Cricket 1913

74. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M arch 15, 1913 T h o se days are gone beyond recall. I have not been on the Worcester ground, or strolled by Severn’s banks, or heard the cathedral chimes make music on the summer air, for over eight years. Bu t one does not readily forget memories so golden. Even now Worces­ tershire’s fortunes mean at least as much to me as those of Sussex ; and Hove has never had for me the same charm as the Severnside enclosure ; and, though this is not cricket, the bluff Downs ever lack something of the beauty of the tree-clad Malvern Hills, from the Beacon down south towards Berrow and little, lonely Redmarley, where in olden days Cavalier and Roundhead skirmished. The long swing down from Malvern on the hill to Worcester b y w ay of Powick— the undulating highway out from the Loyal C ity to historic Tewkesbury, through Kempsey and Severn Stoke— the commons that lie beneath the hills Castlemorton and Birtsmorton w ay— the steamers on the Severn, puffing up from Gloucester to Worcester— they are all linked indissolubly w ith cricket in m y mind ; for m any’s the time that by road or river I have made m y w ay to the Worcester ground, after early journeys elsewhere, confident of seeing cricket worth the going for, and seldom disap­ pointed as a sequel. L e ic e s t e r s h ir e dropped £790 on last season’s Working— a terribly bad result. Bu t there is no lack of resolution about the Leicestershire authorities, and they are taking immediate stejps to get rid of the incubus of debt. It is all this honest, hard,, self-denying work on the part of a chosen little band in each of the strug­ gling counties that makes one regret so bitterly the necessity of relegating to a lower class any one of them. Just as keenly as in Leicestershire have real enthusiasts worked in Essex, in Derbyshire, in Somerset, in Worces­ tershire, in Northamptonshire. There are those who might have helped but have stood idly by, it is true ; but the Laodiceans we have always with us, more’s the p ity ! A r r a n g e m e n t s have been made b y the Leicestershire committee w ith the following players for next season : Coe, Whitehead, Shipman, Lord, Mounteney, Brown, Skelding, Preston, Geary, Osborne and Moore. Knight has given up county cricket for coaching ; and K ing and Astill are on the ground staff at Lord ’s. County matches will be played at Coalville and Loughborough, as well as at H inckley and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. This policy of decentralisation is one that every county should follow if possible. D e r b y s h ir e ’ s deficit was only £161 on the season— a better result than might have been looked for, but in this connection it i9 well to remember that the county club had donations amounting to £300 from an anony­ mous and unm istakably generous friend. The Derby­ shire committee has protested in most emphatic terms against the arbitrary principles of the scheme for the remodelling of the County Championship ; but this was a foregone conclusion. A ll the victims of the scheme will protest— with what results we shall see later. T h e actual loss on the season by Sussex was only £46 ; b^it this has to be added to a prior debit balance of £1,158, and £7,450 is still outstanding of the amount of the ground mortgage. Those in authority take so pessimistic a view of affairs that they talk of a winding- up. Such a catastrophe is almost unthinkable in the case of so old ‘ a county club as Sussex ; but bazaars, balls, shilling funds, and donations have helped to keep the club going so far, and the statement that it ought not to have to depend upon such means of revenue is one that can scarcely be challenged. A n issue of £10 debentures to replace the mortgage on the ground is contemplated. Security is ample, the ground being valued at £13,500, nearly double the amount sought to be raised thus. It is proposed to pay 4 per cent, interest, and to give a discount of 10 per cent, to applicants for more than two debentures, while asking those who take up only one or two to forego their interest altogether for a few years. The loss to each will be trifling, and the sum saved for the county club’s benefit would be useful. It is also proposed to increase the rates of subscription ; but I am very far from sure whether this is wise. I know of one or two cases in which former members have resigned because they did not think they got value for a guinea, and more may take this view with the subscription increased to twenty- five shillings. M r . N ew h am has been made coach to the Nursery instead of Assistant Manager, leaving Col. Bruce and Mr. F. Oddie to transact the .whole of the secretarial duties. This is a saving, of course, the old Ardinian’s salary being reduced by £100 at one fell swoop ; but one doubts whether the majority of the members care for a saving on such lines. Sussex has owed much in the past to William Newham, and it is a p ity he should be called upon to be the chief victim to the desire for economy. However, the general meeting sanctioned the charge, so perhaps I ought not to say anything. N o t ts were over £170 down on the season, in spite of a donation of £100 from the Duke of Portland. The Surrey game at Whitsuntide was actually responsible for over one-half of the gross match receipts ! And this was only one match out of eleven played at Trent Bridge. K e n t made a profit of £266. Bu t of this more than two-thirds was the county’s share of the Test and Trial matches balance. In spite of the awful weather, over £700 in gate-money, with £100 odd for stands and enclosure, was produced by the Canterbury Week. Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells (each with a week) contributed almost equally— over £450 in each case, including stands and enclosures. The Maidstone Week realised over £380, the Dover Week over £200. The Surrey match at Blackheath also ran over £200 ; the Essex game at Gravesend produced a trifle under £150, just barely paying its way. The Somerset, match at Graves­ end, that with Worcestershire at Catford, and that with the Australians at Canterbury (no play till the third day) involved losses, as did the Dover Week. But it is really wonderful that, with so much bad weather, most of the fixtures should have earned profits. T h e report of the Kent Young Players’ Committee gives the averages of the young players in all matches except those for the county’s first eleven. Morfee totalled