Cricket 1911

A u g u s t 5 ,1 9 1 1 . C B IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OF TH E ' GAME. 403 for a side to have a slow bowler fresh at so advanced a period of the season as August. W hen the North of Scotland won the toss in their match against the All-Indian team at Inverness on Monday, they elected to bat. As the visitors with their captain (K. SeshaChari) proceeded to the field, they were headed by four boy bagpipers playing “ Highland Laddie,” while the spectators raised hearty cheers. swerve, it seems. If we had been in Ginger Stott’s place we should have been tempted to make application of a stump to him ! T h ere has been alm ost as m u ch in -a n d -ou t ru n n in g W e have not read “ The Hampdenshire Wonder,” and we don’t mean to. It would be altogether too disappoint­ ing, if one may judge from a review of it in the Westminster Gazette. The author, Mr. J. D. Beresford, introduces us in the early chapters to ‘ 1Ginger Stott, a bowler of genius, whose astonishing performances are written in the book of first-class cricket.” Ginger’s career has been “ cut short by the loss of a finger,” and he is “ absorbed by the ambition to produce a son who shall be a bowler of even greater genius. To that end he marries, and to that object dedicates_his life and his wife.” A pr om isin g opening, truly. But what comes of it all ? So far as we can gather the boy who arrives to call among the minor counties this season as among those in the first division. Who would have expected Northum­ berland to beat Staffordshire, or that, after such a victory, Northumberland should in turn go down before Cheshire ? Who would have tipped Cornwall for a victory over Kent Second ? Ginger father never plays cricket at a ll! At five he is an intellectual prodigy, devouring books, evolving ‘ ‘ a philosophy of his own which was far beyond the compre­ hension of the most learned and gifted of living men.” But he never applies that philosophy to the googly or the M e ssr s . L. H. W . T ro u g h t o n (for Kent Second v. Surrey Second and Wilts.), T . A. Bradford (Durham v. Northumberland and Norfolk), F. H. Carroll (Devon v. Surrey Second and Berks., besides a 98 v. Kent Second), N. V. H. Riches (Glamorgan v. Monmouth and Carmarthen), and G. A. Stevens (Norfolk v. Herts., and Beds.), and the Photo y\ [Hawkins&Co ., Brighton. J. B. HOBBS. N o r f o l k , one of the two or three strongest teams of last year, and the actual champions, have had a disastrous time so far, not having yet won a match. They have been beaten by Durham (twice), Herts., and Northumber­ land. But this cannot last. Norfolk is a good side, and will reassert itself before long. Glamorganshire has twice gone down before Surrey Second. Staffordshire, except for that slip against Northumberland, has been going very strongly; and Durham, though often unable to command the services of some of her best men, has done well. Photoby] [HatckinsJcCo.,Brighton. T. HAYWARD.