Cricket 1912

408 CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. S e p t 14, 1912. Carter pulled the side out of the slough, and the total was 96 for 7 at call of time. On Friday M itchell played capitally for 33*, and the colonial score fell only 2 runs short of their opponents’. In the latter’s second H endren hit up 80 (a 6 and ten 4’s) in 75 minutes, and Tarrant. Sharp, and Simm s m ade useful scores ; but there were several catches m issed. On Saturday, following heavy rain, play was impossible till after lunch ; and then the wicket was a terribly difficult one. The last two wickets of the scratch team went down with only a single added. This left the Afrikanders with 258 to get for victory— an impossible task. T aylor batted well for 75 m inutes for his 21, and 55 were up before the fourth wicket fe ll; but after that there was a com plete collapse, and the last seven went down with only 11 added. No one could score off Tarrant, and Simms bowled finely aud with great success. Dave Nourse’s is the first pair of his life. But Dave made over 200 in his last innings, and could afford it. S ou th of E n glan d v. A u str a l ia n s . — T he South had a strong side, with four of Sussex, three of Surrey, one each from Kent, M iddlesex, and H ants, and N. G. Tufnell to keep wicket. T he Australians left out W hitty, Sm ith, Emery, and Webster. Batting all day on M onday (on a pitch which had been protected), the South m ade 420, Matthews, who did fine work, being the only bowler to m eet with success. H obbs and W oolley had left with only 38 scored, tbe form er hitting his wicket in playing his first b a ll; but Vine and Captain Barrett added 88 for the third wicket (65 m in.), Vine and H . L. Simms 57 for the fourth (35 m in.), Vine and Albert Relf 63 for the fifth (40 m in.), and Vine and E . L . Kidd 105 for the sixth (65 m in.). Vine batted 4 hrs. 20 m in. for his third century of tbe season, gave no chance, and had fifteen 4’s in his score. Kidd gave three chances early; but he batted well after settling down. H itch hit up a merry 27, including a 6 and two 4’s off one over from Matthews. Tuesday was quite an eventful day in the record line. Macartney reached 2,000, Gregory 1,000, and Simm s took his hundredth wicket. Mavne, like H obbs, went without a run scored ; but K elle^ay and Macartney put on 101 for the second wicket in about an hour and a half, and Bardsley helped Macartney to add 79 for the third in 55 minutes. T he next few batsmen did little ; but Macartney continued to play splendid cricket, despite the dull light and the cold. Matthews made 21 of the 35 added for the seventh partnership, and M cLaren hit well for 40. Macartney was out at 332, having batted 4 hrs. 20 m in. without a chance. Included in his score were twenty-eight 4’s. T he innings closed for 362. Simms bowled really well, and m et with far m ore success than anyone else. T herew as little chance of a result on W ednesday, unless one side or the other collapsed. It looked as though the South m ight do so when Simms and W oolley had both left with only 18 on the board, and H obbs at 31. Captain Barrett and R elf then added 38, and Vine and the Hants man took the total to 111 before lunch. T he innings was declared at 147 for 6, leaving the Australians 206 to get to win — an impossible task, as stumps were to be drawn early to allow the Colonial side to get across to Dublin. Jennings soon scored his thousandth run, and then lost the com pany of Mayne. Jennings and Macartney added 62 for the second wicket, the Queenslander making his capital 56 in 70 minutes. H e hit a 6 and seven 4’s. Three more wickets fell, ch eaply; but there was never any real prospect of a finish. Tufnell could not keep wicket, owing to an injured finger, and Chaplin took his place. L ord L on d esborou gh ’ s X I. v. S ou th A frican s . — In bitter weather and after heavy rain, this m atch at Scarborough began at 12.35 on M onday. Stumps were drawn at 5.40 owing to bad light. Between, the Africanders, who found Barnes and H irst altogether too much for them , were all out for just 100, and the strong scratch eleven lost 4 wickets for 63. Taylor stayed in 40 minutes ; Strieker, W hite, Tancred, and Pegler made a few ru n s; but, taken on the whole, the Colonials did badly, the wicket being dead rather than difficult. Spooner and Mead batted well for their runs ; but on the whole there was little in it at drawing of stumps. On Tuesday rain prevented play altogether. R ain was again in evidence on W ednes­ day, and there was no further play. G E O R G E L E W I N & C O . , Club Colour Specialists and Athletic Clothing Manufacturers. OUTFITTERS B Y APPOINTMENT TO Tbe Royal Navy and Arm y, Cornwall, Kent, M iddlesex, Somerset and Surrey Counties, and London Scottish, Irish and Welsh, Blackheath, Harlequins, Rich­ m ond, Catford R ugby Football Clubs, and all the leading Clubs in the British Isles and abroad; M.C.C. S. African Tour, 1909, S. African Cricket Association 1910, and Queen’s Club, Kensington, the M.C.C. Australian Team 1911-12, and the South African Association Cricket Team 1912. Established 1869. W rite for E stimates . Telephone: P.O. 607 C IT Y Workt at Camberwell. 