Cricket 1911

170 CR ICK ET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 20, 1911. for three seasons, and now has Mr. John Shields. Middlesex has been during the whole time under two captains, Messrs. Gregor MacGregor and Pelham Warner, the latter doing most of the work in several years when he was nominally only deputy. Northamptonshire has had four captains in seven seasons—Messrs. T. Horton, E. M. Crosse, T. E. Manning, and G. A . T. Vials. Notts has made no change, and is not likely to as long as Mr. Jones will go on. S o m e r s e t , after a long period under the one and only Sammy Woods—Mr. S . M. J. Woods, if one must, but the more familiar mood comes easiest—had a year of Mr. Lionel Palairet; now Mr. John Daniel] enters upon what is nominally his fourth season, though 1910 was almost a blank for him, and the team had several deputies in that year. Surrey had Mr. Livy Walker as successor to Mr. •Tephson : then for a season the captaincy was in commission and much fun was poked at the constant changes ; there­ after Lord Dalmeny took firm grip, and put in a fruitful Photo by] [Huwkins an I Co., llriqhton. Mr. (j. A. T. VIALS. three years’ spell ; Mr. H. D. G. Leveson-Gower succeeded him, and now Mr. Morice Bird holds sway. Sussex had K. S. Ranjitsinhji, then Mr. C. B. Pry ; Mr. C. L. A. Smith skippered in 1906, during Mr. Pry’s absence ; the great man resumed, but in 1909 left the side to play for Hamp­ shire, Mr. Smith again catching the reins flung aside ; in 1910 Mr. H. P. Chaplin succeeded Mr. Smith ; and the last item of news is that Mr. Philip Cartwright will take Mr. Chaplin’s place, though if this is correct it can only be because the old Harrovian’s broken leg has not mended as well as expected. W a r w i c k s h ir e — oh, plenty of changes there ! Messrs. H. W. Bainbridge, T. S. Fishwick, J. F. Byrne, A. C. S. Glover, H. J. Goodwin, and F. R. Foster have all held command. Worcestershire has just lost the guiding hand of Mr. H. K. Foster, whom Mr. G. H. Simpson-Hayward succeeds ; and Lord Hawke is followed by Mr. E. J. Rad- cliffe, who was practically captain of Yorkshire in 1910. Thus, if one has calculated correctly, over fifty players have h a d a tu rn at lead in g on e or an oth er o f th e first-class shires sin ce 1900, a n d in this calcu la tion o n e takes n o n otice o f m erely tem p ora ry a p p oin tm en ts. S o w ags the w orld, m y m asters ! T h e new Northamptonshire captain, M r. George Alfred Turner V ials, is only 24 years o f age— he was born on March 18th, 1887— but it is as long as seven years ago since he made bis first appearance for the county, and at the age o f seventeen showed form that suggested great things in the future, making 286 runs with an average o f 31'77, and a highest score o f 93. H e is a W ellingborough Grammar S chool boy— like Thompson, T. E . M anning, B . F . Knight, the Dentons, the Simpsons, P. A. Fryer, and several others who have figured in the county team— but, leaving early on account of ill-health, he had only one season with the eleven, we believe. I t was some time before he redeem ed the prom ise shown in 1904. H e was not w ell enough to play in m any matches in 1905 ; and, though he appeared pretty regularly in the following season, he did not make any really long scores, his best being 52 v. Essex on the hom e ground, and 46 v. Surrey at the Oval. The season of 1907 was not a good one for h im ; but in 1908 he made a big stride to the front. H is average was under 19, and he failed completely in som e m a tch es; but by his form against W arw ickshire at B irm ingham for 71 and 24, and against Surrey at N ortham pton for 58 and 36, he show ed that he could play a fine uphill gam e when his com rades m ostly failed. In each o f these matches he was the highest aggregate scorer for his side, which lost both in an innings. D u r in g the past tw o seasons he has developed into quite one o f the leading batsmen o f the side, w ith m ore aggression than m ost of its members. A ggregating 686 with an average o f over 25 in 1909, he showed to special advantage against H ants and Leicestershire at N ortham pton, m aking his first century (129) in big cricket, with only one chance, against the Southern shire, and scoring an excellent 75, a long way the highest individual score o f the m atch, against the M idland side. In 1910 he only m issed one match, aggregated 725, averaged 21'32, and played a remarkably good innings o f 100 v. Y ork­ shire at Sheffield. M ost o f his other successes were in the hom e m atches, wherein he made 75 v. Notts, 60 v. H ants, 52 v. D erbyshire and 62 not out v. Surrey. In this last match, after being m issed before he had scored, he carried his bat right through the innings, the total made by his ten partners being only 28! M r . V ia l s is not m erely a batsman. H e has never done anything o f note as a bowler, it is true ; but he is quite an exceptionally good field. H e seem s to possess the right tem ­ perament for a captain. H ere’s luck to him ! T h e special effort made by the M.C.C. to put strong teams in the field for its early matches has been crowned with success. It is a long time since the premier club has been so well represented in its matches with the counties as during the last fortnight. The revival of the M.C.C. v. Middlesex match is distinctly interesting, too. T h is match was last played in 1873, when the county lost by 84 runs, A. N. Hornby’s 52 being the highest score of the game. I. D. Walker made a hit into the balcony of the billiard-room. In 1872 not one of the four innings reached a three-figure total ; I. D.’s 31 was the biggest individual score, and Middlesex won by nine runs. The 1871 match was of quite another kind. M.C.C. made 388, W. G. and John Smith of Cambridge (88 and 81 respec­ tively) sending up 161 for the first wicket. Middlesex replied with 485. That fine batsman, Mr. W. H. Hadow, ran up 217, his first chance being given at 194. His success was a just a trifle discounted by the fact that Mr. F. C. Cobden— “ the great Cobden ” —did not bowl while he was in, “ reserving himself for the University match.” So Mr. W. J. Ford stated in his Middlesex Cricket History ; and doubtless the fact that he would be opposed to Mr. Hadow in the Oxford v. Cambridge match was the cause of his decision not to bowl. But he took only one wicket