Cricket 1911

] GO C R IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 20, 1911. H . GRADIDGE and SONS, Manufacturers of all Requisites — F O R — C ricket, Lawn Tennis, Racquets , Hockey, Football, and all British Sports. Us e d by all t h e L e a d . ^ mg P l a y e r s t h r o u g h o u t t h e W o r l d Pricc Lists on Application Of all First*Class Out fitters and Dealers. Reblading a Speciality. Factory A r t i l l e r y P la ce , WOOLWICH. Patentees and Sole MaKers Cricket: A W E E K L Y RECO R D OF TH E GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, L0N00N, E.C. SATURDAY, MAY 20 t h , 1911. All communications intended for the Editorial Department should, in order to prevent delay, be addressed to “ The Editor of C ricket , 168, Upper Thames Street, E .C .,” and not to any person by name. The same remark applies to all publications intended for review. 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For South A frica: Central News Agency, Ltd., Cape Town, Johannesburg and branches. Hiaptlton ( 5 ossip. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. — Hamlet. ARRANT had the distinction of scoring the first century of the season in first-class cricket, an honour which fell to Tom Hayward last year, to Mr. A. O. Jones in 1909, and to David Denton in both 1908 and 1907. E. H. D. Sewell was first in the field in 1904 (with 181 in three hours, by splendid hitting, for London County v. Surrey at the Crystal Palace), and also in 1906 ; Hayward opened the list for the season both in 1900 and 1903 ; M. A. Noble claimed the first line of it in 1905, William Lockwood in 1902, Braund in 1901, and Brock- well in 1899. I t is thirteen years since the first century of the season was last registered on behalf of the M.C.C. In 1908 Cyril Otto Hudson Sewell scored a brilliant 111 for the premier club against Lancashire, on May 9—curiously enough, the same date on which the Middlesex-Australian reached three-figures, as he was fifty not out over night. In 1897 and in 1896 also Robert Abel’s name figured first, though in 1897 Hayward (who did not again reach three-figures during the season) and in 1896 the late Walter William Read was hard after him, as a reference to the scores of Surrey v. Leicestershire in the one case, and Surrey v. Warwick­ shire in the other, will show. I n 1895 G. F. Higgins, of Essex, came first; that was the only season in which he played much county cricket. In 1894 .1. E. Hill, of Warwickshire, another batsman whose appearances w'ere few, was the leader ; William Gunn opened the ball in 1893, in which year both he and A. E. Stoddart totalled over 2,000 runs, a record before that monopolised by the great W.G.—the other great W.G., perhaps one should say, if indeed it be not necessary to make it clear that one does not mean the little great W.G., him of Warwickshire. In 1892 William Chatterton, first on the list, carried his bat right through the M.C.C. innings v. Lancashire ; and this was on May 9—see above ! The year before that B. N. Douglas, the Cambridge senior, now ”headmaster of Giggleswick School, was the first century-scorer in big matches. And here we will stop ; the rest has too much likeness to ancient history. In answer to the note relating to Mr. Rockliff in last week’s Pavilion Gossip, Mr. George B. Routledge, of Tarn Lodge, Headsnook, Carlisle, kindly writes:— “ He is entered in the Oxford University Calendar for 1911 as Thornton Francis Edward Rockliffe, and matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, at Michaelmas, 1910. He was educated at the University of Tasmania.” T he first week of the season has been all that cricketers and followers of the game could desire. The wickets were, for the most part, hard and true and the cricket was always interesting. Messrs. F. R. Foster and .1. W. H. T. Douglas especially will have reason to remember the first match in which they were the official captains of their side, seeing that Warwickshire and Essex beat Lancashire and York­ shire respectively. The Midlanders’ success was the greater surprise of the two, for they had not won at Old Trafford since 1902 and Lancashire are everywhere regarded as one of the strongest sides in the country. Warwickshire’s