Cricket 1912

294 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u l y 6, 1912. in much better fettle—or enjoying much better luck, for it does not appear that his form was ever really lost. A gainst Victoria at Adelaide he made only 3 and 2 4 ; but in the return at Melbourne he scored 4 1 and 3 1, adding 79 with Mayne for the sixth wicket in the first innings, and 78 with Donald M cRae for the fifth in the second ; and against N . S. W ales at Sydney he was top scorer in each innings with 42 and 45. He did better than this in 1907-8. Beginning with 79 against the En glish team, he followed this up with 52 v. Victoria at Mel­ bourne, and 56 and 52 v. N. S. W ales at Sydney. There followed a hiatus in his first-class career. It was, indeed, announced definitely that he had given up big cricket owing to the claim s of business. B u t he appeared again a couple of seasons later, this time as a Queenslander. He had then been living for some little time in Brisbane, after a brief sojourn in Melbourne (where he was born, and where one of his brothers is in business), being in the employ of the great firm of D algetty’s. H is opening match for Queensland was against N. S. Wales at Brisbane in November, 19 10 , when his 37 was second highest score in the second innings. A gainst the South Africans he made 24 and 07, the highest aggregate for his side, and he and Roger H artigan put up 13 7 for the first wicket in the second innings in 85 m inutes. F o r Eleven of A ustralia against the Afrikanders at Brisbane he played a splendid innings of 95. Sherwell and his men spoke of his batting in terms of high praise. H is first big m atch of the 19 11- 2 season was the occasion of his first and, to date of writing, his only first-class century. N .S. W ales at Sydney led off w ith 498. Queensland could only make 162, and had to follow on. Jennings and Fennelly went in first, and put up 184 runs for the first wicket in 75 m inutes by brilliant and fau lt­ less cricket. Then Fennelly was out. Jennings stayed till 233. He batted 2 hrs, 25 m ins. for his 12 3 , and hit nineteen 4’s. Against the En glish team a little later he made 9 1 and 44, highest score in each innings, and both notably well got. “ Jennings batted splendidly. Jennings is quite young; he cannot be more than two- or three-and-twenty, and his cricketing future is bright with promise . . . . For him I anticipate a place in the next A ustralian Eleven which visits England.” So wrote Pelham W arner in 1904. “ Soundness is the keynote of his success, and he watches the ball exceptionally well, but he has some splendid scoring strokes on the off, his cutting being quite first-class, while his placing between point, cover, and mid-off is quite Trum perian,” Thus wrote John Hutcheon, captain of Queensland a couple of years or so ago. Others have compared Jennings to Trumper. Whether the comparison is of value or not, it is tolerably certain that the Queens­ lander is a batsman of potentialities even beyond anything he bas accomplished yet, though he has done well over here. He w ill do far better yet, given a spell of settled weather. A s a fieldsman, Jennings is at his best in the slips, and it seems rather a pity that the scarcity of long fields in the Australian side should force him into the country at times. He does not count him ­ self a bowler. BATTING AVERAGES IN FIRST-CLASS CRICKET TO DATE. Season. Inns. N.O. Runs. Aver. H.S. 1902-3 6 1 105 21*00 52 1903-4 .. 10 2 238 29 75 77* 1904-5 7 0 53 7-57 22 1905-6 4 0 61 15-25 29 1906-7 6 0 186 31-00 45 1907-8 7 0 252 36-00 79 1910-1 6 0 238 39-33 95 1911-2 7 0 282 40-28 ... 123 1912 .. 20 2 619 34-38 82 (in Eng. to June 29) — — ------- ------- - Totals .. 73 5 .. 2,034 29-91 ... 123 J . N. P. G E O R G E L E W I N & C O . , Club Colour Specialists and Athletic Clothing Manufacturers. OUTFITTERS BY APPOINTMENT TO The Royal Navy and Army, Cornwall, Kent, Middlesex, Somerset and Surrey Counties, and London Scottish, Irish and Welsh, Blackheath, Harlequins, Rich­ mond, Catford Rugby Football Clubs, and all the leading Clubs in the British Isles and abroad; M.C.C. S. African Tour, 1909, S. African Cricket Association 1910, and Queen’s Club, Kensington, the M.C.C. Australian Team 1911-12, and the South African Association Cricket Team 1912. Established 1869. W r it e f o r E stim ates. Telephone: P.O. 607 CITY Works at Camberwell. 