Cricket 1912

Nov. 16, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 565 J oh n C r a w fo r d lias been ap p oin ted coa ch to the South A ustralian C ricket A ssociation. This is part and parcel o f the attem p t being m ade to get a new m ove on cricket in the wheat- field state. There is a strong feeling th at its resources h ave n ot been sufficiently exp loited o f late ; and “ P oin t ” (C larence P. M ood y ) o f the new A delaide paper, The Sporting Mail, has led a crusade fo r its betterm ent. There are far m ore really able players n ow than there w ere in the d a ys w hen the genius of G eorge G iffen, J oh n Jam es L yon s, and A rthur H a rw ood Jarvis brou gh t S ou th A ustralia in to the fron t r a n k ; b u t the best is n ot m ad e o f them , and th e C ity o f C hurches lags far behind S yd n ey in crick et enthusiasm . I f S ou th A ustralia gains H azlitt, she is likely, it appears, to lose M ayne, w h o m ay settle in S yd n ey on his return. A t the m eeting o f the S .A .C .A . o n S eptem ber 27 Mr. John P ickerin g, in speaking o f the history o f the A ssociation, said that G eorge G iffen used to com e to the A delaide C lub as a n ew sboy, and w as spotted b y Mr. W . O. W h itridge, w h o to o k his cricket ed u cation in hand. This differs slightly from the version given by the great all-rounder him self in With Bat and B all ; b u t it drives hom e the lesson M r. P ickerin g w anted to em phasise— the advan- | tage o f “ ca tch in g ’em y o u n g .” O n O ctob er 19 the W est A ustralian team w ere to h ave left Perth fo r their second tou r— the first to o k place nearly tw enty years ago. T he team selected was : A . H . C hristian, H . A . E vers, R . Selk, C. H ow ard , T . H ogu e, W . H ogu e, S. H . D . R ow e, C. Lehm ann, A . C. R an dell, L . B ott, W . H ughes, and H . W . E d ­ m ondson (player-m anager). One fam ou s nam e is m issing— that o f E rnest Parker, the best batsm an the goldfield state ever had ; bu t his p ra ctice as a solicitor has, I believe, cu t his crick et dow n to a v e ry sm all am ou n t o f late, and p ossib ly he m ay be absent from the state ju st now . T h e first seven of the tw elve m ention ed h ave all d on e well in previou s m atches. C hristian is a really fine all-round p la y e r; Evers (form erly o f N ew S outh W ales), albeit a bu rly veteran, a g ood w ick et-k eep er; Selk, w ho definitely retired in 1911 and was given a long “ ob itu a ry ” (m etaphorical) notice in C ric k e t , perhaps the best W estralian bow ler o f any d a y ; H ow a rd a stonew all b a ts m a n ; T . H ogu e a capital bat and useful change b o w le r ; his brother also g o o d at need in b oth departm ents ; while o f R o w e it m ay be record ed th a t in 1907-8 he m ade a cen tu ry against the E nglish team . E dm on dson has also appeared fo r the s ta te ; bu t L ehm ann, R an dell, B o tt, and H ughes are new m en. T h e p rogram m e i s : Oct. 25, 26, 28— v. South Australia, at Adelaide. N ov. 1, 2, 4— v. Victoria', at Melbourne. ,, 8, 9, 11— v. N.S. Wales, at Sydney. ,, 15, 16, 18— v. N.S. Wales, at Sydney. ,, 20, 21, 22— v. Victoria, at Melbourne. I t seem s rather a p ity that Queensland and Tasm ania— b oth m u ch nearer W est A ustralia in strength than N .S. W ales and V ictoria— should n o t be m e t ; b u t I presum e the difficulty is distance, w ith con sequent h ea vy increase o f expense. N o th in g like goin g the— entire anim al, shall w e say ? A South A frica n paper reproduces (w ith ou t acknow ledgm ent) our special T est M atch Statistics, and even ad op ts a printer’s error b y w h ich B ardsley (w hose average was correctly given as 65'33 fo r 6 innings) was credited w ith on ly 352 runs inst ad of 392. T h e error was first p oin ted o u t to m e b y a reader in C eylon, w ho keeps a pair o f sharp eyes open for such things. H e finds them , to o . M y sym p ath y to the borrow in g gentlem an in D u r­ ban— shall I ad d , m y apologies also ? A t the m eeting o f the C am bridge U niversity C.C., held at St. J o h n 's College on O ctob er 28, the officers for n e x t season w ere elected as follow s : captain, the H on . H . G. H . M ulholland ; hon. sec., S. H . Saville ; lion, assist, treasurer, R . B. Lagden. If the usual (though n ot absolutely invariable) preceden t be follow ed , this will m ean that Saville will captain th e 1914 team , L agden that o f 1915. A s p e c ia l general m eeting o f the L eicestershire C.C. w ill be held at the C ou n ty A ssem bly R oom s, Leicester, on the 20th inst., to consider w h at steps should be taken to reduce the clu b ’s d eb t, largely augm ented b y the evil fortun e w hich pursued the co u n ty in 1912. T h e author o f Sport in Five Continents (Mr. A . E . L eath am ) |is w ell-know n as a cricketer o f parts. T here is n o t v e ry m uch a b ou t the gam e in his b ook ; b u t one story con cerning a w ell- k now n N otts cricketer— w hich liis initials are C. W . W .— in In d ia m ust be lifted. This gentlem an w as a better batsm an th a n s h o t ; b u t on one occasion , after m u ch persistent effort, he succeeded in bringing d ow n a sj^otted deer. Says Mr. L e a th a m : “ H e show ed an alm ost inordinate an xiety o v er the p rop er preservation o f the skin. So m uch so, indeed, that, havin g been kep t w aiting on e m orning, I entered a protest, an d sug­ gested that the skin o f a sp otted deer w as h a rd ly w orth all the tim e and trou ble that was being bestow ed upon it. ‘ A h , w ell !’ he replied, ‘ Y o u m ay call it a spotted deer ou t here, b u t I can prom ise y o u it will be a d --------d fine leopard when it gets to N ottin g h am .’ ” T h e Evening Neivs is m y au th ority fo r the statem en t that F rank W oo lley is captain an d ou tsid e-left o f the T on b rid ge F .C ., I an d th at F airservice an d P reston are also m em bers o f th e side. En passant, is it true that Fairservice seeks “ fresh w ood s and pastures new ” n ex t year ? H e has been fo r so long ju st on the fringe o f th e K en t eleven that it w ou ld n ot be surprising if he had |given up h ope o f ever becom in g a regular m em ber of it. M ost oth er cou nties w ou ld have been glad to p la y him regularly. M o rfee is goin g, o f course. I am told that he com plained last season, w hen he was atta ch ed to the St. L aw rence C.C. at C anterbury, th at he w asn’t allow ed either to bow l at the nets or j to p la y in m atches ! There is som e exaggeration here, surely, fo r to m y know ledge he figured w ith d istin ction in som e o f the St. L aw rence fixtures. P ercy M ills, late o f Cheltenham , takes G eorge W ilson ’s place a t B urslem n ext year, the ex-W orcester m an goin g to T odm ord en . T h ey are sorry to lose W ilson from the P otteries ; he has m ade m an y friends there, and his persist­ en tly op tim istic o u tloo k has been a real asset to his side. Mr. |W . C. H a n cock , the Staffordshire hon. sec., speaks in high term s I o f him , b u t thinks th at B. F . M organ, w h o will be qualified in 1913, and w h o has don e splendid w ork fo r his team this y e a r, will be capable o f filling the gap in the cou n ty ranks. I t is likely th a t Staffordshire will m eet b oth N orfolk and Surrey S econ d n ex t season. Q uestioning Mr. H a n cock as to the likelih ood o f his co u n ty ’s seeking first-class honours, I g o t for r e p ly : “ N o t unless tw o -d a y m atches b ecom e the rule. It m igh t be possible fo r us then— I d on ’ t say it w ould. B u t three- d a y m atches w ou ld never suit ou r am ateurs, w h o are all busy m en .” T h e clip p in g w hich follow s is from the Victoria Daily Times (B .C .— w hich m eans British C olum bia, n ot w hat it som etim es stands for ; on the con trary, the Times is very u p -to-d ate). I w on der w hether G regory did say anythin g quite so em phatic as he is rep orted to have said ? M any A ustralian cricketers— L aver, R an sford , an d N oble am on g them — h ave been or are capital baseballers ; I d o n ’ t know m uch a b ou t this glorified d evelopm en t o f rounders, b u t I never heard o f G regory or a n y m em ber o f his side as am on g its leading expon ents in A ustralia. A n d I have h eard nothing o f any baseball gam e played b y them in N ew Y ork .