Cricket 1912

A ugust 3, 1912. CEICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 381 and Snooke, by brilliant hitting, added 75 in 45 minutes. Then Snooke and N ourse put on 81. On Friday Nourse and Faulkner added 105 in 7 5 minutes for the fifth wicket. Nourse made his 113 in 155 m inutes, and his only chance was just before he got out. He hit a 6 and thirteen 4’s. Gerald Hartigan carried his bat for 26, his first innings for som e weeks, and his last of the tour, for while fielding a little later he broke an arm. The S. Africans’ total was only 5 short of 400. Ireland lost 4 for 4 0 ; Meldon and Lloyd then added 43 for the fifth. On Saturday the last five tumbled for an addition of 26, Faulkner and Carter accounting for them. H a m p s h ir e v . Y o r k s h ir e . — Stone’s benefit, and a batting bean" feast. T o start with Bowell and Mead were out with only 23 up ; but Stone and Fry added 109 for the third wicket, and thereafter the E ngland captain and Barrett put on 246 in 195 m inutes for the fourth. Fry batted 275 m inutes, gave only one chance (at 71), hit a 6 and twenty-three 4’s, and was in his best form , driving with great vigour. Barrett, who carried his bat for 120, stayed 4J hrs., gave no chance, and hit thirteen 4’s. Stone, Fry, and Barrett con ­ tributed am ong them 379 of 425 from the bat. E hodes made his first duck of the season on Friday m orning ; but the next wicket did not fall until W ilson and Denton had put on 197 (in 150 minutes), and Oldroyd helped Denton to add 118 for the third (in 90 minutes). Denton’s 191, as good an innings as he has ever played, lasted 225 m in utes; a 6 and twenty-six 4’s were its big strokes; it was dis­ figured by no chance, and included some lovely crisp cutting and good driving. H eavy rain on Friday night affected the pilch, which grew worse under the sun’s influence. Yorkshire did well to take their total from 346 for 4 to 492. H irst, hitting hard (a 6 and six 4’s), and Kilner added 64 for the fifth wicket, and B ooth and Haigh 57 for the eighth. Then H irst reproduced some of his old bowling form . Hants had 50 up with only one wicket d ow n ; but from that point the bowling got the upper hand, and the whole s :de was out in 2 hrs. for 95. Barrett batted 70 minutes for 7, and Newman was in a long time for his 10*. Yorkshire only required 45, and got them for the loss of one wicket. H irst took 10 for 138 in the match. W a r w ic k s h ir e v . M id d l e s e x .— The return followed immediately on the first match between these counties. Several changes were made on both sides, as m any as seven professionals appearing for the m etropolitan county. There had been rain, and the wicket was soft at the start; but the earlier hom e batsmen did quite well. Before lunch the score was taken to 103 for 3, Charlesworth making 4 3; afterwards Quaife and Baker made a capital stand, adding 71 in an hour. T he rest did little. Murrell made two catches, and stumped three batsmen. Only two men reached double figures in M iddlesex’s first. Tarrant, who was m issed at 27, hit a 6 and seven 4’s, and batted close on 2 hours. F. T. Mann, let off at 12, played splendid cricket fo ra quarter of an hour longer fo r84, a 6 and thirteen 4’s being included in his powerfully-hit 84. G . R. Byrne, a new m an bearing an old and honoured name, took the last three wickets for 9. Singularly enough, Lee of Middlesex, who has only played two or three times before, had 3 for 9 in the hom e side’s first. M ignon had a spell of success—he has not had too many this season — early in W arwickshire’s second ; but when 4 were down for 55 Baker and Foster made a fine stand, adding 122 in 105 minutes. The rest failed before Tarrant and Lee. Middlesex wanted 240 to win, and on Saturday m orning started with 15 of these cleared off and all their wickets in hand. But heavy rain, followed by bright sunshine, had left them little chance. Seven m en made double figures, but no one could stay very long, Foster (who had 4 wickets for 7 runs with 28 balls after lunch) bowling in deadly style, and Quaife taking 3 wickets very cheaply. Thus W arwickshire won by 118 runs. K e n t v . S u r r e y .— It is hard to believe that the members of the Surrey team are superstitious enough to go to Blackheath feeling certain of defeat; yet there is small question but that associations of disaster are apt to affect a side’s play. The legend that Surrey cannot win at Blackheath will lose nothing through this year’s match. But it is by no means certain that Surrey would have lost— or at least have lost so heavily— but for sheer injudiciousness, reck­ less play for which there was small excuse. Kent got on top to start with, for after Humphreys had left at 12 James Seymour and Hardinge added 78 in 50 minutes, Seymour and W oolley put on 61 for the third wicket, Day and Seymour 63 for the fifth, and Day and Dillon 74 for the sixth. S eim our batted 165 minutes for his 117, Day 150 minutes for his 98 ; the amateur hit a 5 and fifteen 4’s, the pro. eighteen 4’s. Seymour gave two chances ; the old Malvernian’s display was free from fault, though at first he was not on the top of his form . On the Friday the Kent innings closed for 383, and Surrey tumbled out twice for a grand total of 307. Tom Hayward made a pair for the first time in his career; and practically the only stands were those of H obbs and Hayes (48 in the first innings, 53 in the second, in each case for the second wicket.) Bird, Hitch, who hit finely, and Strudwick also made a few in the follow -on. Blythe had a harvest (10 for 70) on a hard, fast wicket such as does not usually suit him . N o t t in g h a m s h ir e v . G l o u c e s t e r s h ir e .