Cricket 1912

A u g u s t 31,1912. CBICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 467 M id d le s e x v. K e n t . —Rain prevented play on Monday, and on Tuesday the ground was in a condition which made a start impossible. Play began on Wednesday morning, and a full and interesting day’s cricket was seen. Hardinge and Woolley added 99 runs in 70 minutes for the second Kent wicket, and D ay was quite justified in declaring at 1 7 1 for 8 . Had the sun come out, Middlesex must almost certainly have gone under on the first in n in gs; but the wicket remained easy ; Hendren batted finely for an hour for 45 ; nearly every batsman added his quota ; and Jack Hearne, last man in, by a fortunate snick, gave his side first innings’ points. This match was an illustration of the virtues of the Somerset scheme, for the stuggle for points made the play far more interesting than would otherwise have been the case. E s se x v . S o u t h A fr ic a n s . —Nothing done on Monday, but on Tuesday a full day’s play, and quite a decent crowd. Essex lacked Perrin, Gillingham , and Freem an. The latter slipped a leg cartilage when playing against the Schools’ side last week, and will scarcely turn out again this season. F an e’s innings was the bright spot of the day as far as the home side were concerned. Batting 105 m in­ utes, he showed quite his old time form for 47*. Reeves hit up 28 in as many minutes, and Davies and Richardson both showed promising form. The Afrikanders started very slowly ; but after the first wicket had fallen at 10, Nourse and Taylor put on 61 together at the rate of a run a minute for the second, and later Beaumont and White showed to advantage. Nourse, top scorer, was in 75 m inutes, and his late cutting was a marked feature of his play. At call of time the colonials led by 38 with one to go. Reeves played a capital innings of 68 when Essex batted again, though he was less rapid than usual taking 105 minutes to make his runs. Lameness handicapped him. He and Fan e put on 84—ju st half the Essex total—during a stand of 75 minutes for the third wicket. Pegler’s 5 wickets were all taken at a cost of only 18, after he went on a second time. The A frikan­ ders needed 130 to win in 1 10 minutes—a big. task on such a wicket. They tried hard for the runs, and Nourse and Taylor played »eally w e ll; but time beat them. A n E n g la n d X I. v. A u s t r a lia n s . —A good side had been got together to meet Gregory and his men at Norwich, though it seemed a pity that Geoffrey Stevens, G . W. Birkbeck, and Falconer should not have had places, thus giving the local talent a better show. M ichael Falcon and the Rev. G. B . Raikes were the only Norfolk men playing. There was no play on Monday, of course, and that any should have taken place on Tuesday came as a surprise, seeing what the state of affairs at Norwich was. In a short afternoon’s play the Australians (who were practically at full strength) lost 5 wickets for 72, Morris of Durham bowling Jennings and Mayne, Sydney Sm ith taking Kelleway off a hard return, and Gregory being run out. On Wednesday, on a tricky pitch, no one made many ru n s; indeed in the whole match only Bardsley (61), Geoffrey Foster (46), and Sydney Sm ith (31) made more than 25. Whitty bowled with great success, and took his total of wickets for the tour to over 100 . The match was d raw n ; considering the terrible state of affairs at Norwich, with some of the city’s main streets flooded, it was a bit of luck that any play should be possible, but it was also a great pity that so interesting a game should have been spoiled. W i l t s h i r e v . B u c k in g h a m s h ire .— On form there seemed no chance for W ilts, and no doubt the advantage of first innings had something to do with their 3 1 runs victory over Bucks at Melksham. They batted on a dead and easy wicket on Monday, and made 17 1. On Tuesday Bucks replied with 128, Sewell, Frith, Lowndes and Franklin scoring nearly all of them. Then, with the sun caking the pitch, bowlers had it all their own way. Sewell and Matthew Wright disposed of W ilts for 56, and Newman, Overton, aud M itchell put out Bucks for 68 , Frith playing a plucky innings. G la m o rg a n v. S t a f f o r d s h i r e . —There was no play on Monday at Swansea ; but Tuesday saw the match finished. The home side lacked Norman R ich es; Staffs were without Percy Briggs and Hollowood. Meakin won the toss ; Nichols and W. H. Twigg batted well and Wilson hit out fiercely on a dead w icket; and the good total of 205 was realised. Except for Percy Morris in the follow-on, the Glamorgan batsmen, who of course had all the worst of the wicket, could do nothing with the Staffs bowlers. Barnes took 10 for 42, and Deyes, Nichols and Wilson all met with some success. Had Whittington won the toss, the position might have been reversed; but nevertheless Staffordshire did a big thing in beating Glamorgan in a single day’s cricket. H