Cricket 1912

A ugust 10, 1912. CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 407 Park, as to which I have not been favoured with a full account, as I have in several other cases. But the second m atch of the Richm ond Park W eek calls for some m ention here. C. M. Richardson, the Acton Town skipper, took down an eleven, which included J. C. de Souza, who was top scorer in each innings for his side, with 21 out of 66 in the first, and a splendidly played 101* out of 164 for 7 in the second. To be top scorer in each innings is not even “ rather unique ” (a contradiction in terms, that p h rase); but it is a per­ form ance o f no small merit to make m ore than half the runs for one’s side. G .W .R . had not the best of luck with their W eek. The first match was ruined by rain. The second was scratched. But on W ednesday they got fairly to work, although not until 4 o ’clock. Then, Badge hitting out finely for 102, they ran up 182 for 3, declared, and put out the Royal H orse Guards for 77, C. E . H oneyball and A. Grugeon doing the damage— as is not unusual when G. W . R . are in the field. On Thursday (when the writer had promised to be there if anyway possible, but was unavoidably prevented) the fam e pair put out Mr. L . B. Tappenenden’s side for 35, and G. W . R . ran up 192, Badge again top scorer. On Friday a finely contested game with 2nd L ife Guards ended in the hom e side’s only defeat of the week. Captain Penn’s magnificent hitting was the feature of the day. In a total of 125 he made 84* ; he hit seven 6’s altogether (5 in suc­ cession) and seven 4’s. In spite of his punishment, H oneyball and Grugeon again had good figures, no one else being able t > do much with them . The railway men fought hard, W right and Grugeon especially, but were beaten by 11 runs in the end. Their final match was with the E aling half-day side, and produced another good fight, G. W . R . winning by 15 runs. Badge was again top scorer, and Grugeon did the best work with the ball. E aling’s chief rungetters were B ushby and Troup. The latter is quite a youngster, but he shapes in excellent form , and should make a fine batsman if he sticks to the game. W ith three wins, a draw, and only one defeat, G. W . R. had a good record. P . W . Badge as batsman-r-102, 65, and 46 his principal scores— and C. E . H oneyball and A. Grugeon as bowlers did fine work. Like G .W .R ., Parson’s Green started with a draw on the Monday. The Vampires ran up 209 for 5 on a soft, easy w ick et; then rain cam e on. C. W illcox (an Australian) made some good shots in his 77*, and R. S. Johnstone batted well for 55. On Tuesday J. S. Higgs won the toss and sent Mr. W hite’s X I. in on a drying pitch. They were out for 91 to H arrod’s fast bowling and E llis’s slows, and the hom e side replied with 137. Before the first wicket fell 45 were up, but thereafter runs were always hard to get. Harrod was top scorer w ith a stubborn 34. He has had a great season, scoring well throughout, and taking 75 wickets thus far. A. C. Higgs and T. Mack put out the visitors a second time for 113, F. Arnold (of Battersea) doing best with a steady 35. The third match could not even be started. The fourth was against a good team brought along by J. S. Fryer, of Fulham fame, and Parson’s Green won a notable victory by an innings and 150. C. J. B ool and J. S. Higgs put up 94 for the first wicket, when the latter left for a careful 47. Bool hit well for 134. H e was m issed before scoring, and again at 51; but apart from these mistakes he played very good and very free cricket. The visitors went down for 70 and 85, Harrod and A . C. Higgs in the first, E llis and Mack in the second innings, doiog the damage. On Friday W estbourne Park Wanderers made 152. A. E . SutHing, unluckily run out when 40 and nicely set, looked good all over for a century ; his batting was really first-class. Rain at lunch delayed the resumption, and made the pitch easy. The brothers Higgs added 99 for the third wicket, each making some excellent shots, and P. G . totalled 202 for 7. Saturday’s batting was the best of the week ; in fact, nothing better has ever been seen on the ground. In 135 minutes the hom e team ran up 345 for 4. J. S. Higgs and F. D. H eath (each topping the century) added 197 for the third wicket in 75 minutes, and drove the ball out of the ground many times. The Dean had a bad light to face, and there was a nasty drizzle, too ; but they played on in sportsmanlike fashion, and were all out for 155, Harrod taking 6 for 42. During the week Parson’s Green totalled 988 for 32 wickets, their opponents 875 for 65. Four games were won, one drawn, one abandoned. J. S. Higgs totalled 290 in 3 completed innings, C. J. B ool 171 in the same num ber; H eath’s century was his only innings of the week. C. E . Harrod took 17 wickets for 193, A. C. Higgs 15 for 152, H . R . E llis 14 for 219, and T. Mack 10 for 141. G o o d ! Heathfield’s week was also highly successful, though one match had to be abandoned owing to rain. Four matches were won, aud two drawn, the Bank H oliday game being reckoned as part of the Week. A strong side of Occasionals, including A. J. Trollope of B rixton, Fred Huish, and George Ayres, went down for 