Cricket 1912

318 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J uly 13, 1912. 24 not out and 26 in the third test earned him promotion, and going in ninth against T asm ania at Launceston he hit up 50, while in the fifth test he made 26. Between this tour and that now in progress his only match of first-class rank was one of those played at Johannesburg to aid the selectors in their choice of a team, and he did nothing in that. Some R and critics would have preferred Fred L e Roux to h im ; at the Cape they were sure that they had three or four better men than he. B ut he got his place, and he came to England. In the third m atch of the tour he took 1 1 for 119 against the M .C.C. at Lord’s, and since then he has never looked back. Among his analyses since have been 7 for 3 1 in the first innings of Worcestershire, 6 for 105 v. A ustralia at Manchester, 7 for 65 v. England at Lord’s, 5 for 67 v. Notts, 6 for 42 v. Som erset, 8 for 1 1 2 v. South W ales (both innings), 9 for 87 v. Scotland at Partick (both innings), 5 for 37 v. M iddlesex, and 8 for 96 v. W arwickshire (both innings). Even those critics who have most persistently run down the South African team—and the judgments passed on it have not usually erred on the side of generosity—make an exception in favour of Pegler. Since that first match at Lo rd ’s much has been expected of him , and he has done much. Powerfully built and, one fancies, of well-balanced temperament, he w ill probably go on doing well. How far ahead his recent performances have been of what he had previously accomplished in big cricket the figures which follow w ill show. Inns. N.o. R. A. H.S. O. R. W. A. In S. Africa ... 10 1 97 10 77 28 ... 98*5 228 14 16-28 In Australia ... 19 2 229 13-61 50 ... 235-5 848 27 31-40 Jn England ... 21 3 333 18 50 79 ... 605-3 1353 96 14*09 (to July 6) Totals ... 50 6 659 14-97 79 ... 940*1 2429 137 17*72 J. N. P. Cricket in Scotland. B y H a m ish . The A ustralians are with us this week and present appearances point to more congenial conditions than held sw ay during the South A fricans’ visit. Both at Edinburgh and Perth Scotland will field fairly representative elevens which, if the wickets remain hard, I expect to show up in a better light than a week ago. Un­ fortunately only six of the players w ill take part in both matches, including the two professionals Ringrose and Benskin. I shall deal with the games in the next number. On Saturday last beautiful cricketing weather prevailed and a full programme of matches was carried through without interrup­ tion. The ball still had the better of the bat and only one century was recorded. Most of the internationalists did little or nothing but perhaps they were reserving themselves for the more strenuous work of this week. F or the first time this season the Grange won both their Saturday engagements. No doubt they wished to blot out as quickly as possible the memory of a big defeat by Forfarshire three days previously when they were dismissed for 53 to which the Forfar men replied with 190. Ringrose (5 for 19) was in deadly form with the ball and the veteran H iggins finished off the Grange innings with the “ hat-trick,” but the feature of the game was the batting of R . G. T ait (104) who obtained his runs in eighty minutes in splendid style on a wicket that was always assisting the bowler. T he Grange and Carlton m atch is one in which enthusiasts alw ays anticipate something out of the ordinary and on Saturday they were in no wise disappointed. Carlton were out for 193 (J. L . Stevenson, 9 wickets for 67), and Jenner, last m an in, went to the wickets with the Grange still 16 runs behind and only a few minutes to go, B ut the runs were got, the last few in rather a sensational m anner, for, with five runs wanted, the professional made a great straight drive over the ropes for six. And he was advised to be cau tiou s! In what was always a race against tim e the way for victory was paved by J . E . Balfour Melville, a son of the famous “ L . M .,” who played a vigorous innings of 78. The other Grange win was at the expense of G ala, who thereby suffered their first defeat. Gala could only muster 32 all told against B . L . Peel (6 for 18) and Keene (4 for 14), a score which the premier club had no difficulty in passing. Thanks to m iserable fielding they ultim ately reached 238. The two days’ match between Fettes and Loretto— the Eton and H arrow of Scotland—ended in a win for Fettes -by-108 runs. The wicket was for the most part difficult and the scoring low—Fettes, 1 10 and 184, and Loretto. 