Cricket 1911

AUGUST 19, 1911. CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 439 B U S S E Y ’S WORLD - FAMED. A 27 / 6 #y% 2 2 / 6 9 o 4 18/6 Q 0 ^ A 16/6 Q 4 ^ r j T ^ 14/6 < J 0 N I 0 ^ ' DEMON •) 14/6 READ Cricket Notches. B y the R ev . R . S. H olmes . “ The Evolution of a Cricket Bat," O BTA IN A BLE F R EE UPON R EQ U EST FROM GEO. G. BUSSEY & CO., LTD., 36 & 38, QUEEN VICTORIA ST., LONDON. Factories: Peckham, London. 1 Elmswell, Suffolk. A g e n t s a ll o v e r t h e W o r ld . flWICE in the course of a week have I been worked up to boiling point. N ot b y the weather, although that has made it no easy task for a spectator to keep cool. Something very different heated me. I will mention no names, but content myself b y saying that in one match a bowler was unchanged for two and a-half A |l hours, from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. ; whilst in a second | county match a bowler kept up an end for an hour I ail(l fifty minutes ! And neither of them is a slow ------— - bowler ; one indeed is fast medium. In this tropical heat that is the surest way of bowling a man to death. If you want a bowler to lose his control of the ball over-bowl him. Of course, I may be told that the bowlers in question did not complain of the strain, nor ask to be relieved. Some bowlers, as we know, are perfect gluttons for work and are never happy when given a rest. Old Lillywhite was ; so was poor Lohmann. Whenever their captains suggested that a change was desirable they would ask to be allowed to bowl from the other end. I have sometimes thought that Hirst would never have lasted more than twenty years had he served under many captains. A friend remarked to me that one of the aforesaid bowlers was bowling well all the time. ‘ ‘ Bowling well,” I rejoined, “ when he is not getting a wicket. True, the batsmen are not making many runs off him, but they are playing him with perfect confi­ dence.” The only test of good bowling is not maiden overs ; they play batsmen in. A famous batsman once spoke to me of a certain bowler who was con­ spicuous for keeping runs down ; ‘ ‘ After I have had about three overs from him I have no fear of his dismissing me, for he keeps pegging away the same length over after over ; but it’s quite different when ---------- is bowling— he feeds you, one can often hit him for four, but I know well that at any moment he may put in an unplayable ball.” Hitch is not a great bowler, but I would let him bowl as long as he likes and just because he bowls so many bad balls that batsmen are never bowled in by him ; every now and again—whether by design or by accident I know not— look out for a ball that will break through anybody’s defence. A u reste, take any bowler off when wickets are not falling, no matter though he may not like it. The early Australians set us a most praiseworthy example in this respect. Why have our captains been so unwilling to reproduce it ? The one and only mark of good bowling is that it is fatal to batsmen; the greatest bowler is the man who gets most wickets in the shortest time. How seldom a county batsman is bowled by a ball he does not attempt to play. This was Stapleton’s fate at the Oval when facing Rushby. But far greater batsmen have had a similar experience ; Richard Daft, for example, in the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord’s in 1872, when Arthur Appleby, Lancashire’s left-hander, served him in this way after he had scored a century. How I did chaff D a ft! And in 1878, also at Lord’s, I saw A. G. Steel bowl C. Bannerman right round his legs which he never moved. Thus does history repeat itself ; there is nothing new even in cricket. And here I must go off at a tangent. Whilst watching a match the actual combatants fade out of sight not seldom, and I re-people the ground with the players who figured in the match in the long ago. On Bank Holiday I was present in person at the Oval and in spirit at Sheffield. What, I thought, if on that day each of these famous counties— Surrey, Notts., Y ork­ shire and Lancashire— could be represented b y the greatest cricketers I can recall during the past fifty years. What a gathering of all the talents we should witness. Whom to choose for our ideal elevens ? The captains first of all. My choice would be :— John Shuter for Surrey, George Parr for Notts., Lord Hawke for Yorkshire, and A. N. Hornby for Lancashire. Consummate leaders, one and all. Next the wicket-keepers. At once Yorkshire furnishes George Pinder ; Lancashire, R. Pilling. What of Surrey ? There are three candidates for the post— Tom Lockyer, Pooley and Strud­ wick ; the first-named is my man. As to Notts— they have never had an England stumper, although Biddulph, W ild and Oates all did good work behind the stumps. Suppose we fix on Wild, who was a capital batsman. Now for the bowlers. Surrey :— Caffyn, Southerton, Lohmann, Lockwood and Richardson. Notts. :— John Jackson, J. C. Shaw, Alfred Shaw and Attewell. Yorkshire ;— George Freeman, Tom Emmett, Hirst and Rhodes. Lancashire :—Barlow, A. G. Steel, Mold and Briggs. Some of these were skilful batsmen as well as first-class bowlers, but others were bowlers only. I thought at first of choosing Peate, as he was perhaps the greatest slow bowler Yorkshire have ever had. But remember, I pick men when at their very best and so prefer Rhodes for he will strengthen the batting. Here then are my completed teams :— S u r r e y .— Shuter, Lockyer, Oaffyn, .Tupp, Southerton, Lohmann, Lockwood, Richardson, W . W . Read, Abel, Hayward, Hobbs. N o t t s . —Parr, Wild, John Jackson, J. C. Shaw, A. Shaw, Attewell, Daft, Shrewsbury, William Gunn, William Barnes, George Gunn.