Cricket 1911

310 CKICKET: A WEEKLY EECOKD OF THE GAME. J u ly 8 , 1911. © b i t i t a r g . H o n . T. M. DALY, K.C. The Hon. T. Mayne Daly, K.C., died suddenly of heart failure at Winnipeg on June 24th. lie was once Minister of Justice for the Dominion of Canada, and was Hon. President of the Winnipeg Cricket Association and Vice-President of the Canadian Cricket Association. M e . J. DAVIS. Mr. Joseph Davis, who died in Sydney on May 18th, aged 52, was at one time one of the best-known cricketers in New South Wales. His best innings was probably his 85 for New South Wales against the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team in December, 1882, when he made his runs oil the bowling of Barlow, Barnes, Bates, Morley, A. G. Steel and C. T. Stadd. The total of the side was only 165, including ten extras, and only two other players reached double figures. On a few occasions he appeared in the matches against Victoria, and on the Melbourne ground in December, 1881, made 11 in his first innings and 53 in his second. He was a member of the N .S.W . teams which visited New Zealand in 1890 and 1894, and in the former tour headed the batting averages with 30-55, scoring 275 runs in nine completed innings. M r . H. B. STEEL. Mr. Harold Banner Steel, who died at Burnham, Somerset, on June 29th, was one of the seven sons of the late Mr. Joseph Steel, and was born at South Hill Grove, Liverpool, on April 9th, 1862. Of the very great deal on behalf of the Liverpool C.C., the Uppingham Rovers, the Quidnuncs, Hoi Pepneumonoi (which he founded), &c. For Lancashire he scored 765 runs with an average of 22 -50, his first appearance for the county being in 1883 and his last in 1896. His highest scores were 100 v. Surrey at the Oval and 77 v. Kent at Maidstone, both made in 1884. At one time he was also a fair change bowler, and he could keep wicket. It is not generally known that a relationship exists between the Steel and Studd brotherhoods. ReproducedJrom] [ “ Cricket’’ of 1887. The Late Mr. H. B. STEEL. seven brothers—T., A. J., F. J., D. Q., A. G., H. B ., and E. E .— as many as six were actively identified with the game, and in June, 1884, four of them assisted Lancashire against Surrey at Liverpool. Mr. H. B. Steel received his early education at Uppingham, but, leaving there at the Borth crisis (in 1875), was, like Mr. E. D. Gaddum, who proceeded to Bugby, not in the Eleven. He was trans­ ferred to Bepton, for whom he played in 1879 and 1880, heading the batting averages each season, in the former with 20'27 and in the latter with 26 36. In his second year as a member of the side he scored 61 against Malvern and 58 v. Uppingham. Among his contemporaries were Messrs. H. J. and W . A. J. Ford. Mr. Steel was a very power­ ful hitter, and obtained an unusually large proportion of his runs by boundary hits. He was seen but seldom, however, in county matches, preferring good-class club cricket, of which he played a The Race for th e Hundred Wickets. At the hour of writing, “ Razor ” Smith is ahead of all rivals in the number of wickets taken ; but his lead is so slight that it is by no means a certainty that he will get home first. Either Dean or Hirst might head him off, and win on the post, and there are others. Certainly he will hardly romp home as he did last year, when he took his hundredth wicket a week ahead of the second man to secure that distinction. Jack Hearne has been first on six occasions ; no one else of late years has filled first place more than twice. Here are the placed competitors for each year of the present century, with the date on which each man took his hundredth wicket:— 1910—Sm ith (W. C.), June 28 ; Llew ellyn (C. &.), July 5 ; Relf (A. E.), July 9. 