Cricket 1912

428 CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. A u g u s t 17, 1912. for 2 when rain closured. On Thursday there was only 30 m inutes’ play. A weak Richmond side were helpless victims on a queer pitch in the fourth m atch. Ealin g had the luck to bat first, while the wicket was slow and easy, and ran up 265. Goodyear, their pro., played a fine innings of 7 4 ; and H . D. Moffat, C. W illcox, and S. Lloyd Jon es all batted well. Richmond went down on a caked wicket for 22, D. R . Osborne taking 5 for 7, Tolkien 4 for 7. In the follow-on neither of these bowled ; and H . K . Wedd (6 for 25) did most execution, Richmond being out this time for 53. On Saturday, after Slough had scored 78 for 4, a thunderstorm broke, the pitch became a lake, and the Week was over. Better fix the Home Week of 19 13 for A pril or October—August is no longer to be trusted a yard ! Though Croydon’s Home Week was marred by the weather, no m atch was abandoned entirely. Three were w o n ; one was lo st; rain stopped two when about halfw ay through, and in each of these cases Croydon had no innings. The first and second eleven each had three fixtures— an arrangement which strikes one as having points to recommend it where a club has a really strong second string. On Monday (when the first team was at Westerham) Streatham H ill beat the second by 65— 17 7 to 1 12 . S. J . Lott (58) and C. Horsey (30) did best for the visitors ; F . L . Jordan (35) and and J . H . Mabey (30) were chief scorers for Croydon. The first team easily beat M itcham on Tuesday. The visitors were disposed of for 114 , and Croydon ran up 2 15 for 8 . C. Buttanshaw was unlucky in falling when another boundary would have given him a century, and T . P . Roth well fell one short of his fifty. Another easy win was registered against Mr. W. E . Johnson’s X I., a result due largely to the all-round play of F . L . Jordan, who scored 60 and took 7 wickets for 45. Rothwell topped the half-century this time. On Thursday the weather out-look was more promising, and the match with Purley was looked upon as perhaps tbe most important of the week. Our representative, the Old County Cricketer, attended, but saw very little cricket, the rain, which caused an adjournment about 1.3 0 , coming on so heavily later that play had to be abandoned. Purley had put up 13 7 for 6 . On Frid ay Cyphers II. were beaten by Croydon II., whose batting was very level, five men contributing usefully to their total of 167. On Saturday the match with Dulwich II. was closured by rain when the visitors had scored 107 for 3. Summarised scores appear on another page. R ain practically spoiled the Twickenham Home Week. On the B an k H oliday, the only day when the weather was really fine, Twickenham ran up a big score of 304 for 4 v. Holborn Wanderers. Before the first wicket fell, C. P. Hurditch and W. E . W albanck had sent up 207—not the first fine partnership these two have shared, but a first wicket record for the club. Hurditch was still not out when the declaration was made, having scored 178, including thirty 4’s. W albanck made an excellent 7 1. When the visitors went in they found Docker (8 for 15 , including the hat trick) unplayable on the soft w icket; but they made a better show in the follow-on, and with 1 1 2 for 8 saved the innings defeat. Tuesday’s match with Amherst was spoiled by rain. On a treacherous wicket only Boden and Hurditch reached double figures; the total was 82, and the visitors had replied with 52 for 1 when the game had to be given up. On Wednesday, the m atch with West Kent W anderers had to be aban­ doned entirely. Luck was only a bit better on Thursday, when Boston Park scored 176 for 8 , and Twickenham had no innings. The visitors, Barton ( 68 ), and H alliday (35) batting well, had 135 for 2 on the board ; but when S. W albanck took the ball a slump ensued, and he had 5 of the other 6 wickets which fell at a cost of only 34. The fifth game, v. Adelphi, was called off at the last m om ent; possibly the expected visitors did not feel strong enough without B asil Foster, who was helping the county. A scratch match was arranged, and a oapital sporting game ensued, Hurditch’s Twickenham team (with 80 and 206 for 3, dec.), just losing to Wal- banck’s visitors’ team (172 and 135 ). For the winners, C. A. Boden, the Leicestershire batsm an, made 55 and 65 in fine style, and W . E . W albanck scored 45 ; while for the losers Battle (108*) hit hard and often, and H . T . Chads played exceedingly well for 57. Acton Town would appear, on the face of the score, to have made a premature declaration on Wednesday at St. Quintin’s. But this was not the case. C. M. Richardson declared at 1 15 for 5 ; at call of time Kensington had made 92 for 1. The Town skipper, who evidently has no regard for the risk of a loss when a win is even barely possible, agreed in sportsmanlike fashion to play on to a finish. The sem i-m iracle required did not happen— that’s a ll! R