Cricket 1912

600 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. D ec . 14, 1912. Durban , Saturday, October 26, 1912. T he m atches begun last week were continued to-d ay in bad light and (a wretched, drizzling rain ; and there was som e sensational cricket in all three of them . A t L ord’s G reyville’s last wicket added only three ru n *; and then the W anderers lost 5 wickets for 7 ! N ourse and Joe Cox were the bowlers, and at this stage the latter had taken 3 for 3. K en Thom son and J. W . Budgen— both old enough to know better— were am ong the slain. Thom son was beautifully snapped at the w icket b y N icol off N ourse, and Budgen yorked by Cox. Then Cecil Sm ith and P ercy W hite made a gallant stand. The last five wickets actually added 130. Smith was responsible for 76 of these ; he hit well all round the wickets, and registered nine 4’s. H e and E. H. E asterbrook, a brother of the bowler, gave G reyville a bit of a fright in adding 39 for the ninth w ick e t; but after all the crack team pulled off the game by 20 runs. E asterbrook’s 28 n ot out was excellent value. Joe Cox had 6 for 48. Greyville, going in again, made 67 for 2 (L. Field 21*). There was a big surprise in the other match at L ord’s. Queen’s Park declared at their last week’s total of 247 for 6— and were beaten ! T w o of the Casuals’ best— A cutt and Johnstone— left with only 4 on the board ; but those who follow ed mastered the bowling. V. Deane (39) and J. Beningfield (36) added 65 for the third w ick et; P. de Gersigny (83*) and P. Beningfield (53) put on 94 for the fifth ; and after that M. C. Jacobs, a newcom er, helped de Gersigny to knock off the 52 still needed. D e Gersigny gave a chance at 22, but hit well, and deserves a lot of credit. H is score included a 6, eight 4’s, and sixteen 2’s. T aylor could only get one w icket, and the bowling was m ost effectively collared. W anderers II., at the A lbert Park Oval, finished their innings for 138. Then the Escom bes went in for som e biggish scoring, knocking up 265 for 8. Basil Siedle (82) and R. M orton (85) were the chief contributors ; G. P. Macfarlane (31) and Karl Siedle (22) also batted well. Fletcher’s 4 for 64 in such a total represented good work at the crease. Escom bes are now the only undefeated team in the League ; it remains to be seen how long they can keep the honour. Durban , Saturday , November 16, 1912. Zingari had the shadow y honour of “ a m oral victory ” in the first match played in the Maritzburg Senior League (O ctober 26). T hey could only make 114 (J. R oxburgh 26,* R . M axwell 2 4 ); but then so well did R . H. Blake and F. Caulfield (the latter a m ember of Durban Zingari last season) bow l that the cracks had 9 out fo r 55 at call of time, G. H. C ook’s 25 being the only double figure score. F ive fo r 18 were B lake’s figures, 4 fo r 7 his coadju tor’s. A. Hair had 5 fo r 39 for M.C.C. Maritzburg opinion is that Standard (reinforced by Dudley Pearse, | late of the Maritzburg C.C.) is the strongest team this season, and ; they have certainly begun well by beating the Zingari (on N ovem ber 9) i b y 69 runs on the first innings. E. B. Morris (69) and E. A rbuthnot (56*) were chief contributors to the winners’ total of 229, L. Randles, C. Harrison and D. K . Pearse all scoring over 20, too. Blake and Caulfield took 3 wickets each, but were expensive this time, as was Samuelson, who shared the distinction of top score (24) for Zingari with T. W orthington. Harrison (5 fo r 33) bowled with great effect for Standard ; but som ething was amiss with the wicket-keeping— 35 extras in a total of 160 ! Escom bes were last season’s wooden spoonists in the Durban lea gu e ; but up to last Saturday they head the list this season, with 6 points in three matches. Casuals have taken 5 in the same num ­ ber, and so have Greyville, and Queen's Park 5 in four. The story that has