Cricket 1912

O ct . 12, 1912. CEICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 545 Men of the Moment in London Club Cricket. B y “ S u r e C atc h .’ The photo below is that of Leslie Docker, a match-winning bowler for Twickenham . During the season just ended he took 78 wickets at a cost of just over 8 runs each, and was the mainstay of the Twickenham attack. On any kind of wicket he bowls well. He is a left-hand m edium-pace round-the-wicket bowler, who can keep pegging away for hours without losing his length. H e makes the ball break sharply off the pitch across the batsman’s legs. Having a good comm and of the ball, his length is always good, and he varies his pace with great skill. W hen being hit he is quite undisturbed. In 1911 he took 50 wickets at a cost of 15 runs each. This was when the pitches were hard and favourable to the batsmen. He has not been as successful with the bat as usual this season; but when set he is a delightful player to watch, making his runs at a rare pace by hard driving to the off and on. He often talks of retiring; but the Twickenham Committee will be in no hurry to let him give up the game as long as they can induce him to go on. A n I n t e r e st in g C a r e e r . Leslie Docker joined the R ichm ond C.C. in 1888, and played for them regularly for 10 years till 1897 inclusive. He then gave up the game till 1900 owing to ill health. In 1906 he joined Waldegrave Park C.C., and on their disbanding joined the Twicken­ ham, C.C. W hen a boy at Highgate School his best bowling perform ance was against St. Barts Hospital at the time when W . G. Heasman was playing for them . In this game he took 9 wickets for 17 runs. T he same year he made 79 against a strong M.C.C. team, which included Chatterton, Fothergill, Pentecost and S. C. Newton (one time capt. of Somerset). H e has done the hat trick twice, the last tim e as recently as last August. As a school boy he was contemporary with S. M. J. W oods and G. E . Cotterill, the crack public boys of Brighton College, and had the satisfaction of getting L. DOCKER (Twickenham C .C.). them both out when his school played Brighton, although his side suffered defeat, Sammy W oods taking 7 wickets at very small cost. H u r d itc h ’ s F in e W o r k . Readers of C r ic k e t in New York, Philadelphia, Canada, the Pacific Coast, and the West Indies, will be interested to learn that C. P. H urditch, who plays for the Wanderers and Twickenham clubs, has again had a m ost successful season, scoring 1,105 runs for 31 innings, with 4 not outs, giving him an average of 40 92. He scored three centuries, 178 not out, 128 not out, and 108. In spite of the fact that he must now be classed am ong the veterans, he plays three-quarter regularly for the Twickenham Rugger team during the winter". H . R . R e n n ie ’ s C a r e e r . There are few better batsmen in London club cricket than H. R. Rennie, whose photo I give here. This season he accomplished some remarkable achievements for Derrick Wanderers. H e was born at Brighton in 1892, and as he stands 6 ft. 1 in. it is easy to believe that he has a useful reach at the crease. H e is a cricketer with the right match-winning temperament, and he believes in using the long handle. A batsman of the dashing type, Rennie scores his runs all round the wicket at a rare pace. H e was educated at the County School, Bedford, and of course obtained his colours, his best effort for the school team being 98 against W ellingboro’ Grammar School. In 1909 he played for the Young Amateurs of Surrey, scoring a useful 40. He is qualified to assist Surrey by residence. P. W . L. D. Club. P. W. L. D. H onor Oak . 27 17 5 5 22 14 5 3 Norbury Park W. . 20 4 11 5 Shepherd’s Bush . 38 18 5 15 22 6 10 6 Bpencer . 29 13 4 12 20 9 5 6 Twickenham ... . 22 10 9 3 24 10 5 3 Walham Green . 22 7 10 5 23 18 5 5 W altham stow... . 23 6 11 6 25 11 f» 8 W est Kent W .... . 21 12 7 2 23 11 8 4 H. R, R EN N IE (Derrick W anderers). This is his second season with Derrick Wanderers, and he heads his team’s batting average with 57 25 per innings. H is highest score was 114 not out against Mr. R. J. Lambert’s Eleven in June. In this innings he hit no fewer than twenty-three 4’s. Besides being a fine batsman, he is also a capital bowler and top-class field. W h at th e C lu bs D id . Below I give the match figures of some of the London clubs in alphabetical order. Club. Albem arle and Friern Barnet ................ Arlington and Leyton­ stone ................ Beckton ............... Beddington ................ B eu la h ............................. Forest Hill G.W . Railway In a few cases I have received totals of runs scored for and against, and I shall be glad to have these in other cases, if secretaries care to send them along. (Please send early). Club. G .W . R............................... Norbury Park W. Shepherd's Bush Twickenham ................ Walham G reen................ W h at th e P la ye r s D id . Here are the figures of the leading batsmen and bowlers in the cases of a number of prominent clubs. Batsman C. F. W elch (Stanmore) C. T. Burgess (Shepherd’s Bush) J. G. Donaldson (Hampstead) H. D. Sm ith (Finchley E.) H. W. Weston (Walham Green) F. R. D ’O. Monro (Hampstead) H. R . Rennie (Derrick W.) ... J. B . Craik (Ealing) ................ A. N. Jewell (Sutton) ................ G. Sutton (Beckton) ................ C. Swann (Beckton) ................ F. C. Buckeridge (R. P. House) V. J. W oodward (Spencer) F. Ward (Battersea) ............... * J. G. M. Bell (S u tto n )................ F o r . A g a in st . R. w. A. R. w. A. 3189 191 16'6 2413 188 12-8 318S 201 15-0 3383 175 19-3 6746 283 23-8 4597 327 14*0 2821 194 14*5 2726 233 11-2 3572 181 19*7 3307 198 . 167 Inns. N.o. R. A. H.S. 13 4 678 7533 142* — — 963 64-20 164 10 4 756 63*00 107* 19 10 567 63.00 100* 16 4 735 61-25 151* 12 3 543 60-33 121 10 2 458 57*25 114* 16 3 698 53*69 120 10 0 488 48.80 154 19 3 740 46-25 109* 23 4 866 45.15 116* 13 1 526 43*83 10*2 13 4 383 42-55 87* 19 5 526 37*57 SO* 18 1 634 37*29 122