Cricket 1912

514 CUICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. S e p t. 21,1912. Big Matches of the Week. G e n t le m e n o f E n g la n d v . S o u t h A f r ic a n s .— The Gentlem en had a strong, though not a representative team ; and the victory gained by the Afrikanders— after victory had seemed a thing scarcely to be hoped for— must be numbered among their best perform ances of the tour. John Douglas batted all day (255 m inutes, with eleven 4’s) on Thursday for his 94 ; S . G . Smith m ade 48 in good brisk style ; Kidd ran up 28 in half-an-hour, and Jessop, though not at his best, 59 in an hour.The chiefstand was the 77 for the seventh wicket by the Essex and Gloucestershire cap­ tains. The total was 286. On Friday the Colonial side fared badly. Taylor could not get the ball away, though he stayed in a long tim e ; and on ly Nourse (58 out of 78 while in) and G ordon White (34 in an hour) topped^ 20. W hite hit two 6’s, and got out in attempting a third. Spooner and Bosanquet added 85 to the Gentlem en’s lead of 108 before they were parted, both driving splendidly. The Middlesex m an’s 62, a very welcom e innings after his failures in the few big games he has had this season, included nine 4 ’s. At call of tim e the Gentlemen led by 239 runs, with 6 wickets to go. But those six went for only 33 on the Saturday m orning, Pegler taking 4 of them in 13 balls. Set 273 for victory, the Africanders made a fine start. Faulkner and Taylor put up 121 for the first wicket, the latter, who bad some luck, staying until 169, and adding 48 for the second wicket with Nourse. Strieker joined W hite with 77 wanted for victory, and the runs were hit off under the hour. W hite, who seems to have got back to his old form at the end of the tour, played a very free and stylish innings. H e hit a 6 and seven 4’s ; Faulkner m ade eight 4’s, Taylor seven. A rare good win ! It should be m entioned that Sydney Sm ith’s 6 wickets in the first innings brought his bag of wickets for the season to exactly 100. Mr. C. B. F r y ’s X I. v. A u s t r a lia n s . — It was little wonder that the Australians collapsed on Thursday. After a day of arctic cold at Hastings on the W ednesday, the journey up to town, thence to H olyhead, and across the Irish Sea could scarcely have been a pleasant experience. Barnes and Albert B elf bowled in great form , and kept everybody thinking— but not m any of them thinking long ! Kelleway stayed 75 minutes for 1 3 ; Bardsley made 25, and M innett hit up 16. W hen the scratch team went in the captain batted finely, and Baker, the pl^ Surrey player, and Hearne added 71 in 50 minutes, and were u^p&rted at the close. On Friday Baker was soon o u t ; but Hearne, batting 150 m inutes, with thirteen 4 ’s, stayed to the end, and carried his bat for 95. Hazlitt took bis hundredth wicket when he bowled Baker. Against a lead of 208, the Australians played up gallantly. Kelleway and Macartney put on 57 for the second wioket, and Macartney and Bardsley 87 in 65 minutes for the third. Macartney made his 71 in 100 minutes, with twelve 4’s. Bardsley had still to be got rid of when time came, the Australians then being only 12 behind with 7 to go. But on Saturday a change came o’er the scene. W oolley made a wonderful catch Which disposed of the left-hander after he had batted 85 minutes for his 71 (one 5, five 4’s), and then Mayne, Matthews, M innett, and H azlitt were beaten by H itch, bowling at top speed with the wind behind him . Gregory and Carkeek made a plucky stand, putting on 61 in 40 m inutes ; but smart fielding by Barnes ran out the stumper, and the Colonials were all out for 304. Gregory (eight 4's) batted 80 m inutes. W ith only 97 wanted to win, the scratch team easily got the runs. Hobbs scored his 2,000th run of the season, and H earne took his total for the m atch to 137 without being dismissed. Y o r k s h ir e v . E n g la n d .— M onday was a wretched day, and the Yorkshire side seemed to feel the influence of the weather. They did not play at all like the fine team they really are. Play was delayed at the outset by a m ist, and shortened at the end through bad light. H itch dom inated the situation. H e bowled very fast, and no one liked him a little bit. It is true that Rhodes and W ilson put on 60 for the first w ick et; but either m ight well have been out early, and during the rest of the innings, though Hirst and B ooth m ade a useful stand of 39, he was always on top. H it for 37 at the out- se tfo r no wicket, he finished with 6 for74. Twelve for one (Douglas) was E ngland’s total when play ended. On Tuesday the weather was no brighter; but the batting was. H obbs, Mead, and Tarrant (who drove well) were all out with only 85 scored; but then Spooner and Hearne made a long stand adding 161 in 2 hrs. before “ young M iddlesex” was out for a chanceless 68, including six 4’s. W oolley hit freely, and ran up 51 in as m any m inutes before bad light closured play, with the score of England exactly double Yorkshire’s, and