cambridge Freshman in 1907) is a really good bat. Two of the leading members of the side—J. M. Powell, the captain, now quite a veteran, who seems to be the only cricket survivor of the clans of Powell and Glover, which have given Kimberley so many good players, and P. A. Eland, a much younger man, only 26 or 27— failed completely. Eland is not realising his early form ; a few years back he promised great things. In tile season of 1905-6 his average for the Pirates Club was 78, and in one match he and T. A. Eden, who captained Griqualand West in the 1906-7 tournament, had a partnership of 356, Eland making 251 and Eden 153. With a sound defence and plenty of strokes, Eland ought to make his mark in big cricket ; but he has not yet done so. But cheer up, Kimberley ! If signs go for anything, the next tournament should not find you footing the table again. F. W. T a t e , the old Sussex cricketer, scored 50 not out for Beckton against Edmonton on Saturday, on the ground of the latter at Lower Edmonton. B e n h a m , who is engaged with Drumpellier, mono­ polised the honours of last Saturday’s match with Greenock, at Langloan. Of the Drumpellier total of 126 for two wickets, he was responsible for as many as 10 1 , the score being made up thus :— D r u m pellier . C. T. Mamies, b Bishop .................. 17 I C. Denholm, b F o r d ........................... 7 Benham, not out..................................101 | B y e ................................... 1 Total (2 wkts)* ... 120 * Innings declared closed. The first wicket fell at 52 and the second at 126, and of the 74 added after Mannes was bowled Benham claimed all but seven. He was missed twice—each time from a very easy chance—in making his first 15 runs. On the same afternoon Gooder, who was tried for Surrey a few years ago, did almost everything for Stirling County against Leith Caledonian on the Stirling Ground. After taking eight wickets and making a catch in the latter’s innings of 49, he contributed 75 to his side’s total of 126. Going in second wicket down, he made 75 of the 118 runs obtained from the bat and was the only player to reach double-figures. “ W. G.,” cricketers in all parts of the world will T h e wicket-keeping seems to have been very good, rejoice to hear, has opened the season well. On Saturday Transvaal has three rare keepers in Sherwell, Campbell and last he turned out for Eltham against Charlton Park and,