Cricket 1912

468 CBICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. A u g u s t 31, 1912. air, and makes it swerve aud break at will. There is no more brainy bowler than W eaver in club cricket, of that I am certain. A W o n d e r B e h in d t h e S t ic k s . It would be hard to find a keener player than S. J . H . Corner, who is the only one-legged wicket keeper I have ever heard of. Corner has been not out seventy times, and he has stumped over a hundred batsmen. H e is a wonder behind the sticks, in spite of the loss of one of his legs and unless the bowling is particularly fast, he stands right up to the wicket and takes the ball very smartly. Special Club Notes. C o n t r i b u t e d b y “ T h e C h i e l . ” I always appreciate honest criticism ; but I think “ Sure Catch ” has taken m y rem arks about bad fielding in the slips rather outside the spirit in which they were written. I note with pleasure that he has been sufficiently interested to favour us with instructions as to the correct way to field in the slips. But, as a matter of fact, in the particular match I bad in mind, the slip fieldsmen who were guilty of talking aud chaffing were most capable pet formers in their places, and the lapses they were puilty of were solely due to inattention.* “ Sure Catch’s ” rem arks are valu ab le; but, as no doubt he knows, the average cricketer is too cock-sure to take any notice of hints intended for his improvement. Little or no club cricket aiound town last week, and a wet day on Saturday—so you can hardly wonder that Sunday, which by Home singular chance was fine, found me down at Malden once more, to see the Thespids play Mr. G. D awdry’s X I. That some very good cricket was on view m ay be inferred from the fact that among the players were such as B . L . Bisgood, H. M. Bannister, W. R . Polley, F . Mason, G . A . Medcalf, W ilfred Reay, J . U . C. Watt, G. Dawdry. A . W allers, H . J . Pullm an, and W. E y res. Richmond, the Wanderers, Beddington, Townley Park, Battersea, and other clubs were thus represented. The rural surroundings of the ground m ay give a picnic ton e; but the match was as keen as anything I have witnessed. On a very soft wicket Bisgood and Pullm an made good scores for the Thespids, whose total was a trifle under 150. D awdry’s team failed to reach this score by 30 or so, though Dawry him self him self and Mason made a good stand, and put on nearly 70. Polley bowled well, as usual. One meet 3 a rare lot of good fellows at these Sunday games, and I am wondering why more Sunday cricket is not played. I raise my hat to the Thespids, and thank them for their hospitality. May I give a word of warning to club secretaries ? The time is fast approaching when club grounds and pavilions will be closed for the long winter. The storage of m aterials is one serious question. Another is the water supply. Are you going to leave the supply on ? If you do, you are running a serious risk. Better disconnect the supply from the m eter; theu you will not have your pipes bursting, the water running to waste, and your club being charged for it because the meter registers it. The disconnection can be made by notice to the W ater Board. I have known of cases in which secretaries have disputed an alleged “ excessive ch arge” which was really due to their own carelessness. There is a fortune for any one who can devise an absolutely correct water meter ; but those now in use are not very far out, I think. “ A Groundsman ” has written me a long and strong letter of complaint about recent remarks of mine. He thinks that I am asking club officials and members to lessen the consideration given him and his colleagues. I am doing nothing of the sort. Fairness is always my motto. But I do contend that these calls upon club cricketers have become excessive. There are members who can afford to tip and who do so freely. There are others who would be willing if they were able, but cannot afford it. I admit there are many who can and won’t. B ut does not the average groundsman lay himself out too much for the receipt of tips ? In his bowling at the nets, for instance. He is no end keen about th is—to a tipping member. But let a youngster come along who cannot afford to tip, and he stalks back to the pavilion, leaving him to find anyone he can to bowl to him. T his is a short-sighted and wrong-headed policy. Some men have been driven out'of the game by such tactics. Every cricketer is not wealthy, remember. * I must support “ Sure Catch.” “ The Chiel” was arguing from tho particular to the general, which is apt to result in faulty logic. He made one special game a te x t; “ Sure Catch's ” remarks were the result of keen observa­ tions applied to many games. But I am glad my contributors read each others’* articles. This is quite as it should be, and is good testimony that the paper is interesting.