Cricket 1913

J uly 19, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 431 Cricket in Scotland. ( B y H a m is h .) The Gentlemen of Scotland ju st m anaged to draw their match w ith the Gentlemen of Irelan d ; but it must be admitted that, a s a team , the Irishmen w ere our superiors in all departments of the gam e. On the whole their batting was sounder, their bow lin g more effective, and their fielding more accurate; and probably the real reason why they did not push home their advantage w as that they rated the Scottish side at a higher value than it w as worth. P. F . Quinlan, R . H . Lambert, and W . P. Hone played for the most part rem arkably quiet cricket. T hey m ight well have shown a little more enterprise when the bow ling was collared in the second innings. Set 369 to w in, with less than four hours to play, the Scots apparently had thoughts of g e ttin g the ru n s ; but three good w ickets went down ’in an hour, and then the match resolved itself into an effort to hold out until time. J. K err, an outstanding figure throughout, a gain proved his worth by rem aining at the crease for tw o hours. In that time he contributed only 22 to the to ta l; but runs w ere of little value in the circum ­ stances. T o stay w as the one th in g n eedful; and K err did it. D. M acD onald and W . L . F raser for Scotland and B . J. Ward and R . H . Lambert for Ireland were the pick of the trundlers; but I think none of the bow ling w as of excep­ tionally h igh class. Curiously enough^ the Irishmen came over w ithout any slow bowler. S tew art’s C ollege F .P .’s closed their innings again st the G range after scoring 232 for 6— W . F . Turnbull 96, N. Nisbet 62. T h e G ran ge replied w ith 151 for 5, P. S. Fraser (58*) and H . B . Cumm ins (36*) adding about a hundred with­ out being separated. W . F . Turnbull is the most consistent batsman in the Edinburgh district a t present, and should find his w ay into the eleven to meet Northants. In m idw eek C . T . Mannes (67) and A. M cM illan (40)— veterans w hose combined a g e s top the century, I should say— put up 122 for D rumpellier’s first w icket again st the G range, w ho were only saved from defeat by the intervention of time after the ninth w icket had fallen. Edinburgh U niversity have finished a most successful season, their record readin g— W on 12, drawn i i , lost 1. R. E. Batson, the freshman from Barbados, totalled 556 runs w ith an average of 42, and took 51 w-ickets at a cost of 8.47 runs each. D . M acDonald captured 63 w ickets for 8.74 runs each. The three county matches were brought to definite con­ clusions. Forfarshire (139) went down softly to Aberdeen­ shire (259 for 8). Irem onger and A. Broadbent w ere the strong men of a side for which all did well. S tirlin g County ( ' 33 ) lost to Perthshire (138 for 3), for whom J. A. Ferguson had 51*. L et us hope that this fine cricketer w ill play and give of his best again st Northamptonshire. Clackm annan County (73) were again beaten by Fifeshire (101 for 6). Morfee secured six w ickets for 8 runs, g iv in g him in the two engagem ents between these counties 16 w ickets for 17! In each match on Saturday the beaten side had the advantage of first knock. A yr (160) made themselves fairly safe again for the Western Union championship by defeating F erguslie (118). There w as some very interesting cricket in the Borders. A lively match between Peebles County (211 for 5) and Edin­ burgh Academ icals (185 for 7) ended in a draw— nearly 400 in four hours’ play. For Peebles M. M. Thorburn had eleven 4 s in his 5 7 ; and for the Academ icals J. L . Mounsey had ^ •o 6’s and seven 4 ’s in his 63*. G ala (145) fell before Leith Caledonian (149 for 6), for whom J. D . Little (67) and G . D . Cunningham (58) added i n for the second w icket. Selkirk (124) confirmed their superiority over H aw ick (49), and are therefore certain winners of the Border L eague. T he follow ing centuries w ere registered in the w eek end­ in g July 12 :— P. M. Campbell, 100*, G ran ge v. F lotilla X I. A. P. Gordon C umm in g, 101*, Forres St. Law rence v. Inverness Citadel. Special Club Notes. ( C on t ribu t ed by T h e C h ie l .) The part of a captain is never a sinecure, and no one can adequately fill it unless he is both popular and a good cricketer. B y a good cricketer I don ’t mean necessarily a big scorer or a destructive bowler, but the possessor of a thorough know ledge of the gam e. H e must be a man of the world in the best sense, and of an understanding nature. It is easy to be a critic from the pavilion. V ery often, I fear, the “ arm-chair ” supporters of a club cause no end of discontent and m ischief. W hatever be the method of selecting teams, the captain should alw ays have the last word in the m atter. H e is the person who is chiefly concerned by the team selected. It is a doubtful policy to have “ arm -chair ” critics upon your selection comm ittee at all. T hey see the g am e from one point of view , but only one w h o is playing can know exactly w hat goes on upon the field. I don ’t w ant to cry down selection comm ittees. It has been said that “ in the multi­ tude of counsellors there is w isdom .” T ru e or not, one may adm it that discussion often helps. B u t in many cases a captain has strongly pronounced view s, for which he can g iv e good reasons, and they should be respected. A captain can never do his best when his team includes men he con­ siders shoufd not be playing, while others w ho should are standing down through the machinations of the “ arm -chair ” cricketer. A m istake that has occurred more than once this season is the takin g off of a bowler and thereafter keeping him off. Many good bowlers are given too long a spell at first and then taken off once for all. Unquestionably it should alw ays pay to g e t your best bowlers on again if the position of the gam e calls for the best. Say that your best bowler is unable to g e t out either of the first tw o bats, and a change is made. T h e change man succeeds in breakin g up the stand; but it is often a m istake to keep him on in the hope of further success. H is success m ay have been due to accident rather than to sheer merit. T h is is, of course, a matter for the captain’s judgm ent, but a hint in season as to the frequent neglect of the best m ay not be am iss. If the change bowder seems to you the better— w ell and g o o d ! Apart from the duties of a captain, do the other ten men alw ays do their duty by their captain and their side ? C er­ tainly not when (as I have seen happen) they refuse to g o on to bowl, or m ake objections to some particular position of the field. W hat is a skipper to do w ith such a m an? T o order him off the field would be a drastic measure, but I think the rig h t thing. A rest for a few w eeks would do such a man good. He m ay play c ric k e t; but he is no crick eter! —-------------------------------------------------------------------- The forty-eighth Annual Dinner and Outing of the employees of Messrs. F. H. Ayres, Ltd., was held at the “ Waverley Hotel,” Hastings, on Saturday, July 12. The party, numbering one hundred and forty, was presided over by Mr. Rupert Ayres, who fulfilled his duties ably. He was supported by Messrs. C. M. and Horace Ayres and Mr. W. B. Backer, the secretary. Ali arrangements having been carefully planned by the Committee of stewards and the weather being fine a most enjoyable time was spent by all fortunate enough to be present.