Cricket 1911

604 RUGBY FOOTBALL AND CRICKET. Decem ber 23, 1911. Nourse, although the two latter were completely off it on the second day. Both Durban and Maritzburg are extremely well off as regards colts this season, the former especially so, and to-day the Durban Selection Committee placed in the field, to do battle with Durban County, a team composed entirely of players under 23 years of age. I went to Lord’s this afternoon and found there more enthusiasts who had antici­ pated a most interesting match ; but unfortunately, most of the attractiveness of the game was lost through the county team turning up minus four of their best men. Nourse consented to play for them, and three other substi­ tutes were raked up, but the game even then proved more or less of a fiasco. The county, going in first, compiled 131 runs, but only 26 of this total were made by the legiti­ mate members of the team, Nourse being accountable for 62 of the runs himself ; .1. W. Easterbrook, the promising young left-hand bowler of the Wanderers, came out with the splendid figures of 7 wickets for 54 runs, and only missed the “ hat trick ” by a mistake in the field ; his first two victims were clean bowled. On the colts going in they scored 110 without loss, although five bowlers were tried. Nourse himself failed to separate the first two batsmen. The colts responsible for this performance were C. C. Acutt, again distinguishing himself, and H. Bachman, who at the close of play were 71 and 31 respectively. The former, who learnt his cricket at Weenen County College, greatly pleased the spectators by his clean crisp cuts along the ground, and his pretty drives, whilst his partner, who is a left-hander belonging to the Zingari, and one who is looked upon as a coming man by many critics, made some very nice strokes. Maritzburg are also giving a show to several of their younger players in their senior inter-town match' against the Northern Districts at Ladysmith next Monday, and it is to be hoped that the majority of them will come off. George Cox, the Sussex professional, who is the official coach of the Durban Cricket Union this season, had a day off to-day, and I met him at Lord’s. He seems fairly settled down to his duties, and is very popular with his pupils. He has 24, has to get through 48 lessons a week, and is at Lord’s every evening from 4.45 till dusk, which settles down between 6,30 and 7 p.m. Consequently, as there is no practice on Saturdays, he has from eight to ten pupils every night, and so has little time to get batting practice himself. Cox is well impressed with the quality of Durban cricket in general, and is thought a great deal of as a coach by his pupils. A feature of local cricket which surprised him was that a town with such a comparatively small white population could run such a successful First and Second League ; and he makes no secret of the fact that there is no town in the Old Country of the same size that could compete with Durban in this respect. Saturday, November 25th, 1911. Of the nine nominations sent up for places in the forth­ coming trials at Johannesburg next month, eight have been accepted by the Selection Committee, the only non-starter being W. K. Thomson, of Durban. This has pleased us, of course; but Natal is by no means satisfied yet, for she is still determined to be represented on the Selection Committee. So far, five have been elected by the South African Cricket Association, all of whom are Transvaalers ; but the Natal Cricket Association have since recommended that the name of the Rev. C. D. Robinson, of Ladysmith, should be added. This is only Natal’s just due, and considering her present prominent position in South African cricket, it will be a huge injustice to the Garden Colony to refuse to grant her legitimate demands. It is doubtful whether there is a man in the whole of South Africa more suitable for the position than Mr. Robinson, for he is a keen sportsman and a man of impartial judgment, and his long and varied experience as a cricketer both at home and in South Africa especially fits him for such a post. It is an open secret that he is prepared to accept the responsibilities attached to the post, and as, it is said, his nomination has met with some approval in the Transvaal he will no doubt be eventually elected. D. J. Nicol, who is the Rev. C. D. Robinson’s successor as Natal’s wicket-keeper, without doubt owes his selection to the fact that Sherwell is standing down in the trials, and should the latter still adhere to his intention of not going to England next year, the young Greyville “ stumper’s ” chances of seeing England shortly are not to be