Cricket 1912

J u ly 27, 1912. CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OE THE GAME. 3C9 two runs was the third desperate fight in succession. The Park batted first, and thanks to S. H. W ilson and E . Upton, 90 were up with only two wickets down, these two adding 73 for the second. W ilson was in the St. Paul’s eleven last year ; his club have high hopes of him . No one else did much, and the total was only 133. If Major Bush had been there, the A. 0 . C. would have felt safe. As it was, they were hopeful, especially as they made an excellent start, Staff.Sergeant Skinner bringing off some lovely shots between cover and m id-off, all along the carpet. An extra cover made no difference to the Sergeant. But when he had departed for 48, the rest did little. They could easily have drawn the gam e; but that is not according to the fine sporting traditions of the British Army. Incom ing and outgoing batsman crossed each other, and everyone went for the runs. G ood men a ll! Defeat in that way is far better than a draw— ay, and better than m any victories. But that is not the way all clubs play the game. Richm ond Town scarcely did justice to their reputation when they went on, batting in painfully slow style, till 5.50 v. L. and N. W . II. at W em bley. They left the railway men barely 75 minutes to get 199 in . It was not worth trying f o r ; and H oughton altered his order of batting, so as to give some of the men who usually go in late a show. T hey made 79 for 3 in the time, Skilton and Turner batting well. Greville (for whom H . J. Ehvin bowled well and Bergl and M enhennit made useful scores) lost to Mill H ill by only 5 runs. G reville’s second string beat Paddington II. by 8 runs. G. E. Dunn’s all round form (23 and 7 for 23) and the capital wicket-keeping of H . D . R ogers, who stumped 4 and caught one, materially helped to the win. The Old County Cricketer visited both the Neasden and Brondes­ bury grounds on Saturday. He sends along some interesting inform ­ ation anent the form er club. He w rites: The Neasden ground affords an example of what can be quietly achieved by untiring officers and loyal m embers. Som ething like £150 has lately been expended on improvem ents, and it is the club’s pride that every penny has been found inside the club. A bit of rough ground behind the pavilion was taken in hand early last year ; 150 loads of clinkers and 150 loads of marl were brought in, the ground raised and levelled and turfed, all by the club’s own groundsman ; and now there is a capital bowling green with two rinks, and bowls handicaps are in progress. Mr. J. Bendle, ex-H on. Sec., is now “ H on. Landscape Gardener ” to the club, and beds of bright flowers lend a charm to the ground. £30 has lately been spent on draining the football field and removing unnecessary hedges and trees. As Mr. Fowler, the Chairman of Comm ittee, and other officials say, “ W e cry second to no club in L on d on .” F. Twyford, the captain and Hon. Treasurer, told me (on the Brondesbury ground) that Brown, of the M .C.C. Btaff, pronounced the Neasden wicket the best club wicket he had played on this season. The match at Neasden was a second team one with Brondesbury, for whom H . W ilson hit vigorously for 45. On his departure A. J. Lambert and J. W ood got the next 6 wickets very cheaply, but then A. Seneschal hit out finely, his 39*, including a 6 and several 4’s. The total reached 150, Lambert taking 5 for 34. Neasden, whom Lambert (65) and E lborn (31) gave a good start, won by 61 runs. Lambert seems to be an all-round player of considerable ability. The O. C. C. went on from the Neasden ground to that of Brondes­ bury, where the first teams were playing. The room y new pavilion, resplendent in cream and green, took his eye at once. Here Neasden had just completed an innings of 183, F. E. Chennell, who went in first, having batted finely for 67, E . M. H olland and G. Mackie supporting him best. W . W reford (the Devonshire bowler, who has plenty of pace and makes the ball get up sharply from the pitch) and H. R . W al- grave put out Brondesbury for 92, only E . Eldrid (27) making much resistance. W algrave and W reford shared the wickets equally, for debits of 38 and 43 respectively. W reford played for Devon v. Corn­ wall during the week. Last season he had 42 wickets at 18'64 each for the county. Forest H ill went down to Dulwich, for whom F. Huntley made a nailing century, and the H on. Sec., F. W . Ellis, took 8 for 40. R. M ontgomery (52) was again top scorer for F. H . W althamstow lost to Cheshunt and D istrict by 86 runs, almost the only redeeming feature of their play being the bowling of E . Sims (5 for 37 in an innings of 137). Sutton beat Streatham by 99— 200 to 101. J. A. Knight carried his bat right through the Sutton innings for 81. E vidently Donald Knight, the Malvern crack, owes something to heredity— or to early training and example ? H e is the son of the Sutton batsman. Upper Sydenham , after beating Capital and Counties Bank by 4 wickets (W . F . R . W illson 66, Guy P. W right 47, with