Cricket 1912

M a y 11, 1912. CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. 1 2 1 Woodbrook 0. and G .; but it cannot be said that he has done anything very remarkable in the more important matches played at Bray. Five for 158 against the All- Indian Team and 3 for 75 v. Hampshire were his figures in the two principal games there in 1911, and a year earlier his analysis against the Cantabs was 0 for 71. I only give these figures as likely to be of general interest, not as proving anything in particular. And I write before the match at the Oval. It will not surprise me in the least if the new man does well in that. I believe in our selectors. A t the M.C.C. meeting on May 1st Lord Desborough, Lord Hawke, Mr. R. E. Foster, and Mr. J. R. Mason— an illustrious quartet—were elected to fill the places on the committee left vacant by the retirement of the Earl of Jersey, the Earl of Lichfield, Lord Dalmeny, and Mr. Gregor MacGregor. Mr. R. D. Walker was appointed trustee in the place of the late Mr. R. J. P. Broughton. Ar.LET.soN, Morton, Beet, and Chidgey are added to the ground staff. The names of Rylott, Rawlin, Storer (deceased), Overton, and Coleman disappear from the list. In 1911 the club had 5,254 members, of whom 4,624 paid, 251 were life members, and 323 were abroad. These figures don’t quite balance, by the way, the last three items totalling 5,198. But they did not balance in 1911, when the total was given as 5,219, and the three classes accounted for made up 5,396, and doubtless there is some simple explanation of the seeming discrepancy. T h e club played 181 matches in 1911, against 173 in 1910, and the same number in 1909. The total number of persons passing through the turnstiles in 1911 was 166,625 ; in 1910 it was 124,275 ; in 1909 it was 199,318 ; in 1908 it was 156,088 ; in 1907 it was 207,118. One can easily trace here the influence of the presence of a colonial team upon gate receipts at headquarters. T h e meeting was made special to pass the following addition to Law 28 (the “ run o u t ” rule): “ But the Striker may not be given out thus, unless the ball has touched the bat or hand, when, in playing at a No-oall, he is out of his ground and the wicket be put down by the wicketkeeper with the ball, or with hand or arm with ball in hand.” This is a consequence of an incident—or incidents— in 1910, concerning which argument raged till everyone, I should fancy, was sick to death of the subject. T h e club’s annual dinner was held at the Hotel Cecil in the evening, when Lord Desborough took the chair, and the members of the M.C.C. team to Australia were special guests. S co rin g in first-class matches, May 1 to 4 : 1,475 runs for 56 wickets lowered, 26'3 per wicket. Quite July form, this ! B y the courtesy of Mr. G. S. Crouch, the Australian manager, I am enabled to give some interesting information this week as to the new members of the team. Charles Kelleway is “ the baby ” of the party ; he was born at Lismore, N.S.W., on April 25th, 1889. R oy Minnett’s birth-date was wrongly given in the recent chat about h im ; it should be June 13th, 1888, not 1883. Harold Webster was also born in 1889—on February 17th, at Sydney. Gervys (not “ Gervase ” or “ Gerald” ) Hazlitt (with two “ t’s ” ) first saw the light at Sydney on September 4th, 1888, William J. Whitty in the same city on August 15th, 1887, John W. McLaren at Brisbane on December 24th, 1887, Sydney Hand Emery at Sydney on October 16th, 1886, David Smith at Richmond (Melbourne) on September 14th, 1884, J. T. Matthews in South Australia on April 3rd, 1884, Claude B. Jennings in Melbourne.on June 5th, 1884, and the manager himself at Beckenham, Kent, on August 20th, 1878. The birth-dates of Syd Gregory (April 14th, 1870), William Carkeek, whose birth­ place was Walhalla, Gippsland, Victoria (October 17th, 1878), Edgar R. Mayne (July 4th, 1883), Warren Bardsley (December 7th, 1884) and Charles George Macartney (Jiuie 27th, 1886), are given in “ Wisden,” but may as well be repeated here. T h e artistic and humorous fixture-card of the team reveals the fact that matches in Scotland to follow the Hastings game have been definitely arranged. Tho Australians will play at Glasgow on September 13th and 14th, and will put in the next week with two-day games at Inverness, Aberdeen, and Dundee. “ C om ing events cast their shadows before,” wrote Campbell—the poet Thomas, not I.P.F. of Oxford and Surrey fame, or E. F., the Etonian. The Australians are due at Northampton on May 9th. On the 26th ult.— so a well-informed correspondent tells me—a young kangaroo was captured at West Haddon, not far from the town of boots. Its ownership is still a m ystery; if it remains so, the suggestion has been made that the youthful marsupial should be taken to the county ground, to make it seem more homelike to Gregory and his men—who, by the way, hunt the kangaroo in the streets of Sydney or Melbourne regularly, of course ! I t is stated that Fry will captain the Hants, team on the 9th, E. M. Sprot not yet having returned from wintering abroad. Captain Ivo Barrett, home on leave from Shanghai, has been practising diligently, and should do big things for the side. G. N. Bignell, the Haileyburian, shotrld also be of great value. But Captain W. N. White has been transferred to Yorkshire, and will not be available, and D. M. Evans has gone back to India. It is some years since either Barrett or Bignell played for the county, by the way. County Cricket Club News and Reports. The N o rth am pto n sh ir e C.C., though over £600 was raised by a special appeal in 1911, had a deficit of £337 on the year, and now has a total debit balance of over £1,400. Gate receipts fell about 10 per cent., and subscriptions by about 6 per cent. Rent, rates and taxes cost £577 ; the matches £1,339; cricket wages were £536, staff salaries and travelling expenses £346, and retaining fees £231. The new President of the Sussex County C.C., Mr. James Buchanan, has made a generous donation of £250 to the club, and his firm, Messrs. James Buchanan & Co., Ltd., have given a further sum of £250. At this rate the £1,157 of deficit should soon be wiped off. But one fears the pace will not be maintained. The Yorkshire County C.C. intend to try several promising young amateurs during the season. J. Tasker, of Pontefract, gets the first chance, and rumour has it that E. Loxley Firth, of Sheffield, will not have long to wait. The Warwickshire C.C. is experiencing the truth of the adage that nothing succeeds like success. Over 300 new members have joined since the end of last season. Mr. R. V. Ryder, the secretary, who stuck to his guns with splendid tenacity in what looked like a losing battle a few years ago, should be enjoying the sweets of victory now. On Sunday evening last H.H. the Jam of Nawanagar landed at Dover. Some Monday or Thursday ere long the Hove ground will ring with cheers when “ Ranji ” walks down the pavilion steps to bat or field. For to the folk at Hove he will always be “ Ranji ” —and he won’t resent it either, one feels sure. Gloucestershire and Sussex have lately played trial matches on the principle of batsmen retiring when a certain figure is reached. On Tuesday, April 30th, at Bristol, Dipper, Parker, and Huggins all retired at 25. Board’s eldest boy—aged about 15, one understands—played for Mr. Sewell’s X I. On Saturday last at Hove Philip Cart­ wright, Vine, Killick, and E. H. Relf (the third of the brotherhood) all reached 50 for Mr. Newham’s Team, and then retired; for Millward’s Team Bowley scored 44, Charlwood 36, and young Tate (Fred’s son) 28.