Cricket 1912

488 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. S e p t. 1 , 1912. out, stopped short at 75. C. M . Skinner took 5 for 47, W ingham 3 for 18. The championship is now a certainty for St. George’s. W allsend (S. Anderson 4 1 1 beat Old Novocastrians by 5 wickets. Hetherton had 8 for 40 for Benwell v. T yn ed ale; but his side lost by 30 runs, W . Milne (49) and Bent (34) batting well for the winners. A fine innings of 65 by R . B . Stephenson and R . W. Clark’s bowling (6 for 26) gave South Northumberland an easy win over North Durham . Scoring was bigger in the Backworth Percy (12 2 ; W. M cKay 42) and Tynemouth (176 for 6 ; J . H. Brown 66, J. W ilkin­ son 30*) game, easily won by the latter. The county team (R. G. Mortimer 47*, G . L . Hunting 36, E lsey 4 for 15) defeated Ryton by 10 1. Swalwell again went down in the N. W. Durham League, Crag- head beating them by 3 wickets. Gateshead F ell could only make 47 in reply to B irtley’s 107 ; but G . C. Dickinson carried his bat right through the losers’ innings for 3 1 . Medomsley and Kimblesworth drew a game with few features of note, and the same may be said of South Moor v. Langley Park. B u t JBurnopfield v. Consett was a game of another sort. Fifty-seven runs were made in it, and Burnopfield won by a single ! Buckett had 7 wickets for Consett. The Swansea v. Cardiff game was the principal one in the South W ales district. Cardiff made only 1 15 (Preece 40), Creber taking 5 w ickets; Swansea replied with 14 3 for 6 ^Percy Morris 35, D. B. W illiam s 27). Newport were all out at Neath for 63 (Jeffrey 24). J . W . Jones took 6 for 17 . Nenth hit up 2 13 , T . A . L . Whittington m aking 73, Gwyn Thom as 38, J . F . Reason 36. Briton Ferry (80 for 7) beat Barry (74) at B arry. The John brothers (J. 5 for 30, T. 5 for 39) bowled in great style for the winners. Tredegar (145 ; A . M. Maltby 43, Sharp 35) drew with H ills Plymouth (78 for 4 ; Dent 35). Llan elly (86) went under to Briton Ferry Steel Works (114 for 4 ; Hedges 45). For the Works, Arundale took 8 for 29. A number of matches were off owing to the sodden state of the wickets. On September 6 and 7 the Amateurs and Professionals of South W ales (all the players bearing their own expenses) w ill play a match at Neath for the benefit of the funds of the Glamorgan County C. C. T he teams are as fo llo w s:—Am ateurs: T. A. L . Whittington (captain), N. V . H. Riches, Percy Morris, Gwyn Thomas, E . W. Jones, Dr. A. W . Cameron, E . A . B illin gs, D. B . W illiam s, M. B . W illiam s, H . G. Moore-Gwyn, and J . F . Reason. Professionals : Bancroft (captain), Creber, Maxwell, H acker, Silverlock, Webb, Holsinggr, Arundale, Pollard, Sm ith, Page, and Hedges. Sidney Barnes recently expressed him self in terms of high adm iration about H acker's bowling, by the way. Liverpool Jottings. B y G. A. B r o o k in g . Birkenhead Park, for the second time this season, prevailed over Bootle. Scores, 177 for 8 to 171. The losing team were first at the crease,^and good cricket4by the brothers F. O. and T. S. Johnson, who notched 26 and 25 respectively, paved the way for a splendid innings of 62 from the bat of Marsh. Birkenhead did not appear to have an easy task, and such it proved to be, for five batsmen good and true- had departed, and 57 only was on the board ; but at this stage, Rev. J. M. Swift played pluckily for 23, and this good work was most ably supplemented by F. N. Smith and C. W. Marshall, who compiled 45 and 36* respectively at the crisis, and the Park had won a glorious victory, which at one period of the game seemed to be quite slipping away. The bowling laurels were carried off for Bootle by J. W. Smith 5 for 85, and for Birkenhead by the Rev. Swift with 6 for 68. Sefton were lucky to escape with a draw against Rock Ferry, for there is little doubt that the Cheshire team would have won had time permitted. They led off well with 32 for the first wicket, and ultimately declared with 189 for 7, A. J. Draper being top scorer with a meritorious 76. Sefton owe a lot to McEntegart and Curtis, for they undoubtedly saved the game with contributions of 37 and 44 respectively, time being called with the Seftonians’ total reaching 151 for 9. Liverpool won easily against