Cricket 1913

M ay 17, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 205 The County Championship. I should like to reply to “ W. H .” only so far as he disparages the scheme o f conducting the Championship in divisions. As for the game itself, I don’t think there is an urgent need for any alteration whatever; and, if there were — “ Who drives fat oxen should himself be fa t! ” — one may frankly concede that those who play the game most should be the best judges o f the matter. On this score my own pretensions are very modest. But with regard to the rules of a competition like the Champion- | ship, the case is very difficult. It would hardly be safe to let the fat ox make his own regulations for determining the prize beast at Smithfield. The game is not in the slightest, risk of becoming unpopular with the sound and sane Englishman. (The “ two skinnv Frenchmen and one Portugee ” may take care o f themselves.j) The love o f the game o f his own institution is born in his blood and bred in his bones. If ever his heart o f oak becomes a flabby sac in a fear-ridden and neurotic frame, he may lose his delight in cricket— I hope he will— till then he simply can’t. Witness the eighty fixtures on Hackney Marshes and the forty-eight on Blackheath last Saturday. (And not a youth of those vast i “ mobs ” I ’ ll wager had a thought o f interfering in the ruling o f a Championship, whose complexities are beyond his meed o f leisure.) The Championship stands on another footing. It may easily wane in popularity from three causes I f the public does not half understand how the competition is { “ worked” j if it understands enough to know that the ■test is not a reliable on e; or if it gets it into its head that the management is in the hands o f those to whom all other considerations are subsidiary to their own retention of rank, and supposed importance, at the risk of straining fair play and equal opportunities to outsiders. All three o f these impediments to continuous popularity would be disarmed by the automatic regulations o f a well- considered divisional scheme. And these would no more affect the freedom o f the counties accepting them than the lines o f latitude and longitude on a map of Europe affect the shaping of countries by the sea. Although I do not see with his eyes, I look on the question from the same aspect, I believe, as “ W. H .” My sympathies are with the perpetuation and encourage­ ment o f amateurism, and (two kindred objects) the employment o f “ home talent ” only in Championship games, and the relief o f the Championship entrants as far as possible from petty and vexatious restrictions. County cricket to be more a genuine sport and less a shabby business. These aims the limited programmes o f the Divisional Competition would further. County cricket and the Championship would cease to be synonymous. With a reduction in the number o f games “ to count,” the best (approved) amateurs would have an inducement to turn out at least fo r three matches for the honour o f their counties. In the less exacting remaining matches, having I only a possibly indirect bearing on the Championship. “ rising talent ” could safely be given a full opportunity of asserting itself. In both cases the “ unpaid player ’ ’ would benefit. That the hands o f the counties would be less trammelled than under the present conditions o f obligatory matches with eight counties (with more to stand a real chance o f success), any impartial reader must confess who reads the short summary appended. These rules, I should explain, were those printed on pp. 4-5 o f “ C r i c k e t ” for 1910 (brought u p to date) as a concrete suggestion for ! amending the Cham pionship. It passes me to under­ stand how their acceptance cou ld be m isconstrued as a | surrender to mob law ! (I w ill do “ W . H . ” the justice to believe th ey w ere not in h is ken when he used the phrase. H ence the “ c o u ld .” ) A s fo r their effect in con ferrin g interest on the com petition, I should lik e very much, during the forthcom ing season, to be allow ed once or tw ice to show how the counties w o uld be fa rin g i f they had been in operation. M igh t they stand or fa ll thereby ! T h eir enactment would reduce th e number o f actual C ham pionship competitors without extinguishing any o f the leading counties, as is now u ncharitab ly proposed. On the con trary, it w o uld preserve to them the m eans fo r re-advancem ent, and, I am convinced, w ould afford them their surest salvation. 1 f cricket ever panders to the mere sightseer, I agree that it w ill be- an evil d a y fo r the gam e. But if the C ham pionship contest is established as an autom atic test o f merit, and put 011 the same m oral basis as Caesar’s w ife and M arconi investments, if w ill a lw ays attract a sufficiency o f spectators who app reciate the gam e itse lf, r and d o not b a y and bellow fo r red-hot pokers and fire­ works. T h e on ly valid argument th at 1 have ever seen urged against the divisional scheme is — absit omen /— the sordid one th at “ it would not p a y .” E ven th is I am hoping to see shortly adm itted as a w ild m iscalculation. S u g g e s t e d R u l e s . 1.— T h e Cham pionship to be decided by the F irst-class Counties com peting among them selves in tw o D ivisions. 2.— T h e U p p er D ivisions en g ag in g in the C ham p ion ­ ship proper, to consist in (19 13 ) o f (the nine foremost counties in the authorised com petition o f 1912). 3 .— T h e L ow er D ivision , engaging in the q u a lify in g com petition, to consist in (19 13 ) o f (the rem aining seven counties in the authorised com petition o f 19 12, together with the tw o highest counties, not second elevens, in the M inor C ham pionship who desire adm ission). 4 .— T h e re a fte r, at the close o f every season, the bottom C ou n ty o f the U p p er D ivision to ch an ge p laces w ith the top C ou n ty o f the Ix>wer D ivision , and the bottom C oun ty o f the Low er D ivision w ith the C ham pion M inor C ou n ty. 5 .— Positions in each com petition to be determ ined by points, 1 being counted fo r a w in, 1 deducted fo r a loss, and o for a tie or unfinished game. 6 .— A ll the matches in both com petitions, an w ell as I those between C ounties in the tw o different D ivision s, to j be regarded as F irst-class. 7 .— O n ly matches betw een Counties in the same D ivision to count in either competition', except that when Counties obtain equal points all th eir F irst-class C oun ty matches are to be taken into account in d ecid in g the superior position on the b asis o f the highest proportion o f wins to losses. It w ill be noted th at there is no compulsion to meet every other clu b in the same D ivision . T h a t, as I have before stated, I consider m ight s a fe ly be le ft to the sportsmanship o f the club s e n g a g e d ; at any rate unless and until the liberty was grossly abused. H . P .- T . ---------------------------------* . ~r--»--------------------------------- “ The length of his (Southerton’s) career was remarkable, for he played for Surrey from 1854 *° 1879, and for Sussex from 1858 to 1872. In addition, he assisted Hampshire occasionally, and, in fact, appeared for all three counties in one and the same year.”—-From " Mitcham Cricket jand Cricketers,” in Ayres’ Cricket Companion.