Cricket 1912

Nov. 16, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 571 fixtures started on the first Saturday of this m onth (O ctob er); in Cape Tow n on the th ird ; and by the tim e N ovem ber is ushered in the game will be in full swing throughout the Union. The Transvaal League, which in every respect is the strongest in South Africa, has been extended from nine to twelve clubs. Each m atch occupies a couple of Saturday afternoons, except those in | which Pretoria are engaged, when a whole day Sunday match is | played. In the opening series scoring ruled high, no fewer than six centuries and four three-figure partnerships being recorded. The Wanderers (332 for 4, dec.) drew with the Village Main R eef (222 for 6). F or the W anderers W . J. Bird, a brother of M. C., the Surrey captain, scored 1G5 and H. Quinton 108 not out, the tw o putting up 232 runs for the first wicket. For the Village Main R eef J. Morkel scored 114 and H. Wasserzug 65 not out, the two adding 110 for the fourth wicket. A t Randlfontein the hom e team made 310 for 7, dec., against the S.A. R ailw ay’s 125. For the winners W . H . W atling went through the innings for 124 not out, and another century (109) cam e from A. V. Thom pson’s bat. F. le R ou x made 49 for the R ailw ay, who were quite unable to play B. H. Floquet (7 for 49). W atling and Thom pson had a partnership of 178 for the fourth wicket. The W anderers “ A ” (301) beat the Pirates (245) fairly com fort­ ably. J. W . Zulch (97) and J. H. Sinclair (70) opened the season well, adding 132 for the third wicket. For the Pirates V. L. Henwood, a Natalian, was top scorer with 79. E ast Rand LTnion scored 276 (H. Deane 103 not out), and won an exciting game against Yeoville (253) b y 23 runs. The Crown Mines (185) beat Pretoria (163), and the E .R .P .M . (257) fairly swamped the Germiston Callies (54 and 60 for 5). For the winners H. E. Smith, who was a m ember of the 1907 S.A. team, scored 86 and J. van Blomm estein 68, S. J. Snooke contributing 25. Chief interest in the matches comm enced last Saturday lay in the initial appearances of E. C. Moses, the Reptonian, and M. J. Susskind, the Cantab. Moses, playing for the Wanderers against the S.A .R ., was bowled second ball without scoring, and as he also missed an easy catch in the slips in the first over when his side went out to field his debut in Johannesburg cricket was not very auspicious. Suss­ kind, playing for the W anderers “ A ” against the Village Main Reef, met with better luck, as he scored 22. A t Vogelfontein, for the E.R .P.M . v. Pirates, S. J. Snooke made 58, S. J. Pegler 0, and L. J. Tanered is at present 31 not o u t ; but these and other unfinished games will be referred to in m y next letter. C y ph e r . - ------------------------------ Cricket in Natal. Durban, September 21, 1912. W e in Durban are looking forward to the com ing season with no end of interest. George Cox will be with us again to coach ; but I unlucky Maritzburg, in spite of all the efforts made by Mr. F. A. Morris, could not raise the necessary funds for a good professional. Both the Durban and Maritzburg Unions have had a change in the secretaryship. Messrs. H. L. Crockett and F. A. Morris have resigned, and Messrs. K . O. Siedle and C. E. Y oung replace them. There have also been changes in the captaincy of several clubs. L. R . Tuckett will skipper Greyville instead of Nourse, with the veteran A. C. K ing as vice. F. N. Miller leads the Wanderers in place of Ken Thom son, with H. A. Hawkins as second in command. Wanderers II., prom oted from the Second League, are not, as might naturally be thought, the second string of the older senior club, but quite a separate organisation. There was talk of changing their name, but they have decided not to do that. W . H. Fletcher, who played well in one or two matches for Greyville last season, is their captain, with H. W ood as vice. The other teams in the Senior League, with their captains and vice-captains, are : Escombes (Basil Siedle and G. M. Foster), Casuals (H. V. L. Collins and C. C. A cutt), Queen’s Park (H . W . Taylor and H. W . Chapman), and Zingari (C. P. Carter and G. R . Burae). From Maritzburg I hear that D. K . Pearse, a hot candidate for international honours last season, will leave Maritzburg C.C. and play for Standard. This is with the praiseworthy idea of levelling up the teams somewhat. His brothers, C. O. C. and V ., will stick to their old club, and S. V. Samuelson will again assist the Zingari. Durban , Saturday , October 5, 1912. B itterly cold weather and a gale of wind accompanied our open­ ing day. There was one compensation, the light was good. Several welcome returns to Senior League cricket were made. G. L. Dalton I skippered the Zingari in Claude Carter’s absence, and J. W . Budgen, j after four years’ absence in the Transvaal, came back to the W an­ derers’ fold. New blood showed up, too. B. Deane was top scorer for the Casuals, and H. Peacock displayed prom ise for