Formby, d ecla rin g their inn ings closed with 159 o n the boa rd fo r nine wickets, but such a score at at least one previous period of the game, was quite improbable, for five wickets were down for 78, and when A. B. Leather partnered the last man, Blackburn, 97 only were on the indicator. The first named, however, hit out lustily, and his colleague successfully stonewalling, the total was increased by 62 before the closure was applied. Leather deserves very great praise for his magnificent effort and Blackburn showed the value of a steady player, who, by the way, is often not judged at anything like his true worth. Formby showed poor form with the bat, only notching 95, Leese batting in forcing style for 31. Northern showed poor batting ability against Preston, who scored 169 for 7, and then dismissed the Liverpool club for 45. They must have had a bad off-day, for the club are a stronger side than tho result would imply. Cricket in the Scottish Highlands. B y “ C e l t . ” A u g u s t 24. While in England rain put a stopper on cricket almost completely, in the Highlands the weather last Saturday* was beautiful, and some big scoring took place in the three League fixtures down for decision. At Inverness Northern Counties met Citadel Here low scoring ruled. The Counties, batting first, made only 62, Captain Crichton (15) and R . Maclennan (18) the only doable figure scorers. Citadel did even worse (41—N. G. Peggie 13 , C. Macdonald 11) . C. B. Matheson had 5 for 10 for the Counties, and J . Macdonald 5 for 27 for Citadel. A record for the North was set up at Nairn, where Inverness St. Andrew's met Nairn County. The home side batted first, and made 262 for the loss of only 2 wickets. J . B . Munro (of the Claren­ don club, Edinburgh, but a native of Nairn) retired with 1 3 1 to his credit, and Ian S. Clarke had 107*. After this St. Andrew’s only managed to make 3 1 ! They had by no means full strength, however; and it must be said for them that tbey are a plucky side, never down­ cast by defeat. Their keenness has helped m aterially to keep the game going in the Highlands. At Elgin some good cricket was seen in the match between the City and Forres. Elgin, batting first, made 192 for 7, H . Anderson playing a good forcing game for his 50, while Joe Grant showed good form for his 5 1* , and the veteran, Jock Russell, made 47. Forres had about an hour and a quarter to bat, and, with a total of 85 for 7, made the game a draw. J. Rigby (26*) and George Murray (25) did good work for them. It would be well for Saturday afternoon cricket if a game in such a state (where one side has made more than double the other’s total for the same number of wickets) should be reckoned a win. Affairs in the League are at an interesting stage, for if Northern Counties can defeat Nairn and Forres they w ill be even with Elgin City on points, and the championship w ill lie between the two, which will probably entail the playing of an extra game to decide it—a game which should be of great interest. A u g u s t 3 1. Favourable weather again on Saturday. At Nairn the home siue ran up 15 2 v. Northern Counties, R . H. Whitelaw making 40, D. Grant 28, F . A. Thomson and R. Sinclair 19 each, and W . A. VVhitelaw 17 . The Northern Counties, though very nearly at fulf strength (they lacked Majur Brown, however) made a poor show, their total being only 68. R . H . Whitelaw took 8 for 35. This defeat will go far to spoil their chance of the championship. At Forres Inverness St. Andrew’s went down again. The scor­ ing was both slow and low. Forres St. Lawrence made 63. R . Gordon Cumming (a younger brother of A. P. Gordon Cumming, the noted Edinburgh school bat) scored 18, J . Rigby 15. St. Andrew’s could only make 33, R . C. Brown 18 of this scanty total. Younie bowled well for the winners, and took 5 wickets. * August 24. These notes were delayed in the post. FO R S A L E .—A few copies of “ Surrey Cricket and Cricketers ” (Rev. R . S. Holmes), “ Annals of C ricket” (W. W. Read), Ayres. “ Cricket Companion” for 1907, “ Catalogue of Cricket Literature ” (A. D. Taylor), “ Parsi Cricket ” (Pavris), and “ Chronicles of C ricket” (Nyren).—Any reasonable offer accepted. A .B .C . o/o Editor of Cricket , 33 and 35, Moor Lane, E .C .