Cricket 1912

276 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. .T une 29, 1912. th e ir m atch w ith Y o rk sh ire h as begun ; but even if th ey lose th a t gam e and S u rre y w in at L eicester, th e tw o sides w ill be bracketed equ al first fo r the tim e being, for L a n cash ire and M idd lesex are not p la yin g , and a w in b y W arw icksh ire w ould still leave the cham pion s below th e ir neighbours. T h e m ost rem arkab le featu re of the you n gest first-class co u n ty’s success is th at the side contains no batsm an o f com ­ m an d in g ab ility. S e ve ra l good ones, o f course, it has, but not a m an w h o w ould h ave the sm allest chance o f being picked for a rep resen tative team b y reason o f h is b attin g alone. N orth an ts h as no Spooner, F r y , Je sso p , H obbs, or W arn er. In the nine m atch es it has p layed th is season (up to Ju n e 22) only 16 scores o f 50 and over h ave been m ad e for it. T h ese h ave been divided am on g nine batsm en , on ly Seym o u r and Thom pson claim in g as m an y as three each. A nd these nine batsm en h ave all averaged over 20, their resp ective figu res at the tim e o f w ritin g being:-— Seym ou r 30 -8 3 ; T hom pson 2 9 '3 3 ; W ells (thanks la rg ely to not outs) 2 7 * 16 ; G . A . T . V ia ls 25*33 ; E a st 2 4 '7 6 ; S . G . Sm ith 2 4 *3 3; J . S. D en ton 21*92 ; W . H . D en ton 2 1-6 6 ; H ayw o o d 2 1* 2 1. N o t h in g rem arkab le h ere, one m ay say . B u t there is ! I t is rem ark ab le— and the m ore so because o f the variab le w eather and w ickets to d ate— th at these n in e m en, all good, but not one in the fron t ran k, should all h ave been in form together. B ut battin g alone cannot w in m atch es. In the d ays when F r y an d R a n jitsin h ji d rew crow ds to H o v e— “ A h m e, ah m e, the d ays th at are no m ore ! ” — Su ssex w ere v e ry n early in vin cible, yet, for w an t o f m atch -w in n in g bow lers, could finish v e ry few gam es. N o rth an ts h ave a nice kn ack o f fin ish in g gam es. Sm ith ’s retu rn to form h as m ad e them quite a strong bo w lin g side, an d for the la st tw o or th ree seasons their field in g g en erally h as been o f h igh class. B u sw e ll is not a great w icket-keeper, but he is a useful, hard-w orking, and reliab le one. S y d n e y Sm ith (43 w ickets at under 1 3 each) and T hom pson (54 at a trifle over 17 ) have done the bulk o f the bow lin g th is season, the rest tak in g on ly 42 am on g them (W ells 18 , E a s t 1 1 , J . S . D en ton 7, Seym o u r an d W oolley 3 each). B u t the side does not depend w holly upon Sm ith and T h om p ­ son. A ll the others nam ed are useful, an d the seven provid e a good v a rie ty— T hom pson, E a s t an d W ells rig h t hand, all fast m ed ium , but su fficien tly different in pace and style, D enton slow righ t, Sm ith an d Se ym o u r left. T h e fact should not be overlooked that N orth an ts have done p retty creditable w ork in the cham pion sh ip d u rin g the last three seasons, w in n in g 24 and losin g 26 m atches in that period. Su ch a record scarcely suggests p rem ier honours in 19 12 , but it is not one to be despised. T w o batsm en m ore essen tially different in style and m ethods than G ilb ert L a ird Je sso p an d W illiam G eorge Q uaife it w ould be h ard to fin d ; an d it is curious th at these tw o should w ithin three d ays h a v e added th eir n am es to the short list of batsm en w ho h ave scored 50 or m ore cen tu ries in first-class cricket. A n oth er three-figu re inn in gs in the m atches o f last w eek-end that w ill h ave delighted the cricket public w as Jo h n T y ld e sle y ’s seven ty-th ird cen tu ry. T h o se who h ave scored fifty or m ore centuries in first- class cricket are :— W . G . G race , H a y w a rd , C . B . F r y , R ob ert A bel, T yld esley, the Ja m Sah ib o f N aw an ag ar, the late A rth u r Sh rew sb u ry, P . F . W arn er, D av id D en ton, P . A . P errin , G eorge H irst, G . L . Je sso p , and W illiam Q uaife. A n o t h e r n am e has to be added to the list o f m en who h a v e m ad e tw o sep arate hundreds in a first-class m atch— that o f A . C. Jo h n sto n . H e is the fifty-second batsm an to q u alify, and th is is the eighth in