57 and 129. I). R . Herriot, Fettes, with 79* played the highest and soundest innings of the game and L . H. Methuen, also of Fettes, ( 1 1 wickets for 47) was the best of the bowlers. Perhaps the finest feature to a critical eye was the magnificent fielding of Loretto in Fettes’ first innings. Drumpellier have had the better of all their Edinburgh oppo­ nents and the Academicals were their latest victim s—beaten by 166 to 50. J . MacMillan (6 for 16) was swerving to such an extent that most of the batsmen found him unplayable. In the Scottish Counties Championship all the clubs were engaged with one another. Aberdeenshire (150) sustained their first defeat in the competition at the hands of Perthshire (155 for 6) for whom J . A. Ferguson (72 not out) showed a return to fo rm ; and Forfarshire (295) were much too good for Stirling County (72). W. S. Whyte, of the Forfar side, who scored 107, including three sixes out of the ground, had a century in the same fixture last year. The remaining match between Clackm annan County (202 for 7) and Fifeshire (16 1 for 8) ended in a draw in favour of the former. West, Clackmannan, (81 not out) and N. R . Stratford, Fifeshire (69), were top scorers. After their lapse of last week A yr (316 for 8) made a complete recovery as Greenock (73) found out. A. Money (74) and Turner (82) scored heavily and the professional also took 4 wickets for 28, while W. R. Drinnan had the other six for 42. In Western Union games Uddingston (128) beat Ferguslie (84), and Poloc (121) won their match against Kelburne (107). No score of over fifty was recorded. The professionals on the winning sides emerged with splendid analyses, Nash of Uddingston having 7 wickets for 27 and Sandiford of Poloc 5 for 26. Liverpool Jottings. B y G . A . B b o o k in g . For the sake of accuracy, a correction is required. I stated in the issue of Ju n e 8 that five of the brothers Steel had played for Lancashire, v i z . A . G., H . B ., D. Q., E . E ., and F . L . From D. Q. Steel, against whom I played last week, I learn that F . L . never represented the Red Rose county. I perceive that I trusted to memory too much. Never in the history of the game in this city have three such good county matches been allotted to the Aigburth ground: Aus­ tralia, South Africa, and Middlesex is a unique treat. In 19 10 we had Essex, Sussex, and Derbyshire. These are the only two occasions on which the Lancashire team have thrice appeared in Liverpool in one and the same season. For the increase of the fixture list the cricketers of Liverpool have to thank Mr. E . Roper, who is heart and soul in the game. The Australians were the first of our visitors this year, and they were beaten in splendid style on Friday last, by the convincing margin of 8 wickets, m ainly through sparkling displays on the part of Spooner, Sharp, Dean, and Makepeace. They showed poor judgment in running between the wickets, and in this respect Gregory exhibits no im provem ent: in 1909 he lost his wicket at Aigburth through trying to steal a run from the last ball of the day in A ustralia’s second innings when his side were in a tight corner ; he was not run out on Friday last, but on one occasion at least he was lueky to get home safely. Whitty and Matthews appear to be Australia’s best pair of bowlers, and the little St. K ilda professional’s leg breaks were fatal to those in two minds as to how they should be dealtwith. When Spooner and Makepeace compiled 1 10 together out of the 1 1 5 required to win, the cricket was a treat to watch. Few better displays have ever been seen at Aigburth. The attendance was good on both days, which further supports the view that the Liverpool public will patronise first class cricket, of course providing the weather is fine. Turning to club cricket, Sefton again vanquished New Brighton, the winning hit being made with 10 wickets in hand. New Brighton only compiled 77, to which Sefton responded with 207 for 8, M iller (83), A . H. Bosw ell (49*) Blease (48) being the principal scorers. Curtis, the Sefton professional, secured 6 wickets for 36 and Raven 4 for 40, both excellent performances. Liverpool just managed to beat Birkenhead Park, H . Dom ing, the Argentine Republic crack, leading the way with an excellent 67 out of 239, to which the Park responded with 216 , Parrington and W illm er heading their colleagues with 60 and 41 respectively. The Rev. J . M. Swift for Birkenhead had the excellent bowling analysis of 7 wickets for 70. Litherland beat Frodsham in a low-scoring game on the pretty Cheshire ground. The home eleven could only muster 46, owing to accurate length bowling by Kerr (7 for 1 1 ) ; Litherland responded with 74. The visitors showed to advantage in the field, not a oatch being dropped. Waterloo Park had a great victory over Stanley after most exciting cricket. In run- getting they owed nearly everything to Gleig, who hit splendidly for 33 out of 59—no matter how well Polley and Shoubridge trundled they could not have possessed a chance but for Gleig, and to him belongs most of the credit. Polley secured 4 for 16, and Shoubridge 5 for 27.