Cricket 1912

598 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. Dec. 14, 1912. Bombay’ s Young Cricketers. On another page will be found portrait groups of the St. X a vier’s College X I. of B om bay, which w on the Lord N orthcote College Chal­ lenge Shield for 1912, and of the F ort and Proprietary H igh School X I., winners of the Lord Harris School Challenge Shield. B oth sides were exceptionally strong, I am told, and numbered in their ranks several players likely to play a big part in upholding the standard of Parsi cricket in the near future. In fa ct some of them have already won their spurs in unm istakable fashion. The College Shield dates from 1899, when Lord N orthcote was Governor of B om bay. The Elphinstone College have won it five tim es, the St. X avier College thrice, the Medical College of B om bay twice, the W ilson College of B om bay, the Fergusson College of Poona, and the Science College of Poona each once, so that the honours have gone round pretty well. St. X avier’s, this year’s winners, were always last in the com ­ petition till 1908, and the prom inent position they have achieved since then is due largely to the zeal and hard work of their honorary coach and instructor, J. S. W arden. W inning the Shield in 1908 and 1909, they were withdrawn from the com petition in 1910, owing to an umpiring dispute, failed to win in 1911 (when W arden was in E ng­ land ), but came to the front again this year, when they defeated the Elphinstone, the M edical and the Diocesan (Poona) Colleges in suc­ cession. D river was their crack b a t ; he made 138* in one innings. D ongri, Parukh, K um ana and Wradia also did very w e ll; but on the scores of the three shield matches the team must be reckoned to have rather a long tail, for seven players only totalled 84 runs am ong them . One of these, however, Desai, took 25 wickets for 130, and the man who can do this sort of thing does not need to score heavily. The Lord Harris School Shield dates back som ewhat farther— to 1896. A t first the N ew H igh School (at which K . M. M istriand D. E. M ody were educated) seemed to have a lien upon i t ; but of late years honours have been divided. The F ort and Proprietary (an amalgam ation of tw o form er schools) beat the B yram ji Jeejibhoy Institute in the final this year (Septem ber 25 and 26) by no fewer than 171 runs. J. S. Sanjana scored 117 for once out (62* and 55) for them ; S. D. Cooper made 50 in his second innings ; and H. V a z ifd a r(ll wickets) and D. F. K athoke (8) seem to have bowled uncharged through both innings of the losers. --------------------------- -------------------------------------- Cricket in South Africa. Johannesburg, November 15, 1912. W e are told that South African cricket cannot hope to live with the best which England and Australia can produce until we discard our matting wickets and substitute turf ones. This m ay or m ay not be true ; but one thing at least is very certain : the day of universal grass wickets in South A frica will never dawn. Under present meteorological and physical conditions they are an impossibility in the high veldt centres. B y dint o f unrem itting care and great expense they could be adopted on and near the coast, where the rain­ fall is more equably distributed throughout the year, but even in such cases both soil and seed would have to be imported. Inland, no grass suitable for cricket would live through our droughts. “ W ater it,” you say. Y es ! water it by all means— when you have the water ; but a long drought means a water famine, and neither municipal authorities nor the non-cricketing public would tolerate the “ wasting ” of hundreds o f gallons o f the precious fluid for the sake o f sport. A t such times as the present (these periods of scarcity are annual events) there is barely sufficient water to m eet necesrary requirements. Johannesburg feels the pinch, and though we are better supplied than the m ajority of inland towns, such luxuries as the watering o f streets and gardens cannot be indulged in, and the result is— d u s t! D u s t! H obbs paints a graphic picture of dust-storm s in Australia ; but no proud Johannesburger will adm it that any town in the world can beat us in this, our own particular specialty ! Here cricket and dust appear inseparable, especially during the opening months of the season. Y ou have all read descriptions of the W an­ derers’ ground, with its red sandstone surface. W ell, when the wind blows this surface rises up and smites one in the face ; it fills one s m outh and nostrils, it lodges in one’s teeth, one’s eyes and one's ears ; n ot a pore of one’s skin is immune from its savage onslaught. Y e t we enjoy our s p o r t! This is the season of whirlwinds. Passing near the W anderers’ ground the other day, I was fortunate