Cricket 1914

n 6 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. M a y 9, 1914. E a s t e r fell comparatively late this year, and in conse­ quence representative cricket in more than one country has been prolonged beyond the usual term. The Transvaal C.U . were sending a team to play Griqualand West at K im berley during the holidays, and in New Zealand Dan Reese was taking a team of Canterbury players to meet W ellington at Wellington. The score of neither match has y et reached us ; but they will come along in due course. S ix different captains have led Transvaal teams in the last nine matches— R. A. Thompson, F. W . Cooper, R. Beaumont, L. J. Tancred, F. L. de S. Le Roux, and T. Campbell. Campbell is the latest choice. He was in England in 1912, but six months or so ago announced that he was retiring from first-class cricket, and took no part in the matches against the M.C.C. team. People are wondering why he has been chosen as captain now. B ut in any case a sixth skipper would have been needed, as the other members of the team to play Griqualand West were J. W . Zulch, A . E . Cook, E . B. Lundie, D. J. Meintjes, A. H. C. Cooper, C. D. Dixon, C. R. Hand, E . C. Moses, A. W . Redick, and J. B. Perring, none of them old captains. L e R o u x and Beaumont were presumably unavailable. Newberry has now transferred himself to Natal. T h is Transvaal captaincy business almost equals that of Surrey in the days before Lord Dalmeny took command, and after D igby Jephson had laid down the reins. Some readers will remember the frontispiece to “ Cricket on the Brain ” (1905), which depicted a horde of Surrey captains marching in a t the Oval gate ; and the references to the captaincy difficulty on other pages, such as :— “ T h e S u r r e y C o u n ty C .C . require an assistant captain checker. Only those quick at figures need apply.” “ C a p ta in L o r d D a lm e n y . ' Sweet as a primrose.’ Commander in chief of the Surrey captains, w ith whom he is very popular. He entertains them in sections of a thousand a time at the various seats of his father.” “ S u r r e y . Captain’s Motto : 1 The More the Merrier. ’ Office for the receipt of applications for the captaincy of the eleven open daily from 9 till 9 all the year round. A rule of the club which is stringently insisted on is that not more than three thousand captains may be appointed daily. . . . It is hoped n ext year to make arrangements b y which all captains will be enabled to obtain practice.” A s a matter of fact, the Surrey captains in 1904 (the year, of many captains) were H . B. Chinnery, Lord Dalmeny, H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, J. E. Raphael, K . J. Key, L. V. Harper, D. L. A. Jephson, and perhaps two or three others in a match each. Certainly not more than ten or eleven in all. Let it be admitted th at the number was too high, and that the team must have suffered from the frequent changes ; but it is not so easy as some people imagine to get a man capable of leading— even moderately well— to p la y all through the season, and it is going to be more difficult in the future. T h u s did those chartered libertines, the authors of “ Cricket on the B rain,” deal with the Editor of this paper under “ Personalities ” :— “ M r. A. C. M a c L a r e n (By Rev. John Watson). ' I ’m going to hook it ! ’— Another journalist who finds time to p lay cricket. The most distinguished linguist of modern times, his fluency in foreign tongues being due to his having to converse w ith the members of his team. Like other literary men he is always trying to make a hit. Chief work— life of Hook.’ Has been offered the Recordership o f Taunton. Residence, Hook, H ants.” T o p ic a l h um o u r is soon out of date. Probably half the allusions here will merely m ystify present-day readers. Perhaps one of those above will have light thrown upon it b y this, from another page of the same budget of imperti­ nences : " B y some curious error a Lancashire man was the other day allowed to play for Lancashire. This kind of thing in Kermodes the other players.” In all the long roll of test matches between England and Australia, beyond doubt the least powerful team ever put into the field by either side was th at which represented Australia at Melbourne on New Y e a r’s D ay, 1885. The members of the Australian Team boycotted the match for financial reasons, and this meant th at Murdoch, McDonnell, Bonnor, Palmer, A lec Bannerman, Scott, Blackham, and Boyle were unavailable. Giffen was said not to be in sympathy w ith the rest, but rheumatism or sciatica kept him aw ay ; and Spofforth had not returned in time to play. T h e match is recalled to mind b y a clipping from an Australian paper which lately came our way. In it Mr. Harry Musgrove, manager of the 1896 Australian Team in England and a theatrical entrepreneur of fame, tells how he came to p lay for Australia. H e was one of those engaged' who would certainly have had no chance of inclusion in an Australian eleven a t full strength. Others were Sam Morris, the W est Indian black, who did good service for Victoria, R. J. Pope (“ medical adviser ” to two Australian teams since), A. P . Marr, W. R. Robertson, and (on their form of the time, for they were colts then) J. W . Trumble, William Bruce, and John Worrall. The last-named three were internationals at their best, though Trumble never fulfilled his early promise ; but the other five never were. S. P. Jones, Tom Horan, and A. H. Jarvis made up the team ; even w ith the Austra­ lian eleven available they would have had claims to con­ sideration. A t the time Mr. Musgrove was treasurer to Mr. J. C. Williamson, then running a dramatic company one of whose stock pieces was “ The Silver K in g.” The company went to Ballarat, and Musgrove, who had previously been playing very well for East Melbourne, was asked to play for the local side against the English Team. Ballarat batted first, and had 150 up w ith only one w icket down, Musgrove and Worrall being together. “ Now, boy,” said Jim Lillywhite, who was umpiring, “ be careful ; you are near your hundred.” The score board a t B allarat in those days did not show individual scores. A few runs later cheers from the pavilion, where were a number of the Williamson company, told Musgrove he had got there. W ith his score 109, Musgrove had a ball from Peel which broke aw ay so much that he let it go w ithout attempting to play it ; but it whipped past his batting glove, and Joseph Hunter, the wicket-keeper, took it and appealed. He was not given to taciturnity behind the stumps. “ I was surprised ” (says the narrator) “ to see L illywhite raise his hat, and I was given out. As I left for the pavilion, Flowers at short-slip called to me, * Never touched it, lad,’ and Arthur Shrewsbury at point, as I passed him, said, ' Jim ’s wrong.’ I knew Jim was wrong, but had to go all the same. I was quite satisfied, and had done ever so much better than I expected. The next morning I saw b y the Melbourne Argus that I had been picked to play for Australia against England a t Melbourne a week later.” I t is curious how often men who have played their parts in big matches— and in other matters than cricket, too— forget the true sequence of events. Reference shows that