still four wickets to fall. Spooner had played the finest possible cricket during his 190 m inutes at the crease. H e was as versatile as he was free, and withal sound and safe. Fourteen 4's were included in his 130. W ednesday’s play was of the m ost disappointing description. There was a touch of chill in the wind, but the sun shone out royally, and conditions were better than for several weeks past, The England innings soon closed ; and then Yorkshire, when everyone was hoping that they would put up a stern uphill fight, collapsed utterly. The first wicket fell at 29, the fourth at 49, the last at 78. Of such an innings a detailed account is unnecessary. John Douglas bowled really well, and Hearne took two wickets cheaply. Thus dism ally ended the m ost dismal of recent seasons. Special Club Notes. C o n t r i b u t e d b y “ T h e C h i e l . ” It was pleasing to note that a number of clubs started their games last Saturday at 2 o ’clock, and that several dispensed with any interval for tea. I would advocate strongly the arranging for all club matches during September to start at 2, as it is impossible to play after six. Many members who could not be up to time during the longer days found it possible on Saturday to be on the ground, changed and ready to start, at the tim e arranged. If men can do this in September, surely they could do the sam e throughout the season. If they did we should hear and see less of drawn games. The whole matter of starting early rests with those arranging the fixtures, and when members know a definite time has been arranged, the m ajority of them will readily turn up to time. N o doubt a good many clubs have com pleted their fixture lists for next season, but there appears no reason why even now a hard and fast rule should not be made to start all matches at two o’clock. Secretaries, please give the matter your serious consideration. During the past season numerous cases of uncertain decisions given by umpires have occurred. It is doubtful whether the average club umpire has kept np with the general progress of the game. Some umpires seem to have becom e quite m echanical in their work, and some are decidedly biassed in their decisions. The office of umpire nowadays is anything but a sinecure. So m any varieties of bowling have been introduced of late years that the umpire’s berth has becom e m ore difficult, and the ideas of som e umpires are decidedly old fashioned— not in accordance with up-to-date cricket. None of us is infallible ; but some of the decisions I have noted this season were beyond excuse. Batsmen have long m emories for such th in gs; and a rank bad decision is not easily forgotten by them. “ That’s the m an who gave me out leg before to a ball that broke a foot,” one m ay think as one takes guard, and the resultant feeling is unoom fortable. One expects to have to go at the first appeal, justi­ fiable or otherwise. One can overlook the mistake of an umpire who occasionally allows seven balls to the over, even if the seventh gets one out. It is the umpire who is a twelfth man to his side one objects to so strongly. A correspondent has requested m e to give prom inence to the condition of the pitches in the playing-fields controlled by the L.C.C. It is apparent the employment of m en who have no previous experience to prepare the pitches, courts, etc., is a m istaken policy. But of course one has to consider the amount of labour entailed. The present expenses incurred are enormous, and very few know, or even give a thought to the m any difficulties the officials have to overcom e. W hile the pitches and courts are decidedly open to improvem ent, it is doubtful whether the class of cricket* played justifies much the spending of m ore m oney, and m any of the grounds receive very bad treatment from the players. The question arises whether the L.C.C. officials are not devoting too much attention to the School Board boys. One superintendent of a park inform ed me he had to prepare over 80 pitches a week for these boys. These lads invariably play two innings each, w ith the result the grounds are badly worn. W ith all this, however, I think if the Council consider it worth tbeir while to prepare pitches and courts at all they should do it well, and em ploy competent m en to carry out the work. * I tliink the class o f cricket w ould im prove w ith the im provem ent of the pitches. It should be recognised that it is the rarest of happenings to get a good cricketer from off bad wickets. A m an does not learn the gam e on them— or w hat he learns is learned w rongly. But for w anton dam age, or gross carelessness, there is no excuse, and the offenders should be dealt w ith by the authorities.— [T he E ditor .] Everyone will be glad to hear that Mr. W . Findlay, who has been seriously ill, is at tbe time of going to press very m uch better. Eegret will be very generally felt at the accident to Andrew' Ducat, who had the m isfortune to break his leg while playing for Aston Villa last Saturday.