Cricket 1914

M a y 9, 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. i i 5 £be Morlfc of Crtcfeet. E d it o r : M r. A. C. M a c L a r e n . A s s is t a n t E d i t o r a n d M a n a g e r : M r. J. N. P e n t e lo w . 61, TEMPLE CHAMBERS, TEMPLE AVENUE, EMBANKMENT LONDON, E.C. Correspondence should be addressed to the E d ito r; sub­ scriptions, advertisements, and all communications on business matters to the Manager. Subscription ra tes: Inland, nine shillings per.annum ; Overseas ten shillings. 1 n order to give our Overseas Subscribers the same chance as others to come in at the old rates, we are extending the time limit for subscription at those rates to May 31st. This applies to all. The old rates were 6/6 and 7/6. Pavilion Gossip. Gorse on the downs gleams yellow— Loud sings the lark on high. “ Rare day for a tramp, old fellow ? ” B ut the cricketer says : “ N ot I ! ” Stumps straightly stand, resurgent; He hears King Cricket’s call, Than the call of the hills more urgent. To-day is for bat and for b a ll! I w a s a t the Oval during part of the Surrey v. Northants match, and was greatly pleased w ith the batting of Woolley. He was splendidly accurate in all his strokes, and he never killed a bad ball. His back shots in front of point are of the w risty type which belong only to the real class men. There should be a big future for this product of the Tonbridge nursery. T h e papers commended his driving. Now driving was just what he didn’t do. There was no moke to drive. S y d n e y Sm ith played a really good and attractive innings. W ells’s accuracy in length struck me. H itch got wickets, b u t was somewhat expensive ; he is not quite in tip-top health, I gather. Tom H a y w a r d , on the contrary, is in the very pink of condition. Hobbs had a slice of bad luck ; the ball off which he was out went aw ay and popped, and the dust flew. T h e r e was a good deal of dust about, as was only natural after so d ry an April and such cold winds. The wicket, which I inspected, did credit to the ground superintendent, considering the difficulties w ith which he had to contend. It was as hard as adamant, but I fancy that, but for the rain, it would scarcely have lasted out the three days. The dust prevented its being quite perfect, and high- class bowlers could have made use of the advantage this gave the attack. I h a d a long talk in the pavilion w ith Mr. H. E . Murray- Anderdon, the old Somerset secretary. He asked me my opinion of Saturday starts. Well, they are an excellent thing from a financial point of view— the Oval last Saturday was a proof of that— and the only drawbacks I can see to them are some inconvenience to the players in being away from home on Sundays at times, and the fact th at this inconvenience may possibly keep out an amateur here and there. C. T. A. W ilk in s o n , Surrey’s new skipper, handled his bowling w ith judgment, and fielded well. I r e g r e t th at I missed John Howell’s innings in the trial game. A good judge gave me a glowing account of it. The young Reptonian is very sound indeed ; he has taken Tom Hayward as his model, and how could he do better ? W h y did not Walden go for the catch off a no-ball which Tom Hayward hit up to him a t cover ? He let it drop close to him w ithout making an attempt. As the batsmen were running, policy should have dictated his trying for it, to have the ball ready to throw in if there had been a chance of a run out. And, anyway, no fieldsman is the worse for catching practice. T h e absence of J. S. Denton from the Northants team is said to be due to scarlet fever. How dare they let the other twin play ? If there is anything at all in the theories as to the magnetic sympathy between twins he ought at least to be sickening for it b y this time. To C. J. B. Wood has fallen the honour of making the first century of the season in first-class cricket. This is his thirty-fourth in big company, and his thirty-first for Leicestershire, the other three having been made for London County. L a s t year R . B . Lagden was the first to reach three figures, in 1912 G. A. Faulkner, in 1911 Tarrant, in 1910 Tom Hayward, in 1909 A. O. Jones, in 1908 and in 1907 D avid Denton, in 1906 E . H. D. Sewell (on April 16), in 1905 D avid Denton, in 1904 E . H. D. Sewell, in 1903 Tom Hayward (April 13 and 14), in 1902 W illiam Lockwood, and in 1901 Braund. I t is good news th at the brothers L itteljohn will be able to turn out in a few matches for Middlesex this year. L ast year neither was able to p la y at all. The medical profession is one th at gives little chance of first-class cricket, although the “ noblest Roman of them all ” was a doctor, and his brothers, the evergreen E.M ., and G. F., dead untimely in his prime, were also of the profession. Other medicos who have distinguished themselves in the county game were Dr. J. M. Cotterill— uncle of G. H., the big Corinthian forward— who scored 191 for Sussex v. K ent many years ago, and over 200 for Edinburgh v. Glasgow in the annual C ity Match, and Dr. H. C. Pretty, of the Wanderers, who made a century on his first appearance for Surrey, and a few years ago scored a level 200 for Northamptonshire v. Derby­ shire. V o g le r , the South African, is again engaged at Llanelly, though there were stories of his going north to a Scottish club. The Welsh club had a claim upon him, and would not let him go. D e n n e t t , Gloucestershire’s stand-by bowler— not that he often gets a chance to stand by, in another sense, except in each alternate over-—has been coaching an Etonian, the young Marquis of Worcester, and says th at his pupil is a most promising bat. T h e Australian Team in New Zealand ran up over 600 for 6 wickets in the last match of their tour, v. New Zealand at Auckland, Armstrong, Waddy, Crawford, and Dolling all scoring centuries. F-. V . Sale made a century for New Zealand. In the course of the tour V ictor Trumper tota'led over 1000 runs w ith an average of over 80. Score of last match and averages will appear next week.