Cricket 1913

A p r il 26, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 133 April 19— Club match (H.). „ 26-—Croydon (H.). May 3— Catford (A.). „ 10— Beddington (H.). „ 12— H avant (A.). „ 13— Horsham (A.). ,, 17— White House (A.). ,, 24— Private Banks (H.). „ 31— Croydon (A.). June 7— Brixton (H.). ,, 14— Private Banks (A.). „ 21— Mitcham (A.). „ 28— White House (H ). July 5— Forest Hill (H.). „ xo— Purley (A.). ,, 12— Ibis (A.). ,, 19— Cyphers (H.). July 21— Purley (Home Week) July 22— Mitcham. 23— Surrey C. and G. ,, 24— Finchley (East). „ 25— Barnes. ,, 26— Old Whitgiftians (Week ends). Aug. 2— Bank of England (A.). „ 4— Norbury Park Wand. (H.). 6— Finchley (East) (A.). „ 9— Dulwich (A.). ., 16— Ibis (H.). „ 23-— Beddington (A.). ,, 30— Catford (H.). Sept. 6— Dulwich (A.). „ 13— Norbury Park Wand. (H.). The second X I. have a full card, among their opponents (besides second X I. s of clubs met by the first team) being Belmont, Streatham Hill, L.C. and W. Bank, Middlesex County Asylum, Ashtead, and Carshalton. The third team meet third X I.’s of five clubs, second X I.'s of four (including African Banks, Alleyn, and Ealing Park), and also play Sanderstead, Richmond Park, Wren, Chartered Co., and Northern Assurance Co. Then there is also the fourth X I., who have in addition to games with second, third, and fourth teams of clubs met by one or another of the other Spencer sides matches with Derrick Wanderers II., Dulwich Grove, K ing’s College School, London and County Bank III., and London City & Midland Bank II. A full reprint of Spencer’s card will take very nearly a page of C r ic k e t ; and Spencer is only one of many clubs running more than two elevens ; and yet people are asking, “ W hat’s wrong with cricket ? ” Not much with club cricket, I guess ! The handbooks of three of the leagues which, whatever some people may say against the league system, have done much to quicken interest in cricket in the north and midlands, have reached me. The N orth S t a f f o r d sh ir e a n d D is t r ic t L e a g u e includes 16 clubs, of which Burslem, Crewe Alexandra, Fenton, Knypersley, Longton, Norton, Porthill Park, Silverdale, Stoke- on-Trent, and Tunstall have teams both in the First and Second Divisions ; while Leek and Stone appear only in the First, and Great Chell and Oldfields only in the Second Division. All the clubs start their matches on April 26 and finish them on September 6-— early, but football is too strong in Staffordshire for cricket to be continued far into September. Last season Burslem headed Division I., with Porthill Park and Fenton in close attendance; Oldfields were champions of Division II., with Crewe Alexandra II. and Porthill Park II. tieing as runners-up. Mr. S. Gleaves, 17, Frederick Street, Stoke-on-Trent, is the Secretary of the League. There are sixteen clubs, too, in the T y n e s id e S e n io r L e a g u e (Hon. S ec., Mr. Edward Potts, 6, Nun’s Moor Crescent, Fenham, Newcastle)— to wit, Backworth Percy, Benwell, Benwell Hill, Blyth, Greenside, North Durham, Northumberland County Club, Old Novocastrians, Percy Main, Ryton, Seghill, South Northum­ berland, S t. George’s (Newcastle), Tynedale, Tynemouth, and Wallsend. Eight of these run teams in both divisions; the County Club, Old Novocastrians, Ryton, and Tynedale figure in Division A only, and B lyth, Greenside, Percy Main, and Seghill in Division B. In 1912 St. George’s (for the third season in succession) were champions of the A Division, and Greenside of the B. All three of these leagues publish neat little handbooks, Northumberland appearing in blue, Durham in pink, and Stafford­ shire in yellow. Most of their features are common to all three— League rules, fixture lists, former champions, secretaries' names and addresses, and the like ; but there are points of divergence. The Staffordshire and Tyneside handbook have special pages for tabulating results of this season’s matches. The Tyneside one has a list