Cricket 1911

60 CEICKET : A W EEK LY EECOED OF THE GAME. A pril 1 5 , 1 9 1 1 . H e has “ played on most of the grounds in Victoria, New South Wales, Canada, the United States and England, as well as in the East. Further, he has been in Alaska, and other Arctic countries, played for the Tottenham Hotspur baseball club, ridden the winner of the Bermuda Amateur Derby, won the amateur billiards championship of New York, and been shipwrecked in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, when he was picked up unconscious after being in the water four hours. Once when playing on the Prospect Park Parade Ground at Brooklyn, he scored 119 in 30 minutes.” One expects to welcome Kortlang to England in 1912 with the Fourteenth Australian Team. B u t the attractions of colonial cricket have led to a digression. The programme of Cricket has not yet been fully outlined. To resume. T h o s e interested in the Minor Counties will find their match scores given week by week in the paper, following the custom of the last few years. The first-class county scores —are they not chronicled in the Book of Wisden ? But where else can you find, in form convenient for preserving, the many interesting scores of the younger brethren ? The sporting dailies give them, indeed ; but to file the Sportsman or Sporting Life so that it is convenient for reference is a task that has baffled the present writer. Friends of Norfolk, Glamorgan, Staffordshire, Devon, and the rest— please n o te ! Don’t forget that you will need C r ic k e t every week this summer. T h e matches of the Scottish Counties will also be duly given, and in other directions we hope to cater for our northern readers more freely than in the past. T h e schools have an instalment in the present issue of what we intend on their behalf. Will the secretary of any school or club who would like to see his side’s matches regularly in the paper, and who has not received a copy of our circular giving particulars as to how this may be managed, be good enough to drop the Editor a line ? S c a r c e l y a season passes without Derbyshire experi­ encing loss, either of a player or of a financial nature. Almost as often as not it is a loss of both kinds. The announcement made at the recent Annual General Meeting of the Club to the effect that, owing to absence abroad, Mr. Gilbert Curgenven would be unable to assist the side in future was naturally received with the greatest regret, for it had for some time been patent to all that the old Reptonian was a cricketer who required only to play regularly in the great matches in order to become one of the finest amateur batsmen of the day. Forty years have passed since the Derbyshire County C.C. was founded, and during that period the Club has probably experienced more ups and downs— of the latter especially—than any other county organiza­ tion. Cropper and George Davidson died in their prime ; a couple of decades ago a heavy pecuniary loss was sustained owing to ‘ *the gross neglect of the most ordinary business principles ” on the part of one of the Club’s most trusted officials ; Mr. L. C. Docker, Frank Sugg and Shacklock left the county and played for Warwickshire, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire respectively ; and during the last few years so gifted a cricketer as Mr. A. E. Lawton has been seen all too seldom in the side. Should the whirligig of time bring a change of fortune for Derbyshire in the near future it would not be before it was due ! I n George Beet, however, Derbyshire possess a wicket­ keeper of considerable promise, although in neither of the two games in which he appeared for the County last season —against Leicestershire at Derby and Kent at Gravesend— did he do anything startling. [He was allowed to keep wicket in the second innings of the former match, during the absence (through indisposition) of Humphries, though not a member of the team.] Like so many present-day wicket-keepers Beet has more than an elementary know­ ledge of batting. Last year, in fact, he headed the Derby­ shire Colts’ averages with 28, whilst, with highest scores of 82 and 60, he averaged 17-84 for the Grange C.C. in 1909. M r . T. F o r e s t e r spoke to the purpose when, at the meeting of the Derbyshire Cricket Club, he suggested that a young player on trial should be assured at least three successive matches, in order that he might have a fair chance. The number of young professionals who have shown some promise for the Peak County, and have dropped out after a few matches, apparently having been found wanting, is extraordinary. In the majority of cases, no doubt, the players referred to did lack some of the qualities essential to success in county cricket; but one cannot help thinking that some of them might have trained on, given a little more encouragement. It must not be for­ gotten, however, that Derbyshire is not a rich county, and cannot afford an expensive ground staff. T h e county of many trials—one does not allude to anything in the paragraph above, though the same shire is referred to—has had little luck with her amateurs. So many good men qualified for Derbyshire have been unable to play regularly. Mr. Lawton’s name occurs first, of course ; but there have been many others—notably Messrs. G. M. Buckston, E. Maynard Ashcroft, Gilbert Curgenven and H. Fitzherbert Wright. Another man who might have made a name in county cricket with better chances is Mr. George Robert Gregory, who first appeared for the county as far back as 1899, when he had not attained his majority, has played at intervals ever since, and figured in one match last year. The head-master of a Council School, Mr. Gregory can only find time for county cricket during the holidays ; but for his clubs, Pilsley Colliery and Derby Midland, he has frequently topped the batting averages, and sometimes the bowling averages too. M r . G r e g o r y is a slow left-hand bowler, varying his delivery with an occasional faster ball coming in from the off, and concealing the change well. His best season for the county—the only one in which he played in more than two or three games—was 1903, when he appeared in six matches and headed the bowling averages with 12 wickets at 18'50 each, besides making two or three useful scores, and having a double figure batting average. T h e supporters of Northamptonshire cricket, and his many friends elsewhere, will regret to hear that Mr. Charles Pool, who has been for so many years past one of the county’s best batsmen, has been serioulsy ill. He is now at Harro­ gate, recuperating. We wish him a speedy recovery and a good season for Northants. A R e u t e r message from Durban on Saturday last announced the arrival there of the Ascanius with the South African cricketers on board. Mr. Fitzgerald, the manager of the team, interviewed by Reuter’s representative, declared that undoubtedly the better side won the rubber. The tour was a success both socially and financially. The South Africans had learned much which would prove