Cricket 1913

40 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F eb . 15, 1913. making the “ t e s t ” sides representative, and even when i nearly so they were not as well together as the team of | a single colony. On the whole, the West Indies have not taken greatly to these minor “ tests.” Local feeling is stron g; and the average enthusiast is far keener on his own particular side than on one which represents A ll West Indies. Of course, the 43 matches referred to above represent only a part of the work of the six tours. B u t many of the remainder were games of little account, played against the smaller islands, garrison teams, and the like. The 43 are the real representative games, with a saving proviso that Jamaica and Queen’ s Park (practi­ cally a Gentlemen of Trinidad side) matches should be regarded as of superior class to the rest. One cannot go into details as to these matches. A few notes must suffice. The first match played b y the first English team to visit the West Indies (Mr. R . S. Lucas’ s) was won b y Barbados, greatly to the joy of the Bridgetown crowd, and more especially of the black contingent. Clifford Goodman’s bowling was mainly responsible for the victory ; he took T4 wickets for 85. The return was a remarkable game, much resembling the first of the five 1894-5 tests in Australia a few weeks earlier. It ran its course thus :— B a r b a d o s , 517— G. C. Learmond 86, W. N. Alleyne 82, C. Browne 74, G. B . Y . Cox 68, H. A . F. Cole 67, A . Somers-Cocks 62. L u c a s ’ s T e a m , 303— F . W. Bush 101. C. E. Good­ man, 6 for 108. L u c a s ’ s T e a m , following on, 396— J. M. Dawson, who batted 6 \ hours, 138, H. R . Bromley-Davenport 91. A. Somers-Cocks, 7 for 99. B a r b a d o s , 157— C. Browne 48. F . W. Bush and H. R. Brom ley-Davenport did the bowling. In the match 1,373 runs were scored, and the English­ men, after having to follow on, won b y the narrow margin of 25 runs— an exciting finish to a great fight. There were two English teams in the West Indies in 1896-7 (Lord Hawke’ s and Mr. A. Priestley’s), and Barbados had 5 games in all against them, winning 2, losing 2, and drawing 1. In the three matches against Priestley’s Team , C. E . Goodman took 36 wickets for 291. In 1901-2 Barbados lost one match and won one. Vickery Challenor (67, 42, and 30) was top scorer in all three innings for them. Three years later honours were again easy ; Percy Goodman made a fine century in the second match. In 1910-1 the colony won both matches in an innings. Trinidad had mainly Aucher Warner (77) and the fast bowling of the dusky Woods to thank for their first win in 1894-5. Two years later they played each team twice, and won all four matches— m argin s: 136 runs, 5 wickets, 10 wickets, 8 w ic k e ts! In the four games Woods took 36 wickets for 351, and another coloured pro., Cumberbatch, 36 for 396. L. S. D ’Ade made a century in one match, and Aucher Warner scored 38 and 32 in another, when practically every one else failed as batsmen. In 1901-2 (having lost Woods) the island went under in both matches, E . M. Dowson and E. R. Wilson proving altogether too much for them. Three years later they won both games, Learmond, Harragin, Constantine, Sydney Smith, and Cumberbatch all doing fine w o rk ; and they again won both in 1910-1, when C. S. Rogers distinguished himself b y splendid all-round cricket, and Andre Cipriani (who has played club cricket in England), made a capital century in the first. Perhaps Trinidad has owed some of its success to the peculiarities of the St. Clair Oval wickets. An insect called the mole-cricket plays such havoc with the tu rf there th at during recent years matting has had to be used. This is never the case at Bourda or Kensing­ ton, where pitches are excellent, or at Kingston, though there the standard is scarcely so high. In the smaller islands matting is pretty generally utilised. British Guiana’ s two victories were both won in 190 1-2, and each b y four wickets. Woods (15 for 233), Burton (21 for 168), and E. R. D . Moulder, a school­ master, who made two scores of 64 and one of 94 not out, playing splendid cricket when everyone else failed in the second match, were the chief figures in them. In the eight A ll West Indies matches as many as 47 men have appeared for the home side. These are (the figures in brackets giving the number of appear­ ances) : L. F. Archer, Bar. (2) ; H. B. G. Austin, Bar. (4) ; F. E. W. G. Austin, Bar. (1) ; C. K . Bancroft, Bar. (1) ; H. C. Bayley, B.G . (2) ; W. Bowring, T. (1) ; C. A. Browne, Bar. (1) ; C. R. Browne, Bar. (2) ; T . J. Burton, B.G . (4) ; G. Challenor, Bar. (1) ; R . Challenor, Bar. (1) ; V. Challenor, Bar. (3) ; A. B. Clarke, B.G. (1) ; L. S. Constantine, T. (4) ; G. B. Y . Cox, Bar. (1) ; P. I. Cox, T . (1) ; H. A . Croal, B.G . (1) ; L. S. D ’Ade, T. (2) ; W. 0 . Gibbs, Bar. (2); C. E. Goodman, Bar. (1); P. A. Goodman, Bar. (1); A . E. Harragin, T. (3); F. Hinds, Bar. (3) ; S. Hinds, B.G . (1) ; W. Hoad, T. (1) ; G. John, T. (1) ; C. H. King, B.G. (2) ; O. H. Layne, B . and B.G . (6) ; G. C. Learmond, B.G . and T. (5) ; D. M. McAulay, Bar. (1) ; C. S. Morrison, Jam. (1) ; E. R. D . Moulder, B.G . (2) ; R. Ollivierre, St. V. (2) ; C. S. Rogers, T. (1) ; W. G. M. Sarel, T. (1) ; W. C. Shepherd, Bar. (4) ; C. Simpson, B .G . (2) ; Max Smith, T . (1) ; S. G. Smith, T. (2) ; S. W. Sproston, B.G . (1) ; P. H. Tarilton, Bar. (1) ; R. S. A. Wamer, T. (r) ; O. Weber, B.G . (1) ; W. P. Weber, B.G . (2) ; J. Woods, T. and B.G. (3) ; and S. M. Worme, Bar. (1). Looking over this list, one sees a few names that can hardly be said to belong to famous players, but misses very few indeed of those who must be numbered among the pick of West Indian cricketers. Add E. F . Wright, H. A . F . Cole, C. Browne, A . Somers-Cocks, and W. E. Goodman, of the older generation, A. Cipriani, N. F. Hart, F. H. Abraham, and R. E. Batson (now, I under­ stand, studying medicine at Edinburgh), of the men of to-day, and it might be reckoned a full list of the best, though not of all the worthy cricketers in the islands. The most remarkable of the eight tests was that played, at Port of Spain in 1905, when an innings of 80 by Captain Wynyard, made when everyone else except G. H. Drummond failed, and some fine bowling b y Thompson, got the English side home b y 4 runs. The last two colonial batsmen were run out, which rather suggests overtaxed nerves. In 190T-2, between British Guiana’s two victories at Bourda, the English side beat All West Indies b y an innings and 330 runs, only V. Challenor and Layne making double figures in either innings. Dowson rattled up a centuiy, and his bowling and Wilson’s.proved practically unplayable. O t h e r M a t c h e s . Ap art from the early games already referred to,j the tournaments, and the matches with English teams,