Cricket 1911

D ecember 16, 1911. EUGBY FOOTBALL AND CEICKET. 593 The Present S trength of Australian Cricket. B y G. H. S. T rott . It is difficult for one to suggest, before the Australian season of 1911-12 opens, how the Triangular Test matches to be played in England next year will result. One reason is that quite a number of new players may arrive on the scene in the meantime. Generally, a visit from an English team to Australia brings to the front one or more players who may eventually turn out above the ordinary, and perhaps even work their way into the Australian side. The visit of the South Africans last year did- more for Australian cricket than most Australians at present realise. It brought to the front a bowler who, in my opinion, will have much to do in making Australia the strongest side in the 1912 Tests. I refer to Hordern who, provided he bowls on English wickets with the same command over length and break as he did against the Springboks, should prove in­ dispensable to the team. The Victorians who met him in the final Inter-State match—against New South Wales, at Sydney—were satisfied that he was absolutely the best “ Bosie” bowler they had played against. The South Africans expressed themselves in the same manner, and when I saw Faulkner, Nourse and others scraping about and going out at his “ wrong ’un ” on the Melbourne ground, I felt that Australia had got the bowler that made them a champion side. Englishmen will hardly know Whitty when they see him in the Old Country in 1912, for he has improved out of all knowledge. He is no longer a tearaway bowler, but a “ heady ” on e; and in this respect he is likely to improve still further. True, the fashionable complaint appendicitis had him in its grip, and two operations were considered necessary, but I am informed that he is certain to be quite well and strong again before the 1912 trip. At tbe time of writing it cannot be said whether Cotter, who is thought by some good judges to be slowing down a bit, will again be chosen for our fast bowler. Even if he has lost some of his pace, he is, I think, still our fastest bowler. Armstrong, who seems (like Laver) to be a much better bowler on English than on Australian wickets, has been putting on flesh and weighs fully seventeen stone. This may tend to handicap him as a bowler, for on our Australian wickets and with our hot climate a man must be in the best of condition if he is to do himself justice. Macartney, like the two players already mentioned, does not perform too well on our wickets and gives one the idea that he is a good bowler “ for the other side,” as his good length bowling is often the means of getting the batsmen set. Kelleway, who is a stranger to you in England, will no donbt be playing in Australia this year against the M.C.C.’s team, but whether he is class enough to be picked for the tour through England I very much doubt. Still, bowling in Australia and bowling in England are two very different things: a man may prove of but moderate class over here but stamp himself a champion in your country. Such an experience may well be Kellaway’s, as he is a bowler after the style of Jack Hearne—medium-pace, with a high delivery and a very slight turn from the off. We have other bowlers coming to the front, of whom I will speak in a subsequent article. So little first-class cricket takes place in Australia that the opportunities of young players to distinguish themselves in repre­ sentative matches are very few. This season, however, a few fresh names may come to the front, and you will probably find at least two men new to first-class cricket chosen to play for Victoria against the Englishmen. So far as the Tests are concerned, Laver may be called upon, but only if the wicket is sticky. On that kind of pitch he is, with perhaps the exception of Whitty, our best performer. Hazlit, the young bowler who was passed over when the last team to England was being chosen, should come to the fore. He is now engaged in scholastic work in Sydney, and it would not surprise me if the N.S.W. selectors gave him the opportunities those of Victoria denied him. He is a bowler who, in my opinion, would have done excellently on English wickets : he bowls right-hand, has a distinct whip off the pitch and comes back at a good pace off a wicket which gives him the slightest assistance. He is also a fine fieldsman, especially in the slips, and a batsman who will eventually develop into a top-notcher. He is a really plucky cricketer, and it was beyond doubt his sturdy effort that enabled Australia to win the first Test against Jones’ team in 1907-8, when he and Carter made their historic stand. I cannot help thinking that at the present time Australia is not so weak in bowling as some of her critics imagine, and that as Clem Hill, our captain, is so fine a judge of the game and an adept at working his bowlers to the best advantage, we shall, so far as attack is concerned, do as well as our visitors. If we are weak in any department just now it is in wicket- keeping. Carter and Carkeek, who will probably be playing in the Tests, were not at their best last season ; in fact their efforts, after the magnificent form shown by Sherwell, seemed to be not much above third-class. Carkeek showed the better form of the two, and it was only on account of his superiority in batting that Carter was selected for the Tests. This year I fancy the choice will fall upon CarkeeK. So far as batting is concerned Australia has nothing to fear, for with such men as Trumper, Armstrong, Ransford, Bardsley, Gehrs, Hill and Macartney available she is stronger in that department of the game than ever before, and would, I think, compare not un­ favourably with the best team England has put into the field within my recollection. I can remember the time when—if we were to win in the three days set apart for the match—we went into the field to get out twice such batsmen as W. G. Grace, Abel, W . W. Read, Gunn, Shrewsbury, Maurice Read, A. G. Steel. Ulyett and the three tail-enders, Peel or Briggs, Lohmann and Pilling. Compare England’s best side of the present day with those old champions, and say how you think they would fare if the elevens could be pitted against each other. There can surely be only one verdict— and that one favourable to the great men of the ’eighties. I fancy that Australia is almost as strong at the moment as was England at the time mentioned, her strength in run-getting being so pronounced as to compensate for whatever is lacking—if anything is—in the attack. If the present English team have the good fortune to win the rubber they must rank as the most powerful combination which has ever visited u*. Such a triumph would entitle them to the congratulations of cricketers the world over. CRICKET IN JAPAN . Y okohama v . K o be . —Played at l'ohohama on Ojtwber 22 and 28 and won by the home side by an innings and 12 runs. This match marked the opening of the new ground at Yo.kohama. In the second innings of Kobe Piggott lowled ten overs fo: seven runs and seven wickets. Score :— First innings. S. Henry, b Bousfield .............. E. N. Lambert, c Buckle, b Bousfiel E. W. Hubbard, lbw, b Bousfield W. Galloway, b Bousfield S. Stephens, b Syme Thomson A. W. Cosser, b Bousfield P. L. Spence, b Syme Thomson G. S. Cushnie, b Syme Thomson C. R. Rice, b Syme Thomson ... G. Clarke, b Syme Thompson ... M. Ellerton, not out Byes, &c.................... K oiik . Second innings. .............. 8 b Syme Thom son ... 1 ... 82 run out ............... .............. 8 b Piggott ............... 8 b Squire ............... ............... 1« b Piggott ............... 0 b Squire 0 b Piggott .............. ................ O b Piggott ................ ............. 4 c Edwards, b Piggott ............... 1 not out ............... ............. 2 b Piggott .............. ............... 5 Byes, &e. 0 10 0 4 0 0 1 3 5 1 0 . Total... F. Syme Thomson, b Stephens . L. B. Hannaford, b Cosser P. E. Bousfield, not out N. Buckle, lbw, b Cosser ... A . P. Scott, c and b Stephens P. S. G. Piggott, c Hubbard, Galloway .................................... 8(5 Total Y o koh am a . 0 0 54 4 7 W. D. S. Edwards, b Rice E. L. Squire, b Stephens.............. P. F. Lloyd, b Stephens ... A. J. Cornes, c Cosser, b Cushnie W. Hayward, b Stephens.............. Byes, &c................................... T o t a l .......................... THE HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY C.C. The annual meeting of tbe above Club was held at the St. Pancras Hotel on Wednesday last. The accounts show a balance in hand of £308 13s. 5d.. as against £322 13s. 4d. at the end of 1910. The subscriptions amounted to £424 8s.