of professionals engaged by the various clubs. The Durham booklet has the only illustration— a portrait of Mr. Alfred Grundy, the League’s President. All three, one is pleased to note, include county fixture lists. In these counties the Leagues and the county executives appear to work in harmony. Down south a good many people are strongly against league crick et; but there can be no doubt of its advantages, and if there are also drawbacks that is inevitable in anything of human design. Overseas Cricket. T h e D u rh a m S e n io r L e a g u e (E a st e r n D iv is io n ) includes twelve clubs, all of them running a second team in the lower division. The twelve are Boldon, Bummoor, Chester-le-Street, Durham City, Eppleton, Hendon, Philadelphia, Seaham Harbour, South Shields, Sunderland, Wearmouth Collieries, and Whitburn. Sunderland and Burnmoor II. headed their respective divisions in 1912. The matches run from April 26 to September 6. F OR SALE .— 36m. Ransome 1911 golf mower, excellent condition, price £12. Also 9ft. roller, 15m. cylinder, 3 sections, £4.— Can be seen any time, Bexleyheath Golf Club (Hon. Sec., R. F. Heatly, " Jhansi,” Freta Road, Bexleyheath). T H E A R G E N T I N E . B. J. K o rtla n g scored 109 for B .A .G .S . v. Q uilm es 011 F ebru ary 9. On the sam e date H . B . M . K n igh t m ade 68 for Q u ilm es, and E . L . R um b o ll 67 fo r H u rlin gh am v. B elgran o , w hile am ong the su ccessfu l bow lers were C . V . H . B eynon (6 for 30, B .A .G .S . v. Quilm es) and H erb ert D om in g (6 fo r 83, B elgran o v . H urlingham ). 1 fear I have been con fu sin g the last-nam ed w ith H a ro ld D om in g , w h o w rites cap ita l stories and verses for boys and p la y s cricket in the L ive rp o o l district. T h e y m ay o r m ay not be b ro th e rs; anyw ay, the A rgen tin e c ra c k is H erb ert, not H arold . A p o lo g ie s! U p to M a rch 8 (very near the sea so n ’s end) K o rtla n g h eaded the battin g averages in B u en o s A ires c rick et o f senior grade with 688 runs, average 5 7.3 . N e x t cam e H . G . G arrett (528, average 52.3), and J. R . G arrod (563, average 5 1 .1 ) was third. C . T . M old ( 5 7 5 ). G . G . Brown (524), F . L . P la tt (692), H . T . M aw son (56 1), J. R . C am p b ell, W . D . G ard om , K . M arsh all, and H . L a c e y all averaged over 30, and C . H . W h a ley had m ade as m any as 495 runs with average 2 9 .1. T en p layers had scored centuries, som e of them more than one each. H . D om in g topped th e bow ling (36 w ickets at 7.9), and J . B . Sheridan (48 at 10.9) cam e second. C . H . W h aley had 49 w ickets at 16 .7 , C . V . H . Beynon 47 at 13 .5 , and J. G o o d fellow 43 at 14 .7. N o one else reached 40, but nine others had 30 Or more. N E W Z E A L A N D . A good friend of the p ap er in C hristch urch was kind enough to interview M r. F . L . M urray, the hon. secretary o f th e C an terbury C .A ., on its b eh alf la te ly ; but much of the inform ation h e sends a lon g has a lread y appeared in C r ic k e t , w h ich has given quite a lot o f attention to the gam e in N ew Z e alan d (as elsewhere) during the last few years. F o r instance, M r. M urray passed in review the history o f the P lu n k et S h ie ld ; but every m atch p layed fo r the S h ie ld h as been du ly ch ro n icled in this paper. T h e C an terbury team is ju st now u ndoubtedly a cap ital side. D a n R eese, their cap tain , is a host in him self, and in Joseph Bennett they have p ro bably the best bow ler in N ew Z ealan d . T h e re are a lso such cap ab le batsmen as L u sk, P a trick , Patterson, H ickm ott, H ayes, Sim s, C a y g ill, and N orm an, with all-round men in Sandm an and T . C arlto n , and a fine w icket-keeper in B o x sh all, veteran though he is. A b o u t young H ickm ott, who if he go es on as h e has •begun m ay in a few years be M ao rila n d ’s best bat, my correspondent sends some sp ecial nott s. “ R u pert G eo rge