Cricket 1912

120 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 11, 1912. Cdcfcet: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 33 and 35, MOOR LANE, LONDON, E.C. SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1912. Communications to the Editor should be addressed to him at 33 & 35 Moor Lane, E.C. Advertisements, Subscriptions, &c., should be sent to the Manager, at the same address. The following are the rates of subscription to C r ic k e t :— Great Britain. Abroad. One Year ....................... 6s. 3d. ... 7s. 6d. The 24 Summer Numbers ... 5s. Od. ... 6s. Od. The 6 Winter Numbers ... Is. 3d. ... Is. 6d. NOTICE. Messrs. WR IGHT & CO., of 7, Temple Lane, Tudor Street, E .C ., are AdvertisementContractorsfor C R IC K E T , and will be glad to give their best attention to any Firms desiring to advertise in the paper. Scale of Charges will be sent on application. pavilion (Sosstp. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. — Hamlet. T h e new President, of the M.C.C. is the Bight Honour­ able Victor Christian William Cavendish, ninth Duke of Devonshire, who was born on May 31st, 1868, and whose educational record is Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. It cannot be said that the Duke ever earned fame as a player ; but he has always taken a lively interest in the game, has been a member at Lord’s for 21 years, was last year President of the Sussex C.C.C., and has been since 1909 President of the Derbyshire C.C. Her Grace, the Duchess of Devonshire, is a daughter of Lord Lansdown, who was President of the M.C.C. 43 years ago. S om e people don’t fancy Charles Fry as a test match leader. One says he is nervous, which is hard to believe, and another that he has never done much in test matches anyway, which is flagrantly— er, terminologically inexact. The old Oxonian’s test match figures are 1,023 runs at an average of 34-10 per innings. There are better figures, and there are worse. W . G., Murdoch, Dave Nourse, Rhodes, Tyldesley, M. A. Noble, Joe Darling, Walter Bead, Syd Gregory— these are a few who come below him in the tables. I never heard of any one of them being considered as a test match failure. C h a r l e s F r y began his test match cricket in England — he had played against South Africa at Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg in 1895-6—with 50 at Nottingham in 1899, he and W . G. sending up 70 before a wicket fell. He made 38 at Leeds, he and William Quaife adding 50 after four wickets had fallen for 69. A t the Oval he ran up 60, he and MacLaren knocking up 110 runs in 65 minutes— off tired bowling, it is true, but b y absolutely the right methods. In the five matches of that season he aggregated 187 runs in 8 innings—nothing great, but certainly not failure. I n 1902 he played in three matches—0, 0, 1, and 4 his scores. That was failure, I grant. But it was ten years ago, and why those three matches should have been allowed to overshadow all he has done since I cannot understand. I n 1905 he averaged 58 per innings. He could not turn out at Nottingham. A t Lord’s he played defensive cricket for 73 and 36 not out. A t Leeds he made 32 and 30, again somewhat cramped. At Manchester his one innings realised 17. At the Oval he played a glorious game for 144. He says he cannot c u t ; but his cutting then was great. V o g ler bothered most of our batsmen in 1907. He never troubled Fry as he did others, because Fry had thought out a correct scheme of operations when facing him, and stuck to it. Vogler three times bowled him in the tests, it is true ; but Fry took 33 at Lord’s, 54 (highest score of the match, a splendid innings) at Leeds, and 129 at the Oval, a display that I watched, and that I have seldom seen equalled for sheer judgment and coolness. I shall never believe that the man who played that innings is likely to fail for lack of nerve. Highly-strung ? Yes —so are many of the best leaders in all of life’s activities. Nervous ? No—that’s a very different thing, if nervous­ ness means what most people take it to mean. Fry doesn’t wamble at the knees and find his mouth going parched and dry at critical moments, I am sure. T h ir t y - f iv e not out in the second innings at Edgbaston in 1909, when he and Hobbs, the hero of the day now, knocked off the 105 needed to win, after 30 wickets had fallen for 346 up to that stage ; absent from the second te s t; a failure in the third ; absent from the fourth ; 62 and 35 not out in the last, Bhodes and he adding 104 together in the first innings, 61 in the second. That was his record of three years ago. T e st match scores in chronological order : 43-15i64- 50-9-13-4-38-9-4-60-0-0-1-4-73-36*-32-30-17-144-16-33-2-54- 129-3-0-35*-l-7-62-35*. Anyone who chooses may call this failure. But it represents thirteen matches in which success was achieved in some measure and seven in which nothing much was done. Thirteen successes in 20 is not so bad even for a great batsman. O n e is glad to find H. K. Foster and John Shuter associated with him on the selection committee. If these three cannot choose the right team, no one can. J o e A n d e r so n , the Perthshire batsman, came out first in the Scottish section of the “ Sphere and Tatler ” Golf Tournament on Thursday last, and will compete in the final at Hoylake on the 14th. C r ic k e t wishes him success. But don’t let golf draw you away from the greater game, J oe 1 I t is with great regret I hear that Mr. H. G. Owen, captain of Essex in the days when the county won its way to first-class rank, lies seriously ill in a London nursing home after an operatioij. C o n g r a tu la t io n s to another old county captain, Mr. H. W. Bainbridge, on the birth to him of a son. A coming cricketer, one hopes. Miss S po f fo r th , daughter of the great F. B ., the Demon Bowler of early Australian tours, has lately been distinguishing herself on the lawn tennis court. E x c e p t for the inclusion of Clarke (with an “ e,” I think), the teams selected for the first Test Trial afforded no surprise, unless one regards the omission of Tyldesley, Hirst, Denton and George Gunn as such. A third team, with these four to start with, and Thompson, Hardstaff, Bale, Bobert Belf, W . T. Greswell, Blythe, and A. O. Jones (as captain), might make either of the others go all the way. There are also Percy Perrin, A. P. Day, _G. L. Jessop (all unavailable at the Oval), F. L. Fane, W. B. Bums, M. C. Bird, Ducat, Booth, Pearson, Brown, Field, and many more. Says the man in the crowd : “ Who’s Clarke ? Never heard of the fellow’s name ! If he’s great, it’s been kept quite dark. They say that from Erin he came. Home Buie’s on the tapis just now ; But if Clarke in the tests is to play Then it’s our turn to kick up a row— An injustice to England, I say ! ” C l a r k e made a very good impression upon some excellent judges in practice at Lord’s ; and I don’t seriously think that, anyone will question his eligibility if he should prove good enough. He has taken a lot of 'wickets for