Cricket 1912

J une 15, 1912. CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 233 Too much should not be made of Whitty’s action in throwing down the ball and declining to finish the over after having been twice “ called” by Carlin. It was pettish and foolish; but all of Whitty’s comrades recognised that as fully as anyone else, and Gregory showed his disapprobation by keeping him off for the rest of the afternoon. Doubtless before this Whitty will be feeling sorrier than anyone else about it. The incident was not quite on the same lines as Barnes’s throwing down the ball at Melbourne, annoyed by the crowd’s barracking; Barnes had more excuse than Whitty; but both were in the wrong. E. S. P hillips has declined his place in the South Wales side against the South Africans, not feeling in form. Percy Morris, of Swansea, will play. Both teams will be entertained at the Hotel Metropole by the Mayor of Swansea. Ode to a Cricket Ball. B y A M ise r a b l e P l a y e r . (With apologies to the memory of Sir W. S. Gilbert.) Boll on, thou ball, roll on ! O’er downy plots of green, roll on ! It matters not on grassy bumps Your rounded form makes jerks and jumps, And raising on my body lumps, Speeds on and knocks down all my stumps, Reck not, round b a ll! Roll on ! [It rolls on.l Roll on, thou ball, roll on ! For Heaven’s sake, roll on, roll on ! Oh, be you by my bat inspired To make my runs the score desired ! For just one boundary is required To win the match, so don’t get tired ! Roll on, please roll ! Roll on ! [It stops.] L e s l ie H o re B e l is h a . Big Matches of the Week. N o t t in g h a m s h ir e v . S u s s e x .— It looked as though a little more enterprise might have increased the Sussex score in the first innings ; but Wass on a wicket that just suits him is a very difficult bowler to hit, and Iremonger is much too steady and accurate to be knocked off his length easily. There must surely have been some reason, though, why Albert Relf was not put on when Notts, went in. A. 0 . Jones hit up 52 out of 65 in an hour; George Gunn and Alletson (who slammed three 6’s) added 52 more in 25 minutes; and meanwhile Albert did not bowl a ball ! When he went on next morning he took two wickets in his first over, and had 6 of the 8 outstanding at a cost of only 31 runs. The deficit of 165 was too much for Sussex. Chaplin played a gallant innings of 55 ; Vincett hit a couple of 6’s, and assisted his captain to add 42 for the last w icket; but none of the others did much, and Notts had a few runs to spare when the venture closed. Wass bowled at one end through both innings, and, though hit at times in the second, came out with the fine figures of 51 overs, 130 runs, 13 wickets. L e ic e s t e r s h ir e v. K e n t . —Kent was hardly at full strength, but Blythe was there, and, like Wass at Trent Bridge, found the wicket exactly to his liking. No one reached double figures, and the home side were all out for 25. Matters might have been slightly worse, for five had gone for 10. John King bowled in great form when Kent went in. Hubble hit 46 in 40 minutes, but might have been caught at 20. In Leicestershire’s second innings a wretched start was again made ; but Blythe had to retire with a damaged knee, and. while he was away Knight and Whitehead helped themselves to some useful runs. Next day only King could do anything with Blythe ; he made 46 in §5 minutes, a rare good innings. Kent easily hit off the runs required. Blythe had 15 for 45 in the match. S o m e r s e t v. D e b b y s h ib e . —At Bath, as at Nottingham and Leicester, bowlers got a lot of help from the wicket, and Derbyshire in reaching three figures did quite as well as could have been expectecj. Morton batted an hour for 6 ; Oliver and he added 31 for the fourth wicket; Oliver’s was the highest score; but perhaps the 26 of Slater, who with Root put on 39 for the ninth wicket, was the best. Somerset collapsed for 44 before Morton and Cadman, with whom no one could do anything, Hyman, the local big hitter, actually batting 35 minutes for 4. Going in again, Derbyshire lost 4 wickets for 19. Friday was a blank day, and on Saturday a decision to abandon the game was early arrived at. M id d le s e x v . H a m p s h ir e .