Cricket 1912

D ec . 14, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 603 Club Cricket Notes and Jottings. A Devonshire correspondent kindly sends me the remarks about cricket at Sidm outh which follow . I believe the inform ation given will be of interest to a good many readers of these columns. “ T he cricket ground at Sidm outh ” (he writes) “ adjoins the esplanade. Its south side ends in an em battled wall, from the embrasures of which one can look down upon the beach. So near is the sea that a plunge could be indulged in between the innings. For half a century or more the ground has received the most careful attention ; its turf is the exquisitely fine turf of the west, and like the proverbial billiard table for smoothness. The light is glorious. Altogether the Sidm outh ground m ay be reckoned a batsman’s paradise. “ During the earlier part of the season, May to July that is, though some good men (Mr. J. F. Orchard, of D evon county, for instance) occasionally play, the cricket is only of ordinary country club strength. But in August the elevens are very strong indeed. Many well-known players com e down year after year, and two-day matches are played right through the month. The Incogs, and N ondescripts have a week each ; M.C.C., I Zingari, and other famous clubs pay frequent visits ; and the fashionable crowd which assembles provides a very picturesque scene. “ A ugust touring means heavy expense, as a rule. But in the earlier part of the season a week’s cricket at and near Sidmouth could be fixed up at a very reasonable cost. June is the most beautiful of the m onths in D evon ; but visitors are com paratively few then, and during June a team would be catered for on very modest terms at one of the less ornate hotels. Staying, say, from Saturday to the M onday week follow ing, they could drive every m orning through the loveliest scenery to grounds eight or ten miles distant, and need never once play ou t of sight of the sea. The grounds are all good, the elevens to be encountered of medium club strength. Such a holiday— in June— would give rare value for the m oney expended.” M y correspondent forwards me the 1912 Sidm outh averages. They are headed b y J. F. Orchard, with the big figures of 87*90— 16 innings, 6 not outs, 879 runs. F. Hargrave Carroll, another crack cou nty man, figures third (46-09). Glancing down the list, one notices the names of the R ev. E. B. Brutton, S. A. P. K itcat, the R ev. A . M. Sullivan, E. W . Mann, S. Brutton, G. W . R icketts, C. M. W ells, J. H. Hunt, and L. W . Bridges. The professional is Tate— I presume E. Tate, form erly of Hants— who averaged 41-60 with the bat, and took 68 wickets at 11-61 each. Percy G. Skilton, one of the L. and N .W .R .’s cricket cracks, was given an interesting notice in his other r61e of footballer in the Daily Chronicle of N ovem ber 12. “ The Star of Enfield ” — so went the heading. Only brief reference was made to Skilton’s cricket career, but there was a pretty full account of his footer. Though he played regularly for five seasons for Queen’s Park Rangers, and was offered the m aximum wage if he would sign on as a pro., Skilton stoutly refused. H e is evidently one of those good sportsmen who prefer to play their games for the gam e’s sake. G ood luck to all such ! W ith eleven wins and