stan ce o f tw o cen tu ries in a m atch for H am p sh ire, C . B . F r y , C ap t. J . G . G reig , A . J . L . H ill, L lew elly n (tw ice), M ead, and M ajor (now Col.) R . M . Poore being Jo h n sto n ’s predecessors in its perform ance. A gain st the county it has been done six tim es, by G . L . Je sso p (twice), R . E . F o ster, W . L . F o ster, H ard in ge, an d Jo h n T yld esley. A . H . H o r n b y h as not been a p rolific scorer o f cen tu rie s; but it is an instance o f the exaggerated valu e w e are apt to attach to a three-figure score— an d I re a lly th in k that the glam our is upon all o f us, m ore or le ss— th at w h ile it w as pretty gen erally pointed out th at h is 12 9 v . S u rrey w a s h is first cen tu ry since 19 07, no one seem ed to th in k it w o rth w h ile to note th at a few w eeks ago he m ad e 96 v . L e ice stersh ire. H is highest scores in 1 9 1 1 , 19 10 , and 19 0 9— 55 not out, 83, and 7 1 — w ere all m ade again st th at cou n ty, b y the w a y. D o u g la s R o b in s o n , lik e A . C . Jo h n sto n , is one o f the m an y m ilitary batsm en who can on ly find tim e to p la y in a m in ority of their counties’ m atches. H e belongs to the notable clan o f the R obinson s o f B ack w ell H ou se. A t least six of them— C resw ell, Theodore, A lexan d er, F . G ., P .G ., and D .C . h im self— h ave played in first-class cricket, and ev ery year B ack w ell H ouse, represented solely b y R obinson s, m eets Flax B ou rton , the village w hence C h id gey hailed. In lettin g B ru ce H ylto n -S tew art tak e C h id gey ’s place in the recent m atch at B a th , after the Som erset w icket-keeper had been forced to retire by an in ju ry, the South A fric a n captain flew in the face of a M .C .C . ru lin g o f som e eight years ago. L ille y h as som ething to say about th e G en tlem en v. P layers m atch o f 19 04 in h is rem in isc en c es; he w as cap tain of the P la y e rs’ team , and particeps crim inis in lettin g the late W . L . M urdoch and L . V . H arp er take the places o f tw o disabled am ateu rs. B u t it is exceed ingly difficult to k n ow w here to draw th e lin e in such cases as these. T h ere w as an oth er at H astin gs a few y ears b a c k ; J . W . W . N ason w as the m an substituted, and I th in k the W arw icksh ire captain shared w ith C. L . A . Sm ith the blam e o f the tran sactio n . H a m ish S t u a e t w r i t e s “ M y w ritin g or som e other cause led to an error in m y observations on the E n g lish side lor the th ird T est. A fter com p aring the bow lin g o f Fo ster and D ean I w as m ad e to say : ‘ I believe he (D ean) bow ls an exceptionally good ball. It is difficult to see h ow D ean can trouble a batsm an w ho h as becom e w ell set again st F o ste r.’ One know s D ean ’s bow lin g— that is obvious from the context and w h at I w rote w as “ U nless he bow ls an excep tionally good ball, it is difficult to see how D ean , &c.” W o r c e s t e r s h ir e ’ s gate in the L a n ca sh ire m atch am ounted to f 9. A t D erby recen tly som e o f the turnstile records have been such as to m ak e one w onder w h eth er the D erb y folk have forgotten the v e ry existence o f a cou n ty team and a county ground. A t H ove scarcely an yon e troubled to look in and see the C an tabs play. I t is stated that 326 new m em bers h ave jo in ed the L an cash ire C .C . th is y e a r. T he future o f C oun ty cricket seem s to he in th is direction. A n y county w hich depends la rg ely upon gate w ill be con stantly stru gglin g to m ake ends m eet. B o a r d w ill again w in ter in N ap ier, and w ill tak e his son, a prom ising cricketer, w ith h im th is tim e. T h e boys o f B ig sh o tte R a y le s, the w ell-know n prep aratory school at W okin gham , had a g reat tim e la st w eek. In successive m atches th ey totalled 12 4 , 2 16 for 1 dec., and 2 5 1 for 2, dec. B la ck ley m ade 2 14 for tw ice out —39, 8 5 *, and 90 ; and W ooldridge 12 9 for once out— 22, 4 1* , and 66*. A gain st the school’s 4 9 1 for 1 3 w ickets th eir opponents totalled 240 for 28. Scoring in the 18 first-class matches of the week ending June 22 (South Wales v. South Africans in clu d e!): 13 , 695 runs for 712 wickets—average per wicket 19*2,