Cricket 1912

S e p t . 21, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF TBE GAME. 517 t o e x p la in w h y s o m a n y S o u th A frica n s ta k e u p b re a k b o w lin g , and, s o fe w r e ly u p o n p a ce . O n t h e “ g la z e d sh irt- fr o n t ” o f a n A u s tra lia n w ick e t, a n d o n a r e a lly p lu m b p itc h in E n g la n d , b re a k is d iffic u lt, s o m e tim e s im p ossib le . B u t t h e A frik a n d e r o n h is m a ttin g w ic k e ts ca n a lw a ys g e t it. P e rh a p s I s h o u ld n o t s a y it, a s I a m m y s e lf a g o o g ly b o w le r ; b u t I d o b e lie v e t h a t th e re a s o n w h y S o u th A frica n b a ttin g h a s s to o d s till— o r e v e n p e rh a p s re tro g ra d e d — • d u rin g t h e la st fe w y e a rs is t h e p re v a le n c e o f g o o g ly b o w lin g , w h ic h u n d u ly cr a m p s t h e b a ts m a n . B u t I a m c o n fid e n t t h a t s o m e o f th e y o u n g e r S o u th A frica n s , a s w e ll as s o m e o f t h e y o u n g e r A u stra lia n s, h a v e t h e p o s s ib ilit y o f g r e a t th in g s in th e m , a n d t h a t th ey w ill b e h e a r d o f t o s o m e e ffe ct in th e n e a r fu tu r e . Club Cricket Notes and Jottings. Am ong last week’s centuries were :— S e pte m b e r 9. W . H . Marsh, 120*, Harpenden v. Cross Arrows. S e pte m b e r 10. J. A. E . Peschier, 116*, Cross Arrows v. Mr. L. Tucker’s X I. S e pte m b e r 14. J. S. H iggs, 117, Parson’s Green v. E aling Park. ' A. H . Davey, 101*, St. Jam es’s v. Brighton Commercials. T . Mason, 104*, Brunswick v. H onor Oak II. H . A. Bates, 109, H onor Oak II. v. Brunswick. On Saturday the Old County Cricketer visited W ood Street, where W altham stow were entertaining tbeir old friends and rivals, B eckton. H e writes :— The visitors, batting first on a none too easy wicket, started badly. A. T . Keeble, G. Sutton, and C. Swann were all out for 11 to the bowling of W. Simmons and T. Bobinson. At this point Cooper came in, and set to work to redeem the situation. Getting well back for his powerful square cut and driving tre­ m endously hard, he scored his individual 50 in half-an-hour and his total of 75 in 43 m in utes! The placing of extra men on the boundary did not affect his rate of scoring in the least. H is hits included a slashing drive for 6 over the bowler’s screen, 12 fours, and 3 threes. E. Easton was playing well, but was quite dwarfed during the partnership. After Cooper had gone he scored more freely, but was m issed m ore than once in making his 40. A. Wells (11) was bowled off his toe from a full pitch by Simmons, and Beckton declared at 183 for 8 wickets, hoping to snatch a victory in a failing light. An excellent stand by W . Simmons and C. Cattell, who put up 49 for the first wicket, made a draw certain, however. Simm ons was then bowled by Cooper for 34. Dr. Blake and Cattell played defensive cricket in an increasingly bad light until Blake was bowled by F. Scoulding with a slow which came across a lot. The same bowler then dism issed C. Carroll. Tim e was called with the hom e total 62 for 3. S. Hadden, keeping wicket for Beckton, did not give a bye. It was an even draw, as tbe last two home wickets fell in a light really unfit for play. Cattell’s 22* was a very valuable innings, and it is a great drawback to W altham stow that he cannot play regularly. An interesting item of news (continues the O.C.C.) came to me from that old and popular W altham stow player, J. Johns, who had just returned from his holidays in his native county of Cornwall. Renewing his connection with his hom e club, St. Austell, he took part in the final of the Cornwall County Cricket League, played on the county ground at Truro. The competition is in two divisions, eastern and western, St. Austell heading the former and Penzance— of which club K. J. Key (the old Surrey skipper), is now captain— the latter. Key made 83 not out by faultless cricket, and Mr. Johns says he was very unselfish in declaring, as he would certainly have got his century. H e was wearing bis old Oxford Harlequin cap, and looked as fit as ever and not a bit older. Key’s action resulted in victory, for the county bowlers, W hiting and Port, dismissed St. Austell cheaply, and Penzance won by nearly 100 runs. Cornwall is getting quite a cricketing cou n ty ; but wickets are somewhat “ rocky,” and the orthodox bat is apt to be handicapped on them . Albemarle and Friern Barnet brought off a great win. They were playing Enfield, who declared at 143 for 7, having taken 125 minutes to make the runs. T. Lowther played a very good, but somewhat slow game for 63. A. and F . B. had 70 minutes to bat in— and hit up 169 for 7 ! Coldwell, Forbes, H. T . Clarke, and Bidgood all shared in the glory of this victory snatched against time. The actual win was recorded