Cricket 1911

34 CR ICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. March 30 , 1 9 1 1 . to the game by cricketers contributing to the Press. I have subm itted publicly, and take this opportunity o f repeating, ‘ Cricket for cricketers ; journalism for journalists.’ ” “ Y ou ask me if I think there is a surfeit o f county cricket. I should say that in counties like Yorkshire, Kent, L ancashire and others, where the matches are allocated to various districts, there is not too m u ch .” “ H ow do you account for the fact that so few amateurs o f real m erit have rendered Y orkshire service during the last few years ? ” “ Our county is essentially a comm ercial one. Gentlem en, after being educated at the Public Schools and the Universities, have to go into business ; and conse­ quently our amateurs are drawn from those who are absolutely independent of comm ercial matters. It is not because they prefer business to cricket, but because play in Yorkshire rightly takes second place to business. I have never heard com plaints from the amateurs o f the p ro­ gramm es being too long or the travelling w earisom e. I d on ’t see how they can object to playing the game on either score, because amateurs are not bound to play in every m atch nor are they com pelled to undertake tedious jou rneys against their w ish .” “ H ave Y orkshire m any youn g players w ho give prom ise o f developing into county cricketers ? ” “ I don’t think any county has so m any youn g players o f prom ise as we have. I am afraid the difficulty is w e have too many, with the exception, perhaps, o f fast bow lers, and these, as y ou know , are difficult to unearth anywhere. M y C om ­ m ittee— in m y opinion, the best Comm ittee in the w orld, individually and collectively— m ean to leave nothin g undone to uphold the prestige o f the county. In the winter shed H irst, Rhodes and Haigh w ill, w ith the other regular m embers o f the team , coach and bow l to the young players during the m onths o f M arch and A pril and, good sportsm en and county- m en as they are, will do everything possible to bring them forward. W hen the county season proper starts m y C om ­ m ittee w ill engage Stephen D oughty, o f Skipton, to coach the young players two days a week ; and, further, twelve or fourteen matches in different parts o f the coun ty betw een the second eleven players and those selected from the various districts w ill be played. This w ill not o n ly give the Comm ittee an opportunity o f witnessing their ow n engaged players, but w ill enable them to see the best youngsters selected-by the various Leagues. Lt is hoped that the m atches w ill do m uch to stimulate interest, w hich, as before hinted, is som ewhat inclined to wane when a team is not at the top o f the tree. A ltogether, we consider the prospects for 1911 good, so m uch so that we are hope­ ful that the coun ty w ill have to be reckoned with for the Cham pionship.” “ H ave you found that L eague cricket interferes in any w ay w ith the cou n ty’s cricket ? ” “ In Yorkshire, League cricket is o f great benefit to the County Club. There is a sense o f loyalty manifest in all the clubs in the county, and we have never found any difficulty with respect to League cricket, but I am sorry to say that the Leagues in an adjoining com ity are o f great hindrance in the retention of our young players. M y Comm ittee have adopted the p olicy o f paying young players adequately for their services, but the ‘ tempting baits ’ o f som e of the L eagues outside Yorkshire often cause discontent am ongst the young players ; and, I regret to say, several have re­ linquished their connection with the county in order to accept the ‘ glowing term s ’ o f the unscrupulous agents who have not hesitated to benefit by the efforts o f our coaching, &c.” “ I believe that Yorkshire favour the idea o f first-class county matches being restricted to tw o days in 1912, ow ing to two visiting teams being expected in England that year ? ” “ Y es ; Yorkshire favours two-day matches in 1912 owing to the proposed visits from Australia and South Africa, but in the resolutions subm itted to the A dvisory Board m y C omm ittee have been careful to stipulate that the whole matter be re-opened for consideration at the end o f that year. This is to afford an oppor­ tunity to the counties to say whether or no the idea warrants a continuance. I f tw o-day matches prove a success in 1912 there is n o doubt that they w ill be con­ tinued. But, should a m ajority o f the counties think they are unsatisfactory, the old system can be reverted to by the matter being re-opened. Personally, I think that tw o-day matches will be a huge success