enough to see it in the throes of one of these phenomena whilst the atm osphere around me was as still as on the calm est summer evening in England. A bove the fam ­ ous gum-trees a dense circular mass of dust and debris rose towering to the skies, as though a leviathan chim ney was belching forth red smoke. Hundreds of feet it rose, and then m ajestically (like an evil genie from The Arabian Nights) it sailed slow ly across the grounds, devouring and whirling upwards, drawing everything light and m ovable in its wake. H igh up in the sky, caught b y currents of air, it spread fan-wise— a ruddy canopy shrouding the blue heavens. It is a fine sight to view such a spectacle from afar ; but when, as happened to me and m any others last Saturday, you are caught in the vortex the effect is a trifle differen t! Dust-storm s and whirl­ winds made cricket a m isery to play or to watch ; indeed at times they reduced it to an impossibility ; for each of the senior games com pleted that day was interrupted for a spell whilst umpires, players, and spectators sought shelter. These are conditions unknown to the devotee of the game in England, and he can bless his luck therefor ! Despite the dust some very remarkable cricket was witnessed on the Rand last Saturday. I could even say enjoyed, for towards evening, when the crises arrived, the elements had relented and the games were allow ed to be finished in peace. At the Wanderers, within a stone’s throw of one another, two m ost sensational matches were contested. The W anderers A on the main ground entertained Germiston Callies, a club not held particu­ larly strong. On the opening Saturday the Callies were dismissed for 224, of which no fewer than fifty were extras ; not a very striking testim ony to M. J. Susskind's wicket-keeping form ! In reply the Wanderers A had collected 91 for the loss of J. W . Zulch when the game was adjourned. On such a run-getting wicket as the Wanderers, 134 to get with nine wickets in hand seemed a mere bagatelle, especially as the bat­ ting side possessed two such giants (literally as well as m etaphoric­ ally) as J. H. Sinclair and M. J. Susskind, n ot to m ention other com petent craftsm en with the bat. A ctually this 134 proved a m ost difficult m atter, for the eighth wicket fell at 159, and 66 were still required with no one but tail-enders left to hold the fort. C. D. D ixon (21) and H. O. Y ates (34) proved themselves men good at need, and increased the total to 215, when Y ates was caught. Many things m ight have happened when the last pair were togeth er; but the fielding side appeared overawed b y the occasion, and allowed chances of catching and running out to go a-begging, with the result that the W anderers A pulled off the game, and had 4 runs to spare when the end came. This was a finish appreciated by the spectators. Such a close tussle once or twice a season is as much as the most exacting onlooker has a right to e x p e ct; but when he is provided with two such on the one afternoon he has something to talk about until he reaches the sere and yellow age when his reminiscences becom e a bit distorted, and are regarded as rather a nuisance b y his grandchildren. Most of the spectators who had seen the W anderers A win crossed over to the Pirates ground (within the Wanderers’ area), where even greater thrills were in store for them. H ere the Pirates were at home to the Village Main Reef. A t this stage it will be advisable to explain that the Pirates, even without their internationals in the persons of G. C. W hite (now retired), L. A. Strieker and R . Beaum ont, are considered one of our strongest sides. The V .M .R ., on the other hand, are newcom ers to the league, and though they drew their first two matches (against the tw o W an­ derers’ elevens) they had not greatly impressed the critics ; indeed, at the outset they had been described as not being strong enough for the second league, but subsequently this was generally acknowledged as too harsh a judgm ent. The Pirates, batting first, scored 235, and at the close of the opening day the V .M .R . had 67 for 1 wicket to their credit. Their ninth wicket, however, fell at 181, so that the last pair were set the seemingly alm ost impossible task of adding 55 to win. T. Rees (31) and “ sk ip p er” M. M. Trevarthen (22*) comm enced their difficult task in the m ost resolute fashion. They went for the b ow lin g; and before the Pirates realised the actual state of affairs they were in the direst jeopardy. W hether it was the sudden awakening to danger it is impossible to say ; but their field­ ing, which had hitherto been splendid, fell to pieces, and runs which should have been easily saved were given away. Result— the V .M .R won by a single ! The last wicket fell to the ball follow ing the winning hit.