Cricket 1911

J uly 8, 1911. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 32 l A t Coventry on Saturday last George Makepeace, aged 35, dropped dead whilst playing in a match. He was one of the batsmen, and collapsed whilst running between the wickets. At the inquest on Monday Dr. Hawley attributed death to heart failure, probably due to exertion, and the jury returned a verdict accordingly. P laying for Dunsandel C.C., New Zealand, in the Elles­ mere Association’s competition matches during 1910-11, E. J. Norman scored 880 runs for eight completed innings, having an average of 110. Including other club matches and representative matches he scored a total of 1,681 runs for fifteen completed innings, with an average of 112'06. For the Paddington C.C., of Sydney, during the same season, M. A. Noble's figures were 9-4-844-128’80-219*, and for South United C.C., in the Adelaide and Suburban Association, S. Leak's were 13-7-646-107-66-142!i!. T h e scheme for the Triangular Test contest next year, as given out by the Cricket Conference last week, does not provide any startling surprise. Five matches for London, three at Lord’s, two at the Oval—two for Manchester—one each for Leeds and Nottingham: such is the allocation. Birmingham is not given a game, and no other centre seems to have been considered seriously. Mr. E. H. D. S e w e l l , in the “ Sporting Life” writes: “ The notion of playing a Test at Cardiff or Edinburgh is pretty in its way, but from the grist point of view the Parc des Princes in Paris, or Woodbrook, Ireland, are just as suitable.” But surely this is unfair both to Cardiff and Edinburgh, though we believe it was actually Glasgow rather than the Modern Athens that was suggested ? “ W is d e n ” says that the match between South Wales and the Australians at Cardiff in 1909 was “ an immense financial success.” Just exactly what this means it is impossible to say : but it is in itself sufficient to controvert the statement quoted above as far as it applies to Cardiff. Both in 1905 and 1909 crowds of considerable size—though scarcely of Test match proportions—watched the Australians play at Glasgow. P l a y in g for St. Andrew’s College v. B. Simpson Co. A, at Toronto on June 17, J. W. James obtained five wickets with consecutive balls. Exactly a week later, in New York, George Shaw took four with successive deliveries for Columbia Oval v. Anglo-Americans. A t Johannesburg on Juno 3 Mr. J. W. Zulch was married to Miss Lesbia van der Linde. The guests included some members of the South African team which visited Australia last winter. W e note that in a match at West New Brighton, Staten Island, on Coronation Day between New York Veterans and All-Philadelphia Colts ten balls were bowled to the over. According to a report which has reached us the experiment was “ a signal success. The spectators voiced a unanimous sen­ timent to the effect that it decidedly quickened the game, and efforts will be made to have the scheme introduced in all first- class matches in this country.” From the earliest times almost the question as to the number of balls to the over has been one on which various opinions have been held. Even when the official number was four, as many as five or six would be used in club cricket, and recently eight have been adopted, with some satisfaction, in certain club matches in New South Wales. The question was once put to Alfred Mynn whether he would like the number increased from four to six and the genial Kent giant replied, “ For myself, I should like a hundred balls to the over.” A correspondent writes us as follows :—“ I should like to draw your attention to the good display of batting which Faircloth, the Ludlow and South Shropshire professional, gave last Saturday. Playing against Leominster, at Ludlow, he scored 119 in a little over an hour. In one over he scored 30— three 6’s and three 4’s—and his hits included four 6’s and twenty 4’s. This is his second century this summer, while three seasons ago he scored 1,000 runs. Faircloth hails from Ton­ bridge, Kent.” T h e Indian cricketers were beaten both at the Oval and Catford, but they will be able to look back upon the matches with no little satisfaction. In both games they showed much better all-round form than when they met the M.C.C- at Lord’s, but the absence of Major Mistri handicapped them severely. Baloo is, beyond doubt, their best bowler. In the Surrey match he had Hayward in difficulties more than once, and, with a little luck, would have had much better figures than he obtained. T h e team were much pleased that Lord Harris should turn out against them at Catford, for during his term as Governor of Bombay he did much for cricket and was referred to affectionately by the natives as “ our Guru”—that is “ Guide, philosopher, and friend.” Although it is as far back as 1870 that he made his first appearance for Kent, he showed that he is still equal to doing well against good bowling by batting an hour for 36. His runs, too, were obtained in such irreproach­ able style that one regretted he is now seen so seldom in the field. It was pleasant to observe him and “ W. G.”—opponents and comrades on many a field—talking over old times with a “ school-buoyancy ” which enabled one to forget that they were playing first-class cricket in the mid-Victorian period. The G.O.M., by-the-way, spoke in the highest terms of Meherhomji’s beautifully-timed cutting. T h e Warwickshire County Committee have presented F. B. Foster with the ball with which, in Whit-week, he took nine wickets in Yorkshire’s first innings for 118 runs. It was the first occasion that nine wickets had been taken in an innings by one bowler at Edgbaston. The ball, suitably mounted, bore a silver shield inscribed with the performance mentioned, and was mounted on a tripod of three small silver wickets affixed to an ebony stand. The Committee also presented Field with a ball bearing a silver shield in recognition of his bowling at Gloucester recently, when he took seven wickets for 29 runs in the first innings and five for 50 in the second. The shield bore the records of his feats, and the ball was mounted on an ebony stand. O n e of the most pleasing features of the season’s play has been the great improvement in Warwickshire cricket. For some years, not without some cause, the side had been regarded generally as unattractive, but such a verdict could not now be justly passed upon them. The appointment of Mr. Frank Foster to the captaincy appears to have instilled an amount of brightness and energy into the eleven which should bring about a reward in the shape of greater support to the County Club. The team is now one to be feared, even by the strongest, as their match at Edgbaston with Surrey testifies. They almost monopolised the honours of the game, the result of which causes Surrey to descend from first place to third, both Yorkshire and Kent going above them. A record of a peculiar nature was set up in the Wakefield and District Cup match between Outwood and Methley on the Outwood ground on Saturday. The former’s total of 124 was made up thus:— O utw ood . Hargreaves, not ou t.............................114 Colley, e and b D ickinson ........... 0 Hartley, b D ickinson .................... 3 Appleyard, b D ickinson.................... 0 Dobson, b Dickinson .................... 4 Foulson, c and b D ick in son ............ 0 Jackson, c and b D ickinson............ 1 Ham pshire, st Darbysliire, b D ick­ inson .............................................. 2 Holm es, b D ickinson ... .......... 0 Logan, b D ickinson .................. 0 Lees, c Darbyshire, bDickinson 0 Byes, &c.................................. 0 Total.............................124 It will be seen that Hargreaves, who carried his bat through the innings, made 114 of the 124 runs obtained by the side, that the next highest score was 4 and that Dickinson obtained all the ten wickets, and at a cost of but 10 runs. The annals of cricket do not furnish a parallel to such batting and bowling being chronicled in the course of one and the same innings. On the same afternoon H. Thompson, playing in a Yorkshire Central League match for Hanging Heaton v. East Ardsley, at Hanging Heaton, took all ten wickets for 23 runs in a total of 46.