Cricket 1912

M a t 4, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. I l l Barfield 44). G. M. Lloyd, of Spencer, hit nine 4’s in his 44 y. Croydon. This player also took 6 wickets for 56, starting the season in rare style. Croydon began very badly. Five wickets were down for only 26; then two left-handers, E. Cheshire and G. Hammond came together and added 92. Cheshire played particularly well for his 63, and also kept wicket capitally. For Arlington and Leytonstone v. Manor Park Constitutional A. Caton had 5 wickets, all bowled, at a cost of only 14 runs. J. C. Wood scored 89, one of the biggest innings of the day, for Oatlands Park v. Mr. Gosling’s XI. For Hampstead Nomads v. Northwood E. C. Boullydid great all-round work—top scorer with 55, and far and away best bowler with 8 wickets for 43. With a little more time Upper Sydenham would have beaten East Molesey, for, after declaring at 172 for 6, they got down 7 wickets for 85. A. C. Higgs, of Parson’s Green, was another man who started the season well, hitting powerfully and taking 4 for 15 with his fast bowling. F. J. Driver, of the same club, batted in very correct style, and made an exceptionally good catch in the country. F. W. England showed solid defensive form. Ellis’s bowling has already been referred to. Altogether Parson’s Green seem to be pretty hot stuff! Albemarle and Friern Barnet 2nd beat Walham Green 2nd —171 to 43—S. Buckle scoring 47 and E. Gordon taking 6 wickets for 22. (“ Aren’t we going strong? ” asks Mr. Secretary Lyon. Yes, my friend ! But the season is young yet.) The kibrarv).* (All Publications intended for review in “ Cricket ” must be addressed to the Editor.) Tho first issue of the C lu b C r ic k e t e r s ’ O ff ic ia l H a n d b o o k was capital value ; the second is even better. There are in it interesting articles by I*. P. Warner, Alfred Gibson (“ Rover ” ), H. J. Henley (“ Long-Leg ” ), H. V. I.. Stanton (“ Wanderer ’ ), R. O. Schwarz, P. H. Slater, Sir Home Gordon, Laurance Woodhouse, W . Reynolds Vernon, and C. Beal, among the subjects dealt with being Cricket Pluck, Cricketer or Golfer, People that want to know, Live Australians, Test Matches, The Rising Genera­ tion, Thirty Years’ Cricket, The Googlie Ball, Sport in the City, etc. ; among the anonymous articles are a History of the Battersea Club, and an excellent account of Ducat ; there is a Guide to Club Grounds ; and there are numerous portraits. The Laws of Cricket are included, of coarse; and a long list of secretaries’ names and addresses appears. A special new feature is the leading Club Averages of 1911, compiled by L. B. Tappenden. These are necessarily incomplete, and the variations in the standard of play make the throwing them all together in order of figures less a test of actual merit than the first-class averages— and they don’t always show that— but they are unmis­ takably interesting. T. G. Grinter stands at the head of the batting—2420 runs, average 86’42. A. Jeacocke scored 1515 for White House, N. Miller 1388 for Streatham, H . W . Frampton 1380 for Fulham, C. F. Welch 1215 (average 07'50) for Stanmore, and 16 other four-figure totals are chronicled. O n ly ■ight bowlers are credited with 100 wickets or more, B. M. Bsll. Sutton (135), A. M, Forman, Richmond Park (132), N. Miller, Streatham (113), D. Robertson, Stoics (108), A. C. Higgs, Parsons Green (105), Smith, Essex C. and G. (104), and .T. W . Dann, N. Middlesex, and C. Mills, Heathfield (each 100). The D e r b y s h ir e C r ic k e t G u id e bobs up cheerfully with its 17th issue. The contents are as usual, including a capital article on the First-Class Cricket of last year by L. G . Wright, portrait and biography of Leonard Oliver, the county’s left-handed amateur bat, Derbyshire Records — largely made by the sides playing against Derbyshire, more’s the p ity !— full list of county players for and cen- uries for and against Derbyshire—the Laws— fixture lists —and names and addresses of Secretari ;s. The Guide f'llly juslii es its existence. ____________ * The Club Cricketers’ Official Handbook for 1912. Published at 7, Paternoster Row, E.C., by the Club Cricketers’ Charity Fund. Price 3d. * The Derbyshire Cricket Guide. Published by Bacon & Hudson, Colyear Street, Derby. Price 2d. Men of the Moment in London Club Cricket. M iles ’ S pecial S hot — C aton , the T error — B anker ’ s E arly F orm — S porting C aptains , and a real E nthusiast . B y S ure C atch . In introducing this new feature into C r ic k e t, with confidence that it will be appreciated by all