Cricket 1912

AUGUST 10, 1912. CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 405 A T h o r o u g h E n t h u s ia s t . Herewith is presented a photo of W alter Ruffels, the energetic Arlington H on. Secretary. I have known W alter Ruffels for something like 20 years, and as boys we often played against each other. Many years ago Ruifels was a worker for West H am Garfield. Then he played a lot of cricket at Fulham , afterwards tik in g over the pen for Leytonstone, and when his Club joined hands with Arlington he was at once elected Hon. Secretary. It is not too much to say that his energy has alone kept the Club alive during the last two years. As a thorough enthusiast and magnificent worker he has uo superior in Club Cricket, and in the field he is a player of real pluck and ability. A K e e n P l a y e r . As a player Ruffels, without being great, is keen, and in every game does som ething useful. He is quick and accurate in the field and misses few catches. He seldom gives any runs away. As a W A L T E R R U F F L E S (Arlington and Leytonstone C.C.). batsman he is a firm -footed hitter, and if he would learn to play the forward stroke he m ight easily get a fair number of runs every season. Defence is his weakness at the crease. As a bowler Ruffels is both lucky and successful. On Monday he accomplished the best performance of his career in taking 7 South W est Ham wickets for 40. Slightly built, Ruffels bowls a m edium-pace ball with the easiest of actions. H e only takes a couple of steps to the crease. H is length is invariably good, and occasionally I have known him to make the ball turn in very puzzling fashion. Every cricket club is sadly in need of real enthusiastic workers such as the subject of this sketch is. S m o o t h e y ’ s F o r m . Shepherd’s Bush have a very fine batsman in 0 . Smoothey, who now serves on the Club Cricketers’ Charity Council. Smoothey played a wonderful innings of 134, not out, against Bushey. He has a good defence, neat style at the crease, and places the ball when making his scoring strokes with rare skill. Two players well above the average are H olm es and Belleini. Both are top-class batsmen, and against the Croydon bowlers they recently scored at a fine pace. H olmes is a pretty player to watch, and he makes his scoring strokes very judiciously. Belleini is sound in defence and he hits the loose ball with wonderful power. F r o m E v e r y w h e r e . South Hampstead, who have met with considerable success this season, have a capital cricketer in Puckle, whose defence is sound and his scoring strokes neatly made. Reigate Priory have two deadly bowlers in Budgen and Field. Budgen has an easy action, and keeping a good length and making the ball turn quickly off the pitch he is at times quite unplayable. I do not think I have ever heard of a more remarkable match than the game between Beckton and Blackheath produced, for Beckton after making 209 for 4 wickets and declaring were actually beaten by 7 runs and 8 wickets, which means that Blackheath in one hour and three quarters actually registered 276 runs for the loss of two wickets. If Keeble, a man with a variety of scoring strokes, and Hadden, a wicket­ keeper, who scores runs very freely, batted well enough for Beckton, their displays were quite overshadowed by Honey and Gill. The form er is a splendid cricketer to watch. H e is always going for the bowler, and few men can put more power behind their scoring strokes. G. M. Gill is another man who meets the bowler with plenty of confidence. His hitting all round the wicket against Beckton was nothing short of remarkable. Ono of the best m en I have known to com e from Park cricket is P. H . Planner of Plaistow. Planner is a quick scoring batsman, who has more than once exceeded the century, and as a bowler he has an action somewhat like that of Lockw ood, the old Surrey bowler. H e bowls a capital off- break ball and only the best batsman can play him com fortably. Liverpool Jottings. B y G . A . B r o o k i n g . LANCASH IRE v. SOUTH AFRICANS. Eight years have rolled along since the South Africans last played at Aigburth ; then they contested a game against Liverpool and District and were victorious by an innings and 95, principally owing to good work with the bat by M. H athorn 68, Frank Mitchell 87*, S. J. Snooke 50, E . A. Halliwell 48; and with the ball by J. J. Kotze and R . O. Schwarz, who secured 9 for 80 and 7 for 74 in the two innings respectively. Of the eleven of 1904, only L. J. Tancred, S. J. Snooke, and Gordon W hite again played. It m ay not be out of place to give the results of the S. A. games againt Lancashire in previous seasons. H ere they a re :— 1901, Lancs, won by 8 wickets ; 1904, drawn ; 1907, S. A. won by an innings and 165. In 1894, the date of the first African team to England, Lancs, did not play them. The present game was contested on a wicket that was always more or less difficult, and the result, though pleasing to Lancastrians, was m ost dis­ appointing to the South Africans who batted much below their form, though Dean and Huddleston bowled extremely well, and probably ntf county possess a better pair on this type of wicket. The Liverpool public were very pleased with Sharp’s success, and his century went a long way towrards the path of victory. Faulkner’s 44 was a m ost re­ sourceful innings, whilst his bowling and that of Pegler reached a high standard of excellence. The wicket keeping of Ward and his taking of Faulkner’s googlies was splendid, but the thing which impressed me greatly was the ground fielding and throwing in of Herbert Taylor, at third man. In a fairly long experience I have never seen his equal in that position. His amazingly quick pick up and most accurate throw in were really wonderful. It was worth walking miles to see. In the Local Competition Sefton easily beat Huyton by 110 runs and 9 wickets. Scores 265 for 1 v. 155. Blease, the Sefton captain, is enjoying a m ost successful season, and hit up 167 not out, whilst Miller and Curtis each scored 46. Ashall was H uyton’s only batsman to reach the half century, notching 52. Of the Sefton bowlers Curtis took 5 for 44 and Raven 3 for 46. Birken­ head Park had much the best of a drawn game against Western, totalling 316 for 3, innings dec., to 162 for 7. The “ Park’s ” first two batsmen, F. Parrington and A. C. W illiam son notched 144 and 112 respectively, the pair making 249 together for the first wicket. Birkenhead tried hard to pull off the gam e, but the clock and H. Mainprice 47* just beat them. W aterloo Parjc, owing to the holidays, were not at full strength and went under to Liverpool Police on Saturday. Scores 64 to 97. Polley Sowere made a great effort with the ball, securing 9 for 26. Against Bootle II. they won in convincing style notching 198 to 80, Parr Gilbertson and Rouse batting splendidly, whilst Shoubridge took 4 for 29. CRICKET TOURS OR DAY M A TCH ES.— Ex-County Cricketer open for engagement as Tour Manager, or for Umpiring or Scoring.—• D a n ie ll, 32, Raul Road, Peckham , S.E .