Cricket 1912

448 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ugu st 24, 1912. hard-hit, lucky innings of 75 by N . O. Norton, the South African, and the same player’s bowling (8 wickets at under 4 runs each). E . Marriott played a great game for Stanmore, carrying his bat right through an innings of 79 for 43. R ain and bad light— the trees which lend such a charm to the Mote Park ground are apt to make grey weather even more gloomy — combined to spoil the match between the Mote and Free Foresters early in the week. The visiting side was strong, including as it did H . Brougham , J . S. F . Morrison, H. S. Altham , J . N. Buchanan, B . V. Bardsley, and other cracks; but, going in first, they lost 7 for 56. Then a shower eased the pitch, and A. C. W ilkinson (71) and Morrison (74) added 12 3 for the eighth wicket. A gainst a total of 219 , the Mote could only make 139 . The F. F .’g aeain lost 7 wickets cheaply ; this time A. Muir (64) and the veteran H. V. Page, (29*) were the men responsible for a capital eighth wicket stand. The Mote needed 247 for victory, but bad light stopped play when they had made 95 for 4. The Bev. W . Benton was top scorer in each innings of the home side. Beference is made elsewhere to the m atch between the Mote and the Philadelphia C.C. Somewhat late (just failing to reach me in time for last week’s issue) the results of the Slough Week came along. Slough were lucky in getting their week off before tbe weather (to all appearances) broke up for e v e r; and the Week produced some pretty good scoring. On Saturday, Ju ly 27, Pallingswick made 296 for 8 . dec., and the home side replied with 155 for 9, thus just avoiding defeat, for which they had m ainly N. D. C. B oss (43) to thank. The game against Count Hollender’s X I. on the Monday was won by 4 wickets, P. W . Le Gros scoring 61 for Slough. A good M .C.C. tenm inflicted upon the club its one defeat of the week on Tuesday. P. S. Fraser scoring 80 for Slough, Newman 74, and E . H. Cuthbertson 57 for M .C.C. On Wednesday rain asserted itself, and not a ball was bowled in the match with Langley. On Thursday Kilburn were beaten by 249 to 12 1, several Slough batsmen scoring well, and H . G. Hogarth (53) and H . Wilder (25*) adding 76 for the last wicket. On Friday a Married v. Single m atch was played, the principle scorers being Dr. W eaver Adams (82) for the married men and E . B . Glanfield ( 66 ) for the bachelors. Boyal Horse Guards were beaten on Saturday, and decisively beaten too. The guards made 109 and 78. Slough ran up 223 for 1 , dec .—W. Adam s 102*, E . Southall 42, 0 . P. Horlick 42*. B u t Monday (Bank Holiday) was the great day. Northern Poly­ technic marie the respectable total of 16 5. Slough replied with 372 for 5. T. B . Kent hit up 200*, and Dr. Weaver Adams made 114 . These two put on 299 together—a record partnership for the club. Once before Kent has made 200—against Holloway Sanatorium at Virginia Water in 19 10 . Of the six matches with visiting clubs played (the “ Week ” extending over ten days, with two Sundays, a blank, and one day given up to an inter-club game) Slough won 4, drew 1 , lost 1 . Saturday afternoon found me, in pursuance of a promise of long standing, a spectator on the Lessness P ark ground. Do you know the Lessness Park Ground ? If not, it would be worth your while to make its acquaintance. The road to it is uphill all the way from Abbey Wood station, and when you reach it there is the finest of outlooks over m any m iles of country to the far blue hills. Breezes blow up there, and suck the moisture from the tu r f; on Saturday the wicket was a capital one, and runs came freely. T his, too, while many other grounds were dism al swamps, and no play was possible in several big matches. When I reached the ground the home side were in the field, and I did as I had been bidden by Mr. C. I. S . Wallace, at whose invita­ tion I came—that is to say, I walked straight into the pavilion and made myself com fortable. In front, and to m y left as I sat, was a group of the Eltham players, and among them there was one to whom my eyes went wandering even when I tried to keep them on the field. It was W. G ., a little more bent in the shoulders than when I last saw him , a little greyer in the beard, but very much the same as ever in other respects, with the weatherbeaten face of sm iling good- humour, the keen twinkling eyes, the m assive frame. I cannot number the grounds upon which I have seen him play ; it was like “ a wind blowing out of the past ” to see him once again—perhaps for the last time. He says, 1 am told, that this is positively his last season ; but that is hard to believe. I missed the M .C.C. cap at firs t; but he put It on when he went in to bat. Arthur Sim s was the big scorer for Eltham . He took a splendid century, no one else making more than 32. I wonder how many of those who saw him bat realised that this was no mere ordinary