Cricket 1914

J a n u a r y , 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 5 th at, and Am erican s h ad n ’t p atience to sit ou t an after­ noon’s cricket. W h ich confirms the view s m ost of us hold. C rick et is n ot lik e ly to die o u t in N o rth Am erica ; it is p re tty certain to grow in fav o u r in C anada ; b u t outside Philadelphia, and perhaps N ew Y o rk , it w ill alw ays be som ethin g of an exo tic in the States. I t flourished in San F rancisco a few years ago ; now one hears th a t it m ay n o t be played there a t all n ex t season. A f t e r all w e h ave heard of the m erits of the famous B u lli soil in A u stralia, it comes alm ost as a shock to find F ra n k Iredale denouncing it. “ The grass w on’t grow th rough it,” he says ; “ it w o n ’t assim ilate w ith other soil, and it w o n ’t roll h ard .” On th e S yd n ey C rick et G round its results h ave been less disastrous than elsewhere, because the foundation there is sand. W here there is c la y beneath B u lli has p layed h avoc. “ No grass, and every second ball a gru b ber.” V i c t o r T r u m p e r agrees w ith the verdict. He says it is six years since h e p rop erly square-cut a ball, and p u ts this down to Bulli. W icked B u lli ! On some of the S yd n ey suburban grounds, Iredale thin ks, the one th in g le ft is for p layers to cu ltiv a te the a rt of b a ttin g on th eir knees. A n d in S o u th A frica th e go ogly has been denounced ! A w riter in th e Sporting Star w ants to do aw ay w ith it altogether. I t is ruin to yo u n g bowlers, he says. M o r e o v e r , he brings forw ard some v ery solid argum ents for his contention. Some of th em were answered a b ly b y an opponent a w eek later, b u t this one seems difficult to con trovert— th e statem en t th a t all the great googly bow lers learned the a rt a fter th ey had learned to bow l, and did n ot begin w ith th e googly. H e adduces instances— F au lkn er, Vogler, W hite, Schw arz. V o gler him self, in an article con tributed to C r i c k e t a year or so ago, impressed on the would-be googly-m an th a t he m u st first m aster length and leg break. T h e great go ogly men raised Sou th A frican cricket to its highest p oin t, says th e upholder of the one tim e m ystery ball— no longer so great a m y ste ry now. T he desire of all th e you n g bow lers to bow l googlies, resulting in a host of little go ogly men, is draggin g S outh A frican cricket down, says its denouncer. T h e W ellin gton C .A . (New Zealand) h ave been p u t into funds b y th e pronounced success of a recent A rt Union draw ing, which realised well o v er {300 for the A ssociation ’s benefit. S o m e o f our co u n ty clubs could do w ith a like sum, th ough it would n ot go far tow ards th eir necessities, which, b y reason of imm ensely longer programm es, are greater th an those of a N ew Zealand p rovin cial association. L a n c a s h i r e lo st n early £1.000 last year, though the expenses of P a u l’s benefit and th e gran t of /100 to W orsley helped to sw ell th is deficit, o f course. H am pshire were over /200 ou t, b u t th ey h ave often had worse seasons. G loucestershire began w ith a credit balance of £373, and ended w ith a d eb it one o f {670. G ate m oney for the whole season on ly to ta lled {560. Sussex h a ve had to call a special m eeting (at the Dom e a t B righ ton , F eb ru ary 12) to consider th e position of the club. Som erset had to face th e question w h ether th ey should (or could) carry on. Essex need 600 to 800 more m embers to be on a sound footing. O n the other hand, {4,403 w as taken in gate m on ey a t the Y o rk sh ire hom e m atches, and {1,635 a t those of M iddle­ sex, who, after a deficit of {560 in 1912, had a substantial credit balance la st year. T he Y o rk sh ire and K e n t matches a t L o rd ’s each realised over {300. K en t, th ou gh H um ­ p h reys’s ben efit cost th em {527, im provem ents a t the St. Law rence G round {294, and celebrating the w inning of the cham pionship {13 7 , had a sm all credit balance, which would h ave been a big one b u t for these special expenses. E. W . D i l l o n w ill h ave a good successor as cap tain of the K e n t side. L . H . W . T rou gh ton has d evoted himself unselfishly to the interests o f the second eleven, and must have gained qu ite a lo t of valu ab le experience as their skipper. H e is lik ely enough to score h ea vily when p layin g first-class cricket regularly, too. E s s e x lose B uckenh am ; he goes to F orfarshire. R iley will leave N otts to p la y for Oldfields, the team in the N orth Staffordshire League which Mr. John B am ford runs. And N ortham ptonshire w ill be w ith out John Seym our, a m ost im proved p la ye r during th e last year or tw o. H is departure is said to be due to a failure to com e to term s on the m on etary question. Seym our has a b irth qualifica­ tion for Sussex, b u t one doubts w h ether th a t co u n ty w ill be prepared to p a y a longer price for his services th an N orthants. T h e D erbyshire N u rsery scheme, which is to be given a three y e ars’ trial, the funds being k ep t d istin ct from those of the C o u n ty club (as is the case in Sussex), and the E ssex 2nd X I, entered for the M inor Counties Cham pionship, are new departures. T he expenses o f this w ill be m et b y guarantees, so th a t the clu b ’s exchequer shall n ot suffer. T h e M .C.C. w ill th is season celebrate the cen ten ary of the clu b ’s home a t S t. John’s W ood, w hith er it w as removed from D orset Square, and Lord H arris and Mr. F . S. A sh ley- Cooper are collaboratin g in a volum e d evoted to the h isto ry o f th e Club. I n all m atches for the M .C.C. la st season H ardstaff, dropped in the la tte r p a rt of the season b y his cou nty, averaged 76-90 for 17 innings, 7 n o t out. Munds had the highest aggregate (1,035, average 45), and N ewm an (W ilts) to talled 615 w ith an average of 47-30. T h e prem ier club p layed in all 163 m atches of 176 arranged, 13 h avin g to be abandoned, th rough rain chiefly, won 93, drew 34, and lo st 36. H a r r y W o o d , the old Surrey stum per, has been in St. T h om as’ H ospital, suffering from an internal com plain t. R o y K ilner, the Y o rksh ire colt, la te ly underw ent an operation for appendicitis a t the Sheffield R o y al Infirm ary. The in ju ry w as sustained while p layin g football. K iln er made w h at w as regarded as a w ond erfu lly rapid recovery. F . H . K n o t t is th e O xford skipper for 1914, w ith G. R . R . Colm an as secretary. M i c h a e l F a l c o n does n ot m uch believe in first-class aspirations for second-class counties, to jud ge b y his speech a t the N orw ich W anderers C.C. dinner. A n d, in view of the stru ggle in vo lved “ to keep up appearances ” on the p a rt of several prom oted counties, no d o u b t he is right. Y e t he him self is perhaps as good an exam ple as can be found o f a really fine p layer k ep t outside first-class cou n ty cricket to the regret o f m any, because his co u n ty chances to belong to the low er circles. H e a r t i e s t o f congratulations to T om H ayw ard on his m arriage (Janu ary 20) to Miss M. E . M itchell, o f W im bledon. A n d the same to Mr. Morice B ird, who has become engaged to Miss V io let Millar, a cousin of the S outh A frican batsm an, R olland B eaum ont.