Greyville. There are now seven teams in the Senior League, W anderers II. having received prom otion. This means a bye each week, and Escombes had the first. Wanderers met Zingari on the main ground at Lord’s, and ran up 264 for 6, declared. Three well-seasoned players in B. C. Cooley (78), J. W . Budgen (60), and G. H. W hyte (39) did best, and extras were increased by the gale to the big figure of 48. Zingari lost two good wickets (those of V. Robbins and H. Rachmann) in scoring 37 before stumps were drawn owing to the failure of the light. They missed Carter. H e and the other Natal men are expected on the 13th, in time for the match beginning on the 19th. And Zingari need a stumper ; the man they played to-day was outclassed. Several catches were dropped, owing to cold hands, Budgen and Cooley having lots of luck in this way. Greyville (minus Dave Nourse and C ox) m et Queen’s Park (lacking Taylor). They put up 137 (A. C. King 32), and Queen’s Park replied with 54 for 1. H. W . Chapman (4 for 35 and 29 so far) carried off the honours. N o bowler on either side hit the w ick e t! W anderers II. met Casuals at the A lbert Park Oval. Casuals ran up 117 (B. Deane 32), H. W ood taking 6 for 16 (4 clean bowled). The new senior team had lost 6 for 35 at call of time. There were several 6’s during the after­ noon, Cooley hitting two, Tuckett (Greyville), Easterbrook (W an­ derers), and Budgen one each. On M onday (a public holiday) a series of whole day matches will be played, and the games dealt with above will be finished next Saturday. Durban, Saturday , October 12, 1912. 1 will deal with the matches finished to-day before writing about those played on Monday. Wanderers got Zingari out for 189, and thus scored two points for a win on the first innings. R. Burne (48, retired hurt) was top scorer ; Kenneth Logan made 33. Going in again, the Wanderers lost 7 for 45, V. Tunmer (5 for 17) bowling in deadly form . The contrast between 264 for 6, declared, and 45 for 7 makes one think ; but of course the Wanderers were safe, and perhaps one need not take their second innings too seriously. Queen’s Park beat Greyville, H. W . Chapman carrying his score to 54, and A. J. R isley making 46. L. R . Tuckett (6 for 60) bowled well for the losers, who lost 3 wickets for 45 in a second innings. Casuals easily accounted for Wanderers IT., whose first innings realised only 39. Going in again, Casuals declared at 45 for 5, and got out their opponents for 89 (S. Scott 31, E. W . Granger 26). H arry W ood bowled really well for the losers (11 for 34 in the match), and for the winners, P. Beningfield (7 for 26), L. V. Collins, V. Lumsden, and E. Grice shared the honours. W hole-day matches on public holidays are not appreciated by all cricketers, and I have heard a number of grumbles about the Asso­ ciation’s new policy. But with seven senior teams the fixtures could not be worked off without utilising these days. M onday’s play was not without its surprises. Escom bes (without K arl Siedle and George C ox) gained a fine victory over the Casuals (205 to 194) in a match of biggish scoring. Tw o recruits contributed largely to their total of 205, H. Gold, a Maritzburg College b oy last season, and A. B. Chase, prom oted from the junior ranks. They put on 81 for the eighth wicket. Basil Siedle, Dr. Drumm ond (a new arrival from Scotland), and H . G. Deane also made useful scores. Collins hit hard for his 52 in the losers’ innings. Wanderers II. did a good performance in making a tie on the first innings with Queen’s Park. Scoring in this match ruled low, Queen’s Park, 104 and 93 for 6, declared ; Wanderers 11., 104 and 6 for 20. A. J. Risley (36 and 22) and H. J. W ood (46, first innings of W anderers) were the only bats­ men who did much. Tom Cradock (6 for 47), H. W . Chapman (5 for 28), and Casey (5 for 43) bowled very effectively. Greyville (171 and 6 for none) beat Zingari (96 and 78) by 10 wickets. A. C. King, top scorer with 30 and chief bowler with 8 for 29, did great work for the winners. V. C. Robbins, with 31 in the first innings, was the only man to play an innings of 20 for the Zingari. This afternoon I went down to the docks to meet the Kildonan Castle. Cricketers had assembled there in goodly number to meet D ave Nourse, H erby Taylor, and Joe Cox, not forgetting George Cox, whom we were all pleased to see back again. As the boat slowed up I saw Nourse’s big hand outstretched like a railway signal, and was able to locate the cricketers at once. Y ou can’t mistake D ave’s fis t ! I got a few minutes’ chat with each of the men. A ll com ­ plained bitterly of the terrible weather experienced. Here in Natal we have alm ost forgotten what rain looks like. Gordon W hite was also on the boat, and looked very fit, like the rest. They say there has been no sun worth speaking of, but all are tanned— from the voyage, according to their account. Joe Cox was sporting a m onocle ; but I don’t think he stands in any real need of it. F r e d e r ic k S e t a y .