Cricket 1912

C R I C K E T : A W E E K L Y P.ZCORD O F T H E G A M E .— M a y 18th. 1912. "Together joined in CricKet’s manly toil.”— Byron. No- 8 S A T U R D A Y , M A Y 1 8 , 1 9 1 2 . *>«■« 2 0 . A Chat about f \r . S. 6 . Gregory. Syd Gregory’s portrait has appeared in C ric k e t before, of course—how many times I really do not know, and I have not the leisure for research. But there is every justification for presenting it again, since the wonder­ ful little veteran comes to us this time in a new role,* as captain of the Australian Team. It is twenty-two years ago since I first saw Gregory. We are both a good deal older n o w ; I wish I could think that the passage of the years had left as few traces in my case as in S.E.G.’s ! He was then “ the b a b y ” of a team which included Blackham, Turner and Ferris, Harry Trott, Percie Charlton, Hugh Trumble, the massive Lyons, the dour stonewaller Barrett, Kenny Burn, Frank Wal­ ters, and Sam Jones, with p o o r B i lly M u r d o c h , emerged from retirement, in command. Only the defection of several cracks whose help had been ex­ pected got the little man his place, after appearing in but two or three im­ portant matches ; and it was his fielding rather than his batting that won him the preference over other candidates. He did no great things as a batsman in ’ 90. Going in pretty low down the list, he often made useful small scores ; but 59* v. Lancashire, 40 v. Cambridge (where I first saw him), and 53* v. Middlesex were his only innings of any real note, and his average was under 13. But everyone praised his work at cover-point and extra mid-off, and if he made few runs in the latter part of the tour it is only fair to remember what the strain of two matches a week must have been to a slightly built lad of twenty. The tour made him as a batsman, however. Without stepping at once into the very front rank, he soon gave evidence of what it had accomplished. His 46 and 93 not out for N.S.W. v. Lord Sheffield’s Team in February, 1892, represented his high - water mark in first-class cricket to that date, and took him into the last of the three tests of the campaign ; but it was only an earnest of what was to come. The fact that he did nothing very notable in the big matches of 1892-3 had no effect upon his chance of a place in the Eighth Australian Team ; that was always a certainty. In scoring 66* v. Surrey at the Oval at the end of May he played the best innings so far credited to him on English wickets. In June at Gravesend five Australian wickets were down for 57 v. K e n t; then Gregory (59) and Bruce added 103 in an hour. There followed 51 on a bad pitch against Shrewsbury’s England X I at Nottingham, highest score for his side in the match—87 and 46 against the North at Old Trafford, 111 added in 70 minutes with Trott and 60 with Graham in the first innings, in the second 94 in 70 minutes with Graham, and that at a critical time— 8 9 v. England at Lord’s, he and Graham adding 142 for the sixth wicket after 5 had fallen for 75—an ad­ mirable 112 v. Middlesex, ' when he shared two part­ nerships of 118, one with Trott, the other with Turner— and 90 v. Notts. In 53 innings (4 not outs) he totalled 1162 runs, and figured seventh in the batting averages. But the biggest thing he ever did, and the innings which set theauthentic seal of greatness upon him, was his 201 in thefirst test of the 1894-5 Season down under. So full of enthusiasmwerethe Sydney spectators that a collection made for him realised over £100. During