Cricket 1912

502 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e pt . 14, 1912. plenty of players, and the players are keen. Am ong them are several .youngsters from the public schools and universities, who will be of great use to the club, and some of them possibly to the county team also, in the near future. H . D . Swan, the Colchester and Gentlem en of Essex skipper, as keen a cricketer as one may find, is feeling quite happy just now, they tell m e. A cton Town put it across Tw ickenham St. Margaret’s on W ednesday. After Wheatley, Dean, and Hart had scored well, a total of 156 resulting, the form er two bowled with such deadly effect (W heatley, with 5 for 8, being practically unplayable) that the visitors collapsed for 37. I gather that the Town club is m ost fortunate in its secretary, M r. Fred King. N ot only does he per­ form the secretarial work in the m ost efficient style ; but he umpires for the first eleven regularly (in five years he has only missed two gam es), and he has even been seen shouldering the club bag to the ground. That Mr. K ing is a thoughtful and conscientious umpire I can attest, aud I am glad to be able to put on record an apprecia­ tion of his value to A cton Town. “ May I rise to a point of order ? ” writes the Old County Cricketer. “ I did not say that I had hit a 10 and an 11 off successive balls. Your Derrick W anderers’ correspondent must have m isunder­ stood me. Of course I don ’t mind a joke. . But I can give chapter and verse for the feat of which I told. I only ran the runs ; the striker was Mr. H. D. Ludlow (of E rdington, near Birm ingham ), a very powerful hitter in those days. The m atch was on the Victoria Park, Leicester, between Birm ingham and Leicester Corn Trades— I think in 1895—anyway, the same year as the Royal Show at Leicester. The ground is a comm on, and falls sharply away from the pitch, and there are no boundaries. It took three men to throw up the first hit, and for the second. Mine was not a 4fisherm an’s yarn .’ ” On Saturday the O.C.C. visited the Addiscom be ground, by special invitation. The hom e side were playing Merstham. He w rites; “ The A ddiscom be wicket, on high, breezy ground, was alm ost fast after a few days of fine weather, and a few balls actually kicked ! Merstham batted first, D. H olm an and G. B. W oollard bowling. Tw o wickets fell cheaply ; but W . Sm ith, who has made a lot of runs for his side this year, played capitally, and thanks to him and a stream of byes the third wicket took the total to 55. The fourth fell at 71, the fifth at 88. W ith the R ev. J. C. Crawford partnering Sm ith, the 100 was passed. In going for a second run the veteran, with steam well up, nearly bowled over the bowler. He played on at 105, when the innings was declared— Smith 59* by good strokes all round tbe wicket. W ith only about 75 minutes left for play, a draw seemed almost certain. But F. Edwards, the Merstham left-hander, was in fine trim (he took 7 for 23), and at 6.10 the hom e side were all out for 68, of which 20 were extras. D. Holman and J. P. W ardle alone reached double figures. “ W hile I watched the gam e” (continues the O.C.C.) “ I re­ flected, and the sum of m y reflections was that the old-fashioned plan of having a long-stop for all but slow bowling would still be worth follow ing in club cricket. In this particular m atch there were 40 extras, though scores were low, and the wicket-keepers were not below the standard of others I have seen this season. If it is worth while to put a man on the boundary to save a four hit, why should four byes from one ball be treated as a negligible matter ? It seems curious to me that on some London club grounds a boundary bye only counts two. If a lucky snick off the stumps by a batsman who i3 m orally bowled is worth four, why should a ball the wicket-keeper fails to stop only debit his side two ? A general rule would be better, surely.” Sutton did fine work against Streatham on Saturday. W ith a nice hard wicket— for a change— and after dism issing the home side for 150 (G. R . Blades, the old skipper, 4 for 27) they rattled up 357 for 8 in 165 m inutes, which is remarkably good going. J. M. W illiam ­ son (94) and A. N. Jewell (73) batted splendidly. At Friern Barnet, Albemarle and F . B. ran up 186 for 3. dec., v. Mr. Lane’s X I., and then put out the opposition for 50. T he lengthy Lyon hit up 68* — he says he likes to make a few now and then, just to show that he is still a live—and H . A. Clarke 61*, and that clever trundler, T. Buxton, had 6 for 18. Up to date A. & F. B . have won 12, lost 5, and drawn 3 ; and in such a summer (?) a record of only three draws is very gratifying. R. S. Everitt had a good knock of 83 for Hampstead v Hampstead H ockey Club. John Gordon, V ivian W oodward, W . F. Jennings, and J. R . Longhurst all made