Cricket 1913

cor. CR I C K E T : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME. September 1?,, 1913. Cricket: A W E E K LY RECORD OF THE GAME. 25, WHITE STREET, MOOR LANE, E.C. S A T U R D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 13 , 1913 . Letters for the Editor should be addressed to M r . J. N. P entrlow , Malvern, Steyning, Sussex. Advertisements, Subscriptions, &c., should be sent to : The Manager of C ricket , 25, White Street, Moor Lane, E.C. The following are the subscription rates:— United Kingdom. Abroad . One Year ... ... ... 6s. 3d. ... 7s. 6d. The 24 Summer Numbers 5s. od. ... 6s. od. The 6 Winter Numbers ... is. 3d. ... is. 6d. pavilion (Sossip. I f ever there was a Golden Game To brace the nerves, to cure repining, To put the Dumps to flight and shame, It’s Cricket when the sun is shining! Gentlemen, toss the foolscap by, Gentlemen, change from books to leather ! Breathe your fill of the breeze from the hill, Thanking Bliss for the great blue weather. N orman G a t e . P eccavi! In the issue o f A u gu st 30 I stated that E . W . D illon reached his 1,000 runs fo r the season on A ugu st 21. But he d id not. Somewhere and som ewhen— as they say in Sussex— I had made a mistake o f 100 runs in tota lling. T h e error has not been poin ted ou t to me. I d iscovered it for m y self. (W h e re are our eagle-eyed censors ?) A nd when I had discovered it I cou ld hardly believe it. If 1 totted the K en t sk ipp er’s scores on ce, I totted them a dozen times. But they w o n ’ t com e to fou r figures. A nd the truth w ill ou t. “ Zummerset ” suggests the fo llow in g as the best eleven to represent the M in or Coun ties : 1.— Capt. L . P . C ollins (B e rk s); 2.— H . B rougham (B e rk s); 3 .— S ilverlock (M o n .); 4.— G . A . Stevens (N o r­ fo lk ); 5.— M . Falcon (N o r fo lk ); 6 .— Barnes (S ta f­ fo rd sh ire ); 7.— R e v . G . B . Raikes (N o r fo lk ); 8 .— G . L . H un tin g (N orthum berland ); 9.— V ibart (C o rnw a ll); 10.— M orris (D u rh am ); 11.— H . A . G ilbert (M on .). G o o d , but not the best, I think. R a ik es has on ly p layed on ce this year. A s batsmen I shou ld prefer F . W . G illespie, T . A . B radford, E . I I . D . Sewell, H endren , W in g h am , B . Meakin, G . G . M . Ben­ nett, E . S . Ph illips, and N . V . H . R ich e s to one or tw o o f those he has selected. A nd I should put in C reber as a left-handed bow ler. Ernest V o g le r— n o bad ju d g e— tells me that he thinks Creber very nearly, if not quite, B ly th e’ s equal on a wicket that suits h im ; and a left-hander wou ld g iv e variety to the attack. But “ Zumm erset’s ” side wou ld be g o o d enough to beat several o f the first-class coun ­ ties, I fancy. A correspondent wants to kn ow whether there is any parallel to the happen ing at Chesterfield re­ cently, when Derbysh ire, dism issed for 30 in their second inn ings, yet beat Notts. H e thinks it is a record. D ifficult to say. I cannot p ron oun ce ju d g ­ ment. It is scarcely possible to classify records of this sort, because the first inn ings cannot b e left out o f account. S ca rborou gh spectators saw G . A . Faulkner at som eth ing like his best. Is he g o in g back to South A frica ? It is said that if he does he will not return. W e ll, we may regret that; but “ from L io n ’s Head to line ” — or very nearly— it will be tidings o f great jo y . Faulkner, in his old form , wou ld stiffen w on ­ derfully the y ou n g South A frican eleven. W h a t ex ceed ing ly sensational cricket the Gentle­ men v . P la y e r’s matches o f this season have p ro­ duced ! Both at L o r d ’s and at the Oval there was excitement g a lo r e ; but the closely-con tested game at S ca rborou gh bears away the palm . A margin o f on ly half a dozen runs after a struggle like that, and in a match in which over 1,000 were registered provides one o f those heart-stirring finishes o f which E . H . D . Sewell wrote a week or two a go. It is curious that H itch shou ld be so prom inent as a batsman in this match, fo r he has made very few runs fo r Surrey du ring the greater part o f this season. U p to June 18 he had scored 304 in 14 completed in n in g s ; from that date to September 3 he added on ly 137 in 22. N o one w ou ld accuse H itch o f b e in g a great bat. A fast bow ler cannot afford to have such accusations levelled against him — and seldom risks them . But, like many another fast bow ler, he is a really pow erfu l h itter; and the crowd fairly revels in the fun when he gets g o in g . S c o r in g 50’ s at express speed must be a delightfu l variant from the hard work at the crease that is H itch ’s portion . Som eone asked him a few weeks ago whether he wasn ’t a trifle lame. “ L am e ! I ’m lame all over ! ” was his reply. W h ile it is a pity that so fine a batsman as P . R . Johnson has had to refuse the M .C .C . invitation to tour in Sou th A frica , the H o n . L . H . T enn y son will make an adm irable substitute. H e is not as sound a batsman as the Somerset m a n ; bu t he is a b ig hitter, and if the matting wickets chance to suit him he may do great th ings. T h e side is a much-travelled on e. B ooth , R o b in ­ son , and Tennyson are the on ly men included who have not been cricket-touring before.