Cricket 1913

J uly 26, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 435 Cricket: A W E E K L Y RECORD O F THE GAME. 25, WHITE STREET, MOOR LANE, E.C. SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1913. Letters for the Editor should be addressed to M r . J. N. P entelow , Malvern, Steyning, Sussex. Advertisements, Subscriptions, &c., should be sent to: The Manager of CRICKET, 25, White Street, Moor Lane, E.C. The following are the subscription rates :— United Kingdom. Abroad. One Year ... ... ... 6s. 3d. ... 7s. 6d. The 24 Summer Numbers 5s. od. ... 6s. od. The 6 Winter Numbers ... is. 3d. ... is. 6d. pavilion (Bossip. See in bronzing sunshine Thousands of good fellows, Such as roll the world along, Such as Ci icket me’low s! These shall keep the Motherland Safe amid her quarrels, Lucky lads, plucky lads, Trained to snatch at laurels! N orm an G a l e . R. B. Lagden’s experiences in the two Gentlemen v. Players matches of this season were curiously like I. P. F. Campbell’s two years ago. Asa rule, comment upon failure is not much in my line; failure comes to all at some time or another; and the thing that matters is that or»e should have done one’s best. Beside this, success is a small thing. © © But these two can afford to have their laoses from the way of success noted, because no capable critic is likely to maintain that they were out of their places in representative matches. Campbell in 1911 had scored 166 and 57 against the strong Kent attack, 106 not out v. the All India Team, and 54 for Surrey v. Derbyshire, and had played several other good innings, while the manner in which he had made his runs set the hallmark of class upon him. Yet for Gentlemen v. Players his scores were 14, 7, 0 and 0. © ^ © What a pity it is that H. L. Simms is unable to play big cricket regularly! In'the match at Lord’s last week he revealed unexpected versatility. The sling-’em- down fast bowler— I have been told he is nothing better than this—bowled at no more than medium pace, with a nasty off-break and a good deal of spin; the have-at- *em, slam-or-get-out batsman stayed an hour for eight. One eye-witness says that in this time he only made one decent stroke off Barnes, and was beaten by three balls out of four from that bowler; but I don’t think we need take that statement quite seriously. © # © F. H. Bohlen, one of the best batsman Philadelphia ever had, was recently married at Saltsjobaden, Sweden, to Miss Ingrid Kleen. This is his second marriage; the first ended in a divorce on the ground of desertion after years of separation. The “ New York Tribune” stated that the Australians scored 412 for a total of "only 50 wickets” at Philadelphia. Nothing very tall about that, surely! 1'he “ Philadelphia Ledger” credits Hamilton (Bermuda) with a victory over Pennsylvania University by an innings and 7\ runs. © & © The third match between the Australians and the Gentlemen of Philadelphia was not on the original programme. It was played because the second game, which was fixed for a Friday, Saturday, and Monday, came to an end early on the Saturday. As far as one, can gather, however, it appears to have been a serious match, not a mere scratch exhibition game to fill up time, and so may fairly rank as one of the regular games of the tour. © & © Lagden this year had been going still more strongl y Three centuries had been registered against his name ; he had also made a 90, and had been top scorer in each innings of his side against Oxford. For Gentlemen v. Players he made 1,0, 0, out 8 ! a % & The moral ? There isn’t one ! A ’ Varsity Player of real class is certainly not out of place in the side of the Gentlemen. Two more—Melle and Mulholland— might well havebeen played this year. 9 % 9 From British Columbia acharge of running down the Australian Team now in America has been levelled at me. It will need a good deal of proving, I think. N'ot a word that can fairly be construed into hostile comment upon the team and its doings has appeared in C ricket . In C ricket alone in this country have its scores been given ; no other paper, to my knowledge, has offered its readers more than the most meagre scraps of information about the tour. © ^ © It is true that I have poked fun at some of Mr R. B. Benjamin’s absurd utterances. I shall continue 7 to do so as and when I choose. It may be “ the very best butter” that Mr. Benjamin uses; but really he uses it too freely. © ^ © The team is a capital one. Macartney, Bardsley, Crawford, Mayne, and Emery are all international players; Diamond, Campbell, Arnott, Cody, Mailey, Collins, and Down are all capable players, good enough for most sides. But it is not quite the greatest aggregation of cricket talent ever brought together; and I should not imagine that the men are specially keen on the Barnum and Bailey methods of their manager. © ^ © The long stand for the last wicket of Hants v. Worcestershire at Dudley by Lieut. C. H. Abercombie and H. A. Haigh Smith, calls to mind the fact that the tenth wicket record partnership in first-class cricket was put up against Worcestershire. This was when in 1909 Woolley and Fielder added 235 at Stourbridge, the fast bowler making an unexpected century.