Cricket 1913

72 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M arch 15, 1913. keeper of more than ordinary ability, and he repre­ sented the W est Indian Team of 1906 in 14 matches. He played in the Freshmen’s Match of 1906 and the Seniors’ Match of 1907 ; and doubtless the fact that he was contemporary w ith R . A. Young had much to do w ith spoiling his chance of a Blue. H e went to Cambridge w ith a Barbados scholarship as a science student, and gained distinction while up. Recently he has been appointed Assistant Director of Science in British Guiana, and will take up his duties in a few months, vacating the appointment he now holds as Mycologist to the Department of Agriculture in the Federated Malay States. S e v e r a l practice matches were played at Port of Spain to get the Trinidad cricketers into form for the games with the M.C.C. Team . In one of them L. S. Constantine, the big coloured batsman who was here in 1900 and 1906, had scored 103 not out on the first day. Then (I quote from the report) : “ This batsman, not having turned up in time to finish his innings yester­ day, Mr. Andre Cipriani (Capt.) wielded the willow for him, and added 24 runs and was unbeaten.” And the score gives Constantine 127 not out, and does not men­ tion Cipriani (who would have batted in any event) at a l l ! T h e side for which they made their runs was the chosen Trinidad eleven playing against another “ picked ” team. The island side scored 328 ; the second eleven replied w ith 256— J. Joseph 90, J. N. Crawford 42. This latter is the old U.C.S. boy and Hampstead Nomad. T h e Sportsman of March 6 states that ten Australian players have agreed to join the team to tour America this year under Mr. R. B . Benjam in’ s management. These are P. S. Am o tt, W . Bardsley, H. L. Collins, C. G. Macartney, A . Mailey, and V . T . Trumper (N.S.W.), and G. C. Campbell, J. N. Crawford, E . R . Mayne, and W. J. W h itty (S.A.). Two others are to be selected, bu t twelve seems scarcely an adequate number for a tour including some th irty matches and a lot of travelling. No Victorian or Queenslander has y et been enrolled in the band, which includes four members of the last Australian Team to England, with two more interna­ tionals in Crawford and Trumper, and four of the rising brigade. It does not seem likely th at either Armstrong or Hill will make the tour ; Macartney’ s acceptance, after it had been announced that he was giving up big cricket, is rather a surprise. Campbell is the only w icket­ keeper of the ten, so another stumper will be needed. The batting and bowling should be quite strong enough for the opposition to be encountered, for only in two or three places w ill the team ’ s opponents be at all strong. Nothing more has been heard, as far as I know, of the rumoured extension of the tour to the West Indies. Th e Board of Control must have relented, for it is very unlikely that the tour is being made in defiance of its refusal when the scheme was first mooted ; and Mr. Benjamin says he has its sanction. I n arguing the various points at issue in the much- debated County Championship trouble, many writers appear to be under the impression th at in the old days, when there were only eight or nine first-class counties, full programmes were usual. Bu t this was only the case in four seasons— 1890, 1892, 1893, and 1894. P r io r to 1888 Derbyshire was first-class, and D erby­ shire never had a full programme. Nor did Kent, Sus­ sex, or Middlesex. In 1888, after Derbyshire had been deposed (by the Press— such was the method of those days), and again in 1889, Middlesex and Sussex did not meet, this being the only fixture wanted for com­ pleteness. In 1890 these two counties fixed up matches. Next year Somerset came in, but neither Notts nor Sussex played Somerset. I n 1892, however, a full schedule was in force, and so continued until the big batch of promotions in 1895. Since then there have been such extreme differences as one county playing twelve matches while another played thirty. It must be admitted that this sort of thing takes away from the competition any semblance of reality. In the Daily Chronicle of March 6 a gentleman who is well up in football matters contributed an article on the subject of th e day, containing one or two really remarkable proposals. He suggests two divisions of twelve each, “ if we admitted Glamorgan to the com­ petition.” As Glamorgan plays in the Minor Counties’ Championship, there need be no hesitation about this, surely, provided the Welsh side’ s claims were held strong enough ! H e goes on to give the twenty-four counties he would select, adding to the present sixteen Berks, Bucks, Cheshire, Durham, Glamorgan, Norfolk, Northumber­ land, and Staffordshire. T h is is typical of the general ignorance concerning the form of the second-class counties which prevails. What on earth is Cheshire doing in this company ? And why is Herts left out ? Cheshire never plays the same team in two matches, cannot get the regular services of her best men, and is weak all round. Great credit is due to those who keep the county club going in the face of all sorts of difficulties ; bu t I should imagine they would be the very last people to consider the expense and work entailed b y a 22-match programme possible for them. I n the course of the last three seasons Cheshire has scored twenty-one points of a possible 125 in the Minor County Championship. Excep t that of Carmarthen­ shire, a side no longer competing, this is absolutely the worst record of all, though W iltshire’s is but little ahead of it. Meanwhile Herts has registered 70 points of a possible 135, Monmouth 59 of 115, Suffolk 50 of 115, and Devon 51 of 135. And Cheshire is preferred by “ McW ." to any of these ! Is it the glamour of Walter Brearley’s presence in the Cheshire team that accounts for it ? T h e strongest of the minor counties on recent form are undoubtedly Staffordshire, Norfolk, Durham, North­ umberland, Herts, and Glamorgan. Each of these has capable professionals and some good amateur talent.