Cricket 1912

384 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ugust 3, 1912. Overseas Cricket. It is doubtful whether Philadelphia has to-day anything like the number of first-class batsmen that the city, which is the great stronghold of cricket in the States, possessed 12 or 15 years a g o ; but there seem to be plenty of good bowlers am ong the rising talent of the Philiadeiphian Clubs—or is it that weak batting makes them appear so ? In any case the cracks o f yore can still hold their own with the best of the youngsters. In his first four H alifax Cup m atches P. H . Clark took 16 wickets for 101 runs, and on May 30th J. B. King had 7 for 16 for B elm ont v. Germantown. Philadelphia, Germantown, B elm ont, M erion, Frank ford, and M oorestown play for the H alifax Cup, and correspond to the senior teams in Australian and South A frican city cricket. Am ong the bowling analyses thus far recorded this season the follow ing are worth m ention ; besides those already noted :— For Philadelphia : A. S. Valentine, 6 for 48 and 5 for 28. For Germantown : E . M. Mann, 6 for 2 7 ;. W . P. O’Neill, 6 for 34. F or M erion : E . S. H are, 5 for 6 ; L othrop Lee, 5 for 1 8; J. B. Clement, jun., 6 for 39. F or B elm on t: R. L . M elville, 8 for 29. For F ra n k ford : R . W aad, 8 for 28 and 5 for 3 2 ; W . M. Fellows, 8 for 24. For M oorestow n: E . L . P hillips, 6 for 25 ; B oddington, 5 for 27. M oorestown is the club last adm itted to the competition, and I believe Boddington is a professional allowed to play for them— if so he is the only paid player in these m atches. The bowlers have not had it all their own way, however. On May 25. M erion ran up 333 for 7 (S. W . Mifflin 87, C. C. Morris 52, W . N. M orice 46, I. H. Scattergood 44*, J. It. Vetterlein 37*, J. L . Evans 25) v. Frankford ; and on the same day B elm ont made 278 (G. F . B ottom ley 90, W . A. A llison 55, J. B . King 44*, G . Townsend 30*) v. Philadelphia. On June 1 Germantown declared at 256 for 9 (nine double figures, R . P . Anderson 57, P. H . Clark 36) v. Philadelphia. In the Philadelphia Cup Competition, which com es next in importance to the H alifax Cup (Philadelphian cricketers are rare good sportsm en, and the crack out of form or luck drops without a murmur to the second grade) scores of 95 by C. B. W hite, 87 by J. W . Sharp, jun., 79 by F. H . Tripp, 70* by W . C. Shipley, and 63 by J. B. B rethcrton, had been registered up to June 1. Am ong the best bowling-performances were A. L . Castle’s 5 for 5, 6 for 49, and 7 for 56, J. W . Muir's 7 for 41, F. H. T ripp’s 9 for 14 (in one innings for Germantown B. v. Philadelphia), E . M. Mann’s 10 for 68 (two innings), A. H . H aines’s 5 for 35, and F. C. Sharpless's 7 for 34. It will be seen that already several men have taken part in both com pe­ titions. Castle is an all-rounder of no small p r«m ise; 53 (retired), 41, and 41 are am ong his scores to date. T he first century of the Philadelphians’ season in senior matches was made by E . M. Cregor (115* for Philadelphia v. Merion) on June 8. Like Clark, King, Sharpless, and Morris, Cregar will be remembered on this side. Other centuries recorded in the States and Canada to date, as far as m y inform ation goes, are :— E . Tuppen, 100, Columbia Oval v. M anor Field, N .Y ., May 30. E. Lupton, 171*, Germantown B ritish-Am ericans v. Trenton, June 1. M. R . Cobb, 123*, Staten Island v. Crescent A thletic, June 8. B. A. Rhodes, 101 (ret.) R oyal M ill. C oll., Kingston v. M im ico A sylum , June 12. H . Leith-Ross, 113*, and E . G. Hull, 108, for R ichm ond County (total 305 for 3) v. Crescent Athletic, N .Y ., June 15. J. Gildes, 102, Yonkers St. George v. B ronx United, N .Y ., June 15. On May 30 the New York Veterans and H averford College played a tie game of 128. Last season the Veterans (for whom F. F. Kelly, Frank B utler of Notts, and Sydney Deane, the Australian, all play) took part in three tie games. The University of Pennsylvania eleven were to visit Bermuda in June. It is likely that the Philadelphia C .C .’s team which is due over here soon will be strengthened by a crack Bermudan player or two— the Conyers brothers, J. R. and G . C., are m entioned. Mr. E . S. Jackson, of Toronto, sends m e along som e interesting Canadian notes. “ Cricket is flourishing in the Land of the M aple; he writes.” There were never before so m any clubs in Canada as there are to-day. Under the strong influence of the W innipeg C. A. the cricketers of the go-ahead western city are m aking things hum , and the clubs are all busy. Last year’s cham pions, the Wanderers, although C. P. R . beat them in the first m atch played, are looking forward to a successful season. They are this year playing no fewer than five of last year’s senior division m en in the intermediate section, with a view to running two senior teams next season. They have challenged for the D om inion Cham pionship Cup, and will journey east to fight for it early in September. A ll the prairie provinces are strengthening their