Cricket 1914

M a y 9, 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 133 of England succumbed to the men from the antipodes in a hard-fought match at the Oval. More English teams followed, and in 1878 the First Australian Team visited England. The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh teams (1880-1890) all “ came home ” more or less as private adventurers, though the Melbourne C.C. and the N .S.W .C.A. had a finger in the pie on some occasions. B y the time the E ighth Australian Team visited England in 1893, Australia had a representative governing body— in name, at least. The Australian Cricket Council bossed matters for a brief space, forced the team under Blaclc- ham ’s leadership to take a fourteenth man, and— what else did they do ? Memory fails to recall, save th at in a brief space thereafter they gave up the ghost. They were only a Council, and their essay to become a governing body proved a fiasco. Perhaps it was a p ity ; if it had been a success all the trouble would have been over b y this time. Early in the new century the Board of Control was formed. Its first secretary was Alderman W . P. McElhone M r . S y d n e y S m ith , j u n . — the ablest cricket legislator in the Southern hemisphere, say his friends. Mr. C. A. Sinclair succeeded him in the office, and was in turn succeeded b y Mr. Sydney Smith. We are not going into the history of all the squabbles between the Board and the players ; as well m ight one call back to memory the Barons’ Wars, the Wars of the Roses, or the great struggle when dashing Cavalier and grim Round­ head met in deadly grip. L et it go ! Our business is with Mr. Smith. He was born on March 1, 1880, the eldest son of the Hon. Sydney Smith, Minister of Mines and Agriculture in the Parker and Reid Governments in N .S.W ., and later Postmaster-General in the Reid-McLean Federal ministry. The son is Clerk in Charge of Brands in the N .S.W . Govern­ ment Stock Department. He began secretarial work before he had reached double figures in years, on behalf of a b o y’s club a t Annandale. For three years at school (the Bathurst Superior Public School) he filled a similar post. Then he put in two years of the same kind of work at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College. During that time he was also Hon. Sec. to the Hawkesbury D istrict Cricket Union, which he helped to found. For the last thirteen years or more he has been Hon. Sec. of the Petersham D istrict C.C. in Sydney. When he first took that office Petersham was only a second-grade club, but owing largely to his energy it stepped up six or seven years ago. Mr. Smith is not one of those legislators who hardly know one end of the bat from the other. He still plays cricket. It is for the second team of Petersham that he appears, and for a long time he was the holder of the record individual score for the club— 187. He has more than once figured at the top of the bowling averages for his side. Still, he is more legislator than player. Between two and three years ago he was elected one of the N .S.W . representatives on the Board, and at the first meeting there­ after was made its Hon. Sec. and Treasurer. He works for love of the game ; even those who don’t like him must admit that there is no mercenary side to his cricket activ ity. The Board wanted to give him remuneration, recognising how onerous his duties had grown, but he declined to accept anything whatever. The offices he holds at the present time in connection w ith the game are : Hon. Sec. of the Petersham D istrict C.C., delegate from th at club to the N .S.W .C.A., delegate to the C ity and Suburban C.A., member of and acting chairman to the Executive Committee of the N .S.W .C.A ., member of and chairman to the County Committee of the N .S.W .C.A ., and delegate for N .S.W . to the Australian Board of Cricket Control, and Hon. Sec. and Treasurer to that body. He always prepares the programme of grade fixtures, a heavy' task, and last season he also arranged the inter-state fixtures and the New Zealand Team ’s programme. As chairman of the Country Committee he has done great work. Thanks mainly to his energy, cricket throughout the country districts of the state has been re-organised, w ith as result a marked increase of enthusiasm. His chief policy has been to induce the country associations to lay down turf wickets, as he holds th at only by this means can cricket in these districts be improved materially. A tireless worker in the game’s cause, beyond all doubt, is Mr. Sydney Smith, junr., and as such we wish him long life and much success