got about as to George C ox's services being declined by W an ­ derers II. has no foundation in fact. That club was never offered them . N o club was offered them. The m atter was still being con ­ sidered when Escom bes (who had the Sussex m an’s help last year) put in an application, and got what they wanted. It is said that the Cricket Union scarcely suspected the batting strength of the Escombes (who have had reinforcem ents this season, while some of their young players are com ing on finely), or possibly a different arrangement m ight have been made. The Escombes did rem arkably well in defeating the Wanderers (a veteran team ) by 84 runs on the first innings— 142 (G. M. Foster 41*, G. R . Cox 39) to 58 and 133 fo r 6 (C. A. Sm ith 36, C. D. Saville 35, B. E. Burne 25). C ox's 6 for 18 was a big contributing factor, of course. J. W . E asterbrook again bow led finely for the Wanderers. H e had 7 for 34 ; and at one stage his figures were 9 overs, 5 maidens, 7 runs, 3 wickets. Percy W hyte's fine fielding fo r the losers was an outstanding feature of the play ; he saved lots of runs for his side. Claude Carter captained Zingari v. Queen’s Park, and won the i toss to his com rade of the English tour, H erbert Taylor. Zingari : ran up 178 (one man absent). “ Bosw a ” D alton (only just ou t of I hospital) top-scored with 49 ; the skipper made 31, M. C. Dawber 30. T aylor and H . W . Chapman again m ade a fln» start fo r Queen’* Park. | They sent up 75 before the latter was out fo r 33. T aylor made 38. T hey seemed to have broken the back of the bowling, fo r J. W . H ow den (63*) and P. C. Lilburn (32*) hit it about freely. This is H ow den’s first fifty in Senior League Cricket. Carter had three wickets, but at heavy cost. There was no third match, for the A lbert Park Oval was in use fo r the Indian Sports, and at L ord’s Main Ground the Natal Championship Sports were under way. B oth the matches decided on N ovem ber 2 and 9 were interfered with by rain, and during the last tw o days we have had the heaviest rain fo r some m onths, so that the outlook fo r the games which should be started to-day is scarcely promising. F r e d e r ic k S e t a y . ---- ■ •g'g'3-*---------------------------- Men of the Moment in London Club Cricket. B y “ S u re C a tc h .” I am pleased to be able to give hereunder a photo of John L ock­ ton, the young H onor Oak crack, who (it is said) m ay next year play for Surrey. H e is undoubtedly right up to county form . More­ over, he is an Association footballer of mark, and in the running for an amateur international cap. A W o n d er fu l R e co rd . L ockton had a really wonderful season. H e joined H onor Oak the year before last, when he left Dulw ich fo r University College, where he is now studying. Tried in the first as well as the second J. H. LOCKTON (Honor Oak C.C.). I team in 1910, he did very fairly ; but in 1911 he took a big stride fo r­ ward, with a batting average of 33 for 21 innings, and 57 wickets at 14-7 each. In 1912 (on much slower wickets) he averaged 35-4 for 22 innings, and had 90 wickets at 9*07 each. H aving plenty of spare time after the m iddle of July, he played a lot of m id-week cricket, and put up some splendid performances. Here are some of his figures for H onor Oak : v. Ilford, 51 and 5 for 47 ; v. G. Brierley’s X L , 95 and 7 for 52 ; v. Albemarle and Friern Barnet, 79 and 7 for 43 ; v. Catford, 45 and |4 for 18 ; and v. Paddington, 106 and 4 or 19. For Mr. D riscoll s X I. v. B exley H eath he scored 74, and took all 10 wickets. Against a strong Surrey C. and G. team he had 6 fo r 66. H e was asked to play for the Club and Ground during the next week, but had no chance of distinction. L ockto n ' s “ C r ic k e t C h a r a c te r .” A fast medium bowler. Takes a fairly long and jum py sort of run. Makes quite a fast ball nip back f rom the off surprisingly. Has