Cricket 1913

M a y 3, l ‘J l3 . CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. C r icke t; A W E E K L Y RECORD OF TH E GAME . 125, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. S A T U R D A Y , M A Y 3 , 1913 . Letters for the Editor should be addressed to Ms. J. N. P e n t elo w , Malvern, Steyning, Sussex. Advertisements, Subscriptions, &c., should be sent to : The Manager of C r ic k e t , 125 , Strand, W.C. The following are the subscription rates :— United'Kingdom. Abroad. One Year ... ... ... 6s. 3 d. ... 7 s. 6d. The 24 Summer Numbers 5 s. Od. ... 6s. Od. The 6 Winter Numbers ... Is. 3 d. ... Is. 6d. iPavtllon (SJossip. Willow, the King, is a monarch grand, Three in a row his courtiers stand; Every day when the sun shines bright The doors of his palace are painted white, And all the company bow their backs To the King with a collar of cobbler’s wax. So h o ! so ho ! may the courtiers sing Honour and life to Willow, the King ! — E. E. B o w e n . A s m any as 89 cen turies w ere m ade in the States and C anada last year, which is an absolute record, 70 in 1910 ljeing the previous highest, I believe. P. J. H ig g in s , of L o s A n geles, C alifo rn ia, reach ed the figures seven tim es— an oth er record, D r. J. A . Lester, with six centuries in 1905, having previou sly the credit of the biggest num ber in an y one season. In C h ica g o , T . Smith (now back in W inn ipeg) ran up five, in clu din g one o f 209 not out. T w o each w ere scored b y E . M . C regar, F . E . H u ish , J. B . K in g , a n d R . L ee, among P h ilad elp h ian p layers; b y M . G ran t, A . F . R . M artin, and F . A . Sparks, in British C o lum b ia ; by A . H . L eigh to n , in N o va S co tia ; by C . E . R eyn olds, in M an ito b a ; and by O . D . Rasmussen, in C alifo rn ia. T he 200 not out o f F . J. Peers, an old C arth usian , for V an couver v. G arrison, is a B ritish C olum bian record. O ther nam es fam iliar to E n glish cricketers which appear in the list are those o f P . P . B arnett (G loucestershire), S. H . Em ery, and S. E . G regory, th e A ustralian s, and C. H . W in ter, the G entlem en o f P h ilad elp h ia w ick et­ keeper. T he fu ll list appears in the M arch num ber o f that capital little paper, the American Cricketer, and is the work o f F . F . K e llv , E d ito r o f the American Cricketers’ Guide, w h o has fo r many years past tabu lated centuries, bow ling feats, and the lik e chron icled in the W estern Continent’s cricket. Som e foot-n otes provide m atter of interest. Em ery and G regory put on 212 runs fo r the sixth w icket in the A u stralian s’ m atch at V icto ria , B . C . ; for Germ antown B ritish-Am erican s v, W issah ickon, E . Guest and M . L a n e sent u p 230 w ithout the fa ll of a wicket on Ju ly 6 ; on Ju ly 14 W . G . C och ran e and O . D . Rasmussen added 213 fo r the seventh w icket of Fresno v - L o s A n geles, a record in the S tates and C an ad a for that w ic k e t; at W inn ipeg, I). G on salves and C . E. R eynolds added 211 fo r the third w icket o f C iv ics v. W innipeg B on J u ly 2 0 ; and P . P . B arn ett and P . W . Johnson sent lip 265 fo r the first w icket for C alg ary v. Saskatchewan on A ugust 7 M e n tio n of the American Cricketer rem inds me of the fact th at a change .has taken p la ce in th e m anagem ent of that journal. M r. P . N . L e R o y has been succeeded as business m anager by M r. D avid N ew h all, a scion o f the most fam ous o f all Am erican crick et fam ilies, though in that connection the C la rk s and the B row ns must not be fo r ­ gotten, and there are also the G rah am s, the L e e s, and others. D avid N ew h all has never em u lated the deeds o f the older generation o f h is b o u s e ; but he is a p ractical cricketer and an excellen t business man, and the E d itor, M r. A . J. H en ry, is fortun ate in h avin g so cap a b le a coadjutor. T h e p aper th ey con tro l betw een them has known hard tim es— no secret is m ade o f th at— but it has kept up its end through a ll, and has done m uch to keep alive that fine spirit o f p layin g the gam e fo r the g am e ’s sake which has alw ays been a ch aracteristic o f P h ilad elp h ia cricket. A n d ta lk in g o f cen tu ries rem inds me o f T om H ayw ard and his exp ected one hundredth hundred in first-class crick et. T h e re is som ething I should very m uch lik e to see p ut straigh t in this connection. I say H a yw ard has m ade 99 centuries in first-class m atches. So does p ra cti­ cally everyb od y else. But th e curious th in g about it is that I in clu de one innings which most statistician s om it, and th at I can n ot m ake out what is the innings which they in clu de instead o f that one 1 I t can sca rcely be his 100 v. L eicestersh ire in 1893, because in 1893 the M idland cou nty was n ot first-class. H is first century in adm ittedly first-class crick et was 112 v. K e n t a t the Oval that season. H e m ade tw o centuries in ’ 94, three in ’ 95, five in ’ 96, on e in ’ 97, three in ’ 98, seven in ’ 99, 10 in 1900, tw o in ’ 0 1, three in ’02, th ree in ’03, 11 in ’04, five in ’05, 13 in ’06, seven in ’ 07, five in ’08, th ree in ’09, three in ’ 10, five in ’ 1 1 , and three in ’ 12. T o ta l in E n glan d , 95. A b r o a d : 122, E n glan d v. South A fric a , Johannesburg. I 18 9 5-6 ; 174, E n glan d v. N .S .W ., Syd n ey, 19 0 1-2 ; 15 7, E n glan d v. .South A u stralia, A d elaid e, 19 0 3 -4 ; and 134, E n glan d v. T asm an ia, L au n ceston , 1903-4. W e l l , there a re the ninety-and-nine, you m ay say. N ot s o ! A t least, not accord in g to som e authorities. 1 T h e y c a ll the last-m entioned m atch one v . Northern T asm an ia (which it w as not, fo r some southern p layers | took part), and refuse to give it first-class rank. How We Recovered the Ashes, fo r instance, does not in clu de the two T asm anian gam es ira the first-class averages of the tour. T h er e was a sim ilar m ix-up about D r. W . G . G ra c e ’s hundred centuries. In clu d ed was one v. Som erset in 1879. E veryb o d y accepted it ; but no one with whom I have discussed the question w ill adm it th at Som erset was a ctu a lly a first-class county in 18 79, and few will accord it first-class rank before 18 91, though the Sportsman, I lielieve, reckoned it am ong the first-class sides in the earlier eighties, and up to 1885. T he w h ole su bject of classification is one bristling with d iffic u ltie s; and the decisions o f the M .C .C . and the A ustralian B oard o f C on trol have on ly tended to m ake confusion worse confounded. Som e day, when I have more leisure, T hope to return to this m a tte r; It is one J that, I know , interests many readers, and I have view s o f my own on the subject which are at least firm, and I trust fairly lo gica l.