Cricket 1913

Feb. 15, 1913 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 43 the willow, was G. B. Y . Cox. Two centuries stand to his credit in tournament matches ; and against Trinidad in September,. 1897, he a n d .Harold Austin added 263 for the second wicket— a record stand in the islands-—• Cox making 161, Austin 129. Cox’ s recorc. was 757 runs in 27 completed inniiigs (average 28). Nowadays he plays for the second eleven of Harrison College, at which school he is a master. His brother, Percy Cox, gave up the game early after an early start. He played capital cricket here in 1900, and a little later, going back to Trinidad, whence he originally came, appeared a few times for the island, but soon dropped out. He was a useful change bowler as well as a good bat. Record in the West Indies and England, 1 150 runs in 57 innings, average just over 20. F. Hinds and O. H. Layne both visited England, one in 1900, the other in 1906, and both did well without doing greatly. Hinds is now in the United States, and Layne is employed b y the Georgetown C.C., so that the island knows them no more. They are good all-rounders, who somehow stopped short at a stage | when there seemed every reason to hope they might 1 go on improving. Kenneth Mason is another man who scarcely realised early expectations. A good bowler of the orthodox fast medium type arid a plucky, if not very polished, bat-— his 50 in an uphill game against Trinidad at Georgetown in 1907 was rare value— he has not managed to make his mark very decisively in big cricket. S. M. Worme has done good work as a fast bowler, and is by no means hopeless as a bat. R. E. Batson, who played a fine steady innings of 111 v. Trinidad in the last tournament, and had an average of 106 for all matches of the season, ought to do well in Scottish cricket, though he will find conditions very different. A. Somers-Cocks, a fine bowler and useful bat, Donald McAulay (who died in r g n ) , a free hitter with a style all his own, fair change bowler, and brilliant field, and C. H. Packer, who played both for Barbados and Trinidad, but never quite fulfilled expectations with either, are men of the past, like the brothers Cox, Cole, Clement Browne, and Clifford Goodman. Somers- Cocks took 52 wickets at a trifle under 20 each ; but he was a man who had his days, and these figures do not fairly represent him at his best. Packer’s batting average was only 15 (310 runs in 20 completed innings) ; but this again scarcely does the player justice. W. O. Gibbs, the only Barbadian batsman who has ever made two centuries in a match (Spartan C.C. v. Pickwick C.C.), must not be forgo tten ; especially good at a pinch, a change bowler, and a splendid field, he is a rare useful man on a side. Passing on to Trinidad, we find five figures in the forefront— those of S. G. Smith, already referred to, L. S. Constantine, G. C. Learmond, A. E. Harragin and C. P. Cumberbatch. Constantine, a fine stalwart specimen of black manhood, has put in nearly a score of years’ representative cricket, has had in England and the West Indies well over a hundred innings for a total of 3,000 odd (average over 27), and seems almost, if not quite, as good as ever. He has all-round qualities, too, is very useful as a change bowler, can keep wicket, and is a good field. Learmond played for Barbados as a schoolboy, scored 86 in his second match, afterwards represented British Guiana, then moved on to Trinidad, and for all three colonies was always one of his side’s best batsman. He failed in England both in 1900 and 1906, mainly through over-eagemess and a disposition to exploit the hook-stroke too frequently ; but at home | he has done some fine work. His highest score was j 120 v. Jamaica in 1905. He did not play in the last Itournament, and perhaps has finished with big cricket. Like Learmond, Cumberbatch was credited with a century when Trinidad visited Jamaica, and like him quite failed to “ make good ” in England. He has done some splendid bowling a g a in ;.E n g lis h sides in the West Indies, and still plays, thot bh nowadays only j a shadow of his former self. Harragin has twice topped the century in tournament matches, and, despite i illness, did well here in 1906 ; he is a dashing bat, i who is not afraid of giving chances, and he has often ! captained the colony’ s side. As he is nearly 36, it is not likely that very much more will be seen of him ; ]men reach middle-age sooner in the Caribbean than in England. In 70 innirigs, 2 not out, he has totalled 1,800 runs, giving him an average of over 26. Lear­ mond’s figures, by the way, pulled down by failure in England, yield about 18 per innings; but his West Indian average alone would be distinctly higher. Cum- berbatch has taken considerably over a hundred wickets, at an average of less than 15 each, in spite of the fact that his 31 in England cost as many as 852 runs. In C. S. Rogers the island possesses just now a man of rare all-round capacity, who can keep wicket as well as hit freely, bowl successfully, and field well. Up to date he has registered 488 runs with an average of over 30 per innings, and has taken 34 wickets at just over 10 runs each. Another excellent all-rounder is A. Cipriani, who has shown really fine form during the two or three seasons since his return from England, where he was well-known in London club cricket. N. F. Hart made a couple of centuries in tournament matches, though he had some luck in making them, scored well when Trinidad visited Jamaica, and alto­ gether was one of the island’ s best men when he left for the States, where he now plays. L. S. D ’Ade batted freely and well for two or three seasons, and ran up a century against one English team, but did little when brought to England. O. P. Bennett looked like proving Sydney Smith’s successor as a left-hand slow bowler, but fell away after a good start. Max and C. R. Smith, brothers (but not related to S. G., I believe), did some useful work as batsmen, though neither was a very heavy scorer, and the same may be said of E. V. Acton (who came to Trinidad from Jamaica), H. Hutton, A. M. Low (a schoolmaster), H. J. Massey, and J. A. Pinder. Then there was R. S. A. Warner, a batsman of pluck and skill, past his best when he captained the First West Indian Team in England, but no passenger even then. Moses Hector, T. Lucas, J. A. Romeo, and H. Pollard were all good bowlers ; and with them may be mentioned Stephen Rudder, who played for Trinidad, though his best work was for Barbados, for whom his analysis in the first innings of Trinidad at Bridgetown in September, 1897, was 5 wickets for 5 runs in 14 overs. He was a fast bowler. V. Pascall is a useful all-round player at the present day, and George John, a really fine fast bowler and a slashing bat (he made i l l for Shepherd’ s Team v. British Guiana a little over three years ago), is more than useful. (To be continued.)