1909—B lythe (C.), June 28 ; Thom pson (G. J .), July 7 ; R elf (A. E .), July 28. 1908—W . Brearley, June 29 ; H irst (G. H .), July 9 ; Blythe (C .), July 20. 1907—Tarrant (F. A .), June 25 ; Cox (G. R.) July 2 ; Rhodes (W .), July 12. 1906— H irst (G. H .), June 28 ; Haigh (S.), July 4 ; N. A. K nox July 12. 1905—Lees (W. S.), July 4th ; W. Brearley, July 11; Cox (G. R.), July 13. 1904— Hearne (J. T.), July 15 ; Wass (T), July 29 ; Lees (W. S.), A ugust 5. 1903— Barnes (S. F.), July 24; Hargreave (S.), July 25 ; Rhodes (W .), July 25. 1902— Tate (F. W.), June 24 ; Llew ellyn (C. B.), June 27 ; Rhodes (W .), July 15. 1901—Rhodes (W .), June 21 ; Trott (A. E.), June 29 ; H irst (G. H .), July 6 . Going further back, one finds Rhodes first in 1900, Trott in 1899. Jack Hearne in 1898, 1897 and 1896, Tom Richardson in 1895 and 1894, Jack Hearne in 1893 and 1892, George Lohmann in 1891, 1890 and 1889, G. T. B. Turner in 1888, Lohmann in 1887, George Giffen in 1886, Lohmann in 1885, F. R. Spofforth in 1884, Barratt in 1883, Peate in 1882 and 1831. Before that Alfred Shaw, Fred Morley, James Southerton and W. G. Grace were among those who got there first. The date June 28th occurs three times in the last five years, and the other two years of the five show June 25th and June 29th. June 21st is the earliest date recorded here; Rhodes took his hundredth wicket on that date both in 1900 and 1901. Albert Trott’s date in 1899 was June 20th ; but Jack Hearne’s June 12th in 1896 is a record for earliness. He reached three figures in wickets that season in the course of the match between M.C.C. and Australians, when the colonists were put out for 18. The Middlesex veteran has fourteen times figured in the 100 wickets table. He was in it every season from 1891 to 1904 with the single exception of 1901, when his bag was 99 ; and he came in again last year, after five years’ absence. Briggs, Hirst and Rhodes (12 times each), Blythe, Haigh, Walter Mead and Southerton (10 each), Attewell, W. G. Grace, Mold, Richardson and Shaw (9 each), Lohmann, Peel, Albert Relf [and Wass (8 each), Dennett, Lees and Albert Trott (7 each), Lockwood, Martin and Peate (6 each), Buckenham, John Gunn and Thompson (5 each), Arnold, Braund, Dean and Tarrant (4 each), also call for mention. It may be of interest to some if the year in which bowlers still taking an active part in big cricket first secured 100 wickets is given. Here is the information in brief:— 1891.— Hearne (J. T.). 1895.—M ead(W ), H irst (G. H.). 1898.—Rhodes (W .), Trott (A. E.), Haigh (S.). 1900.—Gunn (J.), Wass (T.), Blythe (C.), Field (F. E.). 1901.—Braund (L. C.), Sharp (J.), Vine (J.), J. R. Mason. 1902.—Arnold (E. G.). 1903.— Barnes (S. F.), R elf (A. E.), Lees (W . S.). 1904.—W arren (A.), C ox (G. R .), Dennett (G. E .), Reeves (W.). 1905.— W. Brearley, Thom pson (G. J.),. Jayes (T .), K illick (E. H.). 1906.—Fielder (A.), Buckenham (C. P.). 1907.—Tarrant (F. A .), Santall (S.), Cuffe (J. A.), Dean (H .). 1908.— Newstead (J. T.). 1909.—S. G. Sm ith, Leach (G.), Rushby (T.). 1910.—Sm ith (W. C.), Newm an (J.), W oolley (F. E.), M orton (A .), F. R . Foster, H itch (J. W .), and Burrows (R. D.). Hayward and G. L. Jessop are not included, since they do not rank as bowlers nowadays, and Jayes is included because one hopes that it will not be long before the fresh-faced Leicestershire man, who always looked the picture of health, will be back in harness again. J.N.P.