Cricket 1911

414 C R IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OP THE G AM E . A u g u s t 1 2 , 1 9 1 1 . “ You start your county matches late, I see—as late as 27th July.” “ That's so. It seems a pity in some ways ; but in cannot be helped. So many of oar men are schoolmasters, University under­ graduates, or still at school, that I cannot get at all a strong team together till then. Where’s that list ? Bassett, Watson, Henley, Bird. K. Raynor, F. P. Wood, Phillips—all schoolmasters, and there are others; Hill-W ood—a Member of Parliament; Gorell Barnes — a barrister; Ireland, Braddell, Lang, G. D. Wood— at the ’Varsities ; Blount at Harrow—he kept wicket really well in the big match at Lord's. Speaking of wicket-keepers, Suffolk is almost too well off in that respect. We have five besides Blount, all amateurs, all really pood—B. A Collins, E. Pritchett, A. H. Lang, C. M. Phillips, and P. P. Cornell.” “ But Mr. Lang played for Sussex against Cambridge University. Doesn’t that spoil his qualification for Suffolk this year ? ” “ I am advised not. The same sort of thing has been done before. Thiugh he is living near Horsham now, Lang isn’t yet qualified for Sussex, and he will certainly play for us. Reverting to the difficulty of raising teams early in the season, let me give you an instance. Last year, to oblige Lincolnshire, we played them at Lincoln on Whit-Monday and Tuesday. I sent out forty-nine invitations before I could scratch together a team for that match, and when the men came on the ground there were actually five of them whom I didn’t know by sig h t! ” “ That helps to explain the number of men you found it necessary to play last season— as many as forty, I believe.” “ Yes. Our best team is really good all-round, but we can seldom put it in the field. What would be our best team? Well, I should not care to be too dogmatic, and of course it depends upon various circumstances. But I know the men I leave out won’t think I am guilty of any slight to them. I should say that Mr. H. L. Wilson (captain), the Rev. P. N. Bird, Captain F. Wilson, Messrs. P. W. Cobbold, S. Hill-W ood, J. F. Ireland, R. L. L. Braddell, F. A. H. Henley, A. H. Lang and K. Raynor, with Penfold, would be about as strong a side as we could get. I leave out of account several men who are abroad— notably F. H. Mustard, one of the finest all-round cricketers we ever had, who will turn out again next year, we hope. And there are one or two new men of whom we ex­ pect something good, of whom I may name Major L. J. Wood, who has been making a lot of runs in India, and has promised to play for us.” “ Mr. Bird has played for three counties, I believe ? ” “ Yes—Gloucestershire, Northants. and Suffolk. I may tell you he is Suffolk born, though at present he has no other county qualification.” “ Who are the principal bowlers on the side you have suggested ? ” “ Cobbold, one of the best amateur bowlers in the country; Penfold, a very hard-working and accurate professional; Raynor, a real googly-man ; Capt. Wilson, who did a splendid performance for the Army v. the Navy a little time back ; Henley, and Ireland.” “ Then you regard Mr. Ireland as a bowler? Some people—I am not one of them—don’t, you know.” “ I look upon Mr. Ireland as a really good bowler. Yes, and a first-rate captain, too— the best Cambridge has had for some years past. I can speak with some authority on this subject, for I have watched him in match after match. The manner he was abused in the press was disgraceful.” “ Mr. Cobbold is very good, I know ; but he does not turn out often for you.” “ No, worse luck ! But we shall have him more frequently this season. I can tell you a little story which may amuse your readers. I happened to meet a man who is to play against Suffolk during this season, and said to him : ‘ By the way, the Mayor of Ipswich will bowl at you when you come to play us this time.’ ‘ Oh, I suppose you mean he’ll send down the first ball, after the manner of a local dignitary kicking off in a football m a tch ?’ he answered. ‘ Never mind about that, my friend,’ I said; ‘ one ball from the Mayor of Ipswich may be quite enough for you ! ” I didn’t tell him the Mayor’s name was Philip Cobbold. He could find that out later.” “ Mr. Raynor as a googly bowler is new to me.” “ Is he ? Let me tell you, then, that if ever a bowler won a match for his side Ken Raynor did it for us in our match with Bedfordshire at Felixstowe last year. He had two of their best wickets— Wharmby’s and Orr’s— in the first innings; they headed us by 22 runs. Then he took 7 for 42, puzzling them all, and, with 170 to get to win, we pulled through by 4 wickets. Raynor was top scorer, with 44 not out, in our first innings, too. Against Norfolk earlier in the season he took 7 for 39.” “ Apart from financial matters and the difficulty of getting representative teams, what are the chief troubles of the Suffolk management ? ” “ Well, there used to be a lot of friction between Bury and Ipswich. Bat I am thankful to say that is quite a thing of the past. Another trouble—but that’s part of the second difficulty you mentioned—is country-house cricket. I don’t believe there’s a county in England where quite so much of that is played as Suffolk; and it