Cricket 1912

0> CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. J an . 27, 1912. peculiar accident occurred during the progress of a match at Kilburne Park, Wellington, the other day. The second ball in the game struck a batsman high up on the leg and exploded a box of wax matches ne had in his trousers pocket. For an instant the player thought that the sting of the burn had been caused by the ball only, but on rubbing his leg he found himself to be on fire, and without hesitation pulled the ignited pocket inside out, scattering a variety of coins it contained over the field. The pocket was destroyed, several of the coins were discoloured b y the phosphorus, and the player’s limb was slightly burnt.” In Dunedin on November 27th, Matthew Thompson took four wickets with consecutive balls for Dunedin B. v. Carisbrook C., and Dreman five in succession for Sargood, Son and Ewen v. C. and W. Haywa~d. Some exceptionally heavy run-getting was recorded in the match at Christchurch, in November between Colts and Canterbury Representatives, 1,036 runs being made in the two innings which were completed. Alfred Norman and T. Carlton were the chief scorers for the latter, but K. G. Hickmott, of the High School, carried off the honours of the game. The last-named carried out his bat for 213 on the first afternoon, and on the second took his total to 235. The able critic of the Christchurch Referee said of his performance :— “ H ickmott’s feat of scoring 235 against the pick of the Canterbury bowlers is one of which he may well be proud. Even allowing that the ball was greasy, and handicapped the bowlers considerably, it was still a magnificent performance. Ho played all the bowling with the ease and confidence of a veteran, and his runs were made by strokes of which many a seasoned batsman might well be proud. Loudon also played splendid cricket in compiling his 73, a lot of his scoring strokes being remark­ ably forceful for a youngster. For two schoolboys to score 303 between them against Canterbury representative bowling is a feat as pleasing as it is unprecedented.” P l a y i n g for Randfontoin v. Wanderers A., at Johan­ nesburg on December 2nd and 0th, Mr. B. II. Floquet made 101 and 109. Play was not taken very seriously in the second innings, when Vogler, who manoeuvred so that Floquet should obtain most of the bowling, batted an hour for seven. From the score, which is given on another page, it will be seen that Vogler was in fine all­ round form. In addition to scoring 67 and 12 not out, he took eight wickets for 59 in a total of 104. Floquet followed up his success by notching yet another century— to wit, 101 for The Reef against Town, on the Wanderers’ ground— on the next Saturday. P l a y i n g for West Rand Mines against Krugersdorp Wanderers, at Pretoria on November 25th, Laxton took all ton wickets for 41 runs in a total of 100. Eight of his victims were clean bowled. A t Johannesburg, on Docomber 16tli and 17th a match between Town and Reef was played for the benefit of Frank Smith, the left-handed bowler who did good service in his time for Surrey. In the course of an interview with “ Linesman ” of The Sporting Star, Smith said :— “ You ask mo how it was that I formed the idea of playing professional cricket. Well, it so happened that after I had finished my school days and being delicate, or in other words being one of the greyhound brigade, I was advised by the doctor to get out into the open air. “ If you don’t,” he said, “ you had better take a few fond farewells.” I took his advice and being lucky enough to have an easy action (left-handed), I went and qualified for Surrey. I must say I received a severe shock, as in the first match I played for Surrey, which was against Warwickshire, I managed to got five wickets for 5 runs. I was left out of the next match, and began to think that cricket was not all that it was cracked up to be, and wondered what one had to do to keep in tlie side. Still, I persevered and played in all the matches the next season, which was 1894, and what a side we had ! We won the Championship two seasons running. I remember Len Braund trying his hardest, but he could not get in the side so he qualified for Somerset and played for England the next year. What a number of players Surrey lo s t! ” And again :— “ One or two very amusing instances occurred while I was playing for London County. One visiting team brought a very elderly man with them as umpire, and W. G. Grace, who was about sixty years old then, was trying to bounce the old man into giving the batsman out lbw. At last the old chap got irritated, and going up to W.G., he said : ‘ Look here, W .G., you may think you know a lot about cricket, but I was playing the game before you were born.’ That was the end of W.G. for the day.” Smith paid his first visit to South Africa in 1895, when he was engaged by the Western Province, for whom he played against Lord Hawke’s team. Altogether, he played at the Cape for four seasons. In 1902 and 1903 he was with the Pirates, of Johannesburg, and since then has been engaged by the Wanderers. A n o t e w o r t h y run-getting performance was accom­ plished by Mr. P. H. Tarilton at Kensington (Barbados) on December 16th, when, playing for Pickwick against Spartan, he made 210 and carried out his bat when the innings was declared closed with only half the wickets down for 425. His fine score established a newrecord for West Indiancricket, surpassing L. D. Samuel’s 207 not out in a Cup match for the Kingston C.C., of Jamaica, in 1903. The Pickwick innings was as follows :— P ickwick . J. M. Kidney, b Morris ................ 38 I’. V. Edgliill, c Clairmonte, b Browne ............................................38 F. H. Tarilton, not out ...............210 ]{. M. Jones, b Williams ... ... 49 F. L. Archer, c and b Fields ... 19 F. A. Goodman, c Clairmonte, b Gibbs................................................. 80 Byes, &c. Total (5 wkts) ... 425 L. O. Wood, L. T. Yearwood, E. K. Wcatherhead, S. M. Worme and T. Hoad did not bat. Mr. Tarilton batted three hours and 50 minutes for his imis and hit 36 fours, 4 threes, and 16 twos. His runs were made without a mistake of any kind, and by strokes all round the wicket. It was his fourth hundred of the season. I t is stated that the Jam of Nawanagar, better known as Ranjitsinhji, will visit England next summer, probably arriving in April. At Port Said on the 8th inst. Lord Harris took part in a match for R.M.S. Malaga against Port Said. He made only nine runs, but took eight wickets in his opponents’ innings of 164. Port said won by 33 runs. His Lordship has played cricket in many parts of the world, including England, Australia, India, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Egypt, the West Indies and South Africa, and is still as fond of the game as when he led the Kent and England elevens. THE M.C.C.’s TEAM FOR ARGENTINA. The team got together by Lord Hawke, under the auspices of the M.C.C., for a tour in Argentina, left Waterloo on Friday last, and in the afternoon embarked from South­ ampton in the steamship Asturias. Not very much importance attaches to the eight matches at present arranged — the first on February 13th, and the last on March 5th— but it is hoped that the tour will increase materially the interest now felt in cricket in Argentina. Seven of the matches are to be played in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, and the final one at Rosario. Lord Hawke is captain of the team—a purely amateur combination—the other players being Messrs. A. C. Mac- Laren (Lancashire), E. de Trafford (Leicestershire), A. J. L. Hill (Hampshire), M. C. Bird (Surrey), W. Findlay (secretary Surrey Club), E. R. Wilson (Yorkshire), N. C. Tufnell (Cambridge University), C. E. Hatfeild (Kent), L. II. W. Troughton (Kent), E. J. Fulcher (Norfolk), and Captain H. II. C. Baird (Army). I C II A 11D D A F T 'S N O T T IN G H A M S H IR E M AR L.—Particulars apply ltadcliUe-ou-Trent, Notts.— (A dvt .) R