Cricket 1913

736 £>2. CR I CKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. December 17 , 1913 . (M id lan e). In the second m atch H em u s and S a le (A u c k lan d ), B rice (W e llin g to n ), and San dm an (C an terb u ry ) rep laced H ow d e n , O lliff, M cF a rlan e , and M id lane, g iv in g C a n te rb u ry six represen tatives and O ta g o o n ly one man in th e team . W e llin g to n w ere first in the field w ith a ch a l­ len g e to A u c k la n d in 1910 -1. A u c k la n d (who now had Fred P ea rson instead o f R e lf) won b y on ly 4 w icke ts, B ro o k -Sm ith (33 and 72*), S a le (53 and 38), and P earson (8 for 85) d o in g m ost o f the w ork for them , w h ile J. V . S au n d e rs, the A u stra lian , now c o a c h in g in the W in d y C ity , took 9 for 115 for the losers, and B la c k lo c k m ade top score (51). T h e n C an te rb u ry w en t north , and w on a g lo rio u s v ic to ry b y 6 w ick e ts. D a n R e ese scored 80 and W . R . Patrick 75 in th eir first; in th eir second H a ro ld L u s k m ade 15 1*, R e e se 6 7*. F o r A u ck lan d H em u s scored 142 and 34, H ad d on 61 and 58. C a n te rb u ry (S im s 71 and 34*, F . R . C a y g ill 87 and 20) beat O ta g o b y 4 w icke ts, and W e llin g to n b y 322 run s. A lfr e d N o rm a n ’s 68 w a s the top score in the latter m atch , and the losers were all out for 52 and 60, Bennett ta k in g 12 for 44. A u c k ­ land (470— H a d d o n 84, H o rsp o o l 80, A . W a lla c e , now at O x fo rd as a R h o d e s S ch o la r, 72, A n th o n y 63, T a y lo r 59) b eat H a w k e ’s B a y b y an in n in g s and 272, P ea rson ta k in g 6 fo r 10 in H a w k e ’s B a y ’s first. O ta g o (J. S h ep h erd 66* first in n in g s, T o r ­ rance 11 for 74) defeated S o u th la n d b y 4 w ic k e ts ; and W e llin g to n sm ashed up M a rlb o ro u gh , w ho had not for m an y yea rs tried con clu sion s w ith one of the b ig p ro v in ces. In 1911-2 A u c k la n d , to u rin g sou th w ith G e o rg e T h om p so n to aid them , sn atch ed the S h ie ld b ack from C an te rb u ry a fter a m ost e x c itin g fin ish ; and last season , when a S ou th M elb ou rn e sid e under H a r ry T ro tt v isited the D om in io n , C an te rb u ry fared north and w on it b a c k from A u c k la n d . A s for the rest of the m atch es o f these two cam p a ig n s th e y h ave been dealt w ith in the p a g e s o f C r i c k e t so recen tly th at there is little need to d ilate upon them here. T h e re is not room , either, for the C e n ­ tu ry L is t p rep a red ; blit th is w ill app e ar in the fu tu re. A t the present m om en t C an te rb u ry are p rob ab ly a stron g e r side than ever b efo re, and A u ck lan d (bar the fact that th e y no lo n g e r h a v e R e lf) a s stro n g as ever. In W e llin g to n and O ta g o the standard is not qu ite so h ig h a s it has been ; and H a w k e ’s B a y , never v e ry stro n g , have no su ch ou tsta n d in g per­ so n a lity to -d ay a s w a s H u g h L u s k ten y ea rs a g o . S o u th la n d is liftin g its head , and M a rlb o ro u gh sh ow s more life than for y e a rs past. T a ra n a k i has sp lit itself in tw o , and accep ted a place (or places) rig h t in the b a c k g ro u n d , and little is heard of N elson . T a k in g a line a ll th ro u g h , p ro b ab ly there are more class p la y ers in N ew Z e alan d to -d ay than at a n y tim e in the p a st; b u t in a few y e a r s ’ time there shou ld b e m an y more than there now are. T h e E n d . T H E L I B R A R Y . “ And those that are good shall be happy; they shall sit in a golden chair; T h ey shall splash at a ten leagu e canvas with brushes of com ets’ h a ir.” So sin gs K ip lin g. In some previous existence Mr. J. Wvnfred G ibbons, Ed itor of the B a rb a d o s C rick eters' A n n u al (1 9 th y e a r ) * must have been very good indeed, I fancy; he can aiford to devote three pages of his annual to the description of one club match. It causes the mouth of a certain scribe who is continually occupied in the attempt of the im possible— g e ttin g a quart into a pint