ain on Saturday afternoon spoiled cricket in and around London, and few indeed were the matches finished. Yet there were several performances of real m erit in the m any drawn games. A. W . Everitt scored a fine century for Hampstead v. U .C .S. Old B o y 3 , and with H . F . Maclure and C. H. Chaldecott also doing well, the inning* was declared at 234 for 4—to no avail. At Castle Bar Park W. R. Morris and P. C. W right, batting on a fresh and only partially prepared wicket—that intended for use being impossible after the rain—added 72 for the second wicket of G .W .R . v. West Drayton, W right making 55, and Morris 40. The game at Charlton Park is thus humorously described by m y Lessness P ark corres­ pondent : “ Firstly the rain until 5 o’clock, then the hurricane (Tim Gradidge’s 59* in 20 minutes, which allowed him to declare his side’s innings closed at 134 for 4), then the day of darkness, while Lessness Park groped for the ball, which the lightning made it possible to see at intervals (a fact), then the deluge, and home. (P. S. —Forgot to say that the thunder saved one of our men from being given out caught behind the wicket —not a fact).” A t Wandsworth Common Spencer entertained Kensington (N. & S.), whose innings was a curiosity. The wickets fell thus :— 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 14 56 50 56 56 56 56 585895 F . M. Barton (6 for 49) and F . L . Morey (3 for 13 , and the bat-trick) were the destructive bowlers, and A. R. and W . A . Tunks made between them 55 of Kensington's total of 95. Spencer recorded 28 for 0 ; then the heavens opened, and play ceased. London Scottish were to have met Hornsey at Brondesbury, and the Old County Cricketer went along “ For to admire and for to seo, ’ but unfortunately saw nothing in the way of cricket, though he had the pleasure of a long talk with Mr. R . A. Bennett, London Scottish’s genial secretary, who is one of Cricket’s subscribers from the first, has all the volumes of the paper bound, and finds them an unfailing source of interest. L ast season London Scottish had not a single match abandoned in a card of 47 ; this year a different tale will have to be told. The two teams (L .S . and Hornsey) will meet at Crouch E n d next Saturday, and the O.C.C. hopes to be present. At Bellingham A. Jeacocke, that capable young batsman, and P. Burke, as capable but far older, put up 1 10 for the first wicket of White House v. Brixton in fine style. Honor Oak made 15 8 for 6 , dec., v. S. Woodford, A . R . Thorpe scoring 5 8 ; but rain came on before the other side had been batting half-an-hour. Northbrook declared at 12 2 for 6 v. Albemarle and Friern Barnet, with a sim ilar sequel. “ In thunder, lightning, and pouring rain ” (says my Sutton correspondent) Reigate Priory beat a weak team of Sutton at Reigate. The visitors were all out for 67, Budgen bowling splendidly, and Sutton greatly missed R . M. B ell. The Priory would scarcely have made so m any runs had he been present. H ampstead’s earlier batsmen (F. C. Mercier, N . J . D . Moffat, and E . Whinney) batted so well v. Surbiton that a declaration was made at 146 for 5—result as usual on Saturday. M. C. Allenby took all the five Hampstead wickets. At Southend W. Carter played a fine innings of 80* for South West Ham , and E . Potter's 36 for the home side included four 6 ’s and two 4’s. O. E . Dunn made 66 of G reville's 15 3 fo r' 8 , dec., v. Hendon, W. D. B aylis scoring 36. I was guilty of an error last week in referring to the three brothers Dunn. O. E . and A. M. are brothers; G. E ., fifteen years the senior of O. E . and seventeen years older than A. M ., is their uncle, and is sometimes taken (so he tells me) for their father. Upper Sydenham and Sanderstead finished their match, owing to the smallness of the scoring. Very much the same remark applies to West Kent Wanderers A. They could only make 8 1 (Brown 28) on a sodden pitch, which rolled out better than could have been expected when their innings closed, and Ravensbourne replied with 1U3 for 5. In this ease a heavy thunderstorm made play impossible till 4 .15 ; in most others rain stopped the game after an earlier start. Melrose, mustering only seven men, the other four taking it for granted play was off (which should never be done) could only make 3 1 v. Mansergh, who on an improving pitch scored 56 for 5. Marconi totalled 44 v. Catford Excelsior at Acton (F. Hairby 3 for 15 , G . Birch 2 for 8 ), and when rain interfered the Excelsior had also scored 44, with 3 wickets to fall. Sussex cricket suffered severely from the deluge, and very little was done in the more important matches. Bowley (two 6 ’s, nine 4’s) made a capital 88 for Sussex Nursery v. Lewes Priory. F . H. Gresson, the old W ykeham ist and Oxonian, now m aster of the Grange, Crowborough, scored 55* for Sussex Martlets v. E ast Grin- stead. Neither of the games was finished. Dan H ill scored 50 and took 6 for 20 for M idhurst v. Royal Engineers. The Hon. O. Scott