with four m en out in exactly an hour. Parson’s Green had an easy win over E aling Park, the H iggs brothers being very prom inent. J. S. got 117 of the best, no one else making m ore than 15. and A . C. took 7 wickets for 24, C. E. Harrod bagging the other 3 for 25. Hampstead Nomads lost narrowly to Middlesex County Asylum at Earlsfield. Some of the N omads’ bags went astray— L. G. Kirkpatrick’s am ong them . Now as L . G. went in No. 9, scored 20* (only innings of over 15 in match), and the balance in favour of the Asylum was no m ore than 16, it seems likely that the straying of L. G .’s bag cost the Nomads the game. Battersea, who have been enduring rather a bad time since their tour, found their form again last week, when they beat Brixton, never an easy side to overcom e, in capital style. J. W hite, the W ellingborough boy, bowled very finely for them . H e is to go up to Cambridge shortly, I hear, but will play for Battersea during the Long V acation. Those old hands, Ward, Swain and Dawdry, were all to the fore in the batting line. The club has some good youngsters com ing along, and in the course of time some of the old ones must drop out— not necessarily any of those m entioned— but the Battersea crowd will not easily forget them . In River Plate H ouse’s very decisive win over Lauderdale, F. C. Buckeridge and N. D. T . Oliver (the Beds cricketer) did very nearly everything. Buckeridge’s share was 93 and 4 for 12, Oliver’s 45 and 5 for 11. Lauderdale were all out for 29, which is tbe sort of thing that does not happen to them as a rule. M ill H ill Park and Pallings­ wick had a very close game, the latter, at hom e, winning by 176 to 160. The best features of the match were F. P. Parker’s 68 for the winners and E. A. Sm ith’s bowling (7 for 45) for the losers. For M ill Hill Park II., who easily beat W estcom be Park, A. Roberts (vice-captain of the Acton Town C.C.) hit tremendously. The total of 177 for 5 made by Mill H ill Park only took 75 m inutes, and Roberts’s 81 was made in much shorter time than that. C. R . Snow again bowled capitally. Old Charlton had a fine victory over the strong W hite House team. J. W . G ill (100) and A. A . Martin (66) made a long stand for the second w ick et; the innings was declared at 218 for 3 ; and White H ouse (one man absent) were disposed of for 110, only Watts and A. Jeacocke doing anything. For once in a way, A. H. M anning did not take a single wicket. West Kent Wanderers, in spite of excellent bowling by J. G. W ard and A. E . Lugg, lost their match with Mr. A. J . Cleaver’s X I. by 29 runs; they had to bat in a wretchedly bad light, which gave them little chance. In a game in which only three double-figure scores were made G. L ack’s 62 for the scratch team stands out conspicuously. Beulah did not win either of their games on Saturday. The first team drew with Leatherhead Rovers at Leatherhead, Mathiesen’s 36 being the biggest score of the m atch ; the second went under heavily to A nchor Brewery. ' They had up 37 for 3 in response to 166 for 9 dec., but then came a slump, and all were out for 52. Balham Wanderers drew with Bellevue, thanks chiefly to a good stand in a bad light by E. F. Burrows and A. MacPherson, who added 44 together after 3 wickets had fallen for 10. D. W all took 6 for 65. H e has taken 101 wickets at an average of 8-5 each this season. T he W anderers play their last game next Saturday. Of 25 played to date they have won 12, lost 8, drawn 5 ; and the club has been such a success in every way that next season two teams will be run. W est Kent Wanderers A, with a depleted team , owing to holidays, and playing two subs, went under to a strong Brockley side by the narrow margin of 4 runs. Batting first, they totalled 73. Kaye, one of this season’s colts, having shown m uch improved form of late, was given a chance by the captain, and, sent in early, fully justified his prom otion by making top score— 22. B rockley started badly, but improved later, and just managed to win with the last man in. It was a rare good tussle, with the balance of luck inclining slightly to B rockley’s side ; the losers like good sportsm en, were ready to con ­ gratulate the winners. The fielding of W . Crump was a feature of the game ; it was really tip-top. Derrick Wanderers dismissed U nion Castle for 84, W . G. Hankin taking 7 for 41, and then ran up 160, H . R . Rennie top scorer (as he so often is) with 60. They wind up their season on Saturday next with a game (not on the card) v. Northbrook, and their annual smoking concert has already been fixed for December 6, at the G.E. H otel, Liverpool Street. Melrose drew their match with Arohway W esleyan, A . M ason’s excellent 22* in a bad light saving them . E . Bishop, top scorer for the other side, hit a ball straight into the hands of long-off, a n i was