to the weaker counties, because they w ill be able to curtail their expenses, play on Saturday afternoons, and infuse m ore life and interest into their games, besides affording m ore time for the coaching o f their young players.” “ D id you ever play cricket m uch your­ self ? ” “ I played cricket for a matter of fifteen years and captained tw o or three local clubs, but when I accepted the duties o f Secretary I felt that it would not be possible to play and w ork at the same game. M y chief games were cricket and R ugby football, although I have indulged in nearly every branch o f athletics. I was Secretary o f the L eices­ tershire C ounty Cricket Club for five years and am now in m y ninth year as Secretary o f Y orkshire.” CRICKET IN INDIA. [F rom a C orrespondent .] P atiala , February 16th. After enjoying the festivities at Kapur- thala, H.H. the Maharaja of Kashmir came down with his cricket team to contest the long-looked-for match with Patiala at the neutral ground of Umballa oil 7th, 8th and 9th February. The weather was ideal, and the wicket like a billiard-table. Winning the toss, Patiala decided to bat. Disasters occurred almost at once, since two good wickets fell for 11 runs. Jaginder Singh, Tara Chand, Jaswant S>'ngh and Kishan Singh succeeded in keeping up their wickets for Tarrant, who gave a brilliant exhibition of very sound cricket and com ­ piled a record score for the ground, beating Banjitsinhji’s by 4 runs.* Kisban Singh’s interesting innings of 54 was marked by some excellent leg-glides. The Patiala innings lasted a day-and-a-half. Ram Kishan and Boota Bam opened the innings for Kashmir and made 40 runs between them. The rest, however, could not help the score much and the total was only 98. Following-on, Manak Chand and Salamat Bai played good cricket, but, with the exception of Boota Bam, no one else made double-figures, and Patiala won by an innings and 227 runs. S core:— Major K. M. Mistri, b Barkat Ram ............. 5 F. A. Tarrant, b Barkat R a m .............................261 H. H. the Maharaja, b Barkat Ram ............ 0 Major Jaginder Singh, lbw, b Barket Ram.. 17 Major TaraChand,lbw, b Barkat Ram... ... 2 0 Capt. Jaswant Singh, c and b Ram Kishan 35 Lala Gokal Chand, run out ............................ 6 K ashmir . First innings. Ram Kishan, e Tara Chand, b Tarant ..........................31 Boota Ram, c Ziaul Haq, b Tarrant...........................17 H.H.theMaharaja,bTarrant 11 Saleh Mohammad,bTarrant 12 Salamat Rai, c Sadan Singh, b Mistri ...........................14 Akbar Khan, st, b Mistri... 0 Manak Chand, b Mistri ... 12 Feroz Deen, b Tarrant ... 0 Barkat Ram, b Tarrant ... 0 Wazir Ganga Ram, not out 0 Salig Ram, b Tarrant........... 0 Bhagwan Das, b Mistri ... 0 Byes, &e. ................ 1 Total ...................98 Badesi Ram, lbw, b Saleh Mohammad... 25 Abdulghani, lbw, b Barkat H am ........... 0 Capt. Kishan Singh, not out .....................54 Ziaul Haq, b Barkat R am .................. ... 0 Capt. Sadan Singh, b Bhagwan Dim ... 1 Byes, &e................ 25 Total ...........449 Second innings. b Ziaul Haq ... 3 c Saden Singh, b Tarrant ...........16 did not bat... ... — b Tarrant ........... 1 e and b Tarrant... 46 Substitute,notout 2 c Abdulghani, b Tarrant ... b Tarrant ... b Ziaul Haq b Mistri b Ziaul Haq b Tarrant ... Byes, &e. 20 4 0 0 4 THE LANCASHIRE COUNTY C.C. At a meeting of the committee of the Lancashire County Cricket Club on the 3rd inst., some discussion took place on the proposal of Somerset for counting points in county championship matches, and it was decided to ask that another year’s trial be given to Lancashire’s scheme of last year. It was reported that during the winter extensive alterations had been made at the ground at Old Trafford, these including the erection of a mound which will increase the accommodation by 2,000. Total...........124 * Playing for Patiala v. Umballa, at Umballa on November 2 and 3, 1898, Ranjitsinhji made 257 not out and K. M. Mistri 255.—Ed., Cricket. GEORGE LEWIN & Co., (Established 1869.) Club Colour Specialists and Athletic Clothing Manufacturers. OUTFITTERS BY APPOINTMENT To the M.C.C. South African XI., 1909-10 ; the Aus tralians, 1890, 1899 and 1902 ; Mr. Stoddart’s XI., 1894-1895, 1897-1898 ; Mr. MaeLaren’s XI., 1901-1902; West Indian XI., 1900 and 1906 ; South Africans XI., 1901 and 1907 ; and M.C.C., Lancashire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex Counties, Wanderers, Stoics, Bromley, Sutton, and all Public Schools’ Old Boys’ Clubs, and Queen’s Club.—Write for E stim ates F ree. Telegraphic Address: “ Leotdde, London?' Telephone: P .O . City 607. 8, Crooked Lane, Monument, London Bridge, E.C.