- The home side lacked Warner, who was doubtless resting in view of the Test match. E . S. Litteljohn captained the side, and batted throughout the three hours during which play lasted on the first day upon a pitch which was by no means as bad as might have been expected. He drove well, was expert to leg, and gave only two chances, at 57 and 117. J. W. Hearne helped him to add 65 for the second wicket. There was no play on either Friday or Saturday. N o r th a m pt o n s h ir e v . W a r w ic k s h ir e .— The feature of the first day’s play was William Quaife’s excellent 52. When other men were failing he stayed for over two hours, giving only one chance. Foster and he made the only stand of the innings—58 for the third wicket. William Denton stayed 100 minutes for 16 when Northants. went in, but Sydney Smith made 34 in half-an-hour, hitting 18 off an over from Bates. Useful contributions by East, Vialls, and Seymour gave Northants. a ten runs lead on the first stage. Kinneir and Charlesworth added 42 for the second wicket of the champions when they batted again ; but rain came on, and after lunch nothing was done. Saturday was drawn blank, and so Northants. had the satisfaction of taking points from their neighbours for a first innings win. W o r c e s t e r s h ir e v . L a n c a s h ir e .— On Thursday rain prevented play. On Friday Lancashire batted, and run up 210 for 4 wickets. It is the misfortune of the Worcestershire side to lack a bowler of the right type for soft wickets. Spooner and Makepeace sent up 150 before the first wicket fell. The professional batted steadily for just over 2 hrs.; the old Marlburian was in 2£ hrs. for his 127, and, though missed once or twice, showed some of his best form, hitting a 6, a 5, and fourteen 4’s. Burrows, who was not tried till 205, got two of the four wickets that fell. There is the difficulty of getting foothold to remember ; but this was another instance in which, as at Trent Bridge, the earlier employment of a bowler of some pace might have paid. No p'ay was possible on Saturday. C a m r r id g e U n iv e r s it y v . ^A u s t r a lia n s . —Kidd won the toss, and sent the colonial side in. No doubt he regretted i t ; but it is seldom fair to judge such a decision solely on results. Jennings and Bardsley made the biggest scores in what was in the circum­ stances an excellent total of 225. Jennings batted finely for 100minutes for his 62 ; Bardsley was freer, scoring 58 in 66 minutes. They added 62 for the third wicket after the Queenslander and Macartney had put on 40 for the second. Some of the others were a good deal puzzled by Mulholland’s slows ; but Minnett and Hazlitt, the latter twice missed, each scored 35. It was Hazlitt’s highest in first-class cricket for some considerable time ; but he ought to make a lot more before he goes back. In a wretched light the Cantabs lost 6 wickets for 17, Whitty and Emery doing the damage. Next day Calthorpe and Holloway played up pluckily, adding 41 for the eighth wicket. Rain soon stopped proceedings, however, and on Saturday the game had to be abandoned. S u r r e y v . S o u t h A fr ic a n s . —Nourse bowled at one end through­ out Surrey’s innings, in which a stand of 64 for the second wicket by Hobbs and Hayes was really the only batting feature. Thursday was a short day, Friday a dies non , and Saturday ditto repeato. Let us be classical, or perish! Y o r k s h ir e v . E s s e x .— Not until two o’clock on Friday could play be started. McGahey had a nasty chill, and Sutton, of the Beckton Club, was sent for. Rhodes and Wilson made 49 for the first wicket, Hirst and Tasker 65 for the sixth, and Hirst and Bates 77 for the seventh. Bates has been quite out of luck’s way lately; but his 64—two 6’s and seven 4’s—was really a fine forcing innings, and he ought to get more chances. Thus far this season he has generally played when wickets were slow, Bayes replacing him when they were fast—rather a hard trial for a young batsman who is still playing for his place. Hirst hit a six and six 4’s, and played with all his old skill and resource. But, like Worcestershire, Essex are ill equipped for a slow wicket that is not really difficult. The start was delayed on Saturday; but after all Huddersfield was the one place at which any first-class cricket was possible on that day. Thanks to a stand of over 50 for the second wicket by Russell and Buckenham, Essex had 100 up at the fall of the fifth wicket. Not a run from the bat was added later, an extraordinary bit of bowling by Drake getting rid of the last five men, three with his last three balls, and leaving Douglas to carry his bat.