Cricket 1911

D ecember 30, 1911. RUGBY FOOTBALL AND CRICKET. 605 CRICKET. New Men who may Visit England in 1912 . By G . H . S. T r o t t . his Tis probable that in 1912 more than one Australian will visit England for the first time as a member of an Australian team. One such will be Hordern, provided he can be prevailed upon to leave his business for a period of seven months. He is a Doctor of Dentistry in Sydney, and from what he >.,ij--.__>said to me last year I gathered that he would be anything but keen upon making the trip. If he cannot be induced to change opinion it will be most regrettable and unfortunate, for at the present time there is no other bowler of his class in the whole of Australia. He has already been seen in England with more than one team from America, but from what I can gather he has improved considerably since his last visit. _ In the concluding Test matches against the South Africans out here last season his presence, it is no exaggeration to state, strengthened the Australian attack a hundred per cent. He can turn the ball from either side with apparently the same action, and his length is always good, and I feel that, fine bowler though he is already, he will become even better, for he makes a close study of the art of bowling. At practice, if a batsman appears to be playing him correctly—that is, able to distinguish which way the ball will turn—he will make it his business to interview the batsman later and ask whether he could tell the off-breaking ball from the one which came in from leg by a change in his action : if the reply is in the affirmative he will worry his brains with the result that when the two are opposed a''a in to each other he manages to ‘ ‘ bam­ boozle ” the batsman. Hordern is full of confidence in his ability to worry all players opposed to him, and he is far more often than not successful in his endeavours. He stands about 5 ft. 10 in., and, being of very slight build, does not appear to possess a very robust constitution, but from the way in which he performed in the great heat last season I am inclined to think that so far as stamina is concerned he is well favoured. As a batsman also he is bound to make his mark, for he has a capital defence and can score freely on both sides of the wicket. As a fieldsman he is quite as smart as Ranjitsinhii, whom he resembles very much and especially when in the slips. If he decides to visit England in 1912 he will prove a tower of strength to our team and, to my way of thinking, will probably prove himself the best all-round player in the side. At the same time I do not expect him to be top either of the batting or of the bowling, for there will be greater run- getters in the team and on the slow English wickets his attack is likely to prove more expensive than that of our fast bowlers. ' Another likely candidate for the 1912 team is Charles Kelleway, of New South Wales. He does not strike me as a cricketer out of the ordinary, but he is decidedly useful. He bowls a ball much in the style of .T. T. Hearne, and is a real plucky player. Moreover he is invariably as cool as the proverbial cucumber at the most exciting period of a game, and it is most certainly better to have him on your side than against you at such a time. I consider his bowling here, in Australia, more likely to get a man set than to get him out, but on English wickets he might, of course, prove a pronounced success. With a ball that does a bit from the off, and another (a little faster) which goes away with his arm, he always keeps a good length. In the field he is good in any position, but as a batsman he is open to improvement. His defence is admirable, but there he'finishes : at least, I have not to date been able to discover any particular stroke that he may possess. New South Wales, from which both Hordern and Kelleway hail, appear to possess almost a monopoly in rising cricketers, and certain it is that at least a dozen of their “ rejecteds ” from Sheffield Shield matches would readily find a place in the teams of other States. Eric Barbour, who did well for the State last season, may make J his mark in international cricket this, for he is j undoubtedly already a top-notcher. Quite a young player I—he is a University student, and as distinguished a scholar as he is a cricketer—he has all his best years before him. He is a right-handed batsman with a fine repertoire of strokes all round the wicket, a perfect defence and plenty of confidence. Trumper entertains a very high opinion of him and tells me that he is almost sure to be chosen for some of this season’s Tests. A left-handed bowler of great promise has been dis­ covered in New South Wales in the person of R. J. A. Massie, a son of the famous ‘ ‘ H. H .” He is a lad of more than six feet, who has wonderful command over the ball and gets plenty of wickets for his University. In all prob­ ability he will be chosen to play in big matches for his State this season, and if he does well then may gain even higher honours especially if Whitty does not bowl up to his form of twelve months ago. Then there are the Minnett brothers, also of New South Wales, who show great promise, "and especially does this apply to R. B., who is a fine, free hitter as well as a fast bowler of more than ordinary merit. Hazlit, to whom I referred in my previous article, is also a candidate for the Tests : my faith in his capabilities is so great that if I were sole selector for those games I would pick him for a certainty straight off. Emery is a “ Bosanquet ” bowler who, on his day, gets the best batsman thinking, but as a rule he is erratic in length and I fear that his only chance of selection for the international games will be in the event of Hordern being unavailable on account of indisposition or the claims of business. Here, in Victoria, we have, unfortunately, very few young cricketers of promise coming along, but J. A. Seitz, who batted so well against South Australia recently, making 75 in the first innings and 107 in the second, is a batsman of the solid order with a capital defence and some very good scoring-strokes on the off. In the field he is brilliant in any position. Five years ago he gained a Rhodes scholarship and subsequently played a good deal of cricket in England, so his name will not be unfamiliar to your readers. T. J. Matthews is another Victorian who may per­ chance get a trial in one of the Test games this year. He is a batsman of the dashing order and takes innumerable risks. Though by no means scientific in his methods he is decidedly useful at times, but I am afraid he will never become a really great player.. He is much better with the ball than with the bat, bowling a ball with a good nip from the leg-side and, for a slow bowler, keeping a really good length. He is also a dashing fieldsman, and apart alto­ gether from his worth as a run-getter might well be accorded a trial in the more important games. D. Smith, now almcjst thirty years of age, has been figuring in inter-State cricket for the past six seasons. He is brilliant as a batsman, possessing plenty of hard and useful strokes all round the wicket. When thoroughly set he is a player whom the public dearly love to watch. He reminds me very forcibly of Frank Sugg, of Lancashire—very brilliant on occasion but lacking somewhat in defence. I feel convinced that on the slower wickets of Old England he would prove an invaluable member of any team. Whether he will show sufficiently good form this season to be chosen for the 1912 trip remains to be seen, however. Macrow is Victoria’s fast bowler this year, but I hardly think he possesses the pace or ability for his claims to international honours to be considered seriously just yet.