Cricket 1913

J u l y 19, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 413 F r o m the B righton A rgus of July 12 “ R e lf and Mr. Wilson engaged in a determined and attractive stand, the former driving with admirable precision and power.” One glances at the score, and finds :— Mr. H . L . W ilson, b Forrester .......................... 10 R e lf (R .), not out .................................................. 14 No, there are not two “ r ’s ” in Forester; but the Argus has two. H ow many precise and powerful drives were there in the old Fram lingham ian’s 10? S a m e paper, same d a te :— Mr. E . M. Sprot, c Bains, b Cue ................. 29 Mistakes in C r i c k e t ? O f course there are ! Humanum cst errare. But I don’t see why I should not point out other people’s bloomers. They are at liberty to retaliate. It is a small advertisement either way. M r . R . B . B e n j a m i n says that his team is the best in the world to-day! “ W ith Trumper and Massie, the fast bowlers, included, this team would be the strongest possible, and a lot better than the one that battled with England and South A frica in the test matches.” B u t I think V . T . T . would scarcely recognise him­ self in the role indicated. And what has become o f the mysterious “ H o llow a y ,” the international who was expected to join the team? T h e butter was laid on thick by the Australian manager at Schenectady. H e was very pleased with “ the favourable showing ” that the local players had made. Philadelphians and New Yorkers had laughed at the idea o f a match there, he said. But now no team in the country would have reason to ignore the Schenectady players.. T h e “ grounds were the best yet played on in the country ” — and the Australians had already played at Manheim !— and “ he would surely include Schenectady in his trip to America next year.” T h i s Schenectady team— eighteen o f them— made 83 and 115. In the first innings the highest score was 19. In the second two men shared 77 among them, leaving 38 for the other 16 and extras. And one o f the bowlers was Campbell, the wicket-keeper !. It is worthy o f note that from Philadelphia, where they know what cricket is, no utterances o f Mr. Benjamin are reported, as far as I have seen. O f the twelve Toronto players against the Australians as many as seven— Saunders, Lounsborough, Swan, Davison, Henderson, Reid, and Seagram— are said to be born Canucks. Wookey and Baines hail from the West Indies, and o f the remaining three Humphries is English (I believe he played once for Somerset in 1906), Cordner Irish, and Raeburn Scottish. E x t r a c t from a Toronto paper :— “ Macartney was given out lbw off Wookey. You should have heard him in the dressing-room when taking off his pads. H e should be able to write a book on umpiring.” It would appear that one at least o f the Australians has ceased to take bad decisions as jokes. But as long as they wait until reach­ ing the dressing-room before protesting, it does not matter much. Personally no frequenter o f dressing- rooms, I have heard that language is sometimes used in such places ! W i t h one exception E . L . K id d ’s batting average for Cambridge this season is the highest ever achieved by a member o f a ’Varsity team, I believe. H is total and Lagden’s are above anything else ever made for the Light Blues, as the follow ing brief particulars w ill show R. E. Foster, for Oxford, 1900— 930 runs, average 77.50. E. L. Kidd, for Cambridge, 1913-—866 runs, average 72.16. N. F. Druce, for Cambridge, 1897— 726 runs, average 66.00. N. F. Druce, for Cambridge, 1895—786 runs, average 56.14. R. B. Lagden, for Cambridge, 1913— 838 runs, average 5 5 - 8 6 . W . H. B. Evans, for Oxford— 1904— 656 runs, average 54.66. J. E. Raphael, for Oxford, 1904— 973 runs, average 54.05. G. T. Branston, for Oxford, 1906— 568 runs, average 51.63. G. J. Mordaunt, for Oxford, 1895— 774 runs, average 51.60. T h e combined totals o f K id d and Lagden (1704) form a record, the previous best for any two batsmen on the same side being the 1629 o f Evans and Raphael nine years ago. T em pus fu g it ! It seems only the other day that I saw W . H . B. Evans, then a schoolboy at Malvern, score his first first-class century at Worcester. Now one has to look upon him as a player o f the past, whom want o f leisure for first-class cricket alone prevented from tak­ ing his place among the foremost. M y notion that B. G. von B. M elle’s bowling average for Oxford might be a record for the Dark Blues may serve to suggest that my memory has more holes in it than some kind friends imagine. For only three years ago another Rhodes Scholar— P . R. L e Couteur— had better figures. I knew that A. G. Steel’s average in 1878 was an absolute record; but that, o f course, was for Cambridge. H e r e is a list o f those who have taken 50 or more wickets for either ’Varsity during the last 36 years— 1878 being taken as the starting-point on account o f Steel’s record in that year. The figures, as with the batting, are the official ones, so that a match with Dublin University may be included one season and a similar match excluded in the next year, while the Free Foresters’ games were only allowed to rank as from 1912. I cannot help these things. Year. 1896 1910 1909 1913 1884 1897 1899 F or O x fo r d . Bowler. W. F. H. E. Cunliffe 60 P. R. Le Couteur 59 H. A. Gilbert ... 57 B. G. von B. Melle 55 H. O. Whitby ... 53 F. H. E. Cunliffe 52 B. J. T. Bosanquet 51 A. 16-40 I-T 32 13-26 15-90 15-66 16*53 20-09 F or C am br id ge Year. Bowler. W. A. 1878 A. G. Steel 75 ' 7-42 1886 C. W. Rock 65 13-35 1902 !■:. M. Dowson .. 65 18-06 1888 s. M. T. Woods .. 60 16-50 1892 F. S. Jackson .. 57 I 4'54 1882 R. C . Ramsay .. 57 IS ’OI 1905 G. G. Napier 56 17-37 1902 E. R. Wilson 54 16-51 1908 ]•:. Olivier 54 18-44 1906 i\ R. May 54 19-25 1906 G. Napier 54 21-46 1901 E. M. Dowson .. 52 28-19 1880 A. G. Steel 50 12-80 1904 G. G. Napier 50 19-54 T h e much longer Cambridge list is accounted for largely by the fact that the Light Blues have almost invariably had a match or two more than their rivals. G. G. N apier’s name appears three times, and those o f A. G. Steel and E . M. Dowson twice. With Le Couteur, Melle, Ramsay, Rock, and Woods, the Colonies make a rare good showing here. In “ A Look Round ” in the Sportsman o f July 10 “ Wanderer ” says that the Incogniti team will sail in the O ceanic oh August 27, and remain in America till Sep­ tember 26. The probable programme is three games in Philadelphia, one in New Y ork, and one in Toronto.