Cricket 1912

400 CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. A ugust 10, 1912. 1908 : 123 not out at Tonbridge in June, 1911, and 107 at Leyton last week. T he average man has a vague notion of Jack Hearne the elder and Tom Hayward as the veterans of first-class cricket, now that W. G. and Lord Hawke play no more. It may come as somewhat in the nature of a surprise to him to learn that more than a dozen men who have played in big matches this season (though some of them rarely) made their first appearances at a date when the Surrey crack was unknown, and that players upon whom he has been accustomed to look as comparatively juvenile date back as far as Tom, though they may be younger. C a p t a i n E. G. W y n y a r d played for Hants as long ago as 1878, A. E. Newton for Somerset in ’80. After these two there is a gap. Jack Heame follows in ’88, A. J. L. Hill and Butt come along in ’90, Board, Hirst, V. T. Hill, and Gr. J. V. Weigall in ’91. In ’92 we find O. B. Fry, A. O. Jones, James Douglas, and Walter Mead. Then in ’93 comes Hayward, with the Jam Sahib, J. R. Mason, Killick, Carpenter, and Charles Townsend. To ’94 belong the first appearances of P. P. Warner, G. L. Jessop, C. P. McGahey, F. Mitchell, Quaife, Denton and Santall; to ’95 those of C. O. H. Sewell (though he played for the South African team a year earlier), G. H. Simpson-Hayward, John Tyldesley, Huish, Haigh, King, Knight, Cox, and Robson ; and to ’96 those of C . J. B. Wood, P. A. Perrin, Vine, John Gunn, Braund, Coe, Hayes, and Wass. The list is not intended to be complete ; but there is much of interest in it, I believe. Who thinks of Arthur Jones or Charles Fry as Hayward’s senior in the cricket arena, or of Simpson-Hayward or John King as only two years his junior ? The explanation lies partly, of course, in the much greater regularity of the Surrey man’s playing record, and tho consequent greater bulk of cricket played by him. O ne hails with joy the news that the Worcestershire 0. C. is safe for at least one more season. It is eight years since I was last on the Worcester ground, and my only connection with the county now is that of membership of its club ; but as long as cricket means anything to me I shall never forget the many golden summer days spent on the Severnside enclosure. No other cricket ground has ever been so much like home to me as that. Nowadays, I suppose, Dudley must be considered the Worcestershire headquarters, which is as it should be from a financial point of view, since Dudley gates are far better than those at Worcester ; but Dudley can never equal the cha.rm of the Faithful City. W h a t Worcestershire needs most is a bowler—or two bowlers—or three. The men who used to do the work— but always, or nearly always, the team was just a little short of bowling—are now, in most cases, past their prime. Cuffe is probably the best of them ; but he has become mechanical, and needs better support to give his real ability a chance. Worcestershire has played 15 or 16 matches thus far, yet no one has taken 50 wickets for the side. The best bowling performances have been Simpson- Hayward’s 5 for 19 v. the South Africans, Arnold’s 6 for 24 v. Yorkshire at Dewsbury, Cuffe’s 5 for 54 v. Warwick­ shire at Dudley, Burrows’s 6 for 107 in the same match, 4 for 277V. Yorkshire, and 5 for 52 v. Kent at Catford. Pearson has bowled steadily and well nearly always, and young Chester, quite a boy, may yet prove useful; but it is evident that the attack is not strong enough to give the side much chance of winning matches. H a v e I a right to mention the dispute between the Board of Control and the players in Australia ? Or, mentioning it, must I prepare myself for more abusive letters like that of “ Old Subscriber till now ” ? I will be prudent, and merely put it on record that Peter McAlister has been presented with an address and a cheque for £200 (McAlister is on the Board’s side), and that Frank Laver has issued at his’ own expense a pamphlet giving his version of the trouble (Laver is against the Board). I congratulate McAlister on having so many staunch friends, and I believe he deserves to have them. I have read Laver’s pamphlet with interest, and consider that there is something to be said for his view of the case. (I am neither on the Board’s side nor