Cricket 1912

J une 8, 1912. CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 207 Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 33 and 35, MOOR LANE, LONDON, E.C. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 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 e ic k e t :— Great Britain. Abroad. One Tear .......................... 6s. 3d. ... 7s. 6d. The 24 Summer Numbers ... 5s. Od. ... 6s. Od. The 6 Winter Numbers ... Is. 3d. ... Is. 6d. NOTICE. Messrs. WRIGHT & CO., of 7 , Temple Lane, Tudor Street, E.C., are Advertisement Contractors for CRICKET, 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 (Sossip. The abstract and brief chronicle of the tim e. — Hamlet. T h e best bowler in the world— so many good judges consider S. F. Barnes— takes bis benefit in about six weeks’ time, the match being Staffordshire v. Kent 2nd at Stoke. England v. Australia would be a more appropriate fixture ; but the Staffordshire committee are not in a position to give Barnes that, unfortunately. County cricket is better supported in the Potteries than in most minor counties’ centres ; but at best the gate in such a match as this cannot produce more than a small fractional part of what Barnes ought to have. A s p e c i a l effort in the way of subscriptions is called for. The M.C.C. have headed the list with £50—a generous gift. Doubtless many county clubs will contribute. But, will not the other clubs help ? There must be few of them in which a special effort by the secretary, or any other energetic member, would not bring in a guinea or two in small sums ; and Mr. W . C. Hancock (Park Avenue, Longton, Staffs.) will be glad to receive any sum, however large or however small, for this worthy cause. They know Barnes well at Stoke, and they speak well of him. This is worth remembering. It is something more than the glamour that surrounds the crack player ; Sid Barnes, the man, has won their esteem. And they are a hearty and a sporting folk. Their esteem is worth winning. D o n ’t put this off, and forget all about it. D o i t n o w ! I n the 59 first-class matches played up to and including June 1, as many as 53 centuries were registered. This is a tie with the 1901 record. The figures to the correspond­ ing date (that is, the nearest third day of matches coming between May 30 and June 2 inclusive in any year) in each season of the last seventeen have been : 1911 forty-two, 1910 thirty, 1909 thirty-six, 1908 twenty-seven, 1907 sixteen, 1906 twenty-one, 1905 forty-nine, 1904 twenty- seven, 1903 twenty-five, 1902 thirty-two, 1901 fifty-three, 1900 forty-five, 1899 twenty-four, 1898 thirteen, 1897 twenty-nine, 1896 forty-six, and 1895 thirty-one. Beyond 1895 it is never worth while to go back in comparisons of this sort, for matches were far fewer before t,he big pro­ motion of five counties to the championship in that year, and consequently centuries far fewer also. W a r r e n B a r d s l e y , C. G. Macartney, Philip Mead, John Sharp, and P. F. Warner have three centuries each, and G. A. Faulkner, C. B . Fry, John Gunn, Hayes, Hayward, C. P. McGahey, Pearson, and P. A. Perrin tw o each. S a id a friend (whose interest in the Essex team is very keen, because he was at Felsted when John Douglas arrived there from a Lincolnshire Grammar School) to me the other day : “ Perrin and McGahey are pretty good still, eh ? ” “ Well, Perrin will make more centuries yet,” I answered ; “ but I wouldn’t be surprised if that 150 was McGahey’s last in big cricket.” Three days later McGahey ran up 117 ; and I am very pleased indeed to find myself wrong. It is a fact, however, that until last week C. P. McG. had not run into three figures for his county since August, 1908. He has now made 31 centuries in first-class cricket, all but two of them for Essex. O f the other centurions in the first lap of the season Hayward has now made 98 (including 4 abroad, one of them, v. Tasmania in 1903-4, reckoned doubtful by some statis­ ticians), C. B. Fry 88, P. F. Warner 56 (6 abroad, some of them possibly open to debate), Denton 53 (5 abroad, one rather doubtful in class), P. A. Perrin 52, Hayes 39 (2 in the West Indies), Hobbs 38 (8 abroad), C. J. B. Wood 31, Rhodes 30 (6 abroad), Sharp 29, R. H. Spooner 25, S. E. Gregory 23, Tarrant 23 (3 in Australia), W. Bardsley and John Gunn 20 each. C. B. F r y and Hayward each has 72 centuries to his credit in county championship matches alone, thus for the present sharing the record for games in that competition. Of the 16 batsmen mentioned in the last two paragraphs Denton is the only one who has never reached 200. Fry has done so 15 times, Hayward 8, R. H. Spooner 5, Hayes 4, W . Bardsley, C. P. McGahey, P. A. Perrin, and P. F . Warner (including his 211 v. Otago) 3 times each, S. E. Gregory, Tarrant, and C. J. B. Wood twice each, and John Gunn, Hobbs, Rhodes, and Sharp once each. T h e only batsman among these who has scored cen­ turies against all the first-class counties except his own is Hayward. Fry has not yet made one v. Northants ; Hayes has yet to make his first against Kent and against Gloucestershire ; Perrin has never run up three figures against Northants or Somerset, or McGahey against Hants or Worcestershire. Warner, of course, has had no chance of completing his set, as Middlesex does not meet Derby­ shire or Northants. It is curious that Sharp has not yet reached three figures against Derbyshire, Gloucester­ shire, Middlesex, or Yorkshire, though he has done so six times v. Sussex, four times against Essex, and three times each v. Hants, Kent, and Leicestershire. S co rin g in the 18 first-class matches (six drawn) of the week ended June 1 : 14,619 runs for 558 wickets—average 26.1. Totals of 609 for 4, 599, six of over 400 and under 500, five of over 300 and under 400. Twenty-one centuries. O n e need not be surprised at the conflict of evidence in law courts, even where perfectly honest witnesses are concerned, when one finds what different impressions two or more competent observers will form of the same incident or series of incidents. Most of the critics condemned Ward’s wicket-keeping in the first test. But A. C. MacLaren thought very well of it, making more allowance than others for the difficulty of keeping to erratic googly bowling, peihaps. Most of the critics praised Matthews. Hamish Stuart regards his two hat tricks as two-—or should it be six ?—gigantic flukes. Mr. S t u a r t is a writer who always has the courage of his convictions, and in his article in the present number he criticises freely what he considers the errors of the England selection committee. But he must not be taken as ex­ pressing the editorial opinion. While, personally, I would rather see either Field or H itch in the team than Brearley, on present form, I should not think of leaving out Fry, Spooner, or Jessop ; and I consider W oolley quite an all­ round man, and every whit good enough to go on to bowl first on any wicket. It is regrettable that room cannot be found in the team for John Douglas, young Hearne, and that sterling Kentishman, Edward Humphreys. There are also Mead, Strudwick, and Sharp. But only eleven can be played at one time, and it would not be surprising if all these men got their turn, though, of course, a win or two