Cricket 1911

168 CR ICKET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a t 20, 1911. to Northants ; while Butt’s birthplace was Fulham, and Robert Relf’s Sandhurst, Berkshire. But W. Gr. Quaife, James Seymour and his brother John, and Tom Langdon would be available for the sea-coastshire, Langdon owning Brighton as his birthplace, though set down in at least two works of reference as of Oxfordshire birth. George Dennett would be due at Taunton, for he was born at Crewkerne. Somerset could do with him, but Gloucestershire could not easily do without him. T h is is not an exhaustive list, by any means. It would be easy to name many more instances. A few must suffice here. Mr. J. W. H . T . Douglas was born in Middlesex and Tremlin at Bristol. Captain William Nicholas White is a native of the Metropolis ; but the statement made elsewhere that he was born in Cornwall has some sort of justification, for he says that he regards himself as a Cornish- rnan. Mr. S. H. Day is Surrey by birth, like Mr. C. B. Fry. James Iremonger is a Yorkshireman ; so is burly Dick Burrows, and so again is Ernest Robson. Mr. E. S. M. Poyntz, who has started the season so well for Somerset, first saw the light at Chelmsford. Mr. W. B. Burns hails from Staffordshire, and Mr. E. J. Badcliffe from Devonshire. Sib H om e G o b d o n , B ap . t ., writing in the Outlook on the opening of the cricket season, says :— “ Prophecy is as amusing as it is dangerous. I think Lancashire and Surrey will take first and second place in the county Championship this year, with Kent close on their heels, and Hampshire and Middlesex pressing the trio hard. None of the other counties look like making a bold bid for premier honours. With Messrs. R. H. Spooner, H. G. Garnett, and K. G. McLeod, the Red Rose shire ought to be materially strengthened. One may anticipate keen cricket all round. Sitting at Lord’s, watching Yorkshire this week, one realised that the Old Guard of the Tykes is manfully resisting anno domini, and the youngsters are but of small account.” I t seems quite possible that another Indian Prince may be found taking part in the University match at Lord’s, for the Gaekwar of Baroda, who has been showing very good form in the trial matches, was included in the Oxford Eleven this week against Surrey. He is decidedly an interesting player to watch, especially when he brings off a very power­ ful cut nearly square, for he makes it with a straight bat as though he were making a straight drive. His batting shows not a little genius, but it is surely premature to com­ pare him, as some newspapers have done, with Ranjitsinbji. In the field he is not, at present, particularly agile, while his running between wickets could be improved. I t is remarkable how many people have failed to understand the working of what is known as “ The Somerset scheme,” the method by which the County Championship will be determined this season. Opinion appears to be about equally divided as to whether the positions are to be determined simply by the number of points obtained, or whether the percentage to points possible has to be worked out. Others, again have overlooked the fact that, in the event of a match not being played out, the side behind on the first innings obtains one point. The Morning Post critic is of the number, for in last Monday’s “ Cricket Notes ” he remarked that ‘ ‘ time expired and left them (Somerset) pointless,” that Mr. Daniell “ did not declare until, etc,” whereas, as a matter of fact, he did not declare at all, and that 1 ‘ It would have made no difference to Somer­ set’s toll of points if Hampshire had won outright.” In the event mentioned, Somerset would, of course, have dropped the point with which they stand credited. No reference was made to percentages in Somerset’s proposal. The thing is down in black and white and the meaning is quite simple. The side which gains the most points wins, and there’s an end of it. If a county doesn’t play as many matches as another side it hasn’t as much chance. Doubtless this was not intended, but that is quite another thing. I t is too soon yet to pronounce a verdict on the merit of the Somerset scheme, but even those who are not in favour of it must acknowledge that it causes much interest to be taken in the struggle for the lead on the first innings. This was made quite manifest at the Oval and Leyton, in the matches with Leicestershire and Yorkshire, though for some unexplained reason the spectators at Southampton failed to rise to the occasion. And here we should like to congratulate Somerset very heartily on the fine form they showed against Hampshire. In scoring 697 runs in the match, and having none the worst of the position when stumps were drawn, they performed better than on any occasion last season. T h e Hampshire County C.C. have enrolled nearly one hundred and fifty new members since the conclusion of last season. There is no entrance fee and the annual subscription for gentlemen is a guinea and for ladies and boys under the age of eighteen 10s. 6 d. Dr. Russell Ben- croft, the new President of the Club, is desirous that the membership should reach two thousand during his term of office, and his efforts in that direction are being well seconded by Mr. F. II. Bacon, the energetic secretary. J am es B r id g e s , who made his first appearance for Somerset in their recent match with Hampshire at South­ ampton, was born at Timsbury, a colliery village in North Somerset. He will always have good reason to remember his first county match, for in Hampshire’s second innings he made a catch off his own bowling from a big drive by Mr. Fry which in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred would have reached the boundary. From 1906 to 1909 inclusive he played a lot of cricket for the Mote C.C. and Maidstone Town, averaging over 30 with the bat and each season taking over a hundred wickets. Last year he was engaged with Aberdeenshire, for whom he scored 123 runs in seven innings and obtained twenty wickets for 20'40 runs apiece. He bowls medium-fast right-hand. S ib E d w a b d B r a d f o r d , B a r t ., ex-Commissioner of Police for London, who died rather suddenly on Saturday last, aged 74, although interested to some extent in the game, was never anything out of the ordinary as a cricketer. But it will interest cricket students to know that his first wife was a daughter of Mr. Edward Knight of Chawton, the old Kent and Hampshire player, and therefore a niece of the famous Mr. G. T. Knight of Godmersham, and that he married for the second time a daughter of the old Harrovian, Mr. William Nicholson, who played for the Gentlemen and England and was for so many years promin­ ently identified with the M.C.C. “ T h e M.C.C. seem fully alive to the necessity for welcoming the amateur,” says Mr. Warner in the West­ minster Gazette; “ but the Surrey, Notts, Warwickshire, and Yorkshire elevens muster but four amateurs among the lot of them—a most regrettable state of things.” O f Surrey’s surprising success over Leicestershire at the Oval columns might be written. When, after twelve o’clock on the second day, Leicestershire lost their second wicket in their first innings with 255 runs on the board, nothing appeared less likely than that Surrey would win by ten wickets. For the commanding position they occupied until the second afternoon the visitors owed everything to Mr. Wood and Whitehead, who made the enormous proportion of 257 runs out of 299 from the bat in the first innings. After they were dismissed all the honours were carried off by Surrey. I n order to furnish the business public with a better opportunity of witnessing county cricket, the Warwickshire County C.C. Committee have arranged, with the sanction of the other counties concerned, to alter the hours of play in the matches at Edgbaston with Yorkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Northants. and Gloucestershire. Play will com­ mence at noon, continuing until seven o ’clock on the first two days and half-past six on the third. Too much importance should not be attached to Kent’s defeat at Lord’s, for the county, in addition to having the worst of the wicket, lacked the services of some of their best players. Had they won the toss the result of the