Cricket 1912

D ec . 14, 1912. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 595 Overseas Cricket. A U S T R A L IA . The tour of the W estern Australia team caused big matches to begin earlier than usual down under. Perhaps the men from the west would have done better to wait until a trifle later in the season. They came away without any practice, started their match with South Australia when only two days off the boat, and took an awful hiding. The wicket was too fast for them ; in their first innings they could do nothing at all against John Crawford, and in their second, though they played up very well against a hopeless deficit— they went in to make 612 to win !— R . B. R ees, who bowls the googly, and Crawford disposed of them for a m oderate total. South Australia lacked Mayne, Dolling, W hitty, W ebster, R oy Hill and Solly H ill (the last-named is in the team chosen to play for N .S.W . v. W est Australia, being now in S y d n e y ); but they had the m ighty Clem H ill, the dashing A lgy Gehrs, the versatile Crawford, R . B. Rees, G. C. Campbell (whom W ebster displaced as wicket­ keeper), two men who have been tried before in L. E. H oward and W . Stirling, and four colts in L. N. Gooden (a m ember of a fam ous cricket fam ily), A . G. Moyes (not yet 20), Stanley Leak (also belonging to a cricket clan), and E. Kitson. Three centuries were made for S.A. That of Gehrs was a wonderful innings. In tw enty minutes after lunch he added 60 runs, and his 119 (which is his fifth century against Westralian bow l­ ing) was made in an hour, m ainly b y the m ost daring’and accurate pulling. Moyes made his 104 at the rate of a run a minute by all­ round play, cutting particularly well. Gooden’s 102 was the result of sound cricket, and this young player has a particularly nice late cut. Leak and K itson both showed considerable promise for smaller scores; but neither H oward nor Stirling is quite the bowler S.A. needs— especially if W hitty goes back to Sydney, as it is said he may do, and H azlitt does n ot com e along, and H azlitt’s father-in-law says he isn’t com ing. H ow ard has not pace enough for a fast bowler, and Stirling lacks the artifice so necessary to a slow bowler on Australian wickets. Edm ondson, the manager, played best for the losers ; Evers went in for lusty smacking, and R ow e shaped very nicely. Christian and W . H ogue also perform ed creditably ; but H oward and T. H ogue were failures. The score of the match will be found on another page. From Adelaide the Westralians went on to Melbourne, where the team they m et included W arwick Armstrong, Vernon Ransford and E. V. Carroll. The last-named was regarded as a possible com ing international a few years ago, but fell away, and dropped out of the Victorian team. The full score of the match is not yet to hand, but on the first day W estralia scored 154 (Randell, who did not play at Adelaide, 61), and Victoria replied with 187 for 4 (Seitz, the old Oxonian, 63, R yder 56*, Carroll 54). Facy, the ex-Tasmanian, took 5 for 40. As Trumper, Carter and Cotter are all down to play for N .S.W ., and as Armstrong, Ransford and H ill have already turned out, the threat of the famous six to retire from the game altogether evidently was not meant very seriously. In the Score-B ook will be found summaries of the principal matches in'the Australian capitals. T o give full scores would take up several pages ; but the summaries show the leading features of each game, and I think will be appreciated by those of m y readers who are interested in colonial cricket. Centuries recorded to date (om itting those in which the innings was incomplete) have been :— Oct. 5— H. Cooper, 110, N. Sydney v. Central Cumberland. ,,5— W. V. Hayes, 157,* S. Brisbane v. Woolloongabba IT. ,, 5---. O’Connor, 126,* S. Brisbane v. Woolloongabba II. ,, 12— S. Moore, 205, N. Sydney v. Petersham. ,, 12— D. A. Gee, 114, Middle Harbor v. Waverley. ,, 12— R. Errington, 113, Collingwood v. Melbourne. ,, 12— E. V. Carroll, 124, E. Melbourne v. Northcote. ,, 12— P. W. Zschorn, 113, Sturt v. Port Adelaide ,, 12— E. Kitson, 105, Adelaide v. University. ,, 19—J. S. Taylor, 127,* Burwood v. Red fern (Sydney). ,, 19— J. C. Barnes, 100,* Redfern v. Burwood. ,, 19— V. T. Trumper, 118, Gordon v. Sydney District. ,, 19— S. Freeman, 110, Glebe v. Paddington. ,, 19— R. Norman, 108,* Glebe v. Paddington. ,, 26—C. Willis, 108, University v. Richmond (Melbourne). Nov. 2--------. Robinson, 100,* E. Perth “ A ” v. W. Perth “ A.” Kitson, of South Australia, lost two fingers of his right hand through a mishap with machinery some time ago ; but the loss does not appear to interfere with his grip or power. Tasmanian cricketers only got to work on October 19, when each of the senior matches at H obart produced a century, C. Robinson (North H obart v. W est H obart) and P. Payne (N ew Town v. South H obart) being the makers. B oth innings were incomplete, and there­ fore will be referred to again. Launceston cricketers, apparcntly, did not start till a week later. T H E A U S T R A L IA N S IN CANADA. W innipeg put fifteen into the field against the Australians— rather mistaken tactics, one thinks, for the acceptance of odds robbed the m atch of much of its importance, and did n ot prevent a defeat. D avid Smith could n ot play for the tourists, ow ing to his damaged knee, and two em ergency men were included. Am ong the W innipeg men were S. G. Langton, J. McFarlane, and J. G. M cIntosh, who played for Manitoba in the tournam ent at Calgary in August, W . L. Price, who bowled so well for Canada v. United States, and E. C. Laver, who has for years been one of the best all-round players in W innipeg. T. A. Felstead captained. One of the Australian em ergency men, R . Bingham , is evidently pretty useful; in 1911 he averaged 24-20, and took 58 wickets at 6-08 each for the W in­ nipeg W’anderers, of which club the other em ergency, H. H . Russell, is also a member. W hether either is an Australian— not knowing can’t say. The W innipeg men batted first in bitterly cold weather, and could do little with W hitty, Em ery and K ellew ay. Price made top score, shaping very well after a shaky start. F or the Australians Matthews and Mayne put up 54 for the first w ick e t; but there was little in the way of a stand after that, and all were out for 154. Dr. S. A. Smith, though tw o of his wickets were got by full pitches, bowled quite well. Langton and J. F. W . W right made 20 each in W innipeg’s second ; but again the Australian bowlers were too good for m ost of the batsmen. Mayne batted in good style in the second innings of his side, and was not out when the runs had been hit off ; but the game was continued after that, and he, W ebster, and Em eiy were all dismissed. It did not m atter much ; these odd matches simply cannot be taken seriously. A fact which British Columbia has not yet recognised, or she would not have played fifteen. W ith Frank Champain as captain, and other men of the calibre of Gilbert Curgenven (R epton and D erby­ shire), F. J. Peers (Charterhouse and Cambridgeshire), J. W . D . Y ork, F. A. Sparks, and J. H. Gillespie, it was scarcely worth while. The side lacked L. S. V. Y ork, a fine all-rounder, however. It did very well to start with, getting down five Australian wickets for 86. B ut then Em ery and Gregory became associated, hit the bowling all over the field, and added 212 runs for the sixth wicket, each topping the hundred. Some of the early batsmen on the local side could not look at Kelleway, who had Gillespie, Peers and Collison out in four balls. Then Curgenven and York, and later Curgenven and Brooke- Smith, made useful stands, and Champain, going in later than he should have done, showed some of his old time form for 21. T hir­ teen of the fourteen wickets were bowled, the last man breaking the seeming charm. At the end of the second day the Australians had run up 236 for 8, McLaren and W ebster being chief contributors. W ebster hit so hard to square-leg that he quite alarmed the umpire there, who backed farther and farther till he alm ost reached the boundary. On the third m orning the innings closed for 253. Edgar Mayne was absent after the first day, having received the sad news of his m other's death, and S. C. Thom pson, who fielded (particularly well, one gathers) for him, was allow ed to bat in his stead, a proceed­ ing scarcely in keeping with the rigour of the game. Going in to make 539 to win— but the days of miracles are over, they say— the B.C. fifteen collapsed for 94 before Emery and Matthews, only Sparks, Ism ay and Collison m aking double figures. Truly a disappointing show ; but it was practically the first big m atch British Columbia had ever played, and there can be no doubt that most of the men failed to show their true form . M oreover, the cricket season out west was long over, and doubtless they were short of practice. The Victoria Daily Times headed its report of the last day’s play “ A n Ignoble Finish to Cricket M atch,” began its account with a pretty little poetical quotation (from Harold Begbie), and— didn’t give the score. A fa c t ! I searched all through the paper, hoping to find it on another page ; but it was nowhere to be found. T ruly, cricket reporting in Canada needs bucking up ! H ere are the averages of the tour, for what they are worth. The only matches which could be taken at all seriously were those v. Philadelphia (2) and A ll Bermuda. In the other four games— at New Y ork, W innipeg and Victoria, and v. the Colts of Philadelphia— i the Australians’ opponents played m ore than eleven men.