Cricket 1911

150 CE ICKET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 13, 1911. C o r r ^ s p o n d ^ n c ^ . [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the opinions of his correspondents .] “ REFORM ” To the Editor of C r ick et . S ir , —We have stood it long enough. During every spring and on wet days throughout the summer the Cricket “ reformer ” is at work. He gets into all the newspapers ; you meet him everywhere. His principal delight is to suggest alterations in the laws of Cricket. He wants every one to be out 1-b-w ; he wants to alter the mode of choice of innings; a little while ago he put nets round the ground instead of the practice wickets and made you run out boundary hits; he finds flaws in the laws of the game. In short he is a nuisance. And when he can’t think of anything else he devises for the thousandth time a new method of calculating “ points” in the county championship. We are a long-suffering people. We make excuses for “ reformers ” We know that newspapers must be filled, just as you do, Sir. But we can’t stand this any longer. Cricket does not need “ reform ” ; it does not need “ brightening ” ; it does not need any­ thing but fine weather, a fair field and the rigour of the game. Fortunately there are signs that people have had too much of the reformer. Protests are heard. People— sensible people—are saying “ Why can’t they leave it alone? ” and I daresay we shall soon put up a statue to Lord Melbourne. Reformers are abashed, just n ow ; they go about muffled ; they have their letters type-written and sign them with an alias. In fact this is just the time to put a stop to what is really a horrid nuisance. Let us signalise this year of grace (and, of course, Coronation) by stopping the thing for ever. I suggest that a short Act of Parliament should be passed which would do the trick effectively. The draft of it follows. If you could get a member of the Government to introduce this and get it passed— without discussion, which is contrary to the spirit of the game—you would render a real service to cricket. I am, Sir, Yours etc., Q uinto -G eorgian . AN ACT TO PREVENT CERTAIN RECURRING NUISANCES. Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Commons and with or without (a) the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same or some of them (a) as follow s: Short 1 . This Act may be cited for all purposes as The Title. Cricket Preservation Act, 1911, and may be read with any other suitable Act or before or after the same. Prohibition 2. Any person who by speech or in writing or print or nuisances P»rt*y in writing and partly in print (а) Proposes or advocates any alteration in the laws of cricket, or ( б ) Proposes or advocates any scheme or suggestion for “ making Cricket popular,” or (c) Makes or publishes a plan, proposal or suggestion for altering the methodaof calculating the Cricket County Championship shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on summary conviction to the penalty hereinafter stated. Penalty. 3 . Any person convicted under this Act shall receive three points for a first offence and five points for a second or subsequent offence. Such points shall be administered with a new stump and may be impressed on any suitable part of the person of the offender. Average 4. If any person being a first-class cricketer shall be Adjust- convicted under this Act the number of points received by men ' him during the year pursuant to this Act shall be added to his bowling average and deducted from his batting average for the same year. Saving for 5 . Nothing herein contained shall extend or apply to M.C.C. an y meeting of the M.C.C. or any committee or sub-com­ mittee thereof, provided that no report or account of such meeting shall be published in any newspaper, lnterpreta- 6 . In this act “ making Cricket popular” includes tion. < brightening cricket ” any other question— begging device. Extent. 