Cricket 1912

CRICKET : A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E .— F ebruary 2 4 th , 1912. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No- 2 - ^ ° h M S^ r SER,' s' S A T U R D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 2 4 , 1 9 1 2 . 20 . A Chat with /V\r. Joseph Cox. I arrived at Lord’s Ground, Durban, to keep my appointment with Mr. Cox, X found I was destined to watch his bowling again before I could get a talk with him. The occasion was the first meeting of G r e y v ille and Escombes, and the latter had gone in first. However, I settled down with the intention of enjoying the first real fine afternoon we had so far experienced this season for the opening day of a match, and was rewarded by seeing some very fine all-round bowling. Joe Cox has often been errone­ ously styled a fast bowler, whereas he is actually only medium fast. This is, however, easily accounted for, as he was practically the fastest bowler for Natal in last season’s Currie Cup Tournament ; Mulcahy, who was really the fast bowler of the team, playing in only the first match against the O. E. C., when he failed to come off. Cox, however, bowled with marked success throughout the whole of the tournament, taking in all thirty-six wickets at the cost of a little over 11 runs apiece. His best efforts were against the Western Province and the Transvaal. In the former’s second innings he captured seven wickets for 42 runs, five of them clean bowled, whilst against the Transvaal, in the latter’s second venture, he had the marvellous figures of eight wickets for 20 runs, hitting the wickets on no less than seven occasions. The really fast bowler for Greyville is Davidson, and he and Cox invariably open the bowling for their club. Cox is a slim, wiry fellow of 25 years of age, just over 6 feet in height. He was born at Maritzburg on June 28th, 1886, and is at present a clerk in the Government Railway Offices at Durban. He is a conscientious and painstaking cricketer, devoting practically all his energies to bowling, and he has a nice easy delivery, taking full advantage of his height and length of arm. He keeps a splendid length, and his most deadly ball is one that goes with the arm, and comes with a nip off the pitch, making his bowling appear faster than it really is. Handled properly he can last all day, and under certain con­ ditions is almost unplayable. Such a day was that on which he played havoc with the Transvaal batsmen as already mentioned— a hard dry wicket and a north-easterly breeze. He has a decided off-break, and at times a small leg-break, but occasionally, as was the case this afternoon, his balls rise just high enough to clear the wicket, though beating the batsman constantly. It was not long, however, before he found a victim to-day, with the aid of King in the slips, and shortly afterwards Davidson accounted for Salmon, the ex- Greyville cricketer, Nicol, the Greyville stumper, smartly snapping him up twelve yards behind the wicket. Then there was a bit of a lull until the arrival of Nourse. The Inter­ national put himself on in place of Cox, and after the first over or two he simply played havoc with the batsmen. He ac­ counted for the next seven wickets for 20 runs, five being clean bowled, including George Cox, the Sussex professional, who was dismissed by a beauty, with a modest couple to his credit. It was a leg-break, which the batsman tried to put to leg, but misjudged, and before he had time to rectify his mistake it had taken his wicket. In the meantime Joe Cox had taken Davidson’s place at the other end, and he managed to take the last wicket, also clean bowled. This made two wickets to Cox’s credit, and he was most unfortunate in not having Photo by A Cecil Coyne,] IW1, Weal St., Durban, South Ajrica. Mr. J. COX.