Cricket 1912

C R I C K E T : A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E .— J u l y 6 t h . 1912. "Together joined in CricKet’s manly toil.”— Byron. No- 1« S s U ,w8“ - S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 6, 1912. p - « 20 . A Chat about ^Vlr. C. Jennings. Even had the famous six all joined the Australian Team , Claude I the state team when two or three men chosen had refused, and he Jennings would still have been well in the running for a place I justified their faith in him. in it. Their refusal made him a certainty at once. There are few He was taken with the team on the eastern trip in Jan uary, 1903, better batsmen than he among Australian cricketers of to-day, but did not get a place against Victoria at Melbourne. He played perhaps scarcely one who combines soundness with brilliancy to the | at Sydney, however, and, going in seventh wicket down scored 20 extent that he does. From the day when the team first practised at Lord’ s he was picked out by discern­ ing judges as one of the likeliest to achieve big success on our wickets ; and, although the varying weather and pitches have been all against a new chum, he has already done enough to justify this prediction. International honours have not come to him out of his turn. As far back as 1903-4 he was only just out­ side the Australian team ; he was twelfth man, indeed, in two of the tests of that season. Such measure of recognition as this constitutes—gratifying, no doubt, but not quite satisfactory—came to him early in his career. He was only nineteen at the time, but he had already made his mark in the best class of cricket. H is form at St. Peter’s College—-where E . F . Parker, the W estralian crack, and G . C. Campbell, who kept wicket for a season or two for South Australia, were among his contemporaries, had attracted attention; and when he joined the E a st Adelaide Club on leaving school in the middle of the season 19 01-2, he was already looked upon as a likely candidate for inter­ state honours in the near future, not so much on account of the number of runs he had made, as because of the manner in which he had made them. There are some batsmen who score heavily against all kinds of bowling, and leave one wondering how they do it, since their methods appear faulty. Such men do not get chosen for big matches on form, in the more correct sense, but on form in the sense of performances. Claude Jennings was chosen on form in the other meaning. It is a fact that in the first season in which he appeared for South Australia his average for E ast Adelaide was only 17-50; yet the selectors, among whom was George Giffen, judged him worth a place in Photo by] [Hawkins <k Qo., Brighton. Mr. C. B. JENNINGS. and 19 not out, the latter innings played on a rain-spoiled wicket upon which nearly all his colleagues failed completely before Howell. Against Victoria at Adelaide he only made 6 and 8 ; but he was seen at his best against the En glish team under Warner, which had been touring New Zealand, and played three matches in Australia on its way home. Five wickets were down for 1 1 5 when he joined Norman C laxton ; he scored a two and a three off the first two balls sent down to him, and in six m inutes he and his partner increased the score by 27. Altogether they added 13 5 . Jennings gave two hard chances in his 52 ; but his play was clean and free and stylish, and it was recognised that in this youngster of eighteen years the wheatfield state had a possible great asset. H is first big match of the next season was against the M.C.C. Team led by Warner, who ran up 483 for 8, and then closured. In the first inn­ ings Jennings scored 26 not o u t; in the follow-on he fairly saved his side from defeat with 77 not out at a critical stage. Achieving only moderate success—37, 23, 1, 26—in the two inter-state matches which followed closely upon this game, he was yet made twelfth man for the first test, that in which R . E . Foster scored his wonderful 287. B ut he got no nearer than twelfth man, and he did nothing of any great im ­ portance in the return with N. S. W ales and the second match against the Englishm en. In the next season he failed completely, only making 53 runs in 7 innings. Yet he was scoring heavily in good club cricket at the time, and the persistence of the selectors in playing him despite his failures proves how great was their faith in him . In 1906-6 he played only in the two Adelaide matches. The next season saw him