Cricket 1913

M ay 3, 1913. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 163 Public School Cricket Prospects for i p i 3 - (Continued from page 142.) S h e r b o r n e have R . E . Hodgson as captain. H e topped the batting table last year, and should m ake plenty of runs this. H e w ill be supported by W estlake, a sound w icket­ keeper, Cornish, Crosby, and D ixon. T here is plenty of batting talent in the school to choose from ; but a distinct dearth of bow lers exists. Still, the side should prove stronger on the field than they appear on paper. A welcome addition to the fixture list is the m atch w ith Dulw ich. T . L. W ood, the R o s s a l l captain, is a steady player, difficult to g e t out, but a slow scorer and la ck in g in enter­ prise- H e w ill have most of last y e ar’s eleven to support him, and w ith the help of these a good season is hoped for. Perhaps the m ost prom ising member of the team is Cliffe, a slow leg-break bowler, while C . R . D isney and F . B. Cameron are useful ch an ge bowlers. T he fielding should be decidedly strong, Brundrett, D isney, and W ood being particularly good, and E llis is a useful wicket-keeper. As elsewhere, the need of a left-hand bowler o f some ability is greatly felt. Quite reasonably brigh t are S h r e w s b u r y ’ s prospects for this summer. P . H . Dempsey, the captain, is a very useful -stumper, and he w ill have three of last y e a r’s side to assist him— M. C . Dempsey, a prom ising slow left-hand bowler and a sound bat, B . H . E llis, a dependable bat and a fine field, and W . R . B ridges, a hard-hitting batsman and fast bowler. T h e fielding should be good all through, which is most important, as last year the side lost a lot ow in g to at least tw o members of the eleven being rank bad catchers. T he D u l w ic h skipper, A . E . R . G illigan, is a very prom ising bowler, and as h e w ill have E . W . W aite and C . J. Com ins, hi9 chief supporters in last y e a r’s attack, to help him , there should, be no dearth of bow ling. All these were in the 1911 side. F . W . G illigan , a vastly improved wicket-keeper, w ill also be available. T h e battin g may, however, be w eak, though F. W . G illigan should prove very useful. T h e fielding ou gh t to be quite good. There are seven o f last y e ar’s second to choose from , and with a dry summ er the side should do at least reasonably well. T he look-out for D o v e r is fairly bright. O f last y e ar’s eleven, B rooks, Nevill, G ale, and K err should all be capable of m akin g runs on hard w ickets, though the experience of 1912 showed that none of the side w a s suited by the slow j pitches th at then prevailed. T h e bow lin g m ay be w eak, i though there is some variety, and B rooks and Moore can j keep a length. T h e fielding should be as good as continual j practice made it by the end of last season- T h e head­ master, th e R ev. F. de W7. Lushington, is an enthusiastic cricketer, and is brin gin g a Free Forester side down. W e l l in g b o r o u g h are very much in the public eye as a cricketing school just now, and though they can hardly hope to equal their wonderful side of last year, they are very hopeful of a good season. W . E . Hazelton, w h o appeared at Lords’ last A ugust, is the captain. He is a really good bat and a decidedly prom ising medium-paced right-hand bowler w ith a very deceptive slow ball. K . W hite, who was one of the best school batsmen o f last year, w ill also be available, w hile C arter and A skham are both prom ising 1 bats and useful bowlers. Hazelton w ill bear the brunt o f | the attack, and his chief supporters m ay be C arter (slow) j and A skham (medium fast). A s nine of last y e a r’s second are also stayin g on, there should be no difficulty in finding people w orthy to fill the vacancies. T h e side should be j strong in battin g and fielding, and fairly good in bow ling. I Mr. p . A. F ryer, the H ead, him self takes ch arge of the cricket at W ellingborough. The 1913 eleven at E l s t o w should be a level lot without any star man, such as Southw ell w as last year. F or once the bow lin g should be stronger than the batting. S ix of the 1912 side are left, including D . G . M cIntyre, J. Spiers, J' Bryans, and J. B arrow , who are all useful bowlers, though unfortunately much oL the same type— medium-fast r'ght-hand. T here seems little prospect of finding a slow or left-hand variety. T h e other tw o