8, CROOKED LANE, MONUM ENT , E.C. Cricket in Scotland. B y H a m ish . “ Puir auld Scotland ” ! And what w eather! Again we have to record the same old tale of disaster in our opposition to a Colonial sid e ; and financially too the week was a failure. Both at Glasgow and Edinburgh our representatives were completely outplayed, and curiously enough the South A fricans won both matches by the same m argin—an innings and 97 runs. Scotland had certainly the worst of the conditions, which left our batsmen more or less helpless, and suited bowlers like Faulkner, Pegler, and Carter to perfection; but m aking all allowances we should have done better. In individual ability there is not the difference between the players that the winning m argin would indicate; but in the tactics of the game, the fruit of experience against the best the world can produce, we are absolutely outclassed. In the field especially is this failing very evident, for, whilst the South African fielders always seem to be placed to the greatest advantage—Nourse, for instance, had four men at leg—our men never appear quite right. In a word, our field is not happily set for the bowler, nor can the bowler bowl to his field. Man for man, however, we compared very favourably with the “ Springboks ” in fielding, and Chalmers was not a whit behind Ward as a stumper. We can congratulate ourselves on possessing an am ateur trundler of real merit in R . W. Sievwright, whose analysis (6 wickets for 12 1) does not do him ju stice; and I im agine he m ight have been nursed with better results. He ought to do good work for Scotland yet, when he gains more experience. Of our batting I only say that I absolutely refuse to believe our men can do no better. I hope that hard wickets w ill prevail on the visit of the Australians next week. After that I shall pass judgment. Among our visitors the ones who impressed most were Faulkner, Pegler, and Nourse. Faulkner’s bowling w as keenly watched, and he amply repaid the attention. In the two games he took 18 wickets for 119 ru n s; but these figures flattered his prowess even against our batsmen, as m any bad balls he delivered were not punished as they should have been. H is displays at the crease (145* and 39) were of that sound rather than brilliant stamp which indicated a complete mastery over the bowling. Nourse (73), on the other hand, was more happy-go-lucky, ever raising the bowler’s hopes that he would get him next over. Pegler (9 for 87 in the Glasgow match) made the ball break in a manner most disconcerting to our batsmen. A word must be put in for Carter, who raised some enthusiasm by hitting Sievwright for three 6's in succession at the end of the second day’s play in Edinburgh. One fact we are grateful for—the South Africans played to win all the time. We have no desire for exhibition games ; we wish to match our strength against that of our opponents, and find out wherein we are deficient. A few lines must suffice for Saturday’s club matches. In Edinburgh Leith Caledonian (92) lost to Edinburgh Academicals (130). F or the losers Sellars had 9 wickets for 46 runs. Greenock (91) had a good win over the Watsonians (70), and the University (116) over Heriot’s F .P . (59), whilst, after an exciting finish, the match between Stew art’s College F .P . (86) and Royal H igh School F . P. (74 for 9) ended in a draw. Only one innings was played in the game between Fettes (201) and the Old Fettesians (133), for whom K . G . McLeod had 74. In the School Championship Loretto (43) were unexpectedly beaten by Merchiston (141) who introduced a new “ lo b ” bowler in D. Robertson (7 for 35). In the West, Ayr (135) suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Kelburne (160), who have to thank T . W ilson (7 for 33), Shingler (91), and J . B . M cKinlay (37) for their victory. The last two added 125 runs for the sixth wicket. Clydesdale (104) sur­ prised Ferguslie (47), and Uddingston (88) beat Poloc (52). The professionals in these games had good analyses, Beardsworth, of Clydesdale, 7 for 1 8 ; Megson, of Ferguslie, 7 for 3 0 ; Nash, of Uddingston, 6 for 2 8 ; and Sandiford, of Poloc, 4 for 29. In the County Championship Aberdeenshire (138) overcame Fifeshire (89), and Clackmannan County (96) had the better of Stirling County (68). West (Clackmannan), whose benefit day it was, had six wickets for 30. Perthshire (61), very weakly repre­ sented, were badly beaten by Drumpellier (206 for 8), and Forfar­ shire (114) in like circumstances failed to beat Carlton (130 for 8) for whom G . W . Jupp (49) gave a fine display. In connection with the Border League Selkirk (155 for 6) trounced Hawick (66). The Grieves of Selkirk were in splendid bowling form. * F O R S A L E — C ricket F ield , 1892 to 1895, complete, unbound, in good condition. What offers?— J. W. W ., c/o C rick et , 33 and 35, Moor Lane, E .C .