handicaps us terribly by clashing with our matches. Perhaps I have no right to complain; it is a matter of individual opinion as to w’hich type of cricket is best; but I am all for the county game.” “ What is your opinion on the subject of second elevens of first- class counties taking part in your competition? ” The light of battle gleamed in Mr. Groom’s eyes. “ I ’m dead against i t ! ” he said emphatically. “ It’s a bad thing for us, and it helps to make the competition less genuinely a minor county one than it might be. Dr. Earl Norman, the secretary of the Minor Counties Association, induced me to withdraw a resolution that I had tabled concerning the matter; but there's no harm in my telling you what I think. He bolds that the big counties helped us by entering their second teams in the earlier years of the competition, and that if we exclude them now that we can do without them, it would be ungrateful. I hold that, if they are to be included at all, there should certainly be some definition of what constitutes a second eleven man—some bar to keep out crack first eleven players. Suppose this year we won the championship of the North and East section, and had to meet Kent II. or Surrey II. in the final ? What’s to hinder Surrey’s playing Hayward, Hobbs and Hitch, or Kent’s putting in Hutchings, Carr and Mason? I can appreciate Earl Norman’ s point of view, but I stick to my own.” J. N. P e n t e lo w . RUGBY v. MARLBOROUGH.—Played at Lord’s on August 2 and 3 and won by Rugby by 193 runs. A feature of the game was the catch which dis­ missed Jackson in Rugby’s first innings. Shuldham had to run in some distance from long-on, and he took the ball a few inches from the ground while going at top speed. Score and analysis :— First innings. R u g b y . R. A. Boddington, c Batson, b Battersby ... 0 J. L. Andrews, b Battersby ...................... 7 L. F. L. Elliot, b Battersby ...................... 7 A. de Selincourt, c Patteson, b Woodroffe ... 2 G. G. Jackson, c Shuldham, b Patteson ... 50 J. T. Bretherton, c Batson, b Patteson ... 58 T. P. Norris, b Woodroffe ...................... 1 F. W. Watson, c Batson, b Battersby ... 29 N. W. Wadham, c Daubeney, b Battersby... 40 B. W. Fagan, c Shuldham, b Woodroffe ... 14 R. M. Aston, not out ................................ 0 B 5, lb 9, w 1, nb 2 ............ 17 Second innings. b Woodroffe...................... b Woodroffe...................... c E. A. Shaw, b Battersby b Woodroffe...................... c E. A. Shaw, b Woodroffe b Woodroffe...................... b Woodroffe...................... c Case, b Lagden............ lbw, b Woodroffe............ not out ...................... c Case, b Battersby B 7, lb 4, w 2, nb 1 ... Total... ... 226 Total ... 258 First innings. M a r l b o r o u g h . C. Patteson, c Andrews, b Elliot ............ 17 T. E. M . Battersby, b Fagan...................... 3 B. H. G. Shaw, c Selincourt, b Aston ... 94 R. B. Lagden, c Boddington, b Elliot ... 38 E. A. Shaw, b Aston .............................15 W. F. Q. Shuldham, c Andrews, b Aston ... 2 A. G. Ponsonby, b Aston ... .......... 4 T. E. Daubeney, c Boddington, b Elliot ... 1 K. H. C. Woodroffe, b E lliot.................... 2 C. Z. Case, c Selincourt, b Elliot ............ 2 H. M. Batson, not o u t .............................. 0 B 6, lb 4, w 4 ................. 14 Second innings. b Aston ...................... 3 c Selincourt, b Elliot ... 13 c Andrews, b Elliot ... 5 c Selincourt, b Fagan ... 13 b Elliot ...................... 13 b Elliot ......................14 b Aston ...................... 6 st Boddington, b Fagan ... 22 st Boddington, b Fagan ... 1 notout ... ... ... 1 c Aston, b Fagan............ 0 B 4, lb 3, nb 1............ 8 Total... ..................192 Total 99 First innings. R ugby . Second innings. O. M. R . W. O. M. R . W. Woodroffe .. ... 20*2 9 70 3 ... .................. 29 7 89 7 Battersby . ................19 3 54 5 ... ................. 26 3 87 2 Lagden ... - 7 1 40 0 ... .................. 7 2 17 1 Case... ............... 4 1 12 0 ... .................. 8 2 28 0 Batson ................ 3 0 10 0 ... ............ 1 0 7 0 Patteson ........... 5 0 23 2 ... ................. 2 0 16 0 Woodroffe bowled one wide and three no-balls, and Battersby and Case each one wide. First innings. M arlborou gh . Second innings. O. M. R . W. O. M. R . W. Aston ............... 17 2 57 4 ... .................. 12 0 35 2 Fagan ............... 10 1 48 1 ... ................. 6*4 2 22 4 Elliot ... 14 1 41 5 ... .................. 18 2 34 4 Andrews .. ................ 6 1 22 0 ... Jackson ................ 2 0 10 0 ... Elliott bowled one wide and one no-ball, and Jackson two wides and Fagan one. G E O R G E L E W I N & (Established 1869.) C lu b C o lo u r S p e c i a li s t s & A t h le t ic C lo t h in g M a n u fa c t u r e r s OUTFITTERS BY APPOINTMENT To the M.C.C. West Indian XI., 1911 ; M.C.C. South African XI., 1909-10; the Australians, 1896, 1899 and 1902 ; Mr. Stoddart’s XI., 1894-1895, 1897-1898; Mr. MacLaren’s XI., 1901-1902; West Indian XI., 1900 and 1906 ; South African 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 s t im a t e s F r e e . WORKS CAMBERWELL. Telephone; P.O. Oity607. 8, CROOKED LANE, MONUMENT, LONDON BRIDGE, E.C.