Cricket 1913

J u n e 7, 1913. CRICKET : A WEEKBY RECORD OF THE GAME. 2(53 Cr icke t : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME. 125 , STRAND, LONDON, W.C. S A TU R D A Y , JUNE 7 , 1913 . Letters for the Editor should be addressed to M r . J. N. P en telow , Malvern, Steyning, Sussex. Advertisements, Subscriptions, &c., should be sent to : The Manager of C ricket, 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 ... *ls. 3 d. ... Is. 6d. pavilion (Sosstp. Willow and cane, nothing but that— O, but it’s glorious, swinging the b a t! Leather and thread, there you have all— O, but it’s glorious, gripping the b all! Grass at our feet, and the sun overhead, Here let us play till the evening is red. Then to our dinner, and lustily sing, Cricket’s the King of Games, Cricket is King ! E . V . L u cas . I h a v e received several other letters from members of the staunch little band who have supported C r ic k e t from the first; and here I may remark, referring to a sentence in one of them, that when I said “ subscriber,” I did not by any means intend to limit my meaning to those who have had the paper sent them from the office by post. I meant to include all who have had it regularly. M r. P . P. T y a c k e writes from Ealing that he can remember as a small boy going short at the tuck-shop in order that the weekly twopence for C r i c k e t might not be wanting. The charm has held in his case; he has never missed a number, and is as keen on the paper nov as ever he was. ------------ F ro m Lowestoft Mr. H . R. Ladell lets me know that he is another of the Number One and Ever Since subscri­ bers. He was not a schoolboy when the first number came o u t; he was the Headmaster o f the London Inter­ national College at Spring Grove, Isleworth. He has a copy c f each issue of the paper in his possession. A n o t h e r veteran reader is Mr. Thomas Parkin, of High Wickham, Hastings. For ten years or so Mr. Parkin, an old Rugbeian, was President and Captain of the Hastings and St. Leonard’s C .C ., and used to send their match scores to C r ic k e t . In the seventies and eighties he played a good deal for M .C .C ., Incogniti, and the Gentlemen of Sussex. “ But these good times can never come over again.” he says, with that note of regret which is so often to be found in old cricketers of the true type, who loved the game for its own sweet sake, and not for fleeting personal notoriety. To watch is well enough ; but, ah, surely, to play is better ! T h e dismissal of John Douglas in the second innings of his side in the Surrey v. Essex match wras curious. The ball hit his foot and he touched it with his bat. Strudwick caught it, and took the bails off while the old Felsted boy was out of his ground. An appeal for l.b.w. was made, and (it is understood) an “ out ” decision given. S om e say he was out in three ways— l.b.w ., caught, and stumped. But he was certainly not stumped, for he | had played the ball. The score sheet gave “ caught.” I But if there was a l.b.w . decision of “ out,” this is wrong, for l.b.w. was the first thing appealed for, and the impact of ball upon foot— I trust it didn’t hurt much !— the first of the series of- incidents. I t is a trifle rough 'on a man who has not as yet got fairly going once this season to be out in three ways at once, though it does not make very much difference. S om e very candid talk about Hitch’s bowling in this match has come to my ears. One man who watched it says point-blank that Hitch bowled short and at top speed with obvious design to intimidate the batsmen, and that in his desire for extra pace he was several times guilty of flagrant throwing, for which he was no-balled. I d id not see the game, and cannot judge. We all know what a keen cricketer Hitch is. Batsmen must take the ordinary risks of damage. But short-pitched balls that get up from a fiery or crumbling pitch and look you in the face are not ordinary risks. They may be within the letter of the law s; they are utterly outside the spirit o f cricket. I am not judging H itch ; I am only commenting on what some people say he did. I f they are right, I hope it will never happen again. Such things have happened before; but I cannot agree with those who maintain that they are “ all in the game.” A f o r t n i g h t ago I promised articles for schoolboys by Mr. A. C. MacLaren. These are only deferred ; they will duly appear later. The other day I was at Elstree to see the old England captain, and put in a little out-fielding—- of a sort— while he bowled the gentlest of underhand lots to a small boy in a net. The small boy was a novice; he had it nearly all to learn, and by good fortune practically nothing to unlearn; and the first thing A. C. M. told him was : “ H it as hard as you can ! Let me see what you can do, and I ’ll tell you when you do it wrong.” The small boy hit, and within ten minutes he knew more about how to stand, and why a straight bat is preferable to a crooked one, and why getting over the ball keeps it down, and so on, than he ever knew before. “ Who’s the youngster?” I asked A. C. M. wheq the lesson was over. It had occurred to me that he was probably the son o f some old friend. “ Oh, I clon’t know his name; they send me out one to give a few wrinkles to now and again; and I like i t ” was the answer. That’s the way the man who made the record score in first-class cricket and captained England more times than even W. G., takes a holiday at the place he knew so well more than a quarter of a century ago ! And if the small boy doesn’t like it— this one did, I know— then is there no cricket in him ! I t w'ould be difficult to find an instance of a better fight put up almost single-handed than Philip Mead’s in the last innings of the Hants-Warwickshire game at Southampton. There are the things that stick in the memory o f those who saw. One such innings is worth a dozen centuries made when runs are cheap. A l b e r t R e l f ’ s third century v. Gloucestershire, made { the other day, was by a curious coincidence identical in Ipoint o f number with his first against that county, made at