Cricket 1911

J u n e 3, 1911. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 211 Alletson’s Match at Hove. C r i c k e t wishes him luck, and a few hundred more matches without a “ holiday.” “ R o t t e n lot, Warwickshire!” That was what some sage critics said—in effect, if not in so many words— when Surrey massacred the county with the device of the Bear and Ragged Staff at the Oval. No one says that sort of thing now. Three fine victories in succession have the Warwickshire men won, and Lancashire, Leicestershire and Sussex are all worthy foemen. The presence of their young captain seems to have acted upon them like a charm. I t ought to have a good effect, too. For Mr. Frank Rowbotham Foster, the youngest county captain of the day, believes in his side. Witness what he says in the current issue of the new series of ‘ ‘ Fry’s Magazine ”— which, by the way, is better value than ever. “ We shall have a really good and enterprising side. All our men are sportsmen through and through................... I think Charlesworth is one of the best bats in the country at the present time.............He is the best-natured and the finest sportsman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting............. Santall.............I think, on a wicket to suit him, is the finest bowler anywhere.............Smith, the wicket-keeper, is another good man, and the way he takes the leg stuff is miraculous................ I did not see a better keeper all last season, not even Strudwick.............Our latest recruit, Parsons, is a real top-holer.............Field is the finest worker on the side.............In my opinion he is quite as good as Buckenham, and if given a trial at Lord’s on a hard wicket, he would bowl creation out and hit the sticks.” B r a v o , Mr. Foster ! Some may say that you are still young enough to see through rose-coloured glasses. May you long remain so ! Your men will play up all the better for your whole-hearted belief in them. It will help them and you, too. Just one more quotation: “ We did not get the credit we deserved, simply because the papers are so used to running our cricket down that they cannot get out of the groove.” There is a lot of truth in that. A tradition dies hard ; and some people are obsessed by a notion that certain teams are always slow. Mr. Chaplin says that a critic in Country Life was always down on Sussex last year, and adds, tellingly, that the said critic never saw any of the Sussex matches ! Was he the same critic who, because of an attack of the slows from which Mr. R. B . Heygate and Joe Vine suffered at Horsham in the Surrey match, proclaimed that Sussex cricket had received a blow from which it would take years to recover ? But, in spite of a two-wickets’ defeat in a splendidly-fought match at Coventry last week, Sussex cricket is doing very well indeed, thank you ! We have it on the best authority, so no one need doubt it. S a t u r d a y last was a day of cricket drama. The half-holiday crowds—one hopes they really were crowds— at Coventry, Northampton, and Leicester ought to have been disabused of any notion they may have had that cricket is a dull game, though only at Coventry did victory for the home side make the best possible curtain from the crowd’s point of view. There, and at Northampton, where Surrey ‘ ‘ muddled through ” in characteristic British fashion by one wicket, the play was of the type that makes every ball worth watching. At Leicester the excitement was of another sort. One fears that the folk there will regard their team as one which “ flatters only to deceive.” Blythe 6 for 10 , Woolley 4 for 16—six men out for ducks— King the only double figure scorer—what a slump ! And it wasn’t all the wicket. Kent’s 100 for one seems to show that. M r . T. A. L. W h i t t i n g t o n , the Glamorganshire captain, took a sporting risk when he declared his side’s innings closed against Surrey Second at the Oval. As the result mainly of a rare hitting innings by young Abel, the chance did not come off. Ought Mr. Whittington .g feel remorse ? N o t a bit of i t ! What he did was in the interests of his side, and at the same time a rare good thing for the game. It was playing cricket as it should be played. And one does not say this merely because the Welsh county was behind on the first innings. The principle would have been the same had first innings points not been in the calculation at all. Mr. Whittington saw a chance of victory, and snatched at i t ; his opponents saw a chance, and they snatched at it. It was they who held on at the finish. All due credit to them, but give the captain of the beaten side his meed of praise. Better to venture and to lose than not to venture at all ! T h is is w hat M r. W hittin gton h im se lf—he w ill fo rgive quotation from a p rivate letter, one feels su re— says about the last inn in gs o f the gam e. “ A t one tim e— 13 6 for 5 — it looked as if w e should pu ll it off. B u t A b el’s phenom enal 13 2 in 75 m in utes upset our calculations, and th o ro u gh ly deserved to w in them the m atch. I t w as the m ost m agn ificent piece o f h ittin g I ’ve ever seen, as th ere w as p ractically not a m ish it in it.” So generous a tribute as th is d eserves p u blicity. On the C ou n ty ground at South am pton on S a tu rd a y, A . J . L . H ill ( 1 5 1 not out) and H . G . M . B arto n (73 not out) m ade 250 w ithou t being separated fo r the first w ick et of T ro ja n s against H am p sh ire B o v ers. T h e la tter w ere dism issed for 228. H is M ajesty has gran ted an audience to H .H . the M ah a raja of P a tia la at B u ck in gh am P alace. H is M ajesty expressed h is in terest in the tou r o f the In d ian team , and stated th at he w ould p robably v isit L o rd ’s in order to see their m atch w ith the M .C .C ., w h ich comm ences on T h u rsd a y n ext. H is H igh n ess, b y-th e-w ay, is the guest o f th e In d ian Office for the C oronation. A c c o rd in g to the Sporting Chronicle the p arty of In d ia n cricketers now on a v isit to th is cou n try is m ade up o f six P arsees, six H in d u s, and three M oh am m ed an s— each , of course, w ith a lan gu age o f th eir own, w h ich is not understood b y the other tw o. T h e lan gu age u su ally spoken is E n g lish . B . Ja y a r a m , from B an g alo re, is M r. L lo y d G eorge in m in iatu re. H e ought to be the hum orist o f the p arty. A t th e G o u lb u rn S h o w G ro u n d (N.S.W.) on A p ril 8 th th e J e f f r e y fa m ily w e re d e fe a te d b y th e T ic k n e r fa m ily b y 16 0 ru n s o n th e fir s t in n in g s. T h e re a re th re e fa m ily te a m s in th e d istric t, th e H o rto n s b e in g th e o th er. T h e cricket season in Sydney was brought to a close on April 29th, when the premiership was won by Gordon, who defeated Burwood. Redfern, by beating University, secured second place. Cotter wound up the season by clean bowling four batsmen with successive balls. P l a y i n g for his own eleven against Shoalhaven District, on April 15th, L. A. Minnett scored 148 in fifty minutes. He reached three figures in 26 minutes, punishing successive overs for 28 and 26. He hit twelve 6 ’s and ten 4’s. A v a lu e d correspondent d raw s m y attention to two cu riosities w hich are d eservin g of chronicle in Gossip. P lay in g for H am ilto n H ou se, B a th , ag ain st S a in t C hristop h er’s, on S a tu rd a y last, E d w a rd L . T h orold carried h is bat through the com pleted inn in gs of 21 for 3 — a rem ark a b ly sm all score to be obtained in such circum stan ces. In an oth er gam e a boy, h a v in g sent up a catch, called out “ N o t out, 6 d .,” or w ords to th at effect. T h e catch w as m issed , but the boy w as given out for obstruction— a verdict w ith w hich p robably none w ill be found to disagree. I t will interest many to know that Mr. Percy G. H. Fender, the Old Pauline who played once or twice for Sussex last season, is up in Lancashire, taking a course of study in engineering. His keenness for the game has prompted him to join the Manchester C.C., and on successive Saturdays he has been putting in some splendid work for the club, which may be regarded as the pioneer of Lancashire County cricket. Fender’s latest was a finely-hit 88 against Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and, though handicapped by an injured hand, which he recently had crushed in some