Cricket 1912

S e p t . 28, 1912. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 527 WINTER NUMBERS OF “ CRICKET” As usual, there will be m onthly issues of the paper during the coming winter. These will be published o n : FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1912. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1912. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1912. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1913. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1913. FRIDAY, MARCH 14. 1913. Club cricket news will be a special feature. T he six numbers will be sent post free anywhere for ONE SHILLING. Office o f CEICKET, 33 & 35, M o o b L a n e , E.C. Cricket: A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. 33 and 35, M00E LANE. LONDON, E.C. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1912. Communications to the E ditor should be addressed to him at 33 & 35 Moor Lane, E .C . Advertisements, Subscriptions, & c., should be sent to the Manager, at the same address. The following are the rates of subscription to C e ic k e t :— Great Britain. Abroad. One Year ............................... 6s. 3d. ... 7s. 6d. T he 24 Summer Numbers ... 5s. Od. ... 6s. Od. The 6 W inter Numbers ... Is. 3d. ... Is. 6d. C R I C K E T A N N U A L S FO R SALE . “ W isden ” 1892 to 1912 at 1/- each except years 1897, 1902. James Lillywhite’s Annual 1872 up to 1900 1/- each. Fred Lilly- white’ s Guide 1854 up to 1866 at 3/6 each. John Lillywhite’s Companion 1865 up to 1885 2/6 each. Also about 800 vols. of Books on the Game at half price. A. J. Gaston, Preston, Brighton. pavilion (Sosstp. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time. —Hamlet. T he last day of the cricket season, despite more than a touch of autumn in the air, gave us better weather than any other for weeks past, and since first-class cricket has ended the weather has been far more settled. It seems the very irony of fate that the sun should refuse to smile upon the summer game, which never seems quite itself under lowering skies, and then should glow liberally upon the patrons and propellers of the big bouncing ball. I suppo se 1879 was really a worse season than 1912. But it was not as important a season. I suppose 1888 was but little, if any better ; I can remember that, and its long succession of rainy or overcast days. There was an Austra­ lian team here then, and precious few runs could it scrape in many of its matches, though Turner and Ferris prevented the other sides from scoring at all heavily. C an you recall a year like this 1 A year of rain, a year of woe ? How many catches did we miss ! Was cricket ever half so slow ! , . . . Nay, let the seasons come and fleet, Let us be missed from field and town, Let ancient cricketers who meet Hint that our wickets have gone down ; They shall not see, they shall not weep Such weather and such strokes of fate, As we who sad and slowly creep From Lord’s this awful ’88. So wrote the late Andrew Lang twenty-four years ago, and the graceful lines, save for the last, would fit well enough the season we have just^endured. B u t it never pays to make the worst of anything-—■ unless perchance when one is coming down upon an insur­ ance company. Let us leave the vile character of. this atrocious season to itself, and deal with what happened during the course of it just as if we had really had a summer. D u b in g 1912 Tom Hayward made his forty thousandth run (and his ninety-ninth century) in first-class cricket. David Denton and George Hirst joined John Tyldesley in the 30,000 runs class. P. A. Perrin, Cecil Wood, and Wilfred Rhodes are now over 20,000 ; but tho Yorkshiroman reached that figure in Australia, not during tho home campaign. There are as many as seven new names—thoso of ,r. W. II. T. Douglas, E. W. Dillon, K. L. Hutchings, Pearson, Hardstaff, Philip Mead, and Woolley—in the 10,000 runs list. Colin Blythe took his two thousandth wicket, and Tarrant and George Cox increased their tale of wickets to over 1,000. K n ig h t, Joe Vine, and C. P. McGahey are close up to the 20,000, and should all reach that figure during 1913, the Sussex man quite early in the season. Robson is within 100 runs of 10,000. Charlesworth and Robert Relf are well over 9,000. Haigh has 1,974 wickets to his credit. Razor Smith (965) and Dean (883) should reach 1,000 wickets next year ; Warren (917), Field (901), and King (867) are possibles for the distinction. T h e remnant of the Australian team left behind when Gregory and his comrades sailed for the Statrs was a very strong one. Only ten of the side went on the extended tour ; the eleventh player is said by some to be a Sydney University man now in Philadelphia, but “ Wanderer,” of the Sportsman, says that a Mr. Penfold has gone with the team to fill the vacant place. Besides the manager, George Crouch, a very capable batsman who could have lent a hand if necessary had he gone, Warren Bardsley, C. G. Macartney, Roy Minnett, G. R. Hazlitt, and C. B. Jennings preferred not to make thf trip. I hear that Bardsley will spend a week or two in Ceylon on his way home, and do a tour of that charming island. He will, I understand, be the guest of Mr. S. P. Foenander, the well-known Colombo journalist. A valued correspondent draws my attention to some very curious cricket described in a story for boys (dealing with that celebrated character, Sexton Blake, detective) recently published. The hero is a member of the South African Team, and there is a remarkable description of a test match at Lord’s. C. B. Fry is “ a smiling giant, keen of eye, and graceful of step ” ; Hobbs “ a smiling boy, apparently, but with the quick alert eye of the true bats­ man ” ; Barnes, “ a partner in a thousand, with a hundred clever strokes to use, and a nerve that never fails ” ! T a n c r e d and Faulkner go in first. “ An ideal pair ! ” says Sexton Blake. “ Our people will have to bowl all they know how.” Faulkner executes a wonderful stroke. “ Clear and swec t, the first hall was driven hard between the slips I” “ The breathless twenty minutes in the first of a game passed . . . . double figures were reached.” (“ Breathless !” is my correspondent’s marginal note.) “ Thud ! The clear impact of hard leather against a palm sounded out. Strudwick, the wizard, had thrust out a taut hand and had pulled off one of his impossible catche s again.” (Comment—“ took off his glove to do i t !” ) “ ‘ Hard lines, Faulkner 1’ came the cry ” —a very usaal cry when a man is out caught at the wicket, of course ! “ S n o o k e came out to partner Tancred. . . . Douglas had a spell of bowling . . . Snooke, Mitchell, and Strieker fell to his great deliveries.” Then the hero came in. “ Snooke had settled down.” (Rather a liberty for him to take after getting out, methinks.) “ If Darvoll only plays the stone wall,” thought Sexton Blake, “ Tancred can do the rest.” (Marginal note—“ batsmen in : Tancred, Snooke, Darvell.” ) “ Foster sent down a whizzing yorker, which Tancred cut to the boundary.” (Quite a dashing way to deal with yorkers, but distinctly an unusual one !) “ Into boundary went the hurtling sphere.” And Sexton