Cricket 1912

M ae . 30, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 43 strong than it should, have been ; but certainly not weak. One cannot see the makings of a great strategist like Noble, an iron-willed leader like Darling, in Sydney Gregory ; but it is quite possible that he may prove as good a captain as either Hill or Trumper. T h e team consists of S. E. Gregory, W . Bardsley, G. R. Hazlit, C. G. Macartney, 0. Kelleway, S. H. Emery and R. B. Minnett (New South Wales), C. B. Jennings and J. W. McLaren (Queensland), E. R. Mayne, H. Webster and W. J. Whitty (South Australia), W . Carkeek, T . J. Matthews and D. Smith (Victoria), with G. S. (not E. R.) Crouch of Queensland, the manager and Board’s repre­ sentative, to play if needed. He is a good bat and field, and has done well on the few occasions on which he has played for his State. T h e b e are eight men hero who may be reckoned first-class batsmen— Gregory, Bardsley, Minnett, Mayne, Macartney, Jennings, Kelleway, Smith. There are eight who may be counted first-class bowlers, not necessarily great bowlers—Whitty, Emery, Hazlit, Macartney, Minnett, McLaren, Matthews, Kelleway. There are two good wicket-keepers— Carkeek and Webster. Every man fields well except Whitty, who is slow at times, and Emery, who is said by some to be even weaker in the field than Saunders was. But Emery is so keen that he will probably live down this reproach. I t will be seen that three of the eight batsmen are also included among the eight bowlers. Three more of the bowlers might almost have been included among the batsmen, for Emery is a dashing hitter who is capable of pulling a match out of the fire, Matthews an unattractive bat, who somehow stops and scores runs even against the best bowling, and Hazlit, though he has done little in big cricket of late, is potentially first-class. Moreover McLaren and Carkeek can bat a bit, and even Webster and Whitty have it in them to make runs at times. G r e g o r y expressed himself very hopefully as to his team at the dinner to which they were entertained in Melbourne just before they sailed ; and, given a decent start, the side may do really well. A great deal will depend upon how they pull together. In this respect they will possibly have an advantage over a team which included the malcontents against the Board. It is up to them to show that Australian cricket is not so poor that the with­ drawal of half-a-dozen of the cracks can cripple it. Not theirs to believe the Board right in everything, and their old comrades wrong entirely ; theirs to do their level best tor their own credit and the honour of the Southland. Advance, Australia ! I t is absurd, by the way, to suppose that the area of selection in Australia is so limited as some people contend. Apart from the six— or seven— and Hordern, who refused, with Noble and Hopkins, who may be considered as defi­ nitely retired, there are left behind really good batsmen in D . R. A . Gehrs (South Australia), E. P. Parker (Western Australia), S. J. Fennelly (Queensland), E. P. Barbour, E. F. McElhone and E. L. Waddy (New South Wales), (Jolin McKenzie, J. A. Seitz and B. J. Kortlang (Victoria) ^~the last-named has now settled down in Sydney again, seems—and R. J. Hawson (Tasmania). Gehrs is the only man of all those who has been to England with a team, and he has probably come on a hundred per cent, since then, though he now says he is retiring from big cricket. Bowlers are scarcer, but P. R. LeCouteur (Vic­ toria), A. H. Christian (Western Australia) and R. B. Rees (South Australia) are pretty good value— the old Oxonian something more than that. P e t e r M c A l is t e r has now scored over 10,000 runs for the East Melbourne Club, which must surely be some­ thing very like an Australian record. He has played for the club ever since 1889-90. On January 27th and 29th he and M. M. F. Dunn, formerly of Queensland, put up 230 for its first wicket against Essendon. McAlister made 130, gave no chance, and— one quotes so admittedly good a judge as “ Felix ” of “ The Australasian ”— played “ a beautiful innings, marked by characteristic graceful strokes to cover, to leg, to the on, and to the off. He was at the wickets for 3 hours, 25 minutes, and gave^no actual chance. ’ ’ S o m e English writers, taking sides with unnecessary violence in the McAlister v. Hill affair, have most unfairly belittled the East Melbourne man’s abilities. McAlister was, and though a veteran, still is, a thoroughly first-class bat, and he has always been a judicious and able captain. A t his best he had no superior in Australia as a fieldsman in the slips. He would have come to England before 1909 if he had had fair play, and it is distinctly untrue to say, as has been said, that he had no experience of international cricket till then, as he played in several matches for Aus­ tralia in 1903-4 and 1907-8. O t h e r batsmen have been making plenty of runs in Melbourne lately. W. J. Scott, tho inter-State player, ran up 220 for South Melbourno v. East Melbourne on January 20th, making his runs in 4 J hours. A week later the same batsman made 128 v. Carlton. On January 13tli Colin McKenzie and C. Kiernan put up 216 for the first wicket in 145 minutes for Fitzroy v. Essendon, and on the same date the much-abused McAlister made 97 (including sixteen 4’s) for East Melbourne v. South Melbourne. Tw o Australian bowlers of former teams have recently been performing with success in club cricket. Playing at Fremantle, W .A., in December, Ernest Jones sent down 17 balls for 5 runs, 6 wickets, including the hat trick. For Goulburn, where he holds a municipal appointment against Kenmore, J. A. O’Connor had 6 wickets for 35, and against a Sydney team of Petersham and Middle Harbour players he took eight for 64 in one match, and five for 42 in a second, and was top scorer for his side with 47 in the latter. A n o t h e r veteran to the fore ! No one is batting better in Hobart cricket just now than Harold Hale, who recently ran up a beautiful century for South Hobart. Now H. H. was born on March 27th, 1867— is it not written in the Book of Wisden ?— played for Gloucestershire as long ago as 1886, and was a member of three Cambridge sides v. Oxford in the days of Gregor MacGregor and “ Sammy ” Woods. It is curious, too, that he gets little or no practice. He is a fruit-farmer at New Norfolk, and only comes into Hobart for the Saturday matches'. O n another page will be found the score of a match played on the Gold Coast, to which our correspondent there desires special attention to be drawn as showing the rapid improvement of the native players in the great game. The aggregate is one of the highest on record for that part of the world. For Osu N. Omaboe played a very dogged innings of 24 not out, and he and H. Downonah added 40 runs for the last wicket in the first innings. For. Cosmopolitans J. E. Koppoe and T. B. Okine added 98 runs for the seventh wicket, the former hitting thirteen 4’s and the latter nine. I t is hoped that an intercolonial match between the Gold Coast and Southern Nigeria will be played at Easter ; and the visit to this country of a West African native team, already suggested, may very probably come off before long. T h e r e is probably no better-managed or more prosper­ ous cricket league in the country than the North Stafford­ shire, the oldest of them all. A t its annual smoking concert at the North Stafford Hotel, Stoke-on-Trent, on March 9, much enthusiasm was shown, and some excellent speeches were made. Mr. Percival Briggs was particularly apt and to the point. He said that brevity was the soul of wit, but that he had never been able to see any humour in his innings for the county last year. “ The other side saw that 1” he added amid laughter. But Percy Briggs will make a lot more runs for Staffordshire yet. Though his hair shows a touch of silver his bearing is that of a young man, and he has escaped the tendency to put on flesh which troubles so many of us as we near the end of the fourth decade.