Cricket 1912

320 CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. J uly 13, 1912. cam e to an abrupt end w hen the n ew s w as brought, but before th o se present at it h a d left a collection w as m ade fo r the w idow an d children, at the su ggestion o f the M ayo r o f R och dale, and n e a rly .£40 w as raised in a few m in u tes. M r . E . L e w is T o d d , secretary o f the E a ste rn D ivisio n of th e D u rh am Sen io r L e a g u e , w rites th at an official M .C .C . opinion on a su bject recen tly d iscussed in these colum ns is opposed to the v iew I took. T h e question w as one o f a catch m ad e b y a field sm an w ith h is feet adm itted ly outside the bou n d ary, though h is h and s w ere insid e. T h e M .C .C . ru lin g in a sim ilar case w as th at the b atsm an w as out. B u t I believe an oth er ru lin g say s th a t w ith a field sm an stan din g inside the bou n d ary, lean in g b ackw ard s, an d catch in g a ball adm ittedly outside, the b atsm an is out. T h is seem s g larin g ly inconsistent. I f the position o f the field sm an 's feet m akes this a good catch, th en , it seem s to m e, the position o f his feet m ak es the other no catch . I n one case the field sm an ’s position, in the other th a t o f th e ball, is m ade the cru x o f the question. A m on g the tab u lated records in the “ Som erset Sco rin g B o o k ” (w hich , b y the w a y , can be obtained of M r. A . J . G aston, 13 0 , N o rth Street, B rig h to n , at h alf-a-guin ea) there are several in stan ces given o f sw allow s slain on cricket p itch es. A nother can now be added to them . C. E . H o n eyb all, bow ling for G . W . R . v. R ead in g B isc u it F a c to ry at R ead in g on S a tu rd a y k illed a sw allow w h ich flew across, an d R . W . P ou lton, the R u g g er In tern atio n al, played the ball after it had done its d ead ly w ork. A frequent correspondent w ho possesses th at salt o f h um our w h ich m ak es such a difference in a m an ’s view o f life tells m e th at one o f the trad esm en who su pply his household has jo in ed a cricket club, an d one d ay la te ly produced w ith pardonable p rid e a fine bat he h ad ju st bought, one o f G rad id ge’s “ Im p erial D r iv e r s ” — I don’t m in d givin g G radidge an “ ad .,” h ere,becau se he p a y s for one on an oth er p age. T h e ow n er had n ever yet p la yed a gam e, it seem ed. M y correspondent show ed h im his old bat, bound w ith tape around the lo w er part. T he n ew hand w an ted to know w h at the tape w as for, and w as told that it had im p roved the bat a good d eal—w h ich w as quite true, because w ith ou t it the an cien t w eapon w ould scarcely h ave held together. H e w en t off sayin g th at he liked the notion v e ry m uch and w ould certain ly bind h is bat w ith tape ! T o those w ho appreciate “ C h ic’s ” cartoo n s—and I gath er th e y are m an y— I w ould say th at I h ave a p articu larly clever one for publication n ext w eek, its subject being our T est M atch Selection C omm ittee. C r ic k e t dull ? I should say n o t ! F o r sheer d ram a it w ould be h ard to beat S u rre y ’s th ird in stalm en t o f battin g at N orth am pto n on M on d ay. C on sider it carefu lly. A w eek ea rlier Su rrey had gone up to the top, displacing N orth an ts in the C ham pion ship, through no m erit o f th eir own, but because the you n gest coun ty had th e w o rst of the w icket at C hesterfield an d lo st first in n in gs’ points. T h en K en tb ea t S u rrey, sen din g the O val side down to fifth place. B u t a Su rrey v ic to ry over N o rth an ts m ean t th at, w h atever else happened in consequence o f w h at Y o rk sh ire , L a n ca sh ire , or K en t did, S u rre y w ould again be above “ the baby ” o f the com petition. T h e w icket w as p retty good, but rain w as h a n g in g about, and S u rre y won the toss, a big ad van tage in such circum stan ces. B ir d and H ay w ard put on 64 fo r the first partn ersh ip. H ay es cam e in. R a in stopped p lay. F iftee n m in u tes m ore cricket after lu nch , then an oth er stoppage. H a y w a rd and H ay es resum ed to T hom pson and Sm ith , and there w ere eight m ore m en to com e. T h e y did com e, an d th ey w e n t ! B u sw e ll stum ped H a y e s and D u cat, H a y w a rd w as c a u g h t; one after another Sp rin g , A bel, M yers, Stru d w ick, K irk , Sm ith departed. F o r n in e r u n s ! One report says that th rou gh the ten m in u tes’ ra in fa ll ju st before th is the w icket u n derw en t a great change. I don’t w an t to be rude, but I sim p ly do not believe it. T en m in u tes’ rain cannot do all