Cricket 1913

38 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F e b . 15, 1913. What o f this, however? “ Each man born in the Island entered at youth to the game— As it were almost cricket, not to be mastered in haste, But after trial and labour, by temperance, living chaste.” The man who wrote that never really despised cricket, 1 am sure. He goes straight to the heart o f the matter, in that curiously discerning way of his. I could not give up K ipling, even if he were proven a cricket hater; but 1 see nothing in “ The Islanders ” to suggest that he is anything of the sort. In spite o f the Board o f Control’s refusal to consider E . R. Mayne’s scheme for taking an Australian team to America this year— but, perhaps, the Board has relented— arrangements for the tour are going on, and the Sportsman o f February 6 gives some interesting information con­ cerning it. Mr. R. B. Benjamin, the organiser, was then on the point o f sailing for America, and he was given a send-off dinner at the N ag’s Head Hotel, Covent Garden, when Dr. A. Thompson presented him, on behalf o f a number o f Australians in England, with a handsome diamond ring. The team, it is said, w ill leave Australia on April 8 for Vancouver, where the active part o f the tour will begin. Thirty or so matches have been arranged, mostly | on guaranteed terms. There is a proposal to play two or three matches against the combined strength of the States and Canada— one in the Dominion, one in the States, and possibly (but not probably, I should say) one in Bermuda. Victor Trumper, C. G. Macartney, E . R. Mayne, J. N. Crawford, W. J. Whitty, and S. H . Emery are mentioned as certain starters. Armstrong, who was said some time back to be a certainty, is not referred to, nor is Gregory, who spoke while in America o f returning within a few j months; and I think it may be taken for granted that Clement H ill, Bardsley, Hazlitt, Minnett, Jennings, and Ransford will not make the trip. By the way, the projected tournament in Bermuda in January fell through, the Toronto Zingari being unable to send a team,. The Philadelphian authorities (who seem a trifle incredulous as to the Australian invasion) are hoping for a visit from a M .C .C . or Incogniti team, and would like to get the Toronto men and the Bermudians to the City of Brotherly Love for a fortnight’s cricket while the Englishmen are there. Out o f twenty-six applicants for the post o f Secretary, the Somerset C .C .C .’s Committee selected Mr. R. Brooks-King, o f Widecombe House, Pitminster, Taunton, who will enter upon his duties at once, with a salary of ,£200. The appointment o f a captain was deferred; Mr. A. E. Newton would rather not undertake the responsi­ bility if a younger man can be found. The appointment o f C. O. H. Sewell to succeed G. L. Jessop in the captaincy o f the Gloucestershire eleven as well as the secretaryship o f the Gloucestershire C .C ., is scarcely news; it was a foregone conclusion. The county is lucky in having such a successor to “ The Idol.” I t is news, and good news, however, that Jessop is not going to Australia or elsewhere overseas, and that he will not be wholly lost to county cricket, though he does not expect ever to play regularly again. Gloucestershire lost one o f its staunchest supporters when Mr. J. W. Arrowsmith passed away on January 19. No one could possibly have been keener about the county than he was. As a publisher, he made his biggest hit with “ Called B ack,” written by Hugh Conway (F . J. Fargus), the father o f the Rev. A. H. C. Fargus (Hailey- [ bury, Cambridge University, and Gloucestershire). The Sydney correspondent o f the Daily Mail cables ' that the Investigation Committee o f the Board o f Control j has found that the allegations as to the conduct of certain members o f the Australian Team were “ gross and unfair exaggerations.” The Committee regretted that Mr. Gregory’s name should have been unjustifiably used, parti­ cularly as coming at the end o f a long and honourable career. The Committee’s recommendation, with a tran­ script o f the evidence brought before them, is to be pre­ sented at the forthcoming meeting o f the Board of Control, with whom the final decision rests. The members o f the Investigation Committee were :—- Messrs. E . E. Bean (Chairman o f the Board), W. P. McElhone (ex-Chairman), Sydney Smith, jun. (Secretary), | and G. M. Evan (of South Australia), with Col. Foxton. The presentation o f the report may, therefore, be con­ sidered a purely formal matter, and the affair practically at an end. It is not for me to. say much about it. It is not for anyone here to say much about it, I suppose. One feels sure that the charges have been fu lly investigated ; and one must leave it to the manager o f the team to defend him­ self against the charge levelled at him— that of “ gross and unfair exaggeration.” All I have to say on that score is that George Crouch did not strike me as the sort o f man to be guilty of unfairness, and that when the Board received his original report it passed a hearty vote of thanks to him. Gregory’s name was not brought into the controversy, [ believe, in any way that could be considered really derogatory to him,. A ll that was said, as far as I saw, was that he failed to exercise sufficiently firm control over the men. I f he did so fail, the failure was one o f tem­ perament. He would doubtless have controlled them if he could. Circumstance put him into a position which prob- 1 ably he would rather not have filled; had H ill, Arm­ strong, or Trumper been with the team, he would scarcely have been captain. He stepped into the place because the men he led were one and all much his juniors, and there is i no need to doubt that he did his best in it. The iron will of Joseph Darling is not his, or the genius o f Noble, or the inborn capacity for leadership o f William Murdoch and Harry Trott. The whole affair is a miserable one. The manager would have failed in his duty if, believing that the alleged offenders should be reported, he had not reported them. He evidently sets the standard o f conduct required high, and who shall say that he is wrong in doing so? Possibly the Australian public may insist on being given the chance to judge whether he has set it too high. But it is scarcely likely that the full proceedings o f the Investigation Com­ mittee and all the evidence it took will be given to the press ; and perhaps on the whole that is as well. We have heard enough o f the case on this side the world, anyway. But, who says Sydney Gregory’s career is at an end? The Investigation Committee had no particular reason for giving a decision on that question, surely; and the little man has a way o f bobbing up again after he has been written down by almost everyone a “ has been.”