Cricket 1913

September 6 , 1913. CR I CKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 587 ball, and w a lk in g o v e r w ith o th e rs to lo o k , fou nd the p itch es h ad been sh ifte d , and the b lo ck h ole o f an old p itch w a s a b o u t fo u r y a rd s from the b a ttin g crease o f th e n ew on e ! T h is is no fa iry t a le ; it is stern f a c t ! In the interest o f life and lim b this matter should be lo o k e d in to b y the a u th o ritie s o f the P a rk s D e p a rt­ m ent o f th e L .C .C . S u ch a d is g ra c e fu l sta te of a ffairs o u g h t to be rem ed ied w ith o u t d elay. THOMAS LANGDON. The G lo u ce stersh ire p ro fe ssio n a l— a S u s se x m an by b irth , fo r h e o w n s B rig h to n as h is n a tiv e p la ce, Janu­ ary 8 being- h is n a ta l d a y , and 34 his a g e — w h o took his benefit at the beginning o f last week, has had som e cu rio u s ups and d ow n s in th e co u rse o f a career in w h ich h e h a s m ad e clo se on 10,000 ru n s, n early e v e ry on e o f th em (som e fo r W e s t v . E a s t a t C ard iff in 1 g 10 the on ly exception s, I believe) for his county. H e b e g a n w e ll, fo r h e m ade 50 in h is first m atch v. the W e s t In d ian s in 1900, and 76 *, top sco re in a to ta l o f 268, a fe w w e e k s la te r, w h en b ro u g h t in to the eleven on em e rg e n cy a g a in s t S u s se x at B risto l. W ith ­ ou t d o in g v e ry b ig th in g s in the n e x t tw o se a so n s, he sh ow ed su fficien t fo rm to be w e ll w o rth h is place. T h e n h e g r a d u a lly fa d e d a w a y a lm o st to n o th in g , and if he h a d b e lo n g ed to a co u n ty rich er in p ro fe ssio n a ls would have been let drop. P ractically he was dropped in 1906. B u t in 1907— and th a t w a s n o t a g o o d y e ar for b a tsm e n— h e cam e a g a in w ith a ru sh , and sh ow ed form fa r su p erio r to a n y h e h ad sh ow n b e fo re . H e sco red o v e r 1,300 ru n s, a v e ra g e d o v e r 30, and in tw o su c c e ss iv e m a tch e s to ta lled 2g8 w ith o u t a cen tu ry am o n g h is fo u r in n in g s. H e h as n ev er q u ite atta in ed to su ch fo rm a g a in ; b u t h e h as in tw o o th e r sea so n s toppsd the thousand, and has always maintained his place since. Here are his figu res season by season :— LANGDON IN FIRST-CLASS CRICKET. Season. Inns. N.O. R. A. U.S. 1900 7 1 197 3 2 -8 3 76* 1901 45 4 809 1 9 -7 3 114* 1902 36 1 70J 20.25 84 1903 39 0 696 17.84 116 1904 20 1 390 15.60 83 * 1905 29 2 415 15-37 6 3 1906 14 0 136 9.71 46 1907 46 1 1369 30.42 97 1908 45 2 93 2 21.67 108 190; 46 1 1051 2 3-35 90 1910 35 1 1021 30.02 56 1911 3 « 0 7 ii 18.71 8 3 1912 3 ° 0 597 19.90 81 I 9 ’ 3 (.10AuS- 3 ° ) !43 0 ' 916 2 I -37 140 Total 4 7 9 14 994 9 21.39 '5 6 I sh o u ld th in k th ere is sc a rc e ly a n o th er in stan ce of a su c ce ssfu l b a ts n a n — fo r a m an w ith su ch a to ta l and an a v e r a g e o f o v e r 21 m u st be reck o n ed su c ce ssfu l— h a v in g sco red so few cen tu ries. A m o n g th o se w h o se a g g r e g a te s stan d a t p re sen t w ith in a cou p le o f th ou ­ sand runs or so o f L a n g d o n ’s either way, R o b ert R e lf h as m ad e 14, P e a rso n 17 , C h a rle sw o rth 12, W . B. Burns 12, Jam es D o u gla s 15, R . E . F oster 22, and B o w e ll 13 cen tu rie s. L a n g d o n ’s q u o ta is five. T L A N G D O N . B u t to m a k e up fo r th is— to h is sid e, if n ot to h im ­ se lf, th e d ifferen ce b etw een go a n d 100 b e in g a fa r g r e a te r m a tte r p e rso n a lly th an to o n e ’s side— L a n g d o n h a s an u n u su al p ro p o rtio n o f sc o re s b etw een 50 and 100. T h u s, c om p a rin g him w ith P e a rso n — th e com ­ p a riso n is m ad e p a rtly b e c a u se the tw o men sta rte d in th e sam e se a so n and h a v e p la ye d a lm o st e x a c tly the sam e n um ber o f in n in g s, and p a rtly b e ca u se P e a r s o n ’s fig u res a re re a d y to h an d— I find th a t th e W o r c e s te r ­ sh ire m an h a s b a tted 477 tim es to m a k e 11,5 2 0 ru n s, the G lou cestersh ire man 479 tim es to make 9,949. P e a rso n h ad sco red 17 c en tu rie s, L a n g d o n 5. B u t as to scores betw een 50 a n d 100 L a n gd o n has 56 o f th ese a g a in s t P e a r s o n ’s 48— th eir in n in g s o f 90 and u nd er 100 b e in g g (L a n g d o n ) and 6 (P earso n ) re sp ec ­ tiv e ly , o f 80 and o v e r 7 a n d 6, o f 70 and o v e r 9 an d 8, o f 60 and o v e r 12 and 13, o f 50 a n d o v e r 19 and 15. B u t one need n ot dw ell lo n g e r on th ese c om p a riso n s, w h ich are p erh a p s sc a rc e ly fa ir to L a n g d o n , a w o rth y an d h a rd w o r k in g c irc k e te r w h o d e se rv e s a m ore fu ll accou n t than I can give o f him here, ow ing to con sid era­ tio n s o f sp a ce. T h o u g h n ow and a g a in h e g e ts an a tta c k o f th e slo w s , h is u su a l a n d c e rta in ly h is b e st g a m e is th e fo rc in g on e. H e c a n b o w l a bit— le ft h a n d , slo w ish— and fields w ell. T h e re o u g h t t r be years more go od cricket in him yet.