— A bowler?’ battle on a very queer pitch. Thirty-nine wickets fell in the match, and only 387 runs were scored. A. O. Jones, with an aggregate of 71, made nearly three times as many as anyone else; yet his side lost. They had a lead of 33 on the first innings, almost entirely owing to their skipper’s 42, and to the deadly bowling of James Iremonger ; but in the second they were all out for 78, which left the westerners 112 to make for victory. C. O. H . Sewell gave his side a good start by scoring 28 of the first 35 ; Jessop stayed half-an-hour and made 2 1; but with 7 down for 76 it seemed to be the hom e team’s game. At this stage M. A. Green, of the W imbledon club, playing his first game for the county, was partnered by Parker. These two, by the pluckiest of cricket, added an invaluable 22, the amateur defending finely while Parker hit. Parker w en t; Dennett came in, with 14 required. Eight were m ad e; then Dennett was l.b.w . to Wass. Toogood whipped in. Wass treated him to two full pitches— possibly not so bad a m ove in such a situation as the result would appear to make it. But it did not answer. Toogood hit them both for runs, and his side won by one wicket. Sixteen is not a big score, but if ever a man won his spurs in his first county match Green of W imbledon did so ! In the game Dennett had 12 wickets for 117, Irem onger 11 for 57. S o m e r s e t v . N o r t h a m p t o n s h ir e .— There seemed no reason why scoring should have been so small on the first day. The wicket was all right. The fielding on both sides was good, however, for during the first day Buswell was the only man ever seriously at fault. East took 90 minutes to make 28 for the visitors; Haywood batted freely for 2 4; Seymour ran up 30. Greswell was punished ; but both Robson and Hylton-Stewart had good figures. Somerset did even worse than their rivals, and finished 28 in arrear on Friday m orning, W ells’s fast bowling proving too much for m ost of the side. Upon a wicket that seemed slightly affected by sunshine and showers, Northants lost 4 for 61. If Greswell had taken Sydney Smith when he had only scored 4— and Greswell is not m uch given to m issing them—the visitors m ight again have been out cheaply. But he tried too late, and at 43 Smith was m issed again, though possibly Braund’s pluck m ight be held greater than his judgment for even attempting the catch— a tremendously hot drive. John Denton helped the W est Indian to add 62 for tbe fifth wicket, and Yials and Smith put on 92 together for the sixth in under an hour, while Buswell, who does not often do this sort of thing, assisted in the addition of 63 for the last wicket. Smith was out at last to a fine catch in the deep by Hylton-Stewart. He hit a 5 and eighteen 4’s, and played a splendid innings, chances apart. Somerset needed 339 to win and had what little chance they m ight have possessed taken from them by heavy rain, which com pletely ruined the wicket. They could not go in until Saturday morning, and then everyone but Braund, who carried his bat for 31, was helpless against Sm ith on a wicket that just suited him . H e took 8 for 39, making 10 for 42 in the m a tch ; and his county’s victory by nearly 300 runs was largely his work. E s s e x v . L a n c a s h ir e . — Buckenham ’s benefit—hardly a bumper, it is to be feared. Essex played a new wicket-keeper, Ronald Clark, a son of the famous Clapton footballer of other days, R. H . Clark, and an old Bluecoat boy. H e kept in capital style. The m atch started sensationally, five Lancashire wickets being down for 47 in 45 m inutes. Then F . R . R. Brooke joined John Tyldesley, played great forcing cricket (ten 4’s), and helped to add 105 for the sixth. H ornby and Tyldesley made 46 in half-an-hour for the seventh. The W orsley man batted 140 minutes for his 90, and hit nine 4’s ; he gave chances at 41 and 88, but played fine cricket despite these. Buckenham , though as usual chances were m issed off him , bowled well, and had 5 for 82. Thanks m ainly to John Douglas and Perrin, who added 74 for the second wicket, and in a smaller degree to Fane, Gillingham , and M cGahey, E ssex were only 8 runs behind on the first innings. Dean’s bowling was so accurate that only 34 runs were scored off his 31 overs, and he took 6 wickets. In Lancashire’s second John Tyldesley was again the central figure. H is 143, lasting 165 minutes and including eighteen 4’s, was an innings that can only be praised; there was really no room for criticism . Make­ peace helped him to add 123 for the second wicket, and his namesake W illiam and he put on 94 for the fourth. After he had departed W illiam found no one to stop with him until Cook came along, and helped him to add 76 for the ninth wicket. On Saturday m orning W illiam carried his bat for 114, and E ssex were set 380 for victory. They made no attempt whatever to get the runs, though, seeing how little a defeat would have mattered to them and how big an achieve­ m ent a victory would have been, such an attempt certainly seemed worth while. Douglas made a century, batting 4 hrs. and scoring fourteen 4’s ; but he was nearly half-an-hour before opening his