7. This Act shall not apply to Fiji or the Isleof Man (ft). (a) These words seem necessary in view of the Parliament Bill. (i b) This section is unimportant but is added to give a Parliamentary tone. THE SOMERSET SCHEME. S ir , —I should like, if I may, to say a word upon the objection, raised by the Rev. R. S. Holmes in his “ Notches,” to the proposed award of one point to a side beaten on the 1 st innings of a drawn game. It appears to me that the method of scoring under the Somerset scheme is based upon a forecast of the ultimate result of drawn games, on the data of the 1st innings scores. Thus, if A lead B on the first innings and the game is ultimately left drawn, the 3 points which will be awarded to A will represent the value of their chance of winning the game were it to be played to a finish. But it is only logical to assume that B would also possess a certain chance—a smaller chance than A, of course—of winning and it is to acknow­ ledge this possibility that the proposers of the scheme will award them one point. If Mr. Holmes views the question in this light I think he will appreciate the justice of the proposal. Yours faithfully, Westcliffe-on-Sea. May , 1911. J. G. K napmav . May 6 th, 1911. “ THE ANTIQUARY.” S ir ,— Mr. Denham’s paragraph in your issue of May 6 th, 1911, under the heading “ Cricket in Yorkshire 100 years ago ” interested me greatly, referring as it did to a cricket match between the country clubs of Harewood and Wetherby. Harewood it appears were the victors and were particularly proud of their win, I read, because the Wetherby Club had some short time before played a match with All Yorkshire! During the past sixteen years I have been keenly interested in matches between Yorkshire and the county of my adoption, but it was news, and interesting news too, to me, to read that my native village had enjoyed the distinction of joining in cricket conflict with the rest of the “ broad-acred shire.” Yours truly, R . V. R yder , Secretary , Warwickshire County Cricket Club. CAMBRIDGE UN IVERS ITY v. SURREY . Played at Cambridge on May 8 and 9. Surrey won by an innings and 83 runs. On a pitch which was fast and true the University failed badly against Rushby and Hitch, being dismissed in their two innings for 194. In the first innings Ireland and Prest put on 69 together, but the last seven wickets added only 17 more. On their native heath, Hayward and Hobbs passed the University's total without being parted in 87 minutes : altogether their stand realised 140 in an hour and 40 minutes. Hobbs was then out for a delightful and stylish innings of 93. Hayward left at 166, and M. C. Bird and Hayes subsequently put on 61 together iu 40 minutes. The “ ta il” hit light-heartedly, and Lockhart’s five wickets were obtained in his last five overs. Score and analysis :— C am bridge U n iversity . First innings. D. C. Collins, b Hobbs ................. M. Falcon, c Strudwick, b Rushby G. W. V. Hopley, b Rushby ......... J. F. Ireland, b Hitch .................. II. E. W. Pest, b Hitch .................. S. H. Saville, not o u t.......................... N. J. Holloway, lbw, b Rushby ... J. H. B. liOckhart, b R ushby........... M. E. C. Baggallay, b Hitch ........... H. Grierson, b H itch .......................... A. G. Cowie, b H itch.......................... Byes, &c....................... Total ................. SURRF.Y. Hayward, c Collins, b Falcon ... 56 Hobbs, c and b Grierson.................. 93 B ayes, lbw, b Lockhart.................. 30 Ducat, c Holloway, b Ireland ... 6 M. C. Bird, b H ollow ay.................. 41 Davis, st Baggallay, b Lockhart.. 0 Spring, st Baggallay, b Lockhart IS 4 12 16 3d 45 6 0 0 0 4 0 0 123 Second innings. b Rut-hby ................... c Davis, b Rushby ... lbw, b Smith ........... c Smith, b Rushby ... b H itch.......................... c Smith, b Rushby ... c Hobbs, b Hitch b H itch.......................... b Rushby ................... b H itch.......... ........... not o u t .......................... Bye ................... Total........... Hitch, c Cowie, b Lockhart........... Smith (W. C.), c Baggallay, b Falcon .......................................... Strudwick, c Cowie, b Lockhart... Rushby, not out .......................... B 3, lb 0, w 2.................. 4 0 5 Id 11 6 C ambridge U niversity . Total.. O. M. K. W. O. M. R. W. R u sh by.................. 14 5 f .6 4 .................. ... 14 2 43 5 Hobbs ... .......... 5 1 15 1 .................. Hitch ... .......... 12 3 26 5 ................... 6*3 1 11 4 Smith .................. 6 0 28 0 ................... 8 2 16 1 Hayes .................. 4 0 18 0 ................... S urrey . O. M. R. W. 0 . M. R. W. Cowie.......... 9 1 55 0 | Lockhart ... 12 0 (53 5 Grierson ... ,.. 14 4 34 1 | Falcon ... 10*1 2 49 2 H olloway... ... 15 1 53 1 | Ireland ... 4 1 12 1 Cowie bowled two wides.