8 , C R O O K E D LAN E , M O N U M E N T , E .C . The Googly Ball. Its Chief Exponents—and How to Bowl It. By A. E. E. V o g l e r . As everybody who follows the game is aware, Mr. B. T. .T. Bosanquet was the originator of the googly, and. the first bowler to prove how deadly it may be made. The mystery ball came under serious consideration during the tour of Mr. P. F. Warner’s Team in Australia in 1903-4. Its inventor made clear its possibilities then by winning matches against New South Wales and Australia with it. Since then many bowlers have taken it up, but com­ paratively few with any considerable measure of success. R. O. Schwarz was second in the field, and met with many triumphs. But Mr. Schwarz is not a true googly bowler, as his seeming leg-break action always- produces an off- break, whereas Mr. Bosanquet’s and those of other real googly men turn the ball either way—from off or from leg -—with the same, or what seems the same, action. It will readily be seen how difficult this makes matters for the batsmen. When Mr. Bosanquet found a length he was almost unplayable, for in these days the mystery ball was a far bigger mystery than it now is. No one knew which break would come, and few had any notion how the thing was done. Schwarz, Faulkner, and Hordern, the Australian, all attained to far better command of length than the Middlesex man ever did ; and Faulkner and Hordern, unlike Schwarz, are true googly bowlers. Mr. Carr, of Kent, I have not seen ; but I understand that, except for being slower, he resembles Faulkner and Hordern pretty closely. Besides these bowlers—and of course there are others wlio might be mentioned, though I don’t want to write about myself—I must say a word about Peter Clarke, who is at Woodbrook, playing for Mr. Stanley Cochrane’s team. When I was in Ireland three years ago Clarke was not a googly bowler. I explained to him how the ball was bowled, and when I arrived at Woodbrook this season I found that he had proved a rare pujjil. He has developed into quite one of the best googly bowlers I have ever seen. You cannot tell from his delivery which way the ball will break, and his pace makes him difficult to the batsman. Not quite a fast bowler, he is yet distinctly speedier thaD most googly merchants. He was not successful in the trial match at Lord’s, I know. But that can be easily explained. A stranger among strangers, he was handicapped by his surroundings. And the demands mado upon him were too big in such circum stances. Had he played in a few minor matches at Lord’s beforo the test trial, I am sure he would have shown to greater advantage. This season he has taken 130 wickets for just over 9 runs each. In 1911 he took 240 for 9 each. And this work was done in good matches. Against the Free Fores­ ters lately he had 0 for 38, and against Neston 7 for 36, both th ' opposing teams including batsmen of repute. There is this to be said against the googly : it tends to cramp the batsman, and to detract from the spectacular side of cricket. The ordinary forward stroke cannot bo played against it with any measure of success. Ignorant of which way the ball will turn, the batsman is kept continually on the defensive. The forcing or operi game which the public appreciates is thus hindered. And now as to how to bowl the ball. I have read a good many articles about it, and most of the writers seem to me to fail in making clear to the would-be exponent just what he must do. I will try to do so, avoiding too many words. In the first place then : loarn to bowl a leg-break with the ordinary turn of the hand, which means of course that a right-hand bowler would naturally turn his hand from right to left in delivering. Secondly : practice until you have acquired a good length. This is absolutely imperative. You are going to lose your length for a time when you begin to bowl the googly. But you must have a foundation of length to build