club players in London, I am hoping to make many new friends and readers for the only paper published which exclusively devotes all its columns to the greatest of English sports. I have played all over London, and knowing the abilities and styles of the batsmen, bowlers and fielders in the Metropolis, I am in a position to deal with the club game in London in a new way, and I hope to tell my readers such interesting stories of the players and their personal deeds with the bat and ball each week, that C r ic k e t will he indispensable to all club cricketers in and around London. I shall discuss the styles of the senior and junior player, and paint vivid pictures of their doings, with from time to time photos and accounts of the men of the moment in London club cricket. M iles ’ S pecial S hot . Some of the players have already started the season in great form, and from information received I should say that the Club Cricketer this season is in for the time of his life. The game in London, in the Parks and on the enclosed grounds, is going to be played this summer on keener lines than it has ever been played before; and I am prepared for the development by several of the juniors, who have already been shaping well at the nets, of form that will bring them right into the limelight of Senior Club Cricket. Amongst those who have got off the mark encouragingly is L. Williams, who playing for the first time since last August scored 22 out of the first 23 runs registered by Arlington this season and hit five fours. A new man to the best class club game, however, put this effort into the shade by scoring 45 at his first attempt. This was young Miles. Like Williams he had not held a bat since last August, but his timing of the ball was masterly, and his scoring shots were executed with wonder­ ful skill. I shall not be greatly surprised if Miles proves to be one of the successes of the season. He has just joined the Arlington- Leytonstone club from Forest Gate Avenue. Lightly built, with a determined face, Miles is a batsman right above the average as far as style is concerned. At the crease his stance somewhat resembles Percy Perrin’s. He faces the bowler with an easy upright pose. He has a keen eye and a graceful method of meeting the ball with the full face of the bat. Miles’ defence is strong, because he watches the ball off the pitch so well, but the outstanding feature of his batting is the ease with which he places the ball on the off side and gets it away to leg. His shot that sends the “ the little red pill ” all along the floor right away from mid off and too wide for the long field to prevent it reaching the boundary was beautifully illustrated at the Rectory field last Saturday. C aton the T error . Last season Arthur Caton, the well-known South London cricketer, who, before moving to Balham, learnt to hit fours on West Ham Park, the ground that Charlie McGahey, the late Essex captain was discovered upon, was, I fancy, very nearly the best match-winning bowler in club cricket, and if his form against Manor Park Constitutional last Saturday is a sample of what he is going to serve up this summer he will again be a terror to even the best of batsmen. Before they had a chance he had uprooted the middle stumps of such batsmen as Thornton, Sudgen and Berry, with unplayable balls, and his first five wickets could not have cost him ten runs. Caton began in something like this fashion last season, when in his opening game he clean bowled the first eight South West Ham players and only had half a dozen runs hit from his deliveries. This player has always appeared to me as one of the “ mysteries ” of the cricket field. By all the laws of appearance he should have been a slow bowler and a stonewalling batsman. Yet he is the exact opposite. Not tall, and very light in build, Caton with a nice easy action bowls above medium pace. He is a master of length, posses>es a natural off break, and at frequent intervals sends down a very fast ball that pitches outside the off stump and shoots right across to the bottom of the leg peg. This is his unplayable delivery. As a batsman Caton is, when set, one of the finest hitters I have ever been to the crease with as the foregoing brief note on his records taken from the Club Cricketer’s Handbook indicates: — “ Arthur Caton holds three of the most unique records in Cricket History. He is the only cricketer in the world that has hit sixteen successive fours in one innings with nine fielders stationed all round the boundaries. He did this a few years ago against the