lightly disregarded. As it is, he is now thought by many to have a fair chance to go Home as Sherwell’s understudy, even though not so good a batsman as either Campbell or Ward of the Transvaal. The first of the three annual Natal Intertown matches took place at Ladysmith, on Monday last the 20th inst., when Maritzburg opposed the Northern Districts. The latter included players from Newcastle, Estcourt, Ladysmith and Harrismith, and, as was expected, were quite outclassed b y the men from the City. The Maritzburgians hardly took the game at all too seriously, especially in the Northerner’s second innings, and besides had given several of their younger players cc a show ” in place of some of the more experienced and prominent cricketers. The only player in the Northern Districts team, with the exception of the Rev. C. D. Robinson, who appeared up to standard of senior cricket in either Durban or Maritz­ burg, was R. E. Berry, of Newcastle. The result was a victory for Maritzburg by an innings and one run. First innnings N orthern D istricts . Second innings. Rev. C. D. Robinson(L.), cV. Pearse, b Hair 0c E. Morris, b Samuelson 4 C. Martin (N.), c Lazarus, b Anderson ... 4c Addison, b Samuelson... 0 F. Greaves (N.), not out ................ 48 lbw, b Hair............ 1 E. Sparks(L.), b Anderson .................. 1c Blake, b Hair ... 40 P. W. Purcell (L.), b Anderson .............. 5 c Lazarus, b H a ir ............ 40 R. E. Berry(N.) b Samuelson................... 13 c Samuelson, b Savillo .. 29 G. R. Beattie (E.), b Anderson .......... 3 c V. Pearse, b Hair ... 0 Capt. Udal (HJ, b Samuelson................... 10 b V. Pearse.................. 15 G. Ellison (L), b Anderson .................. 0b V. Pearse............ o R. G. Crockett (N.), b Samuelson ......... 1not out .................... 0 E. Ellison (L.), b Hair........................... 1b V. Pearse.......... 1 s, &c.............. ........... 5 Byes, &c................ 2 Total ............................91 Total ...........132 M aritzburg . V. Pearse, not o u t................... 31 G. C. Anderson, not o u t........... 12 E. Saville, c Berry, bE. Ellison... 8 Byes, &c...................... 7 R. Blake, b E. Ellison ............... 2 R. H. Lazarus, b B e a ttie ............... 79 I). K. Pearse, b G. Ellison............... 38 N. Addison, st Robinson, b G. Ellison ...................................... 0 E. B. Morris, b Udal ............... 42 S. V. Samuelson, c Beattie, b Udal 5 F. A. Morris, c Sparks, b Udal ... 0 Total (8 w k ts)...............*224 * Innings declared closed. A. Hair did not bat. On November 18th and 25th, Maritzburg beat Zingar by 103 runs. Their total of 231 included four sixes. G. C- Anderson made 86 not out, and Ormerod Pearse 47. Forder (34), and Jenkins (33) did besf for Zingari. Anderson had 4 wickcts for 37, Hair 3 for 14. F r e d e r i c k S e t a y . A FAMOUS AUSTRALIAN CLUB. The Bendigo United C.C. was established on January 26th, 1861, and in commemoration of its Jubilee Mr. Geo. Mackay has published a most interesting sketch of the club’s history. The author was well qualified for the task, seeing that he has been playing for the first eleven since 1877, when he was a boy, and must thus have known all the earlier players of any consequence as well as those who have assisted the side since the date mentioned. Bendigo has turned out some excellent players, some of whom have made their mark in International cricket, besides many more who have represented their State. It was the B.U.C.C. in which Boyle and Midwinter first won distinction. Three generations of the Mackay family have been identified with the si.de, the author being the most prominent with a record of 13,216 runs (average 24.8) and 1,062 wickets (average 10.6). His younger brother began playing about 1880, and as recently as last season headed the batting averages. The club’s ground, by-the-way, is known as Kennington Oval, and there wickets equal to any in Victoria can be obtained. The booklet of forty pages contains a great amount of interesting matter and some capital illustrations. It is worthy of note that Mr. W. Bruce, an old cricketer, has been President for 38 years, and that he was elected in September last for the thirty-ninth time. * Bendigo United Cricket Club. Jubilee Souvenir. 1861 — 1911. By Geo. Mackay Bendigo, Victoria : Cambridge & Leaney, Market Square. Price, Is. ; post free, Is. l^d. The Sporting Chronicle Annual for 1012 has just made its appearance. It is a book of records for every sport, contains over 220 pages and is published at the Sporting Chronicle Office, Manchester. “ Tityrus” is the able editor of the volume.