Cricket 1913

144 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 26, 1913. T h e cricket inform ation occupies 97 pages. T he rem ain­ ing' IS p a ge s consist of olla podrida , also collected, no doubt, “ w ith g re a t pains and at considerable expense,” but scarcely o f a kind one w ould expect to g e t in a cricket annual. W e h ave the w inners o f the D erby, the O ak s, and the St. Leger, the law s of kn urr and spell, o f . bow ls, and of “ quoiting.” T h ere are also an excerpt from the history o f China, the results of the ’V a rsity boat-race, a list of the British Societies and o f the chief can als of G reat Britain and Ireland, a note on coin age, the dates of the C rusades and the battles o f the W a rs of the Roses, and lastly a biassed and unhistorical account of the trial of Charles I . ! Such is the first edition o f W is d e n . An account of its contents h as been given in detail for tw o reasons. In the first place a copy is now rarely to be met w it h ; indeed, the ow ners of a complete set o f W is d e n can be counted on the fingers of one hand. In the second place, the celebration of W is d e n ’s Jubilee seem s an appropriate tim e for a sketch of its history and some account of the evolutions through which it h a s passed before reaching its present form . T h e second edition w as issued on sim ilar lines, only this year the scores o f the O xford and C am bridge m atch, a few gam es played in 1864, and the en gagem en ts of G eorge P a rr’s T eam in A ustralia w ere set forth. In 1866 the full scores of the great m atches of the previous season w ere first included, though the bow lin g analyses did not appear until 1870, in which year short accounts of the m atches were offered for the first tim e, the readers o f th at day bein g evidently no longer “ at least equal, if not superior, to ourselves in a rrivin g a t a righ t judgm ent of the p lay.” From this date until 1887 there w as but little alteration in the plan or scope of the w ork, though it grad ually g rew in bulk, ow in g to the increase in the number of matches played and the fuller treatm ent accorded them . Still the 1882 edition contained only 212 p a g e s; but in 1886 it had reached 360, for some years a h igh-w ater m ark. In 1887 the full season’s b a ttin g and bow lin g averages w ere given for the first time, the am ateurs and professionals being set out in separate tables, a method which w a s continued until 1895, when they w ere am algam ated and appeared in the form used to-day. In 1887, too, the fixtures for the com ing season w ere included for the first tim e. T h is w as the year th at the late Mr. C h arles F . Pardon first edited the annual, and in his able hands the w o rk entered upon a new and superior phase of its existence. T he edition of 1888 witnessed the birth of the Public School article, though it w as some years before it attained its present-day importance. T h is w as also the first edition to contain a topical article on the cricket politics of the day. T h e follow in g season saw an important innovation, one of the most consistently popular features of later A lm anacks— the photograph. “ C ricket R eco rd s” now made its bow, occupying a modest couple of p a g e s ; and the g e n ia l B ob T hom s w eigh ed in w ith “ A F ew Jottings,” an excellent article w ritten in h is ow n peculiar yet racy and attractive style. T h e edition of 1891 w as the first to be edited by Mr. Sydney H . Pardon, w h o succeeded to the editorial chair left vacant by the untimely death of his brother. It would be superfluous to offer a p anegyric on the sustained excellence of his editorship, and in truth YV isd e n itself and the immense popularity it enjoys are the highest tributes to h is success. It w as not until 1901, however, that his “ Notes by the Editor ” first appeared : an article which is now looked forw ard to, and very gen erally quoted, as con tainin g perhaps the most authoritative pronouncements on the (in late years) num erous projects of cricket reform and other cricket problems. It remains to be added that the obituary notices were first given in their present form in the year 1892; that the now very valuable list of B irths and D eaths in that year occupied only tw elve pages (to-day they cover 85); and that the system of carryin g all averages to tw o places of decimals w a s adopted in 1899, prior to which date they were calculated a t the average per innings or per w icket and so many “ runs left