that. A n d w hen S u rrey had finished V ia ls hit up 82 in 70 m in u tes. P resum ab ly the w icket— but o f course it had been rolled , w h ich accounts q u ite n icely for an oth er great change. T h e tw o U n iv ersity sides at L o rd ’s included representatives o f thirteen schools, R epton (5), M arlborou gh (4), E to n and H arrow (2 each) h avin g m ore than one m an in th e m atch. T here w ere eleven old b lu e s ; and o f the other eleven fou r were seniors, seven freshm en— an unusual proportion of the latter. L a st year also 1 3 schools w ere represen ted, E to n , M arlborough, and Repton h a v in g three m en each, M alvern , W ellington , and W in chester tw o each. I n 19 10 the tw o team s w ere d raw n from fourteen schools, three m en from C harterhouse and M alvern , tw o each from E to n , M arlborough , R ep ton and W inchester. T h ere w ere on ly four freshm en in 1 9 1 1 , an d only three in 19 10 . I t is a m isfortune th at the A rm y and N a v y v. U niversities m atch should h ave fallen through on account o f the ’V a rsities’ in ability to raise a side, and one does not fin d it e a sy to under­ stand w h y to do this should be so difficult. B esid es the twenty- tw o engaged at L o rd ’s as I w rite, an oth er score or so - all cricketers of som e m erit, one m a y p resum e— h ave p layed for either O xford or C am bridge th is y e a r, and from th e forty-odd a sufficiently pow erful side m igh t su rely be m ade up. T om J a y e s ’ s benefit should h ave been referred to last w e e k ; but it is hard to find room for everyth in g, and h ard er to re­ m em ber everyth in g, I confess to a qualm o f conscience for having overlooked this, for the p articu larly sad circum stan ce should h ave im pressed it on m y m em ory. T h e y say now th at Ja y e s w ill n ever p lay cou n ty cricket again . T he p ity o f i t ! B a r P ougher, he w as probably at h is best the m ost d ead ly bowler Leicestersh ire ever had, and he did m an y rem arkable feats for the cou n ty. T hree tim es, in 19 0 5, 19 0 6 , and 19 0 7, he took over 10 0 w ickets in first-class cricket. T w ice he did the h at trick. A gain st N orth an ts at L eicester in 19 0 6 he had 1 1 for 60, against W orcestershire in the sam e season 1 2 for 17 4 ; again st L a n c a ­ shire at Old T raffo rd in 1909, 1 2 for 14 3 , against D erb ysh ire at D erby, 1 1 (10 clean bowled) for 139 , again st W arw icksh ire at L eicester 1 1 for 10 3 ; again st Su ssex at L eicester in 19 10 1 1 for 19 7 . H e m ade one cen tu ry—-v. W arw ick sh ire at B irm in gh am — and eleven scores o f 50 and over. H e has u n questionably deserved w ell o f his county. T he list o f thousand-run scorers is grow in g. Dp to W ed ­ n esday n in e batsm en had qualified, th u s : 1 .— C. G . M acartn ey, Ju n e 19 . 6 .—W . B ard sley , J u ly 8. 2 .— H ay es (E . G .), Ju n e 27. 7.— D enton (D .), J u ly 9. 3 .— M ead (C. P .), Ju n e 29. 8.— R e lf (R . R .), J u ly 9. 4.-—R . H . Spooner, J u ly 4. 9.— V in e (J.), J u ly 9. 5 .— C. B . F r y , Ju ly 5. S . J . P egler took h is hundredth w icket o f the season on J u ly 9. -------------- THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP. (To Wednesday, July 10). W. L. Poss. Per- P. W. L. 011 1st inns. Pts. Pts. centage. Northamptonshire ... 10 6 0 1 3 36 50 72*00 Yorkshire .............. 13 6 1 5 1 46 65 70*76 Nottinghamshire ... 9 5 2 1 1 29 45 64’44 Kent .......................... 14 7 3 2 2 43 70 61-42 Middlesex .............. 7 4 2 0 1 21 35 60*00 Lancashire ............... 10 5 2 1 2 30 50 60 ’00 Surrey .......................... 11 4 3 4 0 32 55 58*18 Warwickshire.............. 9 4 1 1 3 26 45 57*77 Hampshire ............... 11 4 2 3 2 31 55 56*36 Somerset ............... 7 2 2 0 3 13 85 37*14 Sussex ... ... ... 15 3 9 2 1 2*2 75 29*55 Leicestershire .. ... 13 3 8 1 1 19 65 29*23 Essex .......................... 9 1 5 2 1 12 45 26*66 Derbyshire ............... 10 1 5 2 2 13 50 26*00 Gloucestershire ... 8 2 6 0 0 10 40 25*00 Worcestershire ... 8 0 6 0 2 2 40 5*00 Five matches in which no result was obtained on the first innings are left out of account, and there have also been three matches abandoned entirely. The Obituary of Tom Richardson and an article on “ Overseas Cricket ” are crowded out of this issue by exceptional pressure on space. They will appear next week. W anted . By young public school man, good bat and field, who has played with success for second-class county, engagement as Secretary or Assistant Secretary to a cricket or general sports club of good standing.— Address to, “ F .T .,” c/o Mr J. N. Pentelow, Malvern, Steyning, Sussex.