useful 3cores for Spencer v Dulwich, the visitors declaring at 196 for 9 ; but Dulwich had none the worse of the draw, for S. J. Goodall and S. H . Bridge showed excellent form , and 5 wickets realised 125. South W est Ham (also declaring at 196, but for 5) beat Arlington and Leytonstone pretty easily. E . M itchell was again in great form , and Connor, Carter, and Howard all did well. For the losers (who lacked their veteran skipper, C. Beal) F. H ook and A. Graham made 80 between them of the 99 from the bat. Stanmore (who on Wednesday had beaten Hampstead Nomads, 124 to 44, W . A. Barnes, with 30 and 7 for 20, doing great work for them ) had a win by 39 over Old Citizens. The Stanmore skipper. V. P. R oyle, played finely for 56, and the vice­ captain, C. F . W elch, bowled in rare style, taking 5 for 13. For the losers Gill had 6 for 32. W althamstow and South W oodfood played a draw at W ood Street. Four of the visitors’ wickets fell for less than 4 0 ; but then H . Edmunds (83) and W . Heath (58*) made a splendid stand, and when the form er left the innings was declared at 193 for 5. W . G. Simm ons (57) and Dr. Blake (27*) saved the hom e team from any danger of defeat. M ill H ill Park went under heavily to Boston Park at Brentford. E. J. Clark, B. P .’s secretary, hit up 62*, which was only 17 less than the visitors’ total. In the drawn m atch between the second strings of the two clubs W . B. W ood-Sm ith made 77 in excellent style for B .P .. and H. E . Thurstan 42 for M .H .P ., two of whose bowlers (C. R . Snow and H . W inch) did fine work— 5 for 46 and 4 for 35 respectively in a total of 145. M ill H ill Park III. easily defeated Wanstead III. W est Kent Wanderers A, though without their best two bowlers, beat All Saints in a small-scoring m atch. Only three m en made double figures in the game, A. G . Lucy batting very patiently for 11. F. R . Phillips scoring 12, and Perry for the losers, hitting up 16* lute in thjB innings. E . B. Gardner and H . J. Phillips put out All Saints for 33, aided by good and keen fielding. Some A teams take the game in a casual sp irit; but not so W . K. W anderers’ second string. W hen Hampstead Nomads were all out for 109 at Brondesbury (E . H ogg having taken 5 for 15), London Scottish must have felt safe. But one never knows at cricket. L .S . were dism issed for 84. F. C. Boully (2 for 16) was bowling in his best form when he ricked his back ; H . E . Crawfurd took his place, and lowered 3 for 13; L. G. Kirkpatrick, bowling at the other end throughout, had 4 for 30. In a match of small scores Crawfurd’s well-made 40 stood out conspicuously. Beckt^n tried hard to beat Ilford, declaring at 183 for 8 (W . Cooper 72*), but could only get down 3 for 84. G. M . Louden took 6 of the 8 Beckton wickets, one of the other two batsmen being run out. White H ou-e, thanks m ainly to H. Butler (58) and the bowling of C. J. Oakley and Ferguson, defeated Forest H ill. Battersea had a bad time against Stanley, finding the wicket altogether too fast for them after a succession of sodden pitches. G .W .R . went down heavily before Clapham Ramblers, who declared at 180 for 5, and got out the railway m en for 69, the two West Indians, Browne and Veerasawmy, bowling in deadly form . The light was not g o o d ; but that is the only excuse that can be made for G .W .lt.’s poor total. The don’t often do this sort of thing. Les=mess Park (E . Hawkes 37, R . M . Allen 36, H. Jenner 7 for 22, E. Upton the' hat trick) won their game against the City of London Mental H ospital at Stone quite easily. A H ampstead team, playing Colney Hatch Asylum , was just as easily beaten. Most of the batsmen iu the Derrick Wanderers v. L loyd’s Register match seemed all at sea on a fast wicket after a m onth of slow ones ; and a closely-contested game ended in a defeat for the Wanderers (only their third this season) by 4 runs. But for W . H . Golds, their skipper, being run out, the hom e side would probably have won. H . K. Rennie and E . C. Street batted well for them , and Rennie also bowled in deadly form (21 balls, 7 runs, 5 wickets). H. L . B. Soden did best with the bat for the winners. Beulah disposed of Midland Athletic at Cricklewood for 44, W . Tufnell (9 for 19) being almost unplayable, and ran up 78, Tufnell following his fine bowling by a very useful, if rather lucky, 42. For Beulah II. v. Aptus, S. Ridgew’ell played a brilliant innings of 105, giving no chance. Aptus fought hard, but were beaten just on time by 63 runs. Postal and Melrose played a draw, the game being abandoned owing to bad light. S. Gall's 20*, made with the handi­ cap of a strained leg, was worth more than its paper value. The catch by which Clark on the boundary disposed of S. M ason from a big hit was a very good one indeed. River Plate H ouse have had rather a curious experience on the