o v e r”— a prim itive form of elementary mathematics. T h e price of the Annual has a lw ays been one shillin g. It would be impossible to obtain better value for the money. Such in brief is the history of the fam ous W is d e n ’s C r ic k e t e r s ’ A l m a n a c k . M ay it continue to prosper, and to delight the hearts of cricketers all the world o v e r ! A. C . D e n h a m . -------- ----------- Cricket Under Difficulties in California. F rom San Francisco, via N ew Y o rk , and th a t w illin g helper, Mr. F . F . K e lly , reaches m e a m ost in terestin g account b y Mr. W illiam U nm ack of th e state o f th e gam e in the c ity b y th e Golden G ate. I f space p erm itted, I should be glad to give it in f u l l ; b u t th is is impossible, and so I m u st condense, leavin g ou t all em broidery and gettin g down to hard facts. On M arch 4 the C alifornia C .A . held its annu al m eetin g in San Francisco, and form ulated new rules for the p layin g o f th e gam e b y clubs under its jurisd iction . These rules are such as (remarks Mr. U nm ack) are calcu lated to m ake the average cricketer sit up and stare in b lan k am azem ent. I agree w ith Mr. U nm ack as to th is ; b u t I scarcely share his op tim istic hope th a t the changes m ade m a y open up a new field in th e crick et world b y infusing in to th e gam e some of the snappiness of baseball. B riefly, w hile cricketers are as m a n y as ever in San F rancisco, grounds are fewer. F o r th irty years Crolls C ricket G round a t A lam ed a has been used, and m a n y a fine p la yer has show ed his m ettle thereon. N ow the old ground has come under th e d ev asta tin g hand of th e builder, and there is n ot space for a double w ick et gam e. L a s t season th e G olden G ate P a rk concrete w ick et served its purpose for a three team com petition , th ou gh it has on e great draw b ack in th e fa ct th a t often dense fogs com e u p from th e Pacific, m akin g it im possible to see ten feet ahead. T his ground is still availab le ; b u t fou r or p ossib ly even six team s w ill be engaged in th e com p etition th is season, and ap p aren tly all m atches w ill be p layed under con dition s rendered necessary b y th e dim inution of th e ground a t A lam eda and th e increased num ber of club s p layin g. “ H a lf a lo af is b etter th an no b read ,” sa y th e San F ran cis­ can cricketers ; and th e y are em barkin g ch eerfu lly upon an experim en t whose leading featu res m a y be summ ed up- th us :— A com bination of single and double w ic k e t; tw o b a ts­ men, b u t on ly one three-stum p w ic k e t; th e striker to ta k e his position a t the three stum ps, his partn er a t th e single stum p 22 yard s a w a y ; th e m en to run as in double w ic k e t; an even num ber of runs for a stroke leavin g th e striker to face th e bow ling agai.i, an u neven num ber lettin g h is partner do so ; th e n on-striker to change to th e b a ttin g end a t the call of “ over ” ; th e fieldsmen h avin g no necessi­ t y to change. T h e space availab le a t A lam eda, b y th e w ay, is in shape som ething like a baseball diam ond— which m a y or m a y n ot con vey m uch to an En glish cricketer. I t allow s of a long drive in one direction only, and th e striker’s w ick et w ill presum ably be pitched n ot fa r from the to p (or bottom ) of th e space. B u t th is is n ot all. T he g re a t Spofforth’s suggestion has been adopted in California, and a m aiden over w ill penalise th e b a ttin g side tw o runs. T his is exp ected to elim inate th e cautious tactics w h ich appear to h ave w orried th e spectators in th e w estern S ta te as th e y h a v e worried some of those a t home. A batsm an is on ly to be allow ed one m inute to get from p avilion to crease on th e fa ll o f a w ick et— and qu ite long enough, too, if he is ready, as he should be. L o ca l conditions and a desire to m ake th e gam e faster are responsible for th e alterations. W h eth er enthusiasm w ill be increased or dam ped b y th em rem ains to be seen . Printed and published lor. the Proprietors by C rick et * SroKTS P cb lish exs L td ., 125 , strand, London, W.C., April 28 th; 1013 . Agents for Australia, «tc., C ordon & G otch, London, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Launceston, Hobart and Wellington, N.£. For South Africa, C e n tra l News A oency, Ltd., Cape Town, Johannesburg and branches. The trade supplied by E. S eale, 10 , Imperial Arcade, Ludga.e Circus, E.C.