Cricket 1911

J une 2 1 , 1 9 1 1 . C R IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OP THE GAME. 269 v. Western Australia in 1906. For their benefit, and for that of our readers in general, we may say that the Austra­ lian case is not an exact parallel. Algernon Gehrs carried his bat through the first innings, but the second was closed, with only four wickets down, directly he had made his century, so that, even if he went in first, a matter which the score-sheet does not make certain, he can hardly be said to have carried his bat through. Mr. D. M. E v a n s , who bowled well for Hampshire against Derbyshire and Gloucestershire lately, is not an entire stranger to first-class cricket. As far back as 1904, when he was in his third year in the Winchester eleven, he played for Hants, v. Sussex at Hove, scoring 53 in his second innings, and in 1905 he figured in three Hampshire county matches. His batting average for Winchester in his last year was 35, but the 28 wickets he took were obtained at rather a high cost. S e v e r a l men have done well for Hampshire this season, but few better than that sterling professional, Alec Bowell who cuts particularly well and cleanly. In four successive matches recently he made as many as 416 runs—65 and 85 v. Derbyshire, 62 and 61 v. Kent, 51 and 4 v. Surrey, and 118 v. Gloucestershire. His success will be all the more pleasing to himself and his friends because he was dead out of luck last year. Our interviewer hopes to have a talk with Eowell very shortly. S o m e people may remember—though doubtless most have forgotten—the knock-out competition scheme which Messrs. C. B. Fry and F. H. Bacon laid before the public three or four years back. Why should not something of the kind be tried in 1912, when the Triangular Tests will possibly necessitate a modification of the County Cham­ pionship ? I t might be possible for one season to divide the Championship into two sections—North, to include York­ shire, Lancashire, Notts., Derbyshire, Northants., Leicester­ shire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, and South, to include Essex, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hamp­ shire, Somerset and Gloucestershire. A full programme in each case would give further matches. There is no reason why other matches should not be arranged outside the sections. T h e n , for the knock-out competition, we might have the sixteen first-class counties, such of the second-class shires as cared to try their luck—and one fancies that Norfolk, Staffordshire, Glamorganshire, Herts., Berks., Devon, Northumberland, Durham, and Monmouthshire, probably Suffolk, Lincolnshire and others, would be glad of the chance—and Scotland and Ireland. Possibly the number might be made up to thirty-two. Even for the two teams which reached the final that would only mean five extra matches. I n default of this, or in addition to it, why should not some of the minor counties combine to meet the Australians or the South Africans, after the manner of the South Wales team at Cardiff in recent years ? A match at Exeter, with Cornwall, Devon and Dorset supplying their best men —one at Reading, with a team drawn from Wiltshire, Berkshire and Bucks—one at Norwich, with Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire represented—one at Cambridge, with Cambs., Herts, and Beds, supplying the opposition —one at Stoke, with Staffordshire, Cheshire and the counties bordering on Wales, besides North Wales itself, drawn upon—-and one at Newcastle, with a Northumberland and Durham team. Surely these would be as interesting as the games with scratch elevens which generally figure in Australian programmes ? They would break fresh ground, to some extent, too. If played, they should be ranked first-class. The match M.C.C. v. Minor Counties which appeared in the Lord’s programme for several years ought certainly to have had that rank. W il l ia m R h o d e s , the Bankfoot fast bow ler, who has been showing such prom ising form of late in Yorkshire, played his early cricket with a ju nior organization in the Bradford district from which he graduated to the Idle C.C., at that time in the Yorkshire Council. A fter being with the Idle C.C. for one season he played for Fifeshire for a year, and then, after a similar period with the W ibsey C.C., join ed his present club, Bankfoot, in 1910. In Bradford League matches last season he took eighty-six wickets at a cost o f slightly over seven runs each. H e is tall and slim and in his tw enty-sixth year. P l a y in g at Guisborough on Saturday for Guisborough 2nd X I. against N orton 2nd X I., in a B . match in the North Yorkshire and South Durham League, Frank Sanderson took all ten N orton wickets for 35 runs. On the same afternoon, for Burslem v. Leek, on the Burslem ground, Page perform ed a precisely similar feat at a cost o f 52 runs. A NON CRICKETER’S POINT OF VIEW . C o u l d n ’ t W a r n e r b e m o re t h o r o u g h ? H e w o u l d l o o k w e l l a s a HARLEQUIN, BESIDES BREAKING THE MONOTONY OF WHITE. A t the time of writing Joe Vine holds the distinction of being the biggest aggregate scorer of the season, and may likely enough be the first to reach four figures. Every Sussex supporter would be glad if it turned out so. Vine is a man who has earned respect and esteem every­ where, a rare hard fighter, in a winning game or a losing one, and a rare good fellow. He is scoring faster this season than he has done for a long time past. It is by no means certain that his natural bent is towards the stonewall game. He took to it in days when he was Mr. Fry’s invari­ able partner at the outset of an innings, and it paid well then. It pays well at times now ; but on the whole one is glad to see Joe opening those sturdy shoulders of his, and sending the leather to the ropes more often.