Cricket 1913

6 g6 C R IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. November 15 , 1913 . u n in te n tio n a lly— collid ed w ith a certain old crock d o in g h is best at b ack to stop y o u r ru sh es at centre- fo rw a rd , and cau sed the sa id old c ro c k ’s nose to b leed from the im pact o f th at cu rly head o f y o u r s ? l i e does, a n yw a y !) I f he never qu ite fu lfilled the h ig h prom ise of h is sch o o ld a y s— and it m ust be adm itted that he d id not, ill-h ealth often h a n d ic a p p in g h im — “ C h a r le y ” Sm ith , as th e M ove crow d a lw a y s called h im , w a s a rare u sefu l man on a side. l i e cou ld pun ch them hard , and w a s never a fraid to take risk s. H e fielded , a s a lread y hin ted , in fine sty le , se ttin g a g o o d exam p le a lw a y s. l i e w as not a b ad c h an g e b ow ler, th o u g h he d id not g o on often. A n d he w a s a g o o d and v e ry p o pu la r cap tain . N o w h e is q u ite lost to cricket. I h a v e not seen h im <br a y e a r or m o r e ; b u t a friend w h o met him lately told me th a t he had not tou ched a bat this y e a r. H e is fa rm in g in the Ilu rstp ie rp o in t d istrict. G o o d lu ck to him ! E v e r y A u s tra lia n loves a h o rse; bu t S ou th A u s ­ tralian s w ill be lik e ly to w ish th at C lem en t H ill d id n ’t even kn ow how m an y le g s equus possessed if it be true th at h is new po st as a ra c in g stew ard m eans h is g iv in g up cricke t en tirely. W a r w i c k A r m s t r o n g w a s m arried a few m on th s — or w eeks— b a c k . T h a t ’s a ll I know abou t it. O n e w ou ld h ave lik ed— and w ou ld ce rta in ly h ave e x ­ pected— d eta ils. B u t I p refer not to inven t them ; th e y m ig h t tu rn ou t in c o r r e c t! A s d id the D a ily C itiz e n ’s sen sation al sto ries abou t the A u stra lian T e am in Am e ric a . T h e y were not strand ed . T h e y were never in d a n g e r o f b e in g strand ed . T h e y “ d iv v ied u p ,” I understand , to the tune o f th ree figu res o r so each, and had the tim e o f their liv e s d u rin g the tou r. M e s s r s . H a rriso n Sm ith , m an a g e r o f the g rea t bu sin e ss of A . G . S p a ld in g and B ro th ers on the oth er side, and G o rdon C am p b e ll, the w ic k e t­ keeper, called a t W h ite S treet one d a y when I ch an ced not to b e there, in order to con trad ict the sto ry , w h ich th e y im a g in ed (as I ga th er) had its o rig in in C r i c k e t . It ce rta in ly had n o t ; and when 1 repeated it 1 w a s carefu l to state its sou rce, and to s a y th at p e rso n a lly I d id not b elieve it, g iv in g m y reasons. N o o n e w ou ld h ave b elieved it had it been known that S p a ld in g B ro th ers were b a c k in g the en terprise. T h e ir nam e w o u ld have been go o d en o u g h . B u t th is w as a fact not g e n e ra lly know n . M r . H a r r i s o n S m it h th o u g h t it w ou ld have kinder to the team th a t the rum ou r shou ld not have been repeated. I can quite see h is po in t o f view , bu t I th in k I succeeded in in d u c in g him to see m ine th ro u g h correspondence w ith h im . T h e first consideration o f an ed itor is (as I po in ted out) new s. I h a ve a lw a y s end eavou red to present m atters f a i r l y ; bu t 1 cannot su p p ress news, even if d o u b tfu l. C on tem po raries g a v e the rum ou r w ith ­ ou t even a su g g e stio n in m ost cases that it w as u n lik e ly . C r i c k e t alone g a v e reasons fo r con ­ sid e rin g it -so. T h e r e is an ab su rd idea in som e qu arters that th is pap er “ is not fair to A u s tr a lia .” E ch o es of it h a ve reached me from C a lifo rn ia , where there are m any A u stra lian s, from C an a d a , and from the far S ou th land itself. F or t h i s idea no sligh te st ju stification exists H ow it origin ated pu zzle s m e. I h a ve read p ra cti­ c a lly ev e ry number o f C r i c k e t ; I h a ve been re­ sp on sib le fo r it for n ea rly three y e a rs past. N either o f m y p redecessors, M r. C . W . A lc o c k and M r. F . S . A sh le y -C o o p e r, were an ti-A u stra lian , I am sure. T h e old vo lum e s w ill attest th is. A s for me, I am h a lf an A u stra lian b y b ir t h ; I h a ve m any go od frien d s down un d e r; and I am as keen on A u stra lian as on E n g lis h cricket. T h e v e ry fact that a man w as an A u stra lian w ou ld g iv e him an in itial interest in m y eyes. D u r i n g the u n h ap p y sq u ab b le o f 1911-2 I w as b itterly reproached fo r b e in g an ti-B o a rd o f C on tro l, and told b y oth ers that I fa iled to b ack up the p la y ers su fficien tly. I am neither p ro -B oa rd nor an ti-B o a rd . A t the d istance o f som e thou san d s of mile^ one can at least be im p artial, even if on e does not know e v e ry th in g abou t the co n tro v ersy . B u t the im p a rtial man is apt to g e t som e o f th e b low s from each o p p o sin g faction . I g o t them , and h ave su rv iv ed . I d on ’ t m ind w h eth er I am con sidered an ti-B oa rd or not. B u t t h e man w h o sa y s I am a n ti-A u stra lian lies. I prefer p la in la n g u a g e , and there you h ave it. “ W a n d e r e r , ” o f the Sportsm an , states th at he h as it on the best au th o rity th at G . A . F au lk n e r w ill not b e p la y in g fo r S o u th A fr ic a a g a in s t the M .C .C . T h is sh o u ld be g o o d en ou gh to d ispo se fin ally o f a ll the c o n flic tin g rum ou rs, for “ W a n ­ derer ” is not g iv e n to defin ite statem ents w h ich he canno t sub stan tiate. A s fo r E rn est V o g le r , I heard from him a sho rt time a g o that he is s ta y in g in th is coun try , and has been re-en ga ged for 1914 b y L la n e lly .