Cricket 1913

128 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 26, 1913. from H a iley b u ry. H a ro ld G arn ett is in great form this y e a r; hitherto he h a d not p la yed up to his En glish rep u ta­ tion. H u rlin gh am owe th eir position at the head of the cham pion ship ta b le la rgely to h is batting. A n d he has kep t w icket fin ely, in spite o f the fa ct that he has to travel tw elve hours b y train to get to town for each m atch. K o rtla n g , on first arrivin g here, was both ered by the lig h t; bu t h e has got go in g strongly since the N ew Y e a r, and h eads the avera ges >at present. “ O u r season closes on Sunday next with a m atch, C ham pions v. T h e R est, to be p layed at P alerm o, the prettiest grou nd im agin able, hidden aw ay behind gigan tic blu e-gum s and palm s. T h e ligh t there is not id e a l; but the situation m akes up for this, and even on a tropical summ er’s day one ca n find rest and coolness th e re .” 1 h e a r from F re d B ow le y that he h ad a very pleasant, as w ell, as a su ccessfu l tim e, at C a p e T ow n . A South A frica n p aper says th at it is quite possible— indeed, very p robable -th a t in the near future he may settle down for good in the P e n in su la ; but B ow ley him self does not refer to this rum our. T h e re is little doubt, how ever, th at he w ill g o b a ck to coach th e rising generation of what A frikan d ers som ewhat in elegan tly term “ the Shank E n d .” W h e n he le ft T a b le B ay, B ow ley stood second to C om m aille in the C ap e T ow n sen ior b attin g averages. I do not mean the C ap e T ow n C .C . (he p layed fo r A lm a), but in all the sen ior gam es p layed . H e had to ta lled 747 runs in 14 innings, average n early 54. C om m aille had made 890 in 15, w ith 3 not o u ts; P . A . M . H an d s averaged 44.50, P . T . L ew is 40.46, J. C arstens 39.85, and R . A . H . H and s 36.64, all with aggregates of o v -r 500. B ow ley m ade four cen tu ries— 158 , 143, 120, and 112 -— and he sco red 87 and 72 in clu b m atch es not in cluded above. But fo r illn ess, w h ich kep t him away from the field on two Saturdays, h e w ould doubtless have reached fou r figures fo r all m atches. A benefit m atch— A lm a v. W estern P rovin ce— w as given h im ; but it did not bring in much. It resem bled rath er a W orcester benefit than a Y o rk sh ire or Sydney one. R. M. S p o f f o r t h headed both batting and bowling averages of the New Westminster (British Columbia) C.C. in 1912, scoring 102 in five completed innings, and taking 22 wickets for n o . He is, I believe, a son of the Demon of old days. On page 8 of the January number I gave a list, taken from the Ceylon Sportsman, of British public school cricketers in the spicy island. It would appear that this list was b y no means as complete as I had imagined. The indefatigable industry of S.P.F., a regular contribu­ tor to the paper mentioned, has added largely to it. Here are the additions : Bath, E . H. Joseph ; Bedford, E. O. Mackwood, A. J. R e e v e s; Bradfield, P. N. Banks, F. J. Reiss ; Glenalmond, A . E. Ogilvy ; King’ s (Canterbury), J. E. Hellard ; Malvern, C. B. Elliott, G. F. Fellowes ; Newton Abbot, J. E. Biddell, H. B. D an iell; Sherborne, C. D .’ O. C arey; Tonbridge, A. C. Houlder. J. E. H e l l a r d , who has represented Somerset on a few occasions, is a recent arrival. D. F . FitzGibbon has returned to Ceylon, bu t the state of his health will probably keep him out of the cricket and football field for some little time to come. A notable new addition to the island’ s strength is J. L. S. Vidler, of Repton, Oxford, and Sussex. F. H . B . C h a m p a in , the old Cheltenham, Oxford 1and Gloucestershire batsman, whose home is now in British Columbia, has been spending a holiday in Sydney, and I notice his name in one of the subscription lists for V ictor Trumper. Another cricketer lately in Sydney is H . A. Rayner, of Durban, who was on holiday in England last year, and played a good deal of cricket while here. Both played for Trumper’s eleven against the Glebe C.C. at Wentworth Park on February 1, and Champain made 30 in a total of 143. F o r something like twenty years Charles E ad y was easily Tasmania’s best all-round cricketer. It is an open question whether the island has his superior now. A fter retiring “ for good,” he has, like so many others, come back to the game, and lately on one Saturday he hit up 89 not out for South Hobart v. West Hobart, making two 6’s off consecutive balls, and only missing his century because no one could stay w ith him long enough, while on the following Saturday he took 5 for 64, his play being the chief factor in South Hobart’s victory b y 79 runs. L. R . T u m il t y carried his bat through the innings for 63 for South v. North Launceston on February 22. This player was the last left on the list of the several northern players asked to represent Tasmania v. New South Wales at Hobart a week la te r ; but in the event he also dropped out, and the state team had not a Launceston man in it at all. The Rev. E. F. W a d d y , who a few years back was one of the most brilliant batsmen in the N.S.W . team, was lately on holiday in Ceylon, and since returning home he has written to the Ceylon Sportsman suggesting a brief visit by a N .S .W . team to the island during the next Christmas season. He is of opinion that for such a trip, combining sightseeing w ith cricket, it would be easy to get together a good side, and mentions his brothers, the Rev. P. S. and E. L. Waddy, and Gervys Hazlitt as among those likely to accept an invitation. It is a great pity that there is no ruling body in Ceylon cricket, for the existence of one would greatly facilitate the arrangement of such tours as this. Some of those keenest on cricket in the island have been trying to stir up the players generally to the end that a Ceylon Cricket Association should be form ed ; but at present their suggestions have not borne fruit. W e s t e r n A u s t r a l ia wanted a visit from a South Australian team at Easter, and asked that Clement Hill, Crawford, Moyes, Mayne, and W h itty should be included. The S.A.C.A . were willing to send a team, but found that the American tour would prevent three of these players from going west, and that Hill could not spare time for the trip. Probably a team will be sent early next season.