Cricket 1911

J uly 1 ,1911 . CE ICRET : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME. 281 way there should be no Match Committees, in whose collec­ tive judgment I have no confidence. In their place I would elect a cricket coach and give him carte blanche to scour the county and spot likely youngsters, and then have them at the nets and tell them what to do or not do. If they shape well and are eager to learn and ambitious to improve, then they are the men you want. At present counties muddle along. Vain, pushing men are anxious for a seat in the Committee-room, whip up their friends and are elected. And the result is—chaos. Here’s another tip. Change your bowling when wickets are not falling. This was the great lesson taught us by the first Australian team, of 1878, and by virtually all successive teams. Old William Ward, the man who saved Lord’s, used to say that after twenty runs without a wicket you should change both bowlers. Some of us recall the figure of the Hon. Robert Grimston, a man never to be forgotten if once seen, whose knowledge of the game was as thorough as his criticisms were outspoken. He was Photo by] [Hawkins <fc Co., Brighton. H on. H. G. H. MULHO LLAND (C am bridge). H on . H e n r y G eoroe H il l M ulh olland .— B orn D ecem ber 20, 188S. E ton . once watching a match where batsmen got set and the captain made no change of the bowlers. ‘ ‘ They’ve got 40 runs and he’ll let them get 100. He doesn’t know the common A.B.C. of cricket and ought not to be allowed to come on a cricket ground.” A club captain once told me that he did not like taking a professional bowler off “ out of consideration for his feelings.” My rejoinder was : ‘ ‘ Confound his feelings ; the game is quite enough for you to think about.” It’s maiden overs, which to me are moonshine, that are responsible for this weakness in captains. But consecutive maiden overs simply mean that batsmen are playing themselves in, and your sole business is to try and get them out. Playing for Yorkshire 2nd XI. v. Mexborongh and, District League, at Wath-on-Dearne on Monday, E. W. Frank hit 22 in one over, including five successive 4’s. Corr^spond^nc^. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the opinions of his correspondents .] THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP. To the Editor of C ricket . S i r , —I should not trouble you with a personal explanation only I think it involves a matter of some general interest: the one point for being led in a draw. My hint that those who reward a loss on one innings ought to reward a loss on both was of course a reductio ad absurdum. I can comprehend the motive underlying this award without approving i t ; and “ Zummerzet” has quite misread me if he thinks that I have any leaning towards a scheme which singles out any particular part of an unfinished game to decide superiority. Have those who support awarding points in unfinishable games yet realised that those points have varying values to the different clubs? The “ possible ” 5 is always fictitious aud, while 3 is a set­ back to a highly placed county, 1 is a set-forward to a lowly one. And, even conceding that the always unsatisfactory adjudication of drawn games might be persevered with, why should the first innings only be taken into consideration? Here is an analysis of the several innings in the eleven games in which, to date, points for innings have been awarded Clubs leading First innings Second ,, Clubs behind. First innings Second ,, It reveals the remarkable fact that the clubs “ rewarded” for beincj 11*8 runs per wicket to the good on the first innings have left off 12 8 runs to the bad on the unconsidered second innings. “ Zum- merzet’s ” own illustration to justify the rule is rather peculiar. Because a club might sometimes play a good second innings and save a game, he would give it one point for any rank bad first innings that put the game in jeopardy! It sounds like rewarding the pusher-in of a subject rescued from drowning! Cricket opinion now seems to be in favour of equalizing the fixture cards, which has been the real crux all along. Some would do it by limiting matches to two days (which I thiuk would prove a failure), others by grouping the counties for championship purposes so as to involve fewer competition matches. But equalize the fixtures either way and you can awar i a point for a win, deduct one for a loss, ignore draws and eschew percentages entirely. Then the man in the street will understand the straightforwardness of it all. And I fancy that, if the Advisory body could approach the matter with such delightful detachment as residence in Ceylon must confer, that day would not be far off. Yours &c., 26 June, 1911. ’ H. P.-T, Wkts lost. Bans. Av’ge Wkt. Points. 110 ... 3998 ... 36 3 .,.. 33 54 ... 1974 ... 36*5 0 110 ... 2704 ... 21-5 .... 11 52 ... 2504 ... 49-3 .. 0 LONDON SCOTTISH v. WEST nERTS CLUB AND GROUND.-Played at Watford on June 21. Score :— L ondon S cottish . J. S. Chown, c Chant, b Clark ... 03 J. Lamont, b Breed.......................... 1 E. Hogg, c Blower, b B reed.......... 4 C. Artaud, b Clark .......................... 20 E. Lacey, b Clark .......................... 12 J. A. Adamson, c Hudson, b Clark 10 J. E. Shaw, run out.......................... 0 H. C. Hodgson, b Wolf .................. 28 R.A. Bennett, c Goodall, b Hudson 5 A. Angus Thomas, c Breed, b Wolf 23 J. L. Chown, not out .................. 6 Byes, &c................................ 11 T otal.......................... 183 W est H erts . T. R. Chant, c Lacey, b Hogg ... 7 C. Blower, c Artaud, b Hogg ... 4 W. Wheeler, c Lacey, b Lament... 29 E. S. Household, b Lacey ........... 68 J. Goodall, b Lamont .................. 0 P. Rogers, c J. L. Chown, b Lacey 10 G. Breed, not out .......................... 26 W. Clark, b L a ce y .......................... 15 P. Wolf, b Lacey .......................... 0 C. Hudson, b H ogg......................... 1 H. Sumpter, b Hogg ................... 4 Byes, <Sc................................ 11 Total.. .............175 WANDERERS v. GRA /ESEND.—Played at the B&tand Ball Ground, Gravesend, on June 24. Score: — G ravesend . J. Russell, c and b Taylor .......... 25 H. Gramshaw, lbw, b Taylor ... 6 L. C. Troughton, lbw, b Taylor ... 8 E. W . Lovell, c Gale, b Wells ... 11 R. W. Talbot, st Brooks, b Dawdry 63 E. Tanner, b Dawdry .................. 19 C. A. Boorman, c and b Wells ... 2 H. H. Wall, b Dawdry ................... 3 W. J. Grey, c Watt, b W ells............ 0 L. C. Willis, c Keating, b Wells ... 4 F. J. Tolhurst, not out .................. 1 B 1, lb 3, w 1 .......................... 5 T o ta l..................................... 147 T he W anderers . R. R. Brooks, b Boorman .......... 5 P. G. Gale, b L ovell........................ 15 J. U. C. Watt, b Boorman .......... 9 L. S. Wells, c and b Grey .......... 23 S. Stafford, b G rey......................... 0 R. Keiiward,c'l roughton,b Tanner 49 G. Dawdry, c Russell, b Boorman 66 J. N. Talbot, bTalbot ................. 0 L. Covell, c Russell, b Talbot .. 9 H. L. Keating, n o to u t.................. 6 O. Taylor, b Boorman ................. 5 B 21, lb 1, nb 2 .................. 24 Total................................. 211