Cricket 1914

M a y g , 1 9 1 4 . THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 12S Overseas C r ic k e t C h a t. TH E ARGEN TINE ; The question of the championship was decided dn April j; When Hurlingham, who had on the previous Sunday beaten Belgrano, defeated Buenos Aires in a match of small scoring. Towards the winners’ total of 124 F. A. Sutton, who has been in excellent form of late* contributed 49. He had some very good bowling to meet, and never found it possible to score fast ; but as no one else made more than 21 the value of his innings to his side is easily realised. G. G. Brown's bowling (6 for 19 in 51 balls) was very deadly. P. A. F oy (5 for 35) and A. J. Sumner* (5 for 24) put out B.A. for 74. Much was hoped of Smyth, and his early dismissal seemed to dishearten the rest. Hurlingham batted again, and H. G. Garnett (62) and J. K. Garrod (50) sent up the century before the first wicket fell by rapid scoring. The total at the close was 167 for 7. Hurlingham were champions last season. AU STRA L IA . There is little likelihood of Roy Minnett’s going to South Africa. He has 'Varsity exams, to read for, and is booked for hard study during the next year or so. A double tie match has occurred in N.S.W. A t Kempsey Bankers and East Kempsey each scored 84 in their first innings, 78 in their second. Peter McAlister is still going strong, and his latest century— latest as far as is known to us at the time— will bear comparison with most of the numerous others he has made. He was playing for East Melbourne v. Fitzroy, and carried his bat right through an innings of 208 for 106. On the first day he scored 31, and got a nasty knock under the heart from a kicking ball delivered by McDonald, the ex-Tasmanian. Through the week he felt the effects of this, and on the second Saturday found that he could not use his arms with freedom. A runner was allowed him. The 19 needed to complete his 50 took him 79 minutes to make ; and altogether he was 4^ hours at wickets. The Melbourne Herald of November 7th last gave some interest­ ing details of McAlister's career. He learned his cricket at Carlton College, and entered the Williamstown second X L at the age of 16. In his first year he averaged 28, and was promoted to the first X I, for which he played three seasons. Then he joined East Melbourne, and has now just finished his 25th season for them. He has aggregated well over 10,000 runs for East Melbourne, averaging 40 per innings. For the seasons from 1897-8 to 1907-8 inclusive his average was as high as 60. During that time he scored 5343 runs in 107 innings, 19 times not out. Nearly 40 centuries stand to his credit, nine of them for Victoria, the rest for his club. His full total of runs to date in all matches is well over 16,000. It was not McAlister’s fault that he did not come to England till he was quite a veteran. His only trip wras not of the pleasantest in some respects, for the 1909 team did not pull all together as well as some Australian sides; but he did himself credit with a total of 816, an average of 29-14, and fifth place in the batting table, among those below him being Noble, Gregory, and Macartney. The Hon. F. S. Jackson— “ and a good judge, too ! ” — expressed a high opinion of his batting. In his younger days McAlister was one of the best slip fields­ men in Australia, and he is still no sluggard in the field, though lie cannot now pretend to reach his old standard. For Wesley College v. Geelong College J. P. S. Warne lately scored 116 and did the hat trick, taking 4 wickets for 8 runs in all. This achievement recalls to the Sydney Referee’s Melbourne correspondent a record of 25 years or more ago, when Charles McLeod, later an international player, scored 145, and did the hat trick for Scots College. C. B. BarstOw was in great bowling fettie for Toombul v. 5 outh Brisbane a few weeks ago. He took 8 for 31 in the oppos­ ing side's first innings and 4 for 25 in theirsecond— 12 for 56 in all, a good afternoon's work. Roger Hartigan had 5 for 15 in the second innings. Frank Laver played under disadvantages during the New Zealand tour. He had had a finger broken in the course of the match at Melbourne between the Melbourne C.C. and the N.Z. side. Dolling, who is a doctor, bound two fingers together for him, the whole one acting as a splint for the broken one. He felt the jar a good deal when batting, and, of course, his bowling was hampered ; but he made over 50 in one innings, and took 10 wickets for 44 on another occasion. Stanley Stephens, of Prahran, who made two centuries lor Victoria v. Tasmania at Launceston, had then in his last seven innings (two not out) totalled O73 runs, thus : 96, 149** 7 ° ’ 7 > 02*, 108, 181. Souter, who has done well as an all-round man for Victoria this season, getting runs every time and taking some wickets too, was not even playing first-grade club cricket in 1912-3. He was then a member of the Elsternwick (a sub-district club) eleven. He now plays for St. Kilda. Up to March 14 C. G. Macartney had totalled 1526 (in 13 completed innings) in state and first-grade matches. Lor N.S. Wales he made 892 ; for his club, Gordon, his scores so far had been 162, 98, 227, 106, and 41. Reference has previously been made to the bowling feats which have been so frequent in Western Australian cricket this season. On March 7 A. H. Christian, formerly of Victoria, with 5 for 3 for East Perth v. Midland Junction, added another to the list. Christian, though nearing the veteran stage, is a really good bowler, and so, of course, is P. R. Le Couteur, the old Oxonian ; but Robert Selk and Ernest Jones, men un­ doubtedly past the stage when their bowling had terrors for iirst-class batsmen, have also been doing sensational things, and one can only conclude that Westralian batting in general is not very strong just now. When the transcontinental railway— now under way is com­ pleted the “ Cinderella of the Sisterhood ” will have a chance to get more frequent matches with the other states. There is plenty of talent in Perth and Fremantle— much of it came from farther east originally— but the experience which only big cricket can give is needed to ripen it. Are there too many senior clubs ? If, say, eight teams could be organised from the best men of the two cities, better cricket might result. The withdrawal of the Fremantle clubs from the competition in which they met those of Perth was scarcely in the best interests of the game. But they do say that Fremantle wickets are so bad that Perth was not altogether sorry to part company ! W ith two matches to be played R. J. A. Massie, generally reckoned Australia’s best bowler to-day, had taken 61 wickets, at just under 10 each, in first-grade games this season. The record in the competition is J. Randell’s 78 for Middle Harbor four years ago. Massie may possibly have beaten this, but needed to do well if he was to manage it. Centuries during March included : - P. A. McAlister, 106*, E. Melbourne v. Fitzroy. W. J. Scott, 112, S. Melbourne v. Carlton. F. Buckle, 109*, Glebe v. Sydney. W. E. Pite, 100*, Waverley v. Paddington. J. Arthur, 117, W. Torrens v. Glenelg (Adelaide). F. T. Hack, 107*, Glenelg v. W. Torrens. R. J. Moroney, 122, Port Adelaide v. Sturt. F. C. Thompson, 137*, University v. Toowong (Brisbane). A. Patfield, 108, E. Fremantle v. Fremantle. J. Gardner, 101, University v. E. Perth A. C. Randell, 106*, N. Perth v. W. Perth. R. F. Middleton, 201*, E. Torrens v. N. Adelaide. P. Desmazures, 135*, N. Adelaide v. E. Torrens. L. Butler, 114*, S. Hobart v. New Town. J. H. Savigny, 104*, W. Launceston v. S. Launceston,