Cricket 1911

188 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 27, 1911. M b . I an P ercy F itzgerald C ampbell , the old Reptonian who won such high praise when playing for Surrey last August, has very early made his calling and election sure in the Dark Blue team. It is not often that a player at either University receives his blue during his second match ; but no one is likely to question Mr. Evans’s judgment. Mr. Campbell, by the way, was bom in India. If Sivaji Rao—who is not the Gaekwar of Baroda, but the Gaekwar’s second son—Mr. R. L. L. Braddell (born in the Straits Settlements), Mr. P. R. Le Couteur (Australia), and Mr. R. O. Lagden (Basutoland), all play at Lord’s, as seems likely, a goodly proportion of the Oxford team will have been recruited from “ the ends of the earth ’’—well, more or less. There are also Messrs. Rockliffe (Tasmania) and Mercier (Jamaica), as well as Mr. Jack (Australia), all of whom may receive and justify trial. A n o t h e r old R ep to n ian brou ght off a b o w lin g perform an ce again st K en t that m ay w ell be set b y the side o f h is school­ fe llo w ’s double b attin g feat. M r. Jo h n L io n e l Sym o n d s Y id ler is true Su ssex, born as he w as at th e C in que P o rt of R y e . H e w as three years in the R ep ton team , being a ston ish in gly success­ fu l w ith the b all in 19 0 7 , w h en he took 38 w ickets at on ly a little over 8 each, and doing w ell, though le ss m ark ed ly so, in 19 0 8 and 19 09 . L ik e C am pbell, R . A . Y o u n g and F . G . J . F o rd at C am brid ge, C . B . F r y an d L . C. H . P ala iret at O xford, h e got h is blue as a fre s h m a n ; it seem s rath e r a w a y w ith the b o ys from the D erb y sh ire school to do so, though o f course there are exceptions. M r. V id ler is righ t-h an d m edium -pace, h as a good off-break, an d sw erves d iscon certin gly at tim es. O x f o r d should be v e ry stro n g indeed n ext y e a r, w ith such batsm en as M essrs. C am pbell, K n o tt, E v a n s, L a g d e n , T w in in g an d oth ers still availab le, and w ith the addition o f such a capable all-round p la y e r as M r. W ilfred M eth ven B row n lee, w ho goes up to L in c o ln College in O ctober. A s a bow ler this old C lifton ian also relies la rg ely upon a s w e r v e ; he h im se lf states that he gets m o st o f his w ickets b y it. F a s t m edium rig h t, w ith an off b reak, he w ould seem to be a v e ry sim ilar typ e o f bow ler to Y id le r ; but there are differences betw een the tw o w h ich a verb al description does not b rin g out, and no doubt there w ill be room in the D a rk B lu e team for both, esp ecially as B ro w n lee is such a fin e fo rcin g bat. T h e veteran So cia list lead er, M r. H . M . H yn dm an , h as w ritten h is rem in iscen ces and th e y are to be published in the e a rly autum n. M r. H yn d m a n p layed occasio n ally for C am ­ b rid ge, bu t not again st O xford, and for S u ssex in the sixties. H e is n ow in h is seven tieth year. A t one tim e few thin gs m ore u n lik ely th an a W orcester­ sh ire v icto ry over S u rre y w ere to be expected, but d u rin g recen t y ears the stren gth o f the W estern cou n ty h as increased to such an extent that its p la yers h ave ceased to take the field reg ard in g defeat as a m oral certain ty. L a s t y e a r, at S to u r­ bridge, W orcestersh ire gained th eir in itial success ag ain st S u rre y , and by so pronounced a m argin as 3 16 ru n s, w h ilst this season th ey pulled o ff the gam e b y tw o w ickets b y m ean s o f a fou rth -in n in gs score o f 3 0 1. I t does not d etract in the least from the m erit o f th eir p erform an ce to point out th at it w as to a fo rm er m em ber o f the O val grou n d -staff— F . P earson , who w as b orn at B rix to n — th at th ey w ere indebted ch iefly for th eir success, or that B a le , who h a ils from M itch am , m ade the w in n in g hit. T h ere is som ething g rim ly h um orous in a side being beaten ow in g to the efforts o f one of th eir fo rm er p layers, and in th is connection one recalls the good scores A lb ert W ard used to m ak e again st Y o rk sh ire and the fine b ow lin g feats credited to L o ck w o o d at the expense o f N otts. T h e tim e is not far-d istan t w hen it w as regard ed as a great feat, and rig h tly so, for a side to score as m an y as th ree hundred ru n s in the fo u rth in n in gs of a m atch, but o f late years it h as been accom plished on m an y occasions an d is n ow o f fa irly frequent occurrence. W e h ave alread y stated th a t W orcester­ sh ire, set 300 to m ak e v. S u rrey , scored 3 0 1 for eight w ickets, an d it on ly rem ain s fo r us to add th at on the sam e d ay, L e ic e s­ tersh ire, left w ith 3 18 to obtain ag ain st L a n c a sh ire , m ade 304, and w ere acco rd in gly beaten b y the n arrow m argin o f 1 3 ru n s. A lm ost un til the la st half-h ou r it seem ed all L om b ard Street to a C hin a orange that L eicestersh ire w ould succeed in th e ir task, for th ey had 2 7 3 on the board w ith on ly three m en out. B u t the rem ain in g seven w ickets fell for 3 1 ru n s, the last five m en to go in gettin g on ly one ru n betw een them . I t is p retty safe to say th at if such an occurrence h ad been chronicled a hundred y ears ago, the bookm akers w ould h ave been held responsible. T h e absence from the L eicestersh ire team again st L a n c a ­ shire o f U ncle T om Ja y e s and N eph ew W illiam E w a r t A still, g ave the coun ty auth orities a chance o f try in g tw o o f their prom ising you n gsters, W illiam B ro w n , a left-han d bow ler, slow to m edium in pace, and A lb ert L o rd , a righ t-h an d ed batsm an and change bow ler. B o th did enough to ju stify th eir selection, B ro w n tak in g 3 w ickets for 24 in L a n c a sh ire ’s second, w hile L o rd , after p la yin g w ell fo r 32 at h is first attem p t, m ad e a splendid 73 at h is second, shap in g like a re a lly first-class bat. B r o w n w as borne at W oodhouse, L eicestersh ire, on A p ril 1 1 , 1888, L o rd at B a rw e ll on A u gu st 28 in the sam e year. F u n n y m en w ill now be ab le to crack jo kes upon the fact that, though L eicestersh ire h as lost its B aro n et, it h as still a K in g , a L o rd , an d a K n ig h t to hit “ the leath ery D u k e ” about. W e do not jo k e on the su b je c t; w e m erely m ention it. C o n g ra tu la t io n s to Mi-. C ecil Jo h n B u rd itt W ood, the first batsm an of the season to put a second cen tu ry to h is credit — his tw en ty-seven th in first-class cricket to date. M r. W ood is an old W ellingborough boy, lik e several to w hom referen ce w as m ade last w eek. H e appeared in a few m atches for N o rth ­ am pton sh ire in 18 9 5 , and headed the co u n ty’s battin g averages. I t w as in 18 9 6 th at he began to p la y for L eicestersh ire. T h e late Col. F ra n c is H ay g arth , brother o f the late M r. A rth u r H a y g a rth an d for som e y e a rs a m em b er o f the M .C .C ., w ho died in Lo n d on on A p ril 12 th , aged 9 1, left p roperty o f the value o f £ 45, 14 4 . C o n g ra tu la tio n s are due to M ajo r C live W ig ram , the old W yk eh am ist, and to M r. E . W . W allin gto n , the old O xonian, upon receivin g the P ru ssian O rder o f the C row n, second class. T he fo rm er is an E q u e rry in W aitin g and the latter P rivate Secretary to the Queen. D u r in g the past w eek or ten d ays there has been a rum ou r to the effect th at M r. T . A . L . W hittin gton , the cap tain and h o n o rary secretary o f the G lam organ C oun ty C .C ., intends to sever his connection, not on ly w ith cou n ty cricket, bu t w ith the N eath C .C . T h ere is, w e are glad to be able to state, not the slightest foundation for the report, for the p layer n am ed intends to appear as reg u larly as possible in the cricket-field. T h e statem en t as to D avid D en to n ’s fiftieth cen tu ry w hich one h as seen m ade in tw o or three places is— w ell, prem atu re. D avid m ay score h is fiftieth cen tu ry th is season, but h e h as not done so. In clu d in g one rath er doubtful item (130 , fo r M .C .C . v. A rm y in South A frica) h e h as ru n up 47 first-class centuries to date— one in 1896, tw o in ’97, three in ’99, one each in 1900 and ’0 1, tw o in ’02, three each in ’0 3 and ’04, eight in ’05, two (S. A frica) in ’05-6, seven in ’06, one in ’07, three in ’08, five in ’09, three (S. A frica) in ’09 -10 , one in 19 10 , and one th is season. T h e r e is no truth w h atever in the rum ou r that M r. P h ilip C artw righ t w ill take over the S u ssex cap tain cy. M r. C h ap lin— an in terview w ith w hom w ill appear in an ea rly n um ber o f this p ap er— has not yet resigned and is not lik ely to do so ; and even if he had M r. C . L . A . Sm ith , w ho w ill p lay p retty freq u en tly this season, is availab le to take his place, as he did, fo r the occasion, again st N otts at H ove. T h e rum o u r referred to did not originate w ith Cricket, and perh aps it w ould h ave been better if w e had not given it cu rren cy, even w ith a q u alifyin g clause. Som e m en in M r. C h ap lin ’s position m ig h t h ave resented i t ; bu t he is not easily put out b y little thin gs. A lle t s o n ’s w onderful h ittin g at B rig h to n on Sa tu rd a y deserves a lo n g p aragraph to itself, but before en terin g upon an an alysis o f the p erform an ce it should be stated th a t, i f W ass