Cricket 1912

S e p t . 28, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 529 is that the players who had experience failed too often, and the younger men, feeling the task too great for them, quite naturally failed also. If the cracks had made more runs, the colts would also have scored m ore heavily. Such men as Sherwell, Sinclair, and Shalders were greatly missed. But the youngsters will go back improved out of knowledge, and I anticipate a good showing from them when the M .C.C. team visits South Africa next year. Club Cricket Notes and Jottings. In presenting a portrait group of the W est Kent W anderers’ first team (the club’s A eleven has already been given in our gallery), I should like to m ention that J. H . Longman, the skipper, has been a member of the club for over 35 years, while A. E . Lugg (formerly hon. sec.) and H . W aller can each claim over 20 years’ m ember­ ship. An old club, a good club, a sporting club, the W . K . W .’s can evidently retain the affections of its members. Those clubs who deferred the close of their programme to September 21— some few turn out again next Saturday—were in luck. It was not a typical summer day; but it was capital September weather, and far better fitted for cricket than the m ajority of Saturdays this season. The week began gloom ily, but improved as time wore on, and reached its best on Saturday. There was little club cricket during the week, though there were a number of exhibition matches, in which prom inent professionals faceii odds teams of club players. On Thursday, Fred Huish brought a X III. to play X V III. of Bexley for the benefit of the Bexley C.C.— a kindly deed which was no doubt fully appreciated. Tarrant, Albert B elf, and Murrell were too m uch for the opposition, and the first named and Hendren each hit up 61. On Friday, a North London X V . could only make 47 against a South of England X I., who ran up 336 for 6 (Hendren 93, A. C. Bussell 73, Tarrant 60*, J. W . H earne 55). Tarrant took 10 for 31. Acton Town beat E aling Park on W ednesday, L. Dean and C. Brooks m aking a good stand after six wickets had fallen cheaply, and Dean also distinguishing him self in the bow liD g line. W hite H ouse and Clapham Bamblers closed their programme on Saturday, when the Old County Cricketer visited Bellingham . H e w rites: The ground was quite hard, under the influence of the sun and drying winds, and the ball travelled very fast in the outfield. A. Jeacooke, first in for W hite House, again showed fine form , and had reached 44 when he was out to a brilliant c and b by W . H. Longhurst. P. Burke and Philip Jeacocke gave him best support. Later the skipper, H . A. H ooker, who had put him self in No. 10, played well for 22, and was not out when he declared at 162 for 9. Harris bowled best for the Bamblers, Cyril Browne having an oif-day. Tw o of the Bam blers’ wickets fell for only 4, but Browne then joined Longhurst, and a good stand was made. Alec Hearne had gone on to bowl at 45. Browne hit boundaries off his first and second balls, but was out to the third. A bit later Hearne bowled Longhurst for a valuable 38. Harris hit well for 23*, and when stumps were drawn the Bam blers had made 118 for 7, the match ending, like the earlier one between the teams, in a draw. Of the 7 wickets down Alec Hearne claimed 5, and to me the Kent veteran seemed to be bowling very m uch as he did— shall we say 25 years ago ? A. Jeacocke in this m atch carried his season’s aggregate for W hite H ouse to 2,013, with an average of over 50. H e has also taken about 90 wickets for the club, his value to which can scarcely be exaggerated. For all matches he is very close on his 3,000 runs, and will probably have reached that figure before this week ends. It is m ore than likely that he will play for Middlesex next season. F or Clapham Bamblers, Cyril Browne has scored over 1,000 runs and taken 103 wickets. Much of the success of the Bamblers in this, the m ost successful season they have ever had, has been due to Browne’s all-round play. H is side has only lost 4 matches. Mr. B. W . Earl is to be condoled with (continues the O.C.C.) H e was scoring instead of playing on Saturday, the reason for which was that “ the enterprising burglar” had been at work in the Bam blers’ pavilion during the week. The other players had removed their bags ; but Mr. E arl’s was still there— till the burglar departed. It is to be hoped some good Samaritan was able to fit him out for his match with the Nonentities on Sunday. I gather that these Sunday m atches are looked forward to imm ensely. Albermarle and Friern Barnet wound up well, with a win by 99 runs over North London. Forbes, Buxton, Coldwell and L yon made useful