against it.) O n ly a short tim e ago a frien d o f m in e p lay ed against W .G ., and fielded w h ile the G ran d O ld M a n m ad e quite a respectable score. T o on e m em b er o f h is side, h e says, that day is a d a y to be red-lettered in the calendar. L ittle did he th in k w h en, eighteen years ago at sch ool, he w as set the subject “ M y H e r o ” for his w eek ly essay, and ch ose W .G . w h ile others w rote u p on N elson or N a poleon , that the day w ou ld com e w hen h e w ou ld fin d h im se lf p lay in g against th e w on d er o f th e cricket w orld— w on d erfu l still, th ou g h in his seventh decade n ow , and w ith the b lack beard o f old en days tou ch ed b y the gre y brush o f F a th er T im e. H e got full m arks for that effort, and on ly d iscovered years later that his m e n to r’s you n gest daughter alw ays corrected the essays. S he w as a keen partisan o f G loucestershire, w h ich explains m u ch . H o w she m u st have thrilled in those gloriou s days o f 1895, w h en W .G . totalled his thousand in the m on th o f M a y, and registered his h u n dredth first-class c e n tu r y ! A n d h ow short a tim e ago it all seem s, in spite o f the m a n y th in gs that ha ve happened s in c e ! T he flyin g years— th e flyin g years— they h ave m ad e W .G . an old m a n ; and w e, w h o w on d ered at h im then, are nearing m id d le a g e ; and the you th fu l cracks o f that d a y find th e grou n d farther o ff than it w as, and d on ’t care m u ch abou t ch asin g the ball in the lo n g -fie ld ; and m a n y ha ve passed in to the dim b ey on d— great W .W ., m ig h ty Lohmann, ch eerful J oh n n y B riggs, tacitu rn A rth u r S hrew sbury, big-hearted M u rd och , h a rd -sloggin g B on n or, and scores besides—-and others are lost to sight, and forgotten b y m ost. B u t to see W .G . and J oh n S huter sitting side b y side called up m a n y a m em o ry o f the g o o d old days. “ O , m y H o rn b y an d m y B a rlow lo n g ago ! ” S in c e the end o f J u ly, up to w h ich m y last list w as m ade, the follow in g ha ve rea ch ed the thousand runs :— 25.— Hardinge (H .T .W .), Aug. 1. 26.— Makepeace (H .), Aug. 5. A n d th e follow in g additions h a ve to be m ad e to the h u n dred w ick et-takers’ lis t :— 8.— G. A . Faulkner, Aug. 3. 10.— F . E . Foster, Aug. 5. 9.— Dennett (G. E .), Aug. 5. Cricket in the Scottish Highlands. By “ C e l t . ” The game was carried on under very pleasant conditions on Saturday last, but as the Military at Fort George only arrived off a R oute March that day, their fixture with the Northern Counties at hom e was postponed. Tw o matches was therefore the card for the day— Citadel C.C., at Forres, v. the Forres St. Lawrence, and Nairn County v. E lgin City, at E lgin. The scoring at Forres was som e­ thing of a marvel and needs no comm ents, Forres getting 30 runs and Citadel 33. At Elgin Nairn made a poor show, only getting 42 rur.s on a perfect wicket, Elgin replying with 204 runs for 7 wickets— of which A. Macdonald contributed 58 not out, Joe Grant 32, A. M itchell 32, Alex Grant 23 and J. T. C. Taylor not out. Bowling for E lgin J. H . Taylor had 5 wickets for 14 runs, and R . C. Ham ilton, of football fame, took 5 wickets for 24 runs. One of the fixtures of the previous Saturday, postponed through wet weather, was played in Inverness on Monday last (Bank H oli­ day), that between Forres and the Northern Counties. T he wicket was very treacherous and the light bad, and at one time the Counties had 6 wickets down for 12 runs and some good bats at that. They finished, however, at 51, R . C. Maclennan getting top score with 22. The wicket played very queerly, Brands, of Forres, getting 5 wickets for 33 runs and J. Gowrie 3 for 16. Forres opened their defence with that well-known Fettes College bat, A. P. Gordon Cumming, who has turned out one of the best school bats Edinburgh has had for m any a day. He showed some pretty touches, but unfortunately got disposed of for 10. W ith the score of Forres at 40 for 5 wickets it looked very much as if defeat stared them in the face as they were playing shakily in a perfect deluge of rain, but before the fall of the eighth wicket the match was won. C. B . Matheson and Maclean bowled well for the Counties, each getting 4 wickets.