are N . W . Beeson and L . C . Bull. l-he b attin g w ill be level, if not brilliant, and the fielding should be quite good. B e d f o r d S c h o o l ’ s prospects are not very bright. O n ly three of last y e a r’s rather unsuccessful side are left— G . G . Field the captain, a sound batsm an, but w ithout any pre­ tensions to style, E . F . Morse, and J . G . D . W eir, both useful bats. A good side w ill never be produced until far more attention in the w ay of coach ing and pitches i9 paid to the junior cricket. F ate has not been kind to S e d b e r g h . A t the end of last summ er a good team w as hoped for, but a succession of m isfortunes has culm inated in the loss o f K . H. Leake, the captain, ow in g to an operation for appendicitis. T hree only of last y e a r’s side are available. O f these, G . C . Scholfield, who is still quite you n g, is a vigorous bat of real prom ise; C . R . D arw ell is a fast bow ler, good on his day, and a useful hitter; while Appleyard is a distinctly prom ising left-hand bowler. A w icket-keeper and a slow bowler are badly needed. W ith either of these w ants satis­ fied, the school m ig h t still do well. G l e n a l a m o n d is the only Scotch school to send in any notes. T heir prospects are only moderate, though six of last y e a r’s side a re left. O f these A lexander is a good all-round man, w ho headed both the b attin g and bow lin g averages last summ er, while the others are Findlay, M cG regor, Thom son, Petrie, and Moore. B l u n d e l l ’ s prospects for 1913 are very fair. Four of last y e a r’s eleven are left —D. D. G racey, the captain, a good bat, but apt at times to be w ild ; H . W . Littleton- Geach, a prom ising fast bow ler; H . M . H inde and J. S. P ratt, both useful all-round men. O thers likely to do well are Jenkins, C ox, and M organ, a prom ising w icket-keeper. T h e fielding of the side should be distinctly good. Prospects are b righ t at F o r e s t School for 19 13 , th ough the loss of that brilliant all-round athlete, F . W . H . Nicholas, w ill be severely felt. Some five or six old choices remain, and these should form the nucleus of a strong side. N ew s is scanty and this is all I can glean from the report. C . R . Shallow is the B r ig h t o n skipper. H e is a sound bat and should m ake runs w ith some consistency. W ith Roberson, D aw barn, and W . L . Sm ith to support him , there should be no lack of scorin g ability, though it is diffi­ cult to see where the bow lin g is to come from . D aw barn is useful, and P. C . W illiam s m ight g e t w ickets w ith his “ googlies, ” but it looks as if the attack w ill be decidedly w eak. E a s t b o u r n e w ill probably have a very w eak side this summer, though B ryan-B rown m ight develop into a useful all-round player. H ake is the captain, and he w ill have W ingfield and E agleton , both useful batsmen, to assist him . A s last year so this the C r a n l e ig h eleven is more or less an unknown quantity, as only one or possibly two old colours rem ain at school. T h ere are, however, several | prom ising youn gsters who m ay train on well. A s usual, j there is a sad lack of bow ling, and the brunt of the attack J seems likely to fall on M . K in g , who did so well last season. J M . J. Bunyan, the late coach at Sandhurst, ha9 been j en gaged to teach the you n g idea how to shoot. W ith only four of last y e a r’s X I. rem ain ing, M il l H i l l ’ s -' i prospects are not of the rosiest. D . Brunton-Aitken is a very useful bow ler and a sm art field, w hile A. Wood is a prom ising bat w ith a deligh tful cut, Griffith-Jones is also a useful bat, but is rather too slow, especially for one-day fixtures. O f the others likely to do w ell are R. A. Llovd and C . S. Anton w ith the ball and H . E . B arrow w ith the bat. H . G . T aylo r is the E p s o m captain. H e is a very useful bat, who should do quite w ell this season. H e w ill have only two of last y e a r’s side to help him . T h e batting w ill probably be fairly strong, but the bow lin g looks like being very w eak. S ix of last y e a r’s second are left, but though they can all bat a bit, none of them bowl. Epsom fielding J h as alw ays been maintained at a high standard, and there ! is no reason to believe that the 1913 team w ill let it down. Prospects a t S t . J o h n ’ s , L e a t h e r h e a d , are, if nothing i grea t, at least w ell up to the average, and w ith six of last