pot— to water this ! T h e A n nu al is as good as ever, and has this year an additional attraction in the shape of a portrait supplement a la W isden . P. H. T arilton , G. Challenor, H. W. Ince, W. 0 . G ibbs, and W. F ields are the cricketers given therein. T h e tour of Mr. A. F. Som erset’s M .C .C . T eam is fully dealt with, and every m atch of any im portance played in the island is given in full T here are special reasons why A n U p h ill Game t cannot very w ell be reviewed in these columns. One of them is that “ H arry Huntingdon ” chances to be the pen-name of the Editor of C r i c k e t , who is a modest man; and the rest really do not matter. O ther people say the story’ s all right, and it is not for the w riter of it to contradict them . T here is a lot of cricket in it, because it is difficult for him to keep cricket out of anything- he writes; and also because it be­ longs to the story, though the youthful reader of one firm of publishers to whom it was subm itted stated in his report on it (kindly forwarded to the author, though he has never been sure whether the kindness was in tention al): “ T h ere are three lo n g accounts of cricket m atches which have n othing whatever to do with the story.” I wish my good friends who read C r i c k e t would try the book and ju d g e for them ­ selves. P rim arily a story for boys, it w ill, I do believe, appeal also to all of those who still have som ething of the boy’s heart in them, and especially to cricketers. Here is what “ T h e Bookman ” says of it:— “ Books for boys m ay be divided into two categories— those that the boys like, and those that the parents, in their superior wisdom , would sooner the boys liked. T h ere is, however, a medium between the penny dreadful type and the im proving g ift book, and this medium is hap p ily struck by Mr. H arry Huntingdon in ‘ A n U phill G am e,’ which is as good and healthy a public-school story as was ever written. T h e book belon gs to a tradition established by one of the most famous of all school stories, ‘ T h e F ifth Form at St. D om inic’ s ,’ published origin ally in the ‘ B o ys’ Own P a p e r,’ and issued in book form for the first time a few years ago. If I have any quarrel with the author it is because he m akes one of his characters say, ‘ H e’ s been reading T h e F ifth Form at S t. D om in ic's, or some of those old back numbers. T h e y ’re not half bad in their way, but th ey’re not up to d a te ! T h is seems almost to sm ack of in­ gratitud e, for the note of all su ccessfu l school romances was given in that ju stly celebrated story and its successor ‘ T he W illoughby C ap tain s.’ Apart from this I can conceive of no better book as a present for a boy than ‘ An Uphill G am e.’ It strikes ju st the rig h t note, and is adm irably constructed and w ritten.” I thank this generous critic; but I doubt whether he re­ members his T alb ot B aines Reed quite as well as I do. “ Inky-faced fa g s ” were a feature of those glorious tales of the p ast; you n g West, in my book, protests again st the continuance of this tradition, and quite naturally (I think) has a sm ack at the books which origin ated it. B ut I am not you n g West, any more (this is m y modesty peeping ou t!) than Shakespeare was Iago. J.N .P . T h is issue is a few days behind time. T here are two con­ tributory causes— the preparation of the index, which entails a great deal of work, and the illness of the Editor, which has prevented that and other work b ein g done up to time. * The Barbados Cricket Antiual : “ Globe ” Office, Bridgetown, Bar­ bados; is. t An U p h ill G a m e : F. Warne and Co., B edford Street, Strand; 3s. 6d. (See Advt.) P rin ted and pu blished fo r the P rop rietors by C r ic k e t & S p o r ts P u b lis h e r s L t d ., 25, W h ite Street, M oor Lane, L ondon, E .C ., P e c * i Ageats far A u stra lia , & c., G o r d o n & G o t c h , L ondon, M elbourne, S ydaey, A d ela id e, Brisbane, Perth, L auncestoa, H obart and W ellin gton , N i. Far South A fric a . C e n tr a l N e w s A g e n c y , L t d ., Cape T ow n , Johannesburg and_braaches.