e r t f o r d s h i r e v. C a m b r id g e s h ir e . — There was never much likelihood of a finish in this game at H itchin, after Monday’s blank. Golding and C. H . Titchm arsh played fine forcing cricket for Herts., each making a century, and the innings was declared at 280 for 7 , Then Marsh bowled splendidly; and, in spite of good innings by H ., C. Tebbutt and F . E . Collier,J Cambs. were got rid of before time, and H erts, scored first innings’ points. Men of the Moment in London Club Cricket. ( B y “ S u r e C a tc h .” ) A S p le n d id P a ir . An outstanding feature of this season’s club cricket has been the way in which the young players have come to the front. Two of the best of them are P.Wyes, the Cyphers’ boy century maker, and E . M itchell, the Leeds College boy who has performed such wonderful feats for South West Ham . Wyes is regarded as one of the coming batsmen of South London. He has a perfect style, a rare defence, and makes the most elegant scoring strokes with the ease of a master. M itchell is possibly even a better cricketer than Wyes. H is style at the crease is irreproachable. He is a great scorer on the on-side, while his cuts and Hayward-like drives past cover are splendidly executed. Besides being in the top class as a batsman M itchell is something of an original bowler. He has a peculiar delivery. H is methods are slow. He takes hardly any run, and with the easiest action tosses the ball very high into the air. It seems to drop suddenly, and then flash up from the pitch at an unexpected pace. When he is bowling into a strongish wind he swerves the ball, and is most difficult to watch and play correctly. M odle a n d W e l l s . Two more youngsters who are rapidly making a reputation are Moule and Wells. Both are Beckton men. Moule is a pretty bats­ man to watch. He learned a lot from Tate when he was at Beckton. He plays in good style, and scores freely all round the wicket. Wells is a more vigorous type of cricketer, but he gets his runs in nice style, and also bowls a capital ball. H . W . Noall, the Brom ley centre half, is also a deadly slow bowler, and young Cockburn, of Little Heath and Goodmayes, is rapidly developing into a high-class bats­ man ; while in Siddall, Manor Park Constitutional have a young wicket-keeper and batsman who will presently be a really great club cricketer. P la t t ’ s S uccess . Very few Club batsmen have played brighter club cricket than P latt of the Granville Club this season. Platt i 3 a pretty player to watch. He scores his runs so easily, and with his sound defence and fine variety of scoring strokes, it is not surprising that he almost in­ variably makes a long stay at the crease. In West London I am very doubtful if there is a better batsman than G . L . Hebden, the Middlesex player. Hebden has a picturesque style, and he forces the ball aw ay on the onside of the wicket as well as any player I know. D a sh in g P l a te r s . I have seen no better fielder than C. T . Burgess, of Shepherd’s B ush, and there cannot be m any more reliable batsmen in London than O. Smoothy, the Shepherd’s Bush captain, who gets his runs in good style and at a match-winning pace. G. M. Gill, of Blackheath, is another fine cricketer to watch, and few men can get runs so rapidly against time as this vigorous batsman. Another dashing player is Bedford of the Buckhurst H ill Club. Bedford is strongly built, and the way he goes for the bowlers directly he gets at the crease is really inspiring. He has a wonderfully keen eye, and with rare hitting powers he scores at an alarm ing pace when set. K in g P r e n t ic e . A player who might have been a great county cricketer, had he been persevered with, is King Prentice of South Essex, West Ham , Birn Bros., and Southend fame. For a year or two Prentice was on the ground staff at Leyton, and .he did so much bowling that he eventually gave it up altogether and took to wicket-keeping. He was at the time I am speaking of a really good fast bowler, and might have been invaluable to Essex if he had been nursed. To-day, Prentice is a really good wicket-heeper and quite a fine batsman. He takes all kinds of bowling well, and with the bat plays a beautifully straight game and makes m any brilliant drives. B eal M atch W in n e r s . Tbe two match winning bowlers of the season have been G . M. Louden and T . M. Weaver. Louden is a giant, and Weaver is also a finely-built m an; but in their methods they are the exact opposites. Louden puts all his strength into his cricket. Weaver takes things very easily, yet he is probably the most effective bowler in club cricket. Louden eame from Buckhurst H ill to Ilford, and Weaver from the Hampshire district. Louden bowls at a great pace, and makes the ball riae off the pitch with a rare nip. He also hits like a Jessop when at the crease. Weaver has little idea of batting, and when bowling he simply takes a couple of steps, spins the ball in the *