forces this season, and cricket in the west should improve apace. “ In Ontario clubs are springing up like m ushroom s, and Toronto will see m ore cricket this season than ever before. The tw o crack clubs, Toronto and Rosedale, are both very strong. Towards the close of the season the Rosedale team will go for a fortnight’s tour in the States. It they continue as they have begun they should give a good account of them selves across the boundary line.” On June 15 H am ilton beat E aton’s for the D om inion Challenge Cup. A week later Toronto and Rosedale, old and friendly foes, m et in a Senior League m atch. Toronto, for whom D. W . and S. R . Saunders, A . A . Beemer and W . McCaffrey all did well, won easily— 162 to 69. Not often have Rosedale been put out for so sm all a total in an important game. On the same day the two great department store teams, E aton’s and SimpBon’s, met before one of the biggest crowds ever seen on a T oronto ground. The rivalry between these two is very keen, and a really good cricketer seeking employm ent finds his ability at the game a big asset in applying for work with either. Sim pson’s won a well-contested gam e by 106 to 80 ; but the best innings o f the day was played by the losers, S. R. W illiam s, an old Clapton College man, carrying his bat for 33. In No. 16 appeared the score (somewhat belated) of the last interprovincial match of the 1911-2 New Zealand season. My correspondent in W ellington— absolutely the m ost accurate m an in" this way whom I know— kept it back until he could furnish the complete bowling analysis, which was not given in the papers. A n interesting feature of the game was that J. V. Saunders, the slow left-hander of the 1902 Australian Team , kept wicket after H owe was injured, and stumped a batsman. In Ceylon a young player named Melder had from New Year’s Day to the end of April totalled 883 in 12 com pleted innings in good-class club cricket, a record for the island. . Frank Crawford last year made 722 (average 42-77) in the corresponding period, but he played many m ore innings than Melder has done. The latter’s scores included four of three figures, and four of between 50 and 100. In the first four m onths of the year as m any as 34 centuries were recorded in Ceylon cricket. A. C. Z. W ijeratne, like Melder, made four and D . B . Gunasekera and D. F. Fitzgibbon two each In the W est Indies excess of keenness has led to a regrettable scene. The third W indward Islands Tournam ent bids fair to be the last for some time to com e. It was played— or, rather was to have been played— in St. Vincent. The St. V incent team had taken the Cup in the first y e a r; in the second St. Lucia won it. Grenada (not fully represented, as H . D . R uston, form erly of E aling, and W . H . M ignon, of the first W est Indian Team to E ngland, conld not go) m et St. Vincent in the opening m atch this tim e.Grenada ran up 160. St. Vincent had lost 5 wickets for 15 ; then R . C. Olivierre and Brown added 46 for the sixth. Olivierre is the local idol, and when at this stage he was given out lbw by Dupigny, a St. L ucian representative, who was um piring, the crowd rose in revolt. The game was stopped for half-an-hour. B ut trouble did not end here. W hen the two visiting team s left the ground a how l­ ing, stone-throwing mob followed them to their hotel, and in the evening they were again stoned when com ing from the club. The Administrator of the island and the three captains m et, and agreed that the only course open to them was to stop the tournam ent, which will probably be the last in St. Vincent for a long tim e tocom e. Keenness is all very well, but when it takes the form of stone- throwing and mob-rule it goes too far. (N ote .— T est m atch es, clu b w eek s, and oth er th in g s, have con spired to keep th is article ou t fo r th e last th ree or fou r w eeks, an d som e o f it is a trifle an tiqu e n ow . B ut th e n ew s it con tain s is o f th e sort th at is n o t to b e fou n d elsew here, and so it w ill g o in .— T h e E d ito r .) Men of the Moment in London Club Cricket. ( B y “ S u r e C a t c h . ” ) T h is w e e k I a m a b le t o g iv e a life -lik e p o r t r a it o f W . L . M ie cz n ik o w s k i, t h e w e ll-k n o w n H o n o r O a k c a p ta in , a n d a s p le n d id w o r k e r f o r th e C lu b C rick e te rs ’ C h a rity F u n d . P o s s ib ly t h e n a m e o f M ie cz n ik o w s k i is b e tte r k n o w n as t h a t o f a fo o t b a ll p la y e r t h a n a s t h a t o f a c r ic k e te r ; b u t h e h a s b e e n e q u a lly c le v e r a t b o t h g a m e s. M y first a c q u a in ta n c e w it h t h e s u b je c t o f th is s k e tc h w a s a t th e S p o t t e d D o g G r o u n d , w h e n h e w a s d o in g n o t a b le w o r k fo r C la p to n as a n o u ts id e le ft. O n t h e fo o t b a ll fie ld h e w a s a b e lie v e r in d a s h in g e ffo r t a n d in d iv id u a l sk ill. O n th e c r ic k e t fie ld h e is n o t o n ly a b e lie v e r in in d iv id u a l e ffo rt,