club cricketer they were watching ? Sim s is a representative New Zealand player, one of the very best men Canterbury province has ever had ; and though New Zealand cricket is not yet up to Australian level, Canterbury and Auckland provinces can put into the field sides quite as strong as those of several of our first-class counties. Very few people in England, however, are likely to take much interest in Maoriland cricket until a team from the land of the silver fern visits us. The Eltham captain declared at 234 for 7, and thereafter I had the double pleasure of a good talk with C. I. S. W allace, who was skipper of the home side that day, and half a-score other Lessness Park members, and of seeing E . Hawkes and C. J . Eyn ott, the senior members of the team, each owning to over 50 years, give their side so good a start that it looked quite possible the runs should be hit off. They had some lu ck—indeed, the Eltham men throughout dropped chances, though their ground fielding was better than their catching —but they deserved all the luck they had for their gallantry ; and after all Hawkes (a most capable wicket-keeper as well as a slashing bat) only gave one actual chance in his 65. W. G ., keeping wicket, caught Hawkes, and later stumped F . Norgrove, whose innings of 19 had much to do with saving his side from defeat. For after the parting of the first pair, wickets fell pretty fast before Sims and the veteran Haywood (father of B . A ., the Northants man), and towards the end it became a question whether the home side could save the game. They were 1 5 1 for 8 at the fin ish ; but two or three catches were missed during the last few overs. C. B . Grace’s lobs would have had a wicket or two but for m istakes in the field. I stayed to the finish, and live in hopes of visiting that breezy hill-top again. The days of John Shuter’s captaincy were the palm y days of the Lessness P ark club. Later they had a valuable man in B . S. H B aiss, of Oxford and Kent fame, a fine wicket-keeper and heavy run-getter. A year or two ago the club looked almost like petering ou t; but it has now taken a new lease of life and energy, and this season’s results (7 won, 4 drawn, 3 lost to date, if I remember aright) should be encouraging. It ought not to go under, for one may meet good fellows and see good play on the hill-top at Abbey Wood. The Metropolitan district did not fare quite so badly as other localities on Saturday. A grey pall hung over everything, and the sun refused to shine ; but at least play was possible on a good m any grounds, only the slowly-drying pitches being too bad to allow of it. At Bushey the home club and Stanmore had a great fight. Both were short of some of their best. Bushey lacked Golding and E . H. Cuthbertson, engaged at L o rd s; Stanmore were without Welch, Theobald, Crossman, and H ill. W. A. Barnes, the bowler, hitting as a bowler will at times (his 38 included a 6 and six 4’s) was top scorer for the visitors, who made 147. H. H. Cox and P. C. Sainsbury put up a fine resistance for Bushey, who were dism issed for 45 after a most exciting finish. Hampstead beat West Herts (another M iddlesex v. Herts encounter) by a bigger margin (27), but not without a struggle. H. P. D avis, in tenth, was top scorer for H am pstead; E . S. House­ hold, for the losers, made the biggest score of the match. G . J . S. Pitts, who bowled very finely (8 for 41) for Hampstead, really decided the issue. Old Charlton easily defeated Lewisham Wanderers at Lee. A. H . Manning was to the fore again, with 5 w ickets; and A. A. Martin, with 73 and 4 captures, showed fine all-round form . But this is nothing new for Martin, and each match yields Manning a crop of wickets. Cyphers, that clever youngster, P. W yes, top scorer, could not make enough to defeat Granville (Lee), though L. Simmons and G. Badcliffe (5 wickets each) bowled well. Sutton played M. F . S. Jew ell’s X II., which included five of the Jew ell clan. After 4 wickets had gone down cheaply J . G. M. Bell and P. B . Waterer (79 and 100* respectively) added for the fifth, and the innings was declared at 302 for 8 . Towards the scratch side's total of 125 three of the Jewells (M. F . S., D. W. H ., and E . H.) con­ tributed 99. G . B . Blades bowled in deadly style, and had 8 for 53. He had more than one chance missed off him , too. At Wood Lane, Walthamstow narrowly escaped defeat from South Woodford, E . Sims, who has been in capital batting form of late, and H. B . Foxon saving them. Except that the scoring was smaller, the Catford v. Honor Oak m atch much resembled this. Honor Oak made 148, A. B . Thorpe and J . H. Lockton each getting into the forties, and Catford had only one wicket to go when time came to their aid. Arlington and Leytonstone beat Hornchurch in a small-scoring game, J . Hoare and F . Wiles for the winners, A. V. Gentry for the losers, doing best. Norbury Park Wanderers had a remarkable victory over aff