Cricket 1912

A u g u s t 31, 1912. CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME. 469 G .W .R . i s t E lev en , 1912 . First Kow (B a c k ) Left to R igh t:—0. W. Day, E. E. D a w s (General Secretary), C. A . B o l t e r , F. G. A r t l e t t , P. C. W r ig h t , W. R. C h a r lt o n (Hon. Scorer). Second Row :—W. R. M o r r is , A . G r u g e o n , C. E. B r id g e s , M . P. B r e w e r . Third R ow :—F. K. H o n e y b a l l , E. G ibb s (Capt.), P. W. B a d g e , C. E. G . H o n e y b a l l , D a v ie s (Umpire). Club Cricket Notes and Jottings. A gleam of watery sunshine falls upon sodden cornfields and the downs away to the east as I glance up from the paper before me in the room down in Sussex in which most of m y work is done. But the wind rattles the windows, and drives up before it evil-looking clouds, and I have no faith in any improvement in the weather. I think it has broken up for ever. Last Saturday’s club cricket in London was practically nil , and even during the week matches were spoiled by rain. Acton Town, on Wednesday, played Hounslow in wretched weather, a drizzling rain falling nearly the whole time. B ut the match was finished. C. M. Richardson, the Acton Town skipper, prides him self on the fact that his club has not drawn a game this y e a r; and who shall say he has not cause for pride ? B . Ilsley and F . Hawkins, who have many times done well for the town this season, made nearly all the runs, the only other double-figure scorer being H. Wheatley, whom I take to be H . S. Wheatley of the M ill H ill Park club. (I fear Mill Hill Park did not get too much pleasure out of their Western tour, by the way.) Hounslow made 148 for 3, J . Saunders and S. Carter hitting freely. The Wanderers are on tour as X write (is it doing them an injustice to suggest that they probably wish themselves at home?). On Tuesday in last week they beat Tonbridge by 5 wickets, R . T. Crawford and W. M. Bradley bowling very finely. J . L e Flem ing's 54* for Tonbridge was a long way the highest score of the match. On Thursday they defeated Eastbourne (these were two-day matches), R . T. C., with 59, 5 wickets in the first, and 9 for 39 in the second innings, again very much in evidence. On Frid ay and Saturday they Bhould have played the South Saxons, but—well, you all know what Friday and Saturday were like. On Wednesday the Old County Cricketer visited the Ealing ground, to see the final in the Inter-district competition arranged by that excellent institution, the Club Cricketers’ Charity Fund. He writes thus : West London had previously defeated East, and in the North v. South encounter the former had been adjudged winners, having scored 159 to the 128 for 9 of the South, who declined to play extra time. Two good sides had been chosen, and turned out as announced, except for the substitution of J . Rowley (Mill H ill Park) for H. W. Weston (Walham Green), who found him self unable to play. The weather outlook seemed quite favourable when at 11.4 0 the two Cockfosters’ men, S. G. Etheridge (who has played for Middlesex) and G . Tabernacle, started batting. Tabernacle was run out after scoring 2, and Etheridge was dismissed in the same manner after playing well for 20. Of the two L . & N .W .R . men A. E . Wilson made 14 , but H. J. Paris had only reached 6 when D. R . Osborne, E alin g’s crack bowler, beat him . L . T. Weaver was bowled by Barker (Pallingswick) for a blob. The captain, G. W. Hammond, came in, and completed his 1000 runs for the season in breaking his duck for the innings. At 1 o’clock rain fell, and an early lunch was taken. The downfall persisted, and by 3 it was evident that the wicket was hopelessly water-logged. A fresh one was marked o u t; the heavens relented, and play was resumed at 4.30. For a while Hammond and D. G. Sm ith scored quickly, the Hornsey man chiefly with dashing drives, the Finchley (East) representative with well-timed square cuts. But with 23 to his credit Hammond was smartly stumped by H. M. Lemoine, of Shepherd’s Bush and H erts fame. R ain drizzled now, but play went on. J . E . Potter helped Sm ith to take the total to 120 before being bowled by Osborne. At 12 7 for 7 play ceased, D. G. Sm ith top scorer with 34*. The captain of the West side scarcely made full use of his bowling strength, Osborne and K . E . M. Barker, the old Uppingham boy and Surrey amateur, doing nearly all the; w ork; but bowling was not everybody’s job under the conditions that prevailed. The score of the match appears on another page. In the pavilion later it was arranged that the ground would again be lent, for a replay, on September 2 1, and there can be no doubt that those who have the welfare of the fund at heart will feel grateful to the Ealin g club for its generosity. During one of the lengthy intervals an old Ealing member was responsible for the timely (and weatherly) jest which follows ; “ Ah,