Cricket 1912

D bc . 14, 1912. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 593 by no means to be despised, and has at least three centuries to his credit, the last made only a few m onths ago. 1897— 100, for New Jersey A.C. v. Staten Island A.C. 1901— 106*, for Knickerbocker A.C. v. SS. Etruria. 1912— 119, for New York Veterans v Philadelphia Veterans. A part from his qualities as a player, F. F. K . has other claims to the esteem of Am erican cricketers. For many years he has laboured hard in various official capacities for clubs and leagues; and no other man has done half'as much as he to preserve the records of Am erican (not merely N ew Y ork) cricket. H e is now^the Editor of the “ Official Guide,” which Messrs. Spalding publish, a con­ tinuation of the old “ Am erican Cricketers’ A nnual,” on fuller lines. T o me personally he has been endlessly helpful. It is not the easy task that some people m ay imagine it to gather cricket news from the scattered pitches of a continent. T o the keenness and kindness of m y good friend in Manhattan, I owe much of the news of American cricket that appears in m y paper. “ I am sending you under separate cover ” this and that, he writes from tim e to time ; and this and that duly turn up, making me grateful anew. N or is this all. He M e s s r s . M . R . C O B B a n d F . F. K E L L Y . persuaded a .New Y ork news agency to stock the paper. Going into their emporium (“ shop ” isn’t American, you know), he enquired for it, and saw a cop y taken from a shelf. Prom ptly, firmly, and (w ithout doubt) politely, he insisted upon C r ic k e t being displayed on the counter (I don’t know the American for counter). G ood ! M. R . Cobb may have been in America before 1889 ; I cannot say with certainty, as the first issue of the “ Annual ” deals with the cricket of that year, and I have no club records before it. He was there then, anyway, and for the Manhattan C.C. averaged over 30 per innings, and took 32 wickets at 5-46 each. His batting averages in Metropolitan District League games in 1890 was 45 (10— 4— 270), and his 47 wickets cost under 4 runs each. In 1892, when he played for the Berkeley club, he made 644 runs in 19 com ­ pleted innings, and took 94 wickets at under 6 each. In 1893, for the New Jersey A.C., he took over 100 wickets— 116 at 4-69 each, to be exact— and scored about 900 runs with an average of well over 40 ; and in the following season he totalled 682 in 16 com pleted innings, and had 86 wickets at 7 71 each. For three or four seasons after this, though doing well, he was not quite so prom inent. B ut in 1899 he had the fine figures of 54 per innings (over 800 runs) and 63 wickets at 11-50 for the Knickerbocker A.C. ; and in all matches that season he totalled 1,006 runs, with an average of 47-90. In 1901 he headed the bowling, and in 1902 the batting averages of the M etropolitan D istrict League (31 wickets at exactly 5 runs each— 10 innings, 5 not out, 420 runs, average 84, his figures). Thereafter for a time he played less cricket, and was scarcely as successful; but during the last two or three seasons he has got back much of his old form , and is evidently by no means a “ has been ” yet. H e captained the Fifteen of New Y ork which met the Australian team in October ; and indeed his name has been almost as rarely missing as F. F. K elly’s from New Y ork sides against English, Australian, and Irish teams during the last two decades. Here are the figures of the pair in these games :— Inns. N.O. R. A. H.S. Balls. R. W. A. M. R. Cobb .. 18 2 327 20.43 77 .. 1680 887 44 20.15 F. F. Kelly .. 18 11378.17 29 .. 1457 800 45 17.77 Each played in 11 matches. These figures m ight n otbereck­ oned in any way remarkable if they were those of tw o menplaying regular first-class cricket in England ; but I think that for players who have so seldom had a chance in the best com pany, and spread ovor so long a period, they are really noteworthy. I believe the following to be a com plete list of Cobb’s centuries :— 1893— 163, for New Jersey A.C. v. Harlem. 126*, for New Jersey A.C. v. Elizabeth. 1894— 127*, for New Jersey A.C. v. Staten Island A.C. 105*, for New Jersey A.C. v. New York. 1895— 107*, for New Jersey A.C. v. St. George’s A.C. 1897— 129, for New Jersey A.C. v. Manhattan. 1899— 124, for Knickerbocker A.C. v. Staten Island A.C. 114, for Knickerbocker A.C. v. Germantown. 1902— 103*, for Livingstone Field Club v. Manhattan. 110*, for Livingstone Field Club v. Nelson Lodge. 1910— 101*, for Staten Island A.C. v. Bellevue. 1912— 123*, for Staten Island A.C. v. Crescent Athletic. J. N. P. ------------------------------ ■ A Chat about Mr. J. S. Warden. In the very front rank of Parsi cricketers to-day— possibly, after his great deeds in the recent matches at Poona and B om bay, to be reckoned first in that rank— is Jehangir Sorabji W arden, who was born at B om bay on January 13, 1885. The Parsis do not appear to age as quickly as some of the races of H industan ; at 39 K . M. Mistri is still a fine player, and Dr. M. E. Pavri, “ the noblest R om an of them all,” has been playing good cricket for over a quarter of a cen tu ry; so that one m ay confidently look forward to Warden continuing the game for years to com e. His keenness is beyond question. He was educated at the B om bay H igh S ch o o l; but, though he made a name there as a cricketer, he did not, like K . M. Mistri, D. E. Mody, and a few others, pass straight from the school ranks into the representative Parsi eleven. H e was over tw enty when the honour of representing his race in a big match first came to him. This was against the Presidency at Poona in 1905, and he had no mean share in the biggest victory ever won by a Parsi side. The totals were : Parsis, 503 (H. D. Kanga, 233) ; Presidency, 137 and 140. W arden went in last, as he has frequently done, and his work was with the ball. Five for 46 and four for 50— good enough for a c o lt ! U p to the time when he came to England with the A ll India Team his performances of note in big matches were all in the bowling line, though in club cricket he made a good m any runs. A representative cricketer, however, must necessarily be judged m ainly on his form in representative matches ; and until 1911 Warden, who had never made a century in any game, by the way, was reckoned am ong the crack Parsis as a bowler, and was chosen for the A ll India Team as such. H e had earned his place. Am ong his best performances had been 7 for 26 v. the Hindus in 1907, 11 for 86 v. the Presidency at Poona in 1908, and 8 for 79 v. the H indus in 1909. H e is slow left hand, with a big break and plenty of artifice. His height— over six feet— does not perhaps give any great assistance to a bowler of his pace ; but in his new role as a forcing batsman it counts heavily. Going in No. 8, he made 33 in his first match in England v. Oxford University, tho Maharajah of Patiala, Salamuddin, Balu, and he, all playing up pluckily after the cracks had failed in disastrous fashion, and from 5 for 37 taking the total to 193. In the first innings of South Wales he took 5 for 58. Against M.C.C. he made 38 in his first innings. The fourth match found him prom oted to first wicket down, but he did little in it. Indeed, for some time thereafter, though not an absolute failure, he did not perform at all notably, 6 for 41 in the Staffordshire match being his best feat. B ut, again in first wicket down against Northants, in the tenth match, he scored 34 and 31, tying with Dr. Kanga for highest aggregate ; and in the eleventh, sent in first against Yorkshire, his 47 and 26 was the best total for his side. He had now becom e recognised as one o f its chief