—T he E ditor . Liverpool Jottings. B y G. A. B rooking . In this district as elsewhere, cricket has been almost entirely stopped by rain on the last two Saturdays. At Sefton Park on the 17th , the home team (Sefton) dismissed Northern for 156 , and in response, had notched 23 for one wicket, before the play was terminated. For Northern, F . G. Thompson scored 64 by resolute hitting, and Curtis, the Sefton and Leicestershire professional, took 6 wickets for 40, incidentally securing his 100 wickets this sum­ mer at the same time. Waterloo Park visited Gateacre and easily overcame the locals, who ouly notched 26> F . G. Polley taking 6 wickets for 11 , which included the hat trick. Waterloo hit up 41 for two wickets before rain stopped play, Parr leading the way with a spirited 30. Last Saturday there was no play, an occurrence almost without precedent. T H E BE ST BO W LE R. Who is the best bowler the game has ever known ? That accomplished cricketer and critic, P. F . Warner, gives Barnes that position. It is a very sweeping assertion to make, yet the old Oxonian’s opinion must be respected even if one does not entirely agree with it. At the same time I fancy good judges of the game in Australia will not see eye to eye to this opinion. In my judgment the greatest bowlers hailing from the Commonwealth have been Spofforth, Turner, and Hugh Trumble, and I would not like to say which was the greatest of the three. Turner, however, had one pecu liarity; he would hit the sticks more often than either of the other two. . . And I notice some papers are calling Barnes “ the terror ” which is a m istake, for that cognomen belongs to Turner, just as “ the demon ” was the property of Spofforth or at least the name by which Spoff. was known. When the “ best bowler ” is talked about—by best I mean, best on all days, all wickets—it is just as well to recollect a certain personality who was born at Burton Joyce, Notts., who has, alas ! passed away : I refer of course to Alfred Shaw. Then again, big-hearted George Lohm ann’s merit should be weighed in the balances, and who shall say that dear old Alfred Mynn’s ability cannot be considered. The poem concerning him still lingers in memory :— “ But however good their trundling, Pitch or break or pace or spin, Still the monarch of all bowlers To my mind was Alfred Mynn.” and Tom Richardson who passed aw ay so recently, was great, and his lion-hearted effort to win the Old Trafford test match in 1896 w ill never be forgotten by those who really love the game. Accord­ ing to all accounts, W illiam Clarke, of Nottingham, who was first chosen to represent the Players against the Gentlemen at the age of 47, would probably have a claim to be considered. He was the originator of the saying—being always eager to get the best end of the wicket to bowl from—“ I ’ll have this end and you can have which you like.” And coming again to modern times has not J . B . King, of Philadelphia, a right to be considered? Possibly I may get adverse criticism for even suggesting his name, by those who have not followed his career closely, but I do not mind that. He has been— and, is I hope, still—a real wonderful bowler, and in my opinion was the best seen in England during the season of 1908, when the Philadelphians were in this country. An International player, whose name for certain reasons I cannot mention, said to me only recently “ And is he (King) still bowling as well as ever? He was the best bowler in the world when we were over there.” Still I think the best bowler must be Father Time, for .he can bowl us all out. Answers to Correspondents. “ Z e a lo u s .” —I am afraid there is no likelihood of such a match as that suggested by “ Zummerset ” last week being played. It it were played, no doubt F ry and Gregory would captain the respective sides. The Editor of Ayres's Cricketers' Companion is preparing an illustrated article on Dulwich College, and will be greatly obliged if any old Alleynian will send him along any information of interest. Mr. W . Sapte is contributing to the Companion an article on “ The Balance of Power in Cricket,” and the Editor of C r ic k e t will also be among the contributors.— Address: 1 1 1 , Aldersgate Street, E .C .