Cricket 1914

102 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. M a y 2, 1914. (Continued from page 99.) home side beat Port Elizabeth by 5 wickets and Queenstown in an innings, but lost in an innings to Grahamstown. Port Elizabeth beat Queenstown by 167 runs and Grahamstdwn by the narrow margin of 6 runs. The Queenstown- Grahamstown match resulted in a win for the former by 9 wickets. “ K in g ” and Port Elizabeth, having two wins and a loss each, played a deciding game, and “ K in g,” vic­ torious by an innings and 110 runs, retained the “ Champion B at.” Major R. B. Stewart (then Lieut. Stewart), who died lately, made a century for the winners in this game. Five years later the third tournament took place at Port Elizabeth, the contesting sides being Port Elizabeth, K ing Williamstown, Kimberley and Cape Town. This time the Port Elizabeth men won all three of their matches; Cape Town beat both “ K ing ” and Kimberley; “ K in g ” defeated Kimberley; and Kimberley lost all three games. In 1886-7 Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, a Maritzburg team reinforced by two or three Durban players, and Bechuana- land tried conclusions at Kimberley. The home side won all their games; Port Elizabeth beat Maritzburg and Bechu- analand; Maritzburg beat Bechuanaland; and Bechuanaland beat nobody at all. This was Bechuanaland’s sole a b e a r ­ ance in these contests. The team included the Old Caru- thusian brothers, C. H. and J. Vintcent, both fine players; but it was not a strong' one, though possibly quite as strong as anything Bechuanaland could raise now, over a quarter of a century later. The 1887-8 tournament was at Grahamstown, and the four sides engaged were the home team, K ing Williamstown, Port Elizabeth, and Kimberley. Kimberley won all three matches, and each of the other sides lost 2, won 1, Port Elizabeth beating “ K in g ,” “ K in g ” beating Grahamstown, and Grahamstown beating Port Elizabeth— which is one of those puzzles in collateral form not uncommon to cricket. The Currie Cup began to be played for in 1889-90; but there was one more tournament for “ the Champion Bat ” after that date— in 1890-1, when Eastern Province (Port Elizabeth), Western Province (Cape Town), and Griqualand West (Kimberley) met at Newlands, Cape Town. The new names did not make much difference except in the case of Eastern Province, which included then all that it does now and also what is now called the Border, and thus had the call upon not only Port Elizabeth, but K ing Williamstown, Grahamstown, East London, and Queenstown also. Eastern Province lost to Western Province in an innings, H. H. Castens scoring 165 for the winners, but beat Griqualand West by 20 runs. Western Province then met Griqualand West, and the Cape Town men won by 83 runs. In that same season the first big cricket (apart from the English visit in 1888-g) was played on the Rand, where after a struggle running into the seventh day Griqualand West beat Transvaal by 58 runs. This was a Currie Cup game; 1402 runs was scored in it, and £602 taken at gate. A week or so earlier there had been an intertown tournament at Johannesburg, in which the home side beath both Barberton and Pretoria, and Pretoria beat Barberton. E. A. Halliwell, then a newcomer in South Africa, played for Barberton, and ran up 123 in the second innings v. Pretoria. Sir Abe Bailey and George Allsop were among the Johannesburg players. But the Currie Cup matches pushed the (thenceforward) very occasional intertown tournaments into the background; and the Currie Cup games form too big a subject to be dealt with here. There would appear to be quite a stir in interest concern­ ing the ancient history of the game in South Africa, for an annual the first issue of which is to give the scores of all important matches of the past (but this is a big handful, especially as current cricket must also be dealt with adequately) is nrojected, and the “ Dispatch ” (East London) has recently been printing the scores of old “ Champion B a t ” tournaments. Meanwhile Mr. W. C. Gardner, of K in g Williamstown, groping farther into the past, has unearthed and sent to me the score (and full descriptive