Cricket 1912

574 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Nov. 16, 1912. partly retrieved when we put out a strong batting side for 127, our slow leg break bowler, who is convinced he bowls “ googlies,” getting 7 wickets for 54. The various m embers o f the hom e team hospitably put us up for the night, and a dance was given in honour of the occasion. A s there was no m atch the next day, n obody had any scruples abou t retiring some tim e after 4 a.m . In the m orning, the m ajority of the team elected to walk hom e to their cam p along the cliffs, and they were well repaid for their energy. Those who have never sat on the top of Golden Cap on a perfect summer day, and looked ou t over the Channel, (500 feet below, need not trouble abou t going to Naples and then dying. Golden Cap and the British Channel are good enough ! A t lunch the walkers | descended, en masse, on a roadside “ pub,” but could only obtain a cake, fresh from the oven— and beer. It was noted at tea afterwards that cover-point took a gloom y view of life and retired early to bed ! ! The remaining tw o m atches that week both resulted in victories. The initial m atch o f the second week provided the most amusing i game of the tour. W e journeyed by brake to what m ust be the m ost inaccessible village in the county, with the worst wicket in the country. The village lies in a pit shut in on all sides b y hills, and it is on the slope of one of these that the wicket is pitched. On account i o f the actual pitch being slightly banked up, it is im possible for those , near the wickets to see what is going on dow n the hill, and local i etiquette dem ands that the fieldsman should shout when the ball reaches the boundary in order to save the batsm en unnecessary running ! H aving the good fortune to win the toss, we took first knock, and in spite of frequent stoppages for cow s to be chivvied from in front of the screen, had not m uch difficulty in running up about 200. The hom e side's innings started somewhat sensationally. Our fast bow ler pitched his first ball very short— and it went clean out of bounds for what our opponents claim ed as six byes. W e feel sure this must establish a record for any ground. On settling dow n to business, we ran out winners by some 150 runs. Although we extracted a good deal of amusement from this game, it is only fair to take this opportunity of paying tribute to a village that has the pluck to run a club under such great disadvantages. Of the remaining three matches, tw o were won and one lost, giving the campers a record of six wins to tw o losses, which may be considered quite respectable, as we never knew what opposition to be prepared for. The afternoon of the final Sunday we devoted to preparing and giving a tea party to our numerous new friends. Throughout the tour we were treated with the utm ost hospitality, and everybody we m et seemed taken with our novel idea and showed the keenest interest in i t ; even the Clerk of the W eather was so staggered at being w antonly defied that he left us in com parative peace. In these circum stances it is not surprising that all our party are bound by oath to tw o things— to repeat the experim ent next year, | and to keep the exact whereabouts a close secret. This latter, we freely adm it, is pure selfishness ! E. D. W a r d . A Chat about Mr. M. D. Pai. W hile several m embers of the A ll-Indian Team of 1912— notably Balu, Shivram , Warden, M eherhom ji, and Kanga— did really good work, the side as a whole failed to realise expectations. Som e of its players of whom much was hoped were particularly disappointing. But the conditions of cricket in India and cricket in England are markedly different, and there were other causes which must be taken into account. Some of the H indu players were handi­ capped by a feeling that they were scarcely getting a fair chance— ' E. H. I). Sewell at the time expressed strongly his conviction that Jayaram should have been played oftener— and they had a difficulty in getting the food to which they were accustom ed at home. This latter cause rendered M. I). Pai, on his Indian form really one of the best batsmen on the side, quite unfit at times, and he never really got going as a batsman, though he did good service in the field. Mukund D am odar Pai was born at B om bay on July 29, 1883, of the Saraswat caste. H e began to play cricket at the age of nine, and when only thirteen ran up 134 in a school match. Leaving school, he joined the Y ou ng H indu C.C., and for some years was both captain and secretary of that organisation. During this time his team won victories over the Parsi Gymkhana, with the famous Dr. M. E. Pavri in comm and, the Elphinstone H igh School, and other strong sides. At the age of twenty Pai was elected a member of the H indu Gymkhana, and in his first match for it made 107 v. Elphinstone High School. In that season— 1902— he averaged 45 per innings for the Gymkhana. H e was reserve man for the H indu side against the O xford University A uthentics; but many con ­ sidered that he should have had a place in the team. In 1903 there was already talk of an A ll Indian Team to England. Indeed, matters went so far that trial matches were played. Aligarh College, the crack Mohammedan school, cam e to B om bay, and Pai hit up 150 against them— his highest innings to date. Ever since 1892 annual matches have been played between the B om bay Presidency and the Parsis. Fourteen years after the establishment of this series of games, matches between the Presidency and the Hindus were instituted. The first, of these was in February, 1900. Pai did not play in it, though Balu, Shivram , and Seshachari, of the 1911 team, all appeared. B ut he played in the second game, a year later, and shared with Balu the honours of the match. He contributed a fine 107 to the first innings’ total of 194, and in the second, when nine cf the team made doubles, was second highest Mr. M. D . P A I (A ll India Team). scorer with 44. Balu scored 04 for once out, and took 13 wickets for 101 ; and it was mainly the work of these tw o men which gave the Hindus a notable victory by 238 runs. This led to the Triangular (now Quadrangular) Tournament at B om bay, first played in August, 1907. The H indus have not quite [ equalled the Parsis’ performances in these matches ; but they have ! done well in them. As will be seen from the score already given, Pai was playing in the last tournament. H e has not accomplished |anything very big in these tournam ent games as y e t : but his career is not yet closed, and he is beyond all doubt an infinitely better batsman than his absurdly poor record in the United Kingdom made him out to be. He was one of the men earliest selected for the A ll Indian Team , a fact significant in itself. In club cricket he has made fourteen or fifteen centuries. His batting is free and stylish, and he is an exceptionally good field in the slips. —(T^*- S o m e r s e t w ill h ave to find a new captain n ex t season, for J oh n D aniell finds him self unable to con tinu e in office. S o few o f the co u n ty ’s am ateurs play regularly that it m ay n ot be easy j to till the nost