Cricket 1911

J une 2 1 ,1 9 1 1 . CRICKET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. 265 B U S =@ £Y ’S WORLD - FAMED. 9 c 4 4 [ 27/6 S1^ 2 2 / 6 18/6 W 16/6 ^ / V v 1 4 / 6 READ " The Evolution of a Cricket Bat," OBTAINABLE FREE UPON REQUEST. 36 & 38, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET , LONDON, E.C. Factoriesi : | Peckham, London. Elmswell, Suffolk. A g e n t s a l l o v e r t h e W o r l d . Cricket Notches. B y th e R e v . R . S. H o lm e s . all the young cricketers I have seen during the past ten years none has impressed me more than J. W . Hearne. Why do I say this ? Not simply because of his centuries against Notts and Yorkshire last week—great as both performances were—but because he has the temperament of a fine cricketer. Watch him at the wicket; he may follow a big stand, or, as in last week, he may go in after Warner and Tarrant have failed. No matter; at once he is master of the situation, is never in a hurry to score off the first over, has all the self control and stolidity of a veteran. In a word, he possesses tem­ perament. Now, of course, that is not everything; a successful bats­ man must have skill. But skill in the absence of temperament is of little avail at cricket, even as temperament without skill is. Skill may be acquired, but temperament is innate. In a game like cricket, where a batsman has often to stop a rot, temperament is of supremeimportance when an excited crowd is watching.And yet how seldom do committees seem to attach any value to this indispensable quality. Given moderate ability to start with, and temperament, and there is no reason why a youngster should not by practice become first-class. A cool head and a strong nerve are the chief factors in a batsman’s success. If you want to know what I mean by temperament, just take stock of such players as Hirst and Hayward ; you will soon discover the secret. I am almost inclined to speak as confidently of Hendren; my regret is that I have not seen enough of the Yorkshire colts, Booth and Drake, to be able to pronounce on them. Hearne reminds me of Hayward; whilst Hendren is more aggressive and is suggestive of Tyldesley. I hope they will both be chosen for the Players’ team in a fortnight, and I shall be surprised if next season does not bring them even higher distinction. Yet possibly the Selection Committee will pass them b y ; that, however, will not in the least change my opinion of these youngsters, although it will very seriously reflect on the good sense of the Committee, from whom some of us do not look for sound judgment in the matter of picking the best elevens. It must be a long time since four separate hundreds were scored off Yorkshire bowling in the course of six days : yet that happened last week at Bradford and at Lord’s. It was not a novel experience for them to field out whilst an opponent notched two centuries at their expense. In this respect Wood had been anticipated by W .G ., Banjitsinhji, Jessop and Storer. Thus, five batsmen have been credited with this double-first against Yorkshire, four of them during the period when the Northern bowling was almost at its strongest, when Hirst, Rhodes and Haigh were at the top of their form. Hampshire is the only other county against which five double-eenturies have been made, Kent, Notts and Somerset following with four apiece. Surrey is the only county at whose expense one batsman alone—viz., Fry—has recorded this two-fold triumph. As a sort of set-off to Wood’s wonderful batting at Bradford, I may mention being at the Oval in 1874 when Harry Jupp carried his bat through both innings against Yorkshire, although only one of his innings ran into three-figures. Here’s an item for record lovers. Wood has now carried his bat through an innings thirteen times in a Championship match : or, only once less than Louis Hall, the old Yorkshire stone-waller. “ W .G .” and Barlow have each ten such innings : Yine, nin e; Warner, seven; Abel, six. No Worcestershire batsman has ever played through an innings. The three highest of such scores have been Abel’s 357 against Somerset in 1899, “ W .G.’s ” 318 against Yorkshire in 1876, and Robert Relf’s 272 against Worcester­ shire in 1909. The smallest all-through innings is Barlow’s 5 against Notts in 1882 which was scored at the rate of exactly two runs an hour! I trust that will remain a record for all time. By the way, that reminds me that Barlow was umpiring all the week at the Oval a fortnight or more since, and very conscientiously he did hiB work. He is the only umpire I have seen this year who watched every movement of the roller between the innings. But then he looks not a day older than when he retired from first-class cricket twenty years ago. I know no cricketer who carries sixty-one years so lightly. But as a Surrey veteran put it, a man who neither smokes nor drinks ought to live to the age of Methusaleh. Anyhow it had proved an enormous benefit to cricket had Barlow’s example been followed by many of his contemporaries. I am anxious to be off to the Oval to welcome my old county Northamptonshire after their memorable defeat of Sussex and Kent, for which no one was prepared. I may possibly be excused a personal remark: before Northants was a recognised cricket county—when, indeed, the town of Northampton was the county so far as cricket was concerned, I was in the eleven two seasons. Our chief matches in those days were with Rugby, for whom David Buchanan, the famous slow bowler, always played, and with the Uppingham Rovers at the period when C. E. Green was their captain and A. P. Lucas their best batsman. What a pity that the Leicestershire “ star,” Wood, left the county of his birth ; Northants’ chief desideratum is a fast-wicket batsman of his ability. I believe that Wood, Thompson and the brothers Denton all learned their cricket at the Wellingborough Grammar School, of which I wrote in this journal a few weeks since. J. S. Denton’s first century—against Sussex— last week was very welcome. Norlhants is no longer a one-man team, although Thompson was more than handy both with bat and ball in the Kent match. That victory will do the Midlanders far more good than it will do harm to Kent. The latter will not grumble at their defeat: they are far too good sportsmen to sulk. If Kent are to be beaten I hope the distinction will fall to the lot of one of the struggling counties. But we must not conclude from the Tonbridge Week that Kent are out of the running. Two years ago this same Week was equally