Cricket 1913

334 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Jun e 28, 1913. E d g a r M a y n e is not, after all, the captain o f the Australian Team in America. W hile still on the Niagara the members exercised the customary Australian right to choose their leader, and elected Austin Diamond, who has frequently captained New South Wales. Tw o o f D iam ond’s brothers are travelling with the team, as is also D r. R. J. Pope, who w ill be well remembered at E d in ­ burgh, L ord ’s, and elsewh ere in this country. B o t h Warren B ardsley and John Craw ford are to visit England at the end o f the tour, it is reported. Emery may stay in America. M r . B e n jam in proposes a match between the Austra­ lians and a combined C anada and U .S . X I . at Prince A lbert in September. I f Mr. Benjam in can get two Philadelphian, New Y ork, or even Toronto players to travel all that way to take part in such a game, he w ill prove him self one o f the marvels o f the age. In the boom line Mr. Benjam in appears to be I T . “ I a r r a n g e d with Mr. Abraham for an Australian game at ------, ” writes someone to my friend, F . F . K e lly , o f New York. There is a slight confusion evident here. D o you remember the story o f the old la d y who informed the vicar, on his return from a long holiday, that her spouse was “ dead, and in Beelzebub’s bosom ” ? When told that she must mean Abraham ’s, she replied equably : “ W ell, sir, I knowed it were one o f them good m en.” I need hardly explain that this is in no way intended to reflect upon the character o f Mr. Benjamin, the Boomster. P r in c e A l b e r t made great preparations for the match there between the Australian team and an eleven represent­ ing A ll Saskatchewan. T h e captain o f the latter was Kenneth Weaver, o f the local club, and players were selected from R egina, Q u ’Appelle, Saskatoon, Moosomin, and Indian H ead, as well as from Prince Albert. A s fa r as the fixtures at present made show, this is the only game the Australians w ill p lay in the province. T h e local paper gave the game a fine boom in advance, and complimentary references to C r i c k e t are included in the cuttings sent me. Weaver, by the way, used to play fo r Brentwood. F o r some time after going to Canada he coached the boys at T rin ity College, Port Hope, and thereafter played three seasons in W innipeg. H e is a fast left-hand bowler, a hitting batsman, and a very fine field. C r i c k e t is a very difficult game fo r the “ cub reporter,” who usually seems to be turned on to matches in Canada. Few people who have not played ever master its phraseology ; and the Canuck scribes certainly don’t begin to get there. H ere are some o f their attempts, culled from different papers recently to hand. “ E d m o n to n used 17 batsmen in securing their 76 runs.” “ A fter witnessing the magnificent bowling o f Emery, C raw ford, and M ailey for the visitors, it was a wonder that Edmonton lasted as long as they d id .” ( I f one is to take this literally, the three trundlers named gave an advance display. But I fan cy it’s merely a case o f a misrelated participle.) “ C raw ford bowled terrifically, and has a bad break on the b a ll.” “ Some o f the prettiest plays imaginable were pulled off during the course o f the afternoon.” “ Read received a bad cut on the upper lip as the result o f being hit in the face by a tip o f the b a t.” “ H e batted with precision, and could not touch, seemed to know exactly where to place his h its.” (This leaves me gasping.) “ Diamond was the best batsman u p .” “ The crowd expected great things o f the Edmonton batsmen, and undoubtedly would have had it but for the fact that the local team seemed to be unlucky. O f course, a great deal o f this luck was as the result o f the brilliant playing o f Craw ford and M ailey, who almost alone annihilated Edmonton’s best batsmen.” (I should say s o !) “ The w ily old Surrey ex-captain.” (J. N . C raw ­ ford !) “ H is twister had the local batsmen going all the time, and succeeded in fooling them n icely .” “ Morse ripped off two boundary hits for four runs each.” “ H ardisty only lasted one pitched b a ll.” “ Petch shared the same fate, only he stood the strain longer.” “ P y l e was clean bowled by Emery on the first ball delivered. ” “ (.'rawford had been bowling a beautiful gam e.” “ None o f the men are so old as they appear to be, as the strong sun in their country has been the means o f giving them a good coat o f ta n .” (We don’t usually hold a coat o f tan a sign o f age. O f course, the umpire’s white coat is a sign o f undeviating rectitude, and the soldier’s red or khaki coat o f valour, and the parson’s Idack coat o f— but enough o f this !) H o l lo w a y , the international, has not yet turned up to join the team ; but Edgar M ayne has had promotion. H e is stated in a Toronto paper to have “ represented Australia against England on many occasions during the last few years.” H e has also “ always taken a keen interest in the gam e.” Who would have thought it? But the Toronto scribe gets Macartney’s name right— for about the first time since the Governor-General landed in Canada. McArtney seems to be the favourite variant. T w e n t y - f o u r matches have been arranged, provision­ ally, by the S .A . Cricket Association for the M .C .C . tour in South A frica. T h e five test matches are differently allocated from what has been the practice in the past. Johannesburg and Durban get two each, Capetown one. The extra one for Durban was prophesied by “ Cypher ” in one o f the interesting articles which he contributed to our winter issues. I n an article in The Latest (Durban), “ Cypher ” sug­ gests the follow ing team as about the best that could have been picked in South A frica last season :— H . W . T aylo r, M. J. Commaille, A . E . Cook, L . G. Tapscott, J. W . Zulch, A. D . Nourse, F . Le Roux, T . A. W ard, H . V . Baumgartner, J. L . Cox, and F . W . Elworthy. The last-named is a “ googly ” bowler.