Cricket 1913

312 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Jun e 21, 1913. L .B .W .— T H E R E D U C T I O A D A B S U R D U M . j effect that the committee had received the report o f the j Advisory Board with regret, as they hold that to postpone D . L . A . J. w r i t e s :— “ Now there were two men in j the revision o f the county championship fo r five years is one c i t y ; the one wise the other a fool. But neither the j an error, the question being one o f urgent importance, w ise man nor the fool can be in two places at once; and I which should be dealt with at the earliest opportunity, was to ask a man to stand at I ., I I ., and I I I . simultaneously |passed. is— well . . . . it is the Reductio ! ” j _______ o i y A l e t t e r , o f which a copy follow s, addressed to Mr. f l j | T . J . Matthews, the Secretary, was ordered to be entered upon the minutes and suitably acknowledged :— South' African Cricket Association, 29, S.A. Mutual Buildings, Harrison Street, Johannesburg, April 23, 1913. Dear Sir,— I am directed by my Association to convey to your Committee, and to you persona'.ly, their thanks and very hearty acknowledgment of the many kindnesses, hospitality, and courtesy extended by them and you to the manager and members of the South African team on tour in England last summer. Your attention to our team was much appreciated by the members of the team, by the members of the Associa­ tion, and by the general body of South African cricketers.— Yours faithfully, (Signed) I. D . D i f f o r d , Secretary. Off ___ -- % B o w e l l ’ s 104 is his third century v. Derbyshire, Whitehead’ s 100 his third v. Worcestershire. Pearson has once before reached three figures v. Leicestershire, and W illiam Q u aife once before v. Sussex. I r e g r e t greatly that our Scottish article went astray in the post on its way to the printers last week. The difficulty o f finding space for everything I should like to get in is a big o n e ; but this was an omission, though quite accidental, more than commonly serious, for I hold a firm conviction that Scottish cricket is fa r better than is generally supposed, and am fa r from desiring to ignore it. U p to June 14 K en t had totalled 2,764 runs for 86 wickets in championship matches, an average o f just over 32, and had had 2,239 totalled for 134 in response, aver­ age a trifle over 16. W h a t a fine game young D ipper played fo r his side on the third day o f last week’s match at Bristol ! Here, most assuredly, was a case where slowness was to be excused. As a matter o f fact, D ipper has played many a slower innin gs; but he could not be accused o f being rapid on this occasion. H e took nearly four hours to make his 106. A n y attempt at fast scoring would have been the biggest o f mistakes. H is game was to stay there. Gloucestershire could not make the runs. A partnership o f 250 between Jessop and Sewell might have done it j but that was a contingency not to be counted upon. Jessop fa ile d ; but Sewell proved himself all there in a critical phase o f the game, when the loss o f his wicket might have meant disaster. T o the same date five Kentish batsmen— E . W . D illon, H ardinge, Hubble, Seymour, and W oolley— had not yet been out for a duck. W o o l l e y began with 3, 5, and 1 ; and since then has made scores ranging from 224 to 33 in eight out o f nine successive innings, the other producing 6. Somewhat similar, except that his figures include five centuries, is the record o f Ph ilip Mead, who began with 1, 1, 6, and o ; and since then has never been out under 14, playing suc­ cessive innings o f 102, 113 not out, 21, 24, 25, 170, 116, 61, 160 not out, 50 not out, 57, 14, 64, and 27 not out. T h e r e is time yet for D ipper to develop forcing tactics. H e is only twenty-five, and Warren Bardsley began as h e did by perfecting his defence, leaving the acquisition o f variety in strokes till later. A n Eton correspondent, referring to the paragraph about the two Seymours and the two W oolleys in the Northants v. Kent match, points out that just before lunch on the second day C laude W oolley and John Seymour were the bowlers on and F rank W oolley and James S ey­ mour the batsmen in possession. T h is is, as he says, the more remarkable, as neither o f the Northants men is a regular bowler. Agreed. But this additional coincidence might have turned out to be rather a made one i f Mr. Sydney Sm ith’s mind could have been seen into ! A t the monthly meeting o f the Lancashire County Cricket C lu b ’s Committee on June 5 a resolution to the F ro m Philadelphia I hear that J. Barton K in g is not likely to be seen in the cricket field this season. H is club, Belmont, has passed away, and it would seem that he is not keen on helping one o f its old rivals. But surely he will turn out against the Australians? M. C i p r ia n i (younger brother o f Andre o f that ilk), who played for T rin idad v. Mr. A . F . Somerset’s M .C .C . Team lately, was in great form at the St. C lair Oval on Empire D ay— as a cyclist, not as a cricketer. H e came in first in the H a lf-M ile, One M ile, Three M iles, F ive Miles, and Nine Miles events, practically sweeping the board in this class o f race. In the longest race he beat a representative o f Jamaica by only h a lf a wheel, this competitor, J. T . Weir, having also been placed in all the four earlier and shorter races. C r ic k e t S e c r e t a r ie s should obtain Mr. A. W . Somerset’s Unique Score Book, 150 openings, Records and Curiosities, 5s.— A. J. Gaston, “ Argus ” Office, Brighton. For Sale : Cricket Annuals, over 2,000 Books on Cricket, Cricket Prints 1 & Engravings. A. J. Gaston, “ Argus” Office, Brighton.