Cricket 1913

August 16, 1913. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 51!) If, in such circumstances, a batsman knows he is out, he ought to g o ! There is nothing else for it. I'he ethics o f the game demand it. T o profit, by an umpire’s mistake is an advantage that some few men I know cou ld not bring themselves to take, though I am a fra id the majority would have no qualms o f conscience; but this was not a matter o f an umpire’s mistake. Neither umpire cou ld see enough to be sure. The issue is in the batsman’s own hands. I f uncertain, he should stay ; the in­ terests o f his side require that. I f he knows it was a fair catch, he should g o ; the spirit o f cricket re­ quires that. But wThat o f the interests o f his side in the latter case ? I'his is a question some may ask. T o me the thing seems clear. It is not woith i t ! T o win fa irly and squarely is much; to win other­ wise is nothing. T o avert defeat fairly and squarely is something; to avert defeat otherwBe ir:, worse than n o th in g ! “ P L A Y U P ! P L A Y U P ! AN D P L A Y TH E GAME !” H e n r y N e w b o lt . In a match at Reigate-—quite an unimpoilant juvenile match— a day or two earlier, a small boy who had made nearly 40 p layed the game most dis­ tinctly. The umpire, an O ld Carthusian, and very keen, so fa r fo rg o t him self as to call “ H ow ’s tha t?” for a palpable catch at the wicket for which no one on the outside had appealed. He checked hirnsd f quickly, and apologised. “ Y o u ’re not cut, youngster,” he said. “ Y ou needn’t go.” “ But 1 was out,” replied the small b o y . “ I know I was, and 1 think I ought to g o .” He went, t o o ! The “ nap tr ic k ”— execrable expression ! —per­ formed b y G. H . F . Keen at C laygate last week for Surbiton Christchurch v. Ruxley L o d g e was no mere flash in the pan, as in the course o f the. game he took other 5 wickets, and the whole ten on ly cost him ig runs. Some o f these so many wickets in so many balls records are mere paper ones, made at the expense o f— non-batsmen, shall we say ? But it is to be presumed in this case that Keen bow led against the men who cou ld bat as well as against his five victims all in a row—not that I mean to imply that they cou ldn ’t ! It is worthy o f note that Charlesworth and Stone have reached four-figure totals without the help o f a single three-figure innings. Charlesworth s highest to date o f writing is 87 , Stone’s 93 . A tour b y a T rin idad team in E ng land next year is probable. The promoters o f the trip b cpe to arrange matches with leading public school eievens. Are the Minor Counties com ing into their own? There is a capital article (to be continued) b y E H- D . Sewell, in the current number o f r >.V* Magazine , dealing with Dorset, Lincolnshire, S ta f­ fordshire, Surrey II., Cornwall, Berkshire, and Suffolk. In a foreword the E d itor sa y s : “ There are hundreds o f enthusiastic cricketers who know nothing o f the doings o f these Minor County clubs.” But there need not b e ! What are these enthu­ siastic cricketers (presumed to be readers o f F r y ’s, which gives perhaps a dozen cricket articles in a y e a r !) doing that they don ’t see C R IC K E T ? A t the cost o f considerable trouble I have managed to give the scores o f all second-class matches, with some account o f the p lay , and the bow ling analysis in all but a very few cases, since this paper came under my con trol. It has not been an easy task. T o speak plainly, the second-class county secretaries in general— there are some notable exceptions— have failed to give me the help that I think I might fa irly have ex ­ pected. Applications fo r missing analyses have sometimes been disregarded en tirely; information asked fo r has come along belated ly or has not come at all. But all this has made no difference. In the expressive American language, I am not a quitter. I propose to g o on, and I really think that in time the second-class county secretaries w ill come to see that C R IC K E T is doing fo r them what no other paper does. W e don ’t print their scores with all sorts o f absurd mistakes in names, with initials lacking, or with batsmen le ft out entirely and their scores assigned to someone else, as some papers that shall be nameless do. The staff o f C R IC K E T includes a man who actually knows a g o od deal about the second-class county p la y e r s! I don ’t believe any leading daily can honestly say the same thing. Special articles on Glamorgan, Staffordshire, Berkshire, and Suffolk cricket appeared in our columns in 19 11 . Other counties would have been dealt with in similar fashion but fo r the insuperable difficulty at the time o f getting the necessary in ­ formation. I f arrangements can be made, other counties w ill be dealt with in the future— much more fu lly than in Fry's, though I have nothing but g o od to say o f my friend Sewell's bright and in­ teresting article. Colonel C od y had endeared him self to the heart o f a nation which loves pluck under difficulties, and does not fa il to recognise it when once it has won through. T o the pluck that does its best and fails in the ultimate I fear the average Briton pays small regard. Success is the g o d o f the market-place. But C ody won through, and became a popular idol, and p robab ly no one o f the many aviation accidents that have robbed us— and not us alone— o f some o f the bravest and best has caused such a thrill o f horror and o f g rief as that in which the bluff Texan and W . H. B. Evans (South A frican born, b y the way) crashed down to their death to ­ gether.