Cricket 1913

June 7, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 283 Cricket Chirps. (B y E. H. D. S ew e ll .) Play generally has been interesting all over the country of late, and outstanding features have been the wicket- keeping of Oates, the batting of Mead, and the bowling of nobody in particular. There was, of course, a grumble at the retention of the Notts team at Gloucester while the home eleven secured the handful of runs necessary to win ; but folk who slate those responsible for sticking to the rules of the game, written or unwritten, appear completely to ignore the fact that the responsible ones cannot make rules as they go along just to suit the convenience of the hour, j Captains have no right, as things are, to extend the hours of play in order to secure a finish. That some such power should be given them is quite another matter, and I daresay } before next season this will be done, but it would be ultra I vires at present to do any such thing. As well knock off for three hours to enable the two teams to taxi to Epsom to see the D erby! For many years now Oates has been knocking at the door of the Players’ X I. He has this year distinguished himself by allowing no byes in two successive county matches and only one bye in the next, when Gloucester scored 314 runs. Meanwhile, by catching or stumping, he bagged eleven wickets. In spite of such superlative “ keeping,” Notts were beaten at Gloucester, their downfall being largely due to the pitch not being so good as it looked. That is often the case when hot sunny weather follows a lot of rain. Fact is, in noting the state of the pitch, some good people take things a great deal too much for granted, simply because the sun is blazing down out of a fieckless blue vault. Essex got going at the Oval on such an occasion when for the first time a first-class match was actually started on a Saturday in London. That is to say, the first day of a first-class game was a Saturday. Essex had the match well won before lunch, but chucked the whole thing away in | half-a-dozen overs by not turning on the fast bowling against the Surrey tail—and by not availing themselves of the new ball at 200 facility. If ever a game was won and lost on the first day this was. As I write (May 30) Essex have not seen the colour of a victory since Whit-week, 1912. It was urged at the end of that season that the wet wickets were all against their4bowlers. These have as yet done little on the harder wickets we have had this year. It may be a pity they do not persevere with Walter Mead’s boy; slow, left-hand stuff— even if it really is “ stuff ”•— is very useful if carefully used on hard wickets. But they have a batsman of the real sort in Tom Russell’s boy, A. C. He is full of runs, especially when he has decided to hit the hittable ball about ten times harder than he does now. Parsons, of Warwickshire, was a mighty long time play­ ing himself in at the Oval on a really good pitch the other day. Here is another big chap who does not give the hittable ball what for. Why? Playing for his place? I can hear someone say. But that place becomes a certainty when a fellow takes most of the fours which the gods offer. I saw Parsons play half-volleys gently that day, and for that there is no excuse when it is done frequently. “ Razor ” was bowl­ ing the in-swinger with a slip, and Hobbs at a sort of close- in extra cover. Between slip and Hobbs was a kind of Sahara— and yet Parsons would not spank the off-ball, a foot outside the off stump swerving in “ just right ” on to the bat. I wonder whether the Daily Mail was watching him and j mistook his motives. For next morning it came out with the profound utterance that the rate of scoring (just now- on the n.M . brain!) had been reduced partly ow ing to the advent of hard, fast wickets! ! ! Well, well! and well! ! W e live and learn, and I am sure bowlers will be delighted I to know, when the ground is like iron and the ball literally skids to the boundary, any old snick or tap counting four, that the rate of scoring is likely to be less. Hampshire must have noticed it at the Oval that first day when the Surrey score was 600 odd for four or five wickets, only a very few years ago. One gets borted with the complaints of the slow rate of scoring at Lord’s on its iron-bound days! But the Mail has a reason for this theory. It is that the rate of scoring is less because on such pitches batsmen play for their averages, while on the others they know they have to hit or get o u t! Well, I repeat, we live and learn, and must, I suppose, be thankful for these well-meant efforts to brighten the darkness of our deadly dull, gloomy, and hope­ less national game. There is a feeling gain ing ground that the county elevens are all much nearer each other in strength than they have ever been before. This really seems to be the case, and will certainly lend additional interest to each gam e as it is played. Hang the Championship! is one of my pet mottoes, though to assuage the thirst of the public and some editors one has to allude to the confounded thing rather more often than is good for one’s health. Each game on its merits ought to be the rule—and I believe is becoming more and more the rule. Which is a good thing. Hitch displayed little perspicacity at the Oval what time the left-handed Baker was in. More than half of B aker’s first 24 runs were made by a sort of nondescript dab stroke to forward short leg, the ball never being played down to reach earth nearer than about eight yards from the blade. Yet Hitch stationed a whole crowd of slips and then bowled on the leg-stump! Baker thanked him much for that, and more still for refraining to place a short-leg of any descrip­ tion. I cannot recall having seen such a string of genuine “ g ift ” singles. That stroke blocked, Mr. Striker would have had to look elsewhere for his runs, or to have concerned himself with “ placing ” each of those leg-side dabs, instead of having to bother no more than is necessary to make bat and ball connect. But Hitch persevered— he generally does— though this time in the wrong direction. Will they take him to South Africa in the autumn? He is the fastest now bowling, but the brainwork needs polishing up a bit. And that, for such a solid trier, should not be a difficult matter. - Obituary. Mr. H e r b e r t M enzies M a r s h a ll was born at Outwood I Hall, near Leeds, August i, 1841 ; he died at his residence, 83, Philbeach Gardens, London, in February. He was educated at Westminster School, where he was captain in i860, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He played in the Cambridge : Eleven from 1861 to 1864 ; and in his four matches against Oxford he scored 127 runs, with an average of 21. His highest score in the University match was a brilliant 76 not out in 1861, the highest of the match ; and he stood second in the Cambridge averages th at year. The following year he played an innings of 98 against I Zingari ; but in 1863 he was completely out of form, only scoring 16 runs in 7 innings for the University. He retained his position in the eleven, however, owing to his uniformly bril­ liant fielding. A contemporary of his, Sir H. M. Plowden, said of him, " Herbert Marshall was unsurpassed in long-stopping, and his renown ought to be, if it is not, historical.” Scores and Biographies says that he “ possessed a brilliant style of play, though carelessness with his defence cost him his wicket very often. In the field he was something wonderful, both in style and effect.” In 1861 and 1862 he represented the Gentlemen against the Players, both at Lord’s and at the Oval, thus gaining this coveted distinction before he had completed his twentieth year. From 1879 to 1883 he served on the Committee of the Marylebone Club. Mr. Marshall studied architecture in Paris, and returning to London obtained a travelling studentship for architecture at the Royal Academy in 1868. He was an Associate of the old Water-Colour Society, and his paintings of London scenes attracted much attention in the world of Art. From 1904 he was Professor of Landscape Painting at Queen’s College, Harley Street.