only four losses, Heathfield did well in 1912. The drawn games were, of course, largely due to weather influences. H. W . W eaver, E. G. R ead, G. Swift and A. H. Podmore were the side’s chief batsmen ; but it possessed run-getters down to very nearly the last man. T he old Surrey player, C. Mills, and ^F. M. Sw ancott did splendid work with the ball, and P. G. Davies and H. W . W eaver were also useful in the attack. H E A T H F IE L D C.C. : 1912. Matches played, 25 ; won , 11 ; lost, 4 ; drawn, 10. B atting . B owling . Inns. X.O,. R. A. H.S. O. R. W. A. Aitchison, G. ... 25 1 315 13-12 43 — — — — Davis, R. G.................. . 14 3 139 12-63 62 ! 79 335 20 16-75 Frost, J. K. ... 8 2 133 22-16 36* .. 40 195 4 48-75 Jackson, M. A. 22 0 216 9-81 31 — — — — Leleu, L. L................... ’. 11 1 109 10-90 27 33 133 7 19-OT Mills, C........................... . 14 6 95 11-87 31* .. . 388 1459 93 15-6J Payne, E....................... . 16 2 182 13-00 64 30 104 5 20-80 Podmore, A. H. . 21 2 365 19-21 75 — — — — Read, E. G................... . 21 1 571 28-55 107 — — — — Scott, S. R .................... . 12 3 129 14-33 35 .. — — — — Swancott, F. M. . 11 7 23 5-75 7 .. . 278 947 64 14-79 Swift, G. .............. . 21 5 358 22-37 62* .. — — — — Weaver, H. W. • 23 3 739 36-95 128* .. . 149 582 30 19-40 In all, the four teams which H onor Oak put into the field played 69 matches, winning 41, losing 18 and drawing 10. T he fourth team played only 3 matches, and lost 2 of them ; the other three, pretty regularly engaged through the season, all had a substantial margin of wins over losses. The first X I. was rich in all-round players. .1. H. Lockton, the old Alleynian, S. H. Anson, and A. R . Thorpe were among the leading batsmen as well as being three of^the four prin­ cipal bowlers ; and though G. A. Abel (a son of the fam ous R obert, I believe) was scarcely up to their standard as a batsman he made a useful number of runs. W . L. M iecznikowski had the highest aggre­ gate, and headed all save Lockton in the averages. The second X I. had a capital all-round man in T. H. Tarrant, goodbatsmen in F. T obitt, A. E. Garland, A. H . P ollock, F. G. Cutbush, T.Standring, and T. J. Gracey, besides H. A. Bates and W . Gracey, who, playing but seldom, had big figures, and several m ore than useful bowlers. A. Greenslade, who took 00 wickets (including all ten v. Ibis III.) for the third X I., ought to be worth looking after,and C. H. Joseph and P. A. H utton promise well as batsmen. HON O R O A K C.C. : 1912. First X I. : played, 27 ; won, 17 ; lost, 5 ; drew f>. Second XI. : played, 23; won, 13; lost, 7 ; diew, 3. Third X I. : played, i(»; won, 10 ; lost, 4 ; drew, 2. Fourth XI. : played, 3 ; won, 1 ; lost, 2. The averages which follow are for all matches; but thosemen who played for the first X I. only are distinguished by the sign (f). Abel, G. A.t Anson, S. H.f Barry, W. E. Bates, H. A. Blackwell, G. Brierley, G. Buckmaster, A. D Chapman, X. G. Cutbush, A. Cutbush, F. G. Daly, J. S. Dickason, S. J. Dickason, T. R .f Garland, A. E. Goodman, H. E. Gosheron, W. Gracey, T. J. Gracey, W. Greenslade, A. Greenslade, S. R. Hutton, P. A. Joseph, C. H. Kempton, A.f King, L. C.... Knight, R.f Lamb, C. W t Lee, A. Lockton, J. H.f Manaton, W. E. Marsh, H. ... Marsh, J. R. Meredith, A. N. Miecznikowski, W. L.f ... Ounsted, L. J. Peart, F. ... Pollock, A. H. Robinson, W. Rolfe, C. G. Russell, B. ... Spinney, W. S. Standring, T. Stanton, J. Tarrant, T. H. Thompson, J. A. Thompson, J. E. Thorpe, A R .f Tobitt, F. ... Vincent, T. Wood bridge, C. A Woodd, B. A. C. Worth, H. C.f Also batted (figures given are actual scores) : — Andrews, A., 2 ; Ashman, S., 0 ; Barton, C., 25-18-0* ; Boniface, C., 12 ; Breeds, L., 26-0 ; Brierley, G., jun., 4*-0 ; Brierley, W., 2* ; Brown, L. W., 2* ; Carter, B., 12 ; Cole, K. R., 4*-0-0; Goatly, G., 2*; Hadden, L., 2-0; Hall, H. I)., 5*-l* ; Hall, W., ll*-2* ; Hendren, J., 0 ; Hinchcliffe, J., 10; Jarrett, C., 1 ; Morris, J., 5 ; Nickels, A., 10 ; Parkhouse, F., 14 ; Peart, S., 0 ; Potter, S., 4 ; Sauer, F., 27-11 ; Slater, P. H., 30; Swain, A. E., 2-0; Thompson, F., 65; Wakfer, W. F., 2 ; Webber, A., 0 ; White, S. A., 4. Also bowled : — Bradley, W. M., 8 overs—47 runs—0 w icket; Hendren, J., 2-21-0 ; Peart, S., 2-5-0 ; Sauer, F., 5-12-6 ; Swain, A. E., 10-47-1; Thompson, F., 15-40-5. The prizes were won by J. H. Lockton (batting, first X I.), S. H . Anson (bowling, first X I.), F. T obitt (batting, second X I.), T. H. Tarrant (bowling, 2nd X I.), C. H . Joseph (batting, third X I.), and X. G. Chapman (bowling, third X I.). Their donors were Messrs. C. W . Lawder (2), J. G. R oberts (2), W . Gosheron, and J. C. Him ing. Nine centuries were scored for the club in all matches, H . A. Bates and W . L. Miecznikowski each making two. Four were scored for the first X I., five for the second. Inns. X.O B atting . . R. A. H.S. O. Bowi R. iING vv. A. ... 21 1 337 16-85 81* ... 109 336 33 10-18 ... 19 4 426 28-40 102* ... 209 550 66 8-33 22 4 165 9-16 37 26 112 3 37-33 !” 8 0 613 76-62 130 117 305 21 14-52 ... 15 2 133 10-23 37 9 45 3 15-00 ... 15 1 162 11-57 42 58 248 15 16-53 >. 13 1 53 4-41 13 3 13 0 — ... *23 4 141 7-42 40 153 414 45 9-20 9 0 88 9-77 31 134 516 24 21-50 ... 14 1 263 20-23 52 — — — — ... 10 3 126 18-00 63 — — — — ... 11 0 135 12-27 37 12 83 6 13-83 7 0 98 14-00 52 — — — — ... 18 3 418 27-86 106* ... — — — — B. 12 4 102 12-75 42* ... 50 160 11 14-54 4 0 24 6-00 8 — — — — ... 12 1 203 18-45 65 — — — _ ... 12 4 405 50.62 111 7 35 0 — ... 18 1 203 11-94 37 177 710 67 10-59 ... 12 1 38 3-45 8 131 463 26 17-80 ... 17 3 292 20-85 58 — — — — ... 20 3 302 17-76 45 — — — — ... 17 0 305 17-94 91 11 38 3 12-66 ... 7 2 39 7-80 10 5 22 3 7-33 4 0 69 17-25 30 21 70 2 35-00 ... 20 1 428 22-52 89 14 68 3 22-66 ... 17 4 177 13-61 30 6 23 1 23-00 22 2 708 35-40 106 285 817 90 9-07 !” 13 1 191 15-91 44* ... 62 260 18 14-44 ... 11 3 235 29-37 58* ... 3 18 0 — ... 11 1 41 4-10 7 104 416 38 10-94 15 0 190 12-66 42 10 24 2 12-00 ... 28 2 878 33-76 150 8 35 2 17-50 6 1 1*2 2-40 5 — — — — ... 13 2 105 9-54 42 — — — — ... 24 2 557 25-31 91 40 128 13 9-84 8 0 3 0-37 2 5 31 1 31-00 ... 14 5 105 11-66 24* 8 41 3 13-66 ... 7 1 82 13-66 38 94 324 37 8-75 ... 12 1 41 3-42 14 4 35 1 35-00 ... 12 0 211 17-58 61 — — — — 6 1 55 11-00 17* ... 4 30 0 — ... 25 3 394 17-90 100 112 426 36 11-83 ... 18 2 171 10-68 51* ... 96 273 15 18-20 ... 11 4 76 10-85 4*2 — — — ... 20 0 485 24-25 67 115 359 25 14-36 ... 17 4 437 33-61 83* ... 14 63 6 10-50 ... 10 1 167 18-55 54 4 17 0 — 12 1 101 9-18 27 — —•— — ... 13 3 73 7-30 20* ... — — — — ... 19 1 192 10-66 82 67 220 14 15-71