A. G. Ridpath top scorer for the bank with 37) on Thursday and Friday evenings, won a low-scoring game (61 to 36) with L. C. and Midland Bank on Saturday, W . N. W ilson and G. F. Davis bowling with great effect. Slough and Marlow indulged in some biggish scoring at Slough, the day’s play producing 487 runs for 13 wickets. A 6 and nineteen 4’s were numbered in the finely hit, though not chanceless, century of E. J. Leat, who has represented both Bucks and Somerset. W . Adams was not at the top.of his form, being short of practice, but there were some good strokes in his 64*. E . Weaver Adams, the skipper, made his first duck of the season. A singular incident occurred early in Marlow’s innings. Smith drove a ball back to the Slough captain, who partly stopped it. From his hand it went to Beardsley’s wicket and knocked off the bails, the batsman being at the moment quite three yards out of his crease. The Marlow umpire gave him not out, on the ground that he (the umpire) had been too busy getting out of the way of the ball to see what happened. Beardsley went on, and made a century, including ten 4’s. Seven of the Slough team had bowled before Baker and Kent were called upon; Baker’s first ball of the season took Barnett’s wicket, and Kent clean bowled Dean. Perhaps these two may be put on first in the next match— perhaps n o t ! Hampstead Nomads had a great game with St. B art.’s, who ran up 300, Spaekman topping the century and Owen m aking 90*. L. G. Kirkpatrick and F . C. Boully were delayed, and the budding medicos made hay while the sun shone. W hen Kirkpatrick did turn up, he took 5 for 36. W ith 301 to win and 2 hrs. to go, the Nomads actually went all out for victory, and ran up 253 for 8 ! Kirkpatrick slammed up 96* in 45 minutes, hitting 32 off one over of E. M. Grace’s, and K. R. Habershon and C. Browning made runs fast and freely. Only a fortnight or so ago E. M. Grace (a son of the wonderful veteran of Thornbury, who died last year) took all 10 wickets in an innings ; now he gets hit for 32 (four 6’s, two 4's) in an over ! Such are the varying fortunes of the game of games. The other N omads’ team beat County Fire Office easily, the insurance men being unable to withstand the bowling of S. B. K. Caulfield, who had 6 for 17. There was a curious incident in Melrose’s match with Postal. Stephens, of the latter team, was given out l.b.w . The fieldsmen behind the wicket thought the decision wrong, and promptly said so. Their captain, F. Gall, took counsel with the umpire, who consented to withdraw his verdict. Stephens was brought back, and scored 50 of a total of 73. Sportsmanlike of the Melrose m e n ; but my contributor, G. A. B. of Liverpool, would say it was wrong, and as a matter of etiquette interference with the umpire is incorrect. S. Mason’s hard hit 56 (nine 4’s, two out of the ground) was more than half thejtotal of Melrose, for whom L. Cheeseman (fast left) and R. J. W infield bowled very effectively. Fulham ’s H om e W eek was a distinct success. It is true that the hom e side lost three matches and only won tw o ; but one does not gauge the success of a week by the matches won and lost. Good cricket and good fellowship— these are the things that matter. Luton ran up a big score on M onday; but, though the visiting side had brought along a professional bowler, Fulham , thanks to G. H all and D . W oolben, played out time. On Tuesday B. W . Earl brought along a strong team of Nonentities, which put Fulham (69 against 290) through the m ill very completely. O. S. Jenkins and Mansell Smith were conspicuous both with bat and ball (35 and 5 wickets, 66 and 4 wickets respectively), and H. E . Murrell batted well for 62. The W ednesday match was with Mr. A. J. Taylor’s X I , who ran up 241 after disposing of the hom e side for 172. Thursday was a gala day, with an al fresco concert. The Old County Cricketer visited the ground, and enjoyed him self hugely. Fulham did well that day against Mr. J. W . Cox’s X I. C. J. Goldsm ith and D. W oolben, going in first, were still unparted at luncheon, and put on 136 for the first wicket in all, Goldsmith hitting fourteen 4’s, W oolben 9. Then J. S. Fryer and J. Whitley (two famous goal-keepers, Fryer the home side’s skipper) scored freely, adding nearly 100 together. Fryer ten times reached the boundary, and W hitty hit a 6 and seven 4’s. The innings was declared at 301 for 6. T he scratch side started badly ; but A. R. Peel (with whose stylish play the O.C.C. was struck, admiring especially the manner in which, with left elbow well up, he kept down rising balls, and his hard clean driving) and A. J, Taylor mended matters a bit, and towards the end L. K. Raynor hit merrily. But all were out for 130, and Fulham registered their first win of the week. They had another on Friday, when K ojo Thom p­ son, a full-blooded negro from the G old Coast, who has just been called to the bar, brought along a strong team which did not include a single white face. Cyril Browne was there, and top-scored with 55, J. A. Luckhoo (whom the Editor recognises as an old subscriber)