107 on the Monday, and the hom e team replied with 129, H . W . W eaver and G. Swift being chief contributors to the victory. On Tuesday W hite H ouse took nearly 3§ hrs. to com pile 184. W ith only about 90 m inutes left, Heathfield went for the runs, and so finely did E . G. Read (65) and W eaver (61) hit that the big task was very nearly accomplished. Wednesday was a blank. On Thursday Mr. A. E. Henderson’s X I., recruited mainly from the Leyton district, came along. Heathfield made the capital total of 287, II. W. W eaver, E . Payne, and R . Davis all scoring over 60. The visitors went out for 133, C. M. M ills taking 4 for 28. A very strong Surrey C. & G. team with A. M. Latham in command, was entertained on Friday. Four wickets of the visitors were down for 7 6; but here C. T . A. W ilkinson, who played a splendid game for 88, and Peach became partners, and made a fine stand. The total ultimately reached 259. When Heathfield went in to face this, the batsmen seemed to our representative (the Old Country Cricketer) a little overweighted by anxiety; but with such strong bowling against them, and no pros­ pect of a win, careful tactics were justified. Read and Weaver, playing steadily, put up 44 for the first wicket, when both left. A . H. Podmore adopted more vigorous methods, driving finely, once clean out of the ground. E . Payne and L. Leleu helped to avoid defeat, Heathfield having a wicket in hand at call of time. Clapham Bamblers put up a very tough fight on Saturday, and in the end went under by 8 runs only. Swift and Podm ore were chief scorers for Heatbfield, and Cyril Browne bowler-in chief for the Ramblers. C. Harmuth batted best for the visitors, the veteran Mills perform ing as effectively with the ball as Browne had done. On the Bank H oliday, in showery weather, Camberwell were beaten in a low- scoring game, Mills and F. M. Swancott bowling capitally, and Stanger and Swift making useful scores. A very successful concert took place on the Thursday. The H onor Oak W eek was somewhat marred by the weather, two matches being abandoned altogether. This was the more to be regretted in one oase, as the Wednesday m atch with the Nunhead F . C. was to have been a special local function. Mr. Brierley’s X I. were beaten easily on Tuesday, W . L. M iecznikowski (hereinafter alluded to as “ M icky” for the sake of brevity) and the old Dulwich boy, J. H . Lockton, each falling short of the century by a few runs only. “ M ick y” hit thirteen 4’s, Lockton two 6’s and fifteen 4’s. W . J. “ Harris ” scored 46 for the .visitors. The Albemarle and Friern Barnet team on Thursday was not at full strength, and the wicket was affected by rain. T he visitors’ moderate total of 106 looked at one time like giving them victory, for H onor Oak had 9 down for 82. Then (fays the Old County Cricketer, who bad the luck to be present) came a thrilling five m inutes. Lockton had stayed while wicket after wicket fell at the opposite end, unable to get his fair share of the bowling. But now he got it, and set about it. Two balls in succession he sent out of the ground for six each, the third went into the pavilion for four, then he made a single. Two fours from the other end, and the m atch was won ! The total eventually reached 142, Lockton's share being 79. On Friday the City Police were sim ply overwhelmed. They were put out for 69, G. Abel taking 7 for 25. H onor Oak piled up 226, “ M icky,” like a good skipper, leading the way with 66. The chief match of the week, v. Surrey C. & G ., on Saturday ended in a d efeat; but as the visitors were very strongly represented—Myers, Spring, Blacklidge, Alwin, and T. Abel being included— H onor Oak did well to dispose of them for 215. In reply they totalled 130, G. Abel top sawyer with 36. The Week over, H onor Oak paid a visit to Leavesden Asylum on M onday, and had a regular day out. S. H . Anson and Lockton skittled the Asylum for 32, and then the visitors helped themselves to 314 for 7, “ M icky ” retiring—had enough, one supposes—at 129, and Anson not out at the closure with 102. The Mote Park Week began with som e big and rapid scoring. In a total of 451 by the M ote, Capt. W . G. M. Sarel, going in first wicket down at 16, made 238*. H e hit a 6 and thirty-two 4’s. W . Phillips scored 53. On Tuesday C. S. Hurst (50) and A. F . Leach-Lew is (59) gave the Band of Brothers a capital start, sending up 117 before the first wicket fell. The innings realized 288, and the B .B .’s had to follow on. The feature of their second inniugs was a splendid 127* by Frank Marchant, the old Kent captain, which saved his side from defeat, for there was no time for the Mote to make the 106 wanted. R ain prevented any play on W ednesday, and on Thursday it was decided to make the m atch between B .B .’s and E ton Ramblers a one-day game. The Ramblers won by 73— 204 to 131. A . C. W ilkinson scored 61 for them , P. Broughton- Adderley 34, and G. H. M. Cartwright took 6 for 65. On Friday and Saturday the Mote and E ton Ramblers met, twelve aside playing. A finely contested game resulted. The Ramblers made 220. The Mote replied with 238 (J. C. Black 70, G . Bracher 55). Then the Ramblers scored 231 (A. C. W ilkinson 68, G . N. W atney 52). Left