scores, and the first-named did a telling bit of bowling. Arlington and Leytonstone were beaten by two runs at E dm onton. W alter Buifels batted and bowled well for them , and F . W iles also trundled effectively; but the excellent batting of E . Thom as (45) pulled the hom e side through. Amherst declared at 137 for 9 (A. Krouse 62*) v. W est Kent W anderers—and lost, the W anderers, thanks m ainly to a fine innings of 69 by H . Waller, hitting up 144 for 5. The W . K. W . “ A ” team finished with a defeat; but they had to bat three men short, and Crescent only beat them by 18 runs. C. M. Lawrence (7 for 25) again bowled finely, and J. Ricketts was top scorer with 22*. W altham stow finished up by an even draw with Chadwell Heath, W . G. Simmons running up 53* for them, and T. D . Robinson bowling well. Parson’s Green heavily defeated G. W . B ., who, however, in the absence of P. W . Badge, A. Grugeon, and F . K. H oneyball, were below full strength. E ngland, Heath, and J. S. H iggs all made over 50 for the winners, and A . C. Higgs (8 for 45) bowled in fine form . For Beddington v. H onor Oak, W ilfred Beay took all 10 wickets at a cost of only 30 runs, and did the hat trick. Beddington won ea sily; but the losers lacked Lockton and Anson. Mill H ill Park and Shepherd’s Bush drew, the feature of the game being a brilliant 86 by Bajana, the Parsi-Somerset man. Hampstead Nomads had a rather unpleasant experience. Their secretary had advertised for a m atch. He got one— was told that the wicket was good, but the outfield “ a bit rough.” H e pictured a ground, say, like that at Stanmore or Chesham. The reality was a bit of “ desirable building land ” at the side of a road. The wicket was wretchedly bad, the outfield all on a slope, with bumps, tufts of grass, and the like. Silly point stood on a heap of horse dung. (Silly of him , wasn’t it ? — unless he wanted to mark his p la ce !). Seven of the Nomads had scored centuries during the season. In this game the side’s totals were 26 and 42. F. C. Bouily doubly distinguished him self. H is 17 was top score of the match, and when bowling he knocked out three front teeth of a batsman. It was said that G. O. Smith was to play. H e didn’t. My corres­ pondent suggests that he had taken the precaution of having a look at the ground first! Sent to the H onor Oak ground to report the match between X V III. of H onor Oak and District and Ernest H ayes’s side, the Old County Cricketer w rites: H ayes’s team turned up thirteen strong, the captain him self, Hobbs, Lees, Smith, Spring, and Ayres (Surrey), Tarrant, M ignon, and E. Hendren (Middlesex), Huish (Kent), Bale (W orcestershire), and Morris and D. Hendren (Durham). The weather was fine, the attendance good, the play excellent. The X V III. batted first. H . A. Bates and P. H. Slater, the Dulwich crack, each played a good innings, and young George Abel showed great confidence, cutting well and turning the ball to leg cleverly. This was before lunch ; after it, came even better things. J. H. Lockton and A. Kem pton made a great stand, taking the score from 118 for 9 to 214 for 10. Lockton played in fine form all round the wicket. H e is a batsman of real class. Kempton, though less aggressive, was very good. T he innings was declared at 224 for 10, and the professional side proceeded to score rapidly. H obbs and Tarrant put up over 70 for the first wicket, and others made useful scores. The Surrey crack’s 75 included a 6 (out of the ground) and ten 4’s. The H onor Oak skipper is evidently a man of judgm ent. If he had declared 10 minutes sooner his side would alm ost certainly have gone down, for Hayes’s team had 213 for 6 at call of time. Everyone hopes that the popular E. G. H. will bring team s to H onor Oak— his old hom e ground— for many a year to com e. Melrose, though playing three short (on their own ground, too) easily beat Avenue. S. J. and F. ,E . Gall started the side well, making 58 for the first wicket, a record for the club. F. E. hit six 4’s in his 48. A rot set in, and the side was out for 85. Jenner’s bowling wanted watching, and he took 5 of the 7 wickets. Avenue lost 4 for 8 ; but Jenner, blessed with luck, hit out and redeemed the situation somewhat. The bowling of L. Cheeseman and the brothers A. and S. Mason was very good, and deserved the more credit since to place a field of eight necessarily leaves gaps. Ilford finished up their season with a club game— Tour X I. v. Best. The Tourists declared at 180 for 6 (Edgar Porter 89), and dism issed the Best for 98, T. M . W eaver taking 5 for 35, G. M. Louden 5 for 50. Battersea finished up their programme with a capital win over Upper Sydenham . J. White, the W ellingburian, again worked