Cricket 1913

M av 17, 1913. CR ICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 193 T h e thousands w ho appreciate M r. H am ish S tu a rt’s work w ill learn w ith great regret th at they are. scarcely likely to see any o f it this season- Mr. Stuart has suffered a breakdow n in health, and is now at a Scottish sanatorium, fo rb id d en to do any w ritin g save, the briefest o f letters fo r a long tim e to come. W hen 1 last heard he had taken a distinct turn fo r th e better, but was still on his back. A ll w ill w ish him as speedy a recovery as may be. T h e gentlem an who know s all about the G u lf Stream and its effects upon the w eather says w e are in fo r another summer— save the m ark !— on 1912 lines. A t the time o f writing there is nothing in the state o f the weather to suggest that he is w rong. N o cricket season could well have opened in more dism al fashion than has this. L o rd ’s a Dismal S w am p ; U n iversity trial m atches cut sh o rt; p la y in the rain at C am b rid g e ; p la y in the mud wherever play was. B a r I am not sure that even 1912 was the worst o f all cricket seasons, though it seems to have been gen erally granted th at unenviable distinction. T w o seasons at least within the last 40 can com pare with it— 1888 and 1879. H e r e is w hat w as set forth in W isden o f 1880 con­ cerning 1879 : “ T h e season 1879 w as the wettest ever known at L o rd ’s. R a in fe ll more continuously and for a greater length o f tim e than the oldest frequenter o f the ground cou ld remember. A ll th e care, labour, and atten­ tion o f P earce, the grou nd superintendent, and his men, w as frustrated by the almost ever-recurring heavy rain storm s th at from early M ay to the back end o f J u ly fell over and drenched the old ground out o f all form for playing true c ric k e t.” B l a n k d a y s in b ig matches (few er then than at p re ­ sent) at L o rd ’ s that year w ere M a y 15, June 2, 9, 11, 16, 25, and 26, Ju ly 1, 9, 14, and 21. T h e second day of M .C .C . v. D erbyshire (M ay 27) w as “ a succession o f cold ra in fa lls ,” and the w icket w as “ a mass o f mud and saw d u st.” W h it-M on d ay was “ the most dism al, dreary, depressing, dren chin gly wet W h it-M on day the oldest holiday-m aker cou ld rem em ber.” On the second day o f the ’V a rsity match the gates at L o rd ’ s w ere not even opened. A n o t h e r instance to add to those earlier given o f the general p u b lic’ s ignorance about second-class county cricket. R e ig a te man : “ T h e P riory h ave got hold o f a good new ch a p— don ’t know where he comes from— Bourne’s his name— batted lik e a pro. last S atu rd ay— niade top sco re .” M an w ho k n ow s: “ Bourne happens *o be the best batsman Staffordshire have— ever heard Staffordshire, by the w a y ? ” Reigate Man (disregard- ,ng the sarcasmi): “ Ah ! I thought he shaped like a county player.” I w o n d e r whether it has ever happened before that ajl the w ickets o f the first visitin g side o f the season to either ’V a rsity h ave been captured in the first innings by reshmen, as w as the case when M cC aughey, from far -Australia, and Naum ann, th e M alvern left-hander, dis- missed M idd lesex? I T ° someone with more tim e on his hands than I have - the search ! G oin g back as fa r o n ly as 1905, I can ' n°th ing lik e a p a r a lle l; but it m ay chance th at there as one in earlier years. F r o m the last number o f th e Am erican C ricketer 1 see th at the list o f 1 9 1 2 centuries w as not qu ite complete. F iv e more (fou r o f them "in B ritish Colum bia) have to be a d d e d , and F . C . D ra k e ’s nam e should have been among those scoring tw o each. T h e N ew Y o rk V eterans w ill visit B erm ud a in A ugust next. I n the M assachusetts S tate L eagu e gam es in 1912 one batsman (C . P a g e , o f the U n ited Shoe M achinery C .C .) had an average o f 56.87, w ith a highest score o f on ly 59 not out, and th at fo r as many as 15 innings. H e was not out in seven o f them . E a c h side p la ye d 18 matches, ten clubs tak in g part, and w hile P a g e ’s team won 17 and lost o n ly one, the clu b at the fo o t o f the ta b le (Carribbean) won one and lost 17. N ot on ly at O x fo rd , where th e R h od es Sch olars are, i but, though in less degree, at C am bridge, quite a number j o f colonial cricketers are prom inent this year. W ou ld it , not be possible to arrange an annual m atch betw een the ! M .C .C . and C olon ials and Ind ian s in E n g lan d , ito be p layed some tim e in late A u g u st or e a rly Septem ber ? Am ong profession als there are C uffe, L lew e lly n , and T a r ­ rant— a few years ago there w ould h ave been several others worth inclusion— and the number o f am ateurs is alw ays considerable. I b e l i e v e J. S. H utcheon, o f Q ueen sland, is still here. T h ere are, or w ill shortly be, also G . A . F au lk n er, M. P . B aja n a , S . G . Sm ith, S. J. P e g le r, A . Sim s (N ew Z e a la n d ); P . F . W arn er, P . R . Johnson, R . B . and R. O . L agd en m ight also be reckoned in. T h en there is the ’ V a rsity contingent, in clu din g at O x fo rd J. N . F raser (the blu e o f 1912), H .H . th e G aekw ad o f B aro d a, W . L . Jack (A u stralia), F . C . M ercier (Jam aica), T . F . R o ckliff (Tasmania^, A . W a lla ce (N ew Z ealan d ), E. F . H errin g (A u stralia), P . Subarragin. (Indiai), R . W . H . M ellor (A u stralia), B . G . M elle (South Africa), N . L . W att (South A frica ), and, I believe, J. W . F in d la y (N ew Z e a la n d ); and at C am bridge, G . A . F airb a irn and S. M cC aughey (A u stralia), w h ile I fan cy G . W . V . H o p ley is o f South A frica n birth. A . C . Z . W ijeratn e, a prom i­ nent C eylon ese cricketer, w h o scored over 1000 runs and took nearly 100 w ickets in th e islan d la st year, is bound for C am bridge, i f h e is not alread y there. A n d 1there are m any others p la y in g in the best class o f clu b cricket. I don ’ t mean to in fer th at all m entioned are of first-class a b ility ; but it w ould be easy to p ick a first-class eleven from among them and the unquestioned cracks earlier listed. A v a l u e d correspondent w r ite s :— “ W as very glad to read a paragraph in a recent issue to the effect that, whatever m ight be w rong w ith county cricket, clu b cricket was qu ite all right. I had a curious confirmation o f th is quite lately. C a llin g on a frien d , a large m anufacturer o f bags, I remarked that, as crick et was d y in g ou t (vide some papers), I supposed h e h a d n ’t sold m any cricket bags th is year. “ H is answer w as : * N ever sold so m any since I have been in business ! In fa c t, my better-class stock is clean sold o u t.’ I was grea tly com forted, and w ent thence rejoicing, fo r I happen to know th at my friend 1 sends bags all over E n g la n d .”