account) of “ the first match of note ever played in Natal.” As it was between the two chief towns of the colony, Durban and Maritzburg, and the first game of a long series between them, there can be no doubt that it fully merits this description. The account is too long for quotation in full. The chal­ lenge was worded: “ Eleven of the Maritzburg Cricket Club are open to play Eleven Gentlemen of Durban.” The story of the match is given in Mr. G. Russell’s “ History of Old Durban.” Here are some extracts: “ The gauntlet thus thrown down was promptly picked up by Durban, though no organised cricket club existed . . . A nice pitch was mown on the flat by the Racecourse, and arrangements were made for a public "dinner to the Maritzburg team. . . . The match was held (sic.) on Wednesday,2nd May (i860) The stores and other places of business closed about'noon, and the town turned out en masse to witness the fight. . . . Wickets were pitched about half-past ten, and the plaving continued with much spirit and animation till half-past four. . . . The playing on both sides was admirable . . . When we remember that the Durban- ites had had hardly any practice at all, everyone must admit that their laurels were bravely won. They had a formidable foe, a hard struggle, and, we are bound to add, a glorious victory.” ,, f - The author of the “ History quotes most of this Irom the “ Natal Mercury,” still in existence, and coming along to us regularly. One or two points are worthy of note. It is evident that the match was played on turf, of a sort, any­ thing The dinner (tickets, wines included, ios. 6d. each) is a truly British touch. As for the score, given hereunder as it was given in the “ Mercury,” it does not suggest great skill on the part of the players; and it scarcely reflects credit on the scorers, for it indicates that stumps were drawn with the home side needing 1 to tie, 2 to win, with 6 wickets to go, yet they are said to have had “ a glorious victory . No doubt they did win; it is scarcely conceivable that the game should have been left at such a stage at 4 - 3 °* There are minor “ bloomers” “ b., c. H ornby” is more than a little puzzling; but these do not matter much. F irst innings. T renouth, 2, b Hornby. M axw ell, 2, b A llin g to n Pepw orth, o, run out. Starr, 13, b A llin gto n . B utton, 6, b H ornby. W illia m s , 1, b Hornby. Shepstone, o, b A llin gto n . C am pbell, 3. b Hornby. E llis , 1, c Spencer. T aylor, 2, run out. Mesham, o, not out. 30 Byes ... 4 P ieterm aritzburg . Second innings. T aylor, 1, b A llin g to n . Mesham, 1, c H ornby. E llis , 3, c., b H ornby. T renouth, 6, c., b L andsdell. M axw ell, 4, b L andsdell. B utton, 5, b A llin g to n . C am pbell, 10, b A lin gton . S tarr, 15, b., c Hornby. W illia m s , 1, b L andsdell. Pepw orth, 2, not but. Shepstone, 6, stumped. 54 Byes.. T otal... 34 F irst innings. B lunde ll, o, b E llis. L andsdell, 6, b Starr. Burton, 6, b Trenowch. A llin g to n , 6, b E llis. Dow nard, 13, lb wicket. W alters, 1, b Starr. F. Spencer, 1, c Shepstone. H ornby, 3, c W illiam s. H. Palm er, 3, c W illiam s. Binns. 1, b Starr. Escombe, 3, not out. T otal D u rba n . 62 Byes Total 40 Second innings. A llin g to n , 5, b E llis. L an d sde ll, o, b E llis. B urton,21, not out. D ow nard, 14, b S tarr W alters, 5 not out. 6 wickets to go down. ( ? seven). Byes 8 T otal 53 GOING HOME AGA IN ! Good old Tom Emmett, the genial Yorkshire captain of ever­ green memory, who always used his bat, inverted, as a walking- stick, when passing between pavilion and wicket, turned up one morning at Fenner's for a Cambridge University v. Yorkshire match. It was in the days when Mr. George Kemp (who after­ wards became M.P. for Heywood and, later, for North-West Man­ chester, and who is now Lord Rochdale) was a fine, free-scoring batsman for his 'Varsity. Tom entered the pavilion with his usual beaming smile and cheery " Good morning, gentlemen,” and immediately followed up his salutation with “ W hat I want to know is, is Mr. Kemp here to-day ? Because if he is, I’m going home again, th at’s a ll ! ” Lord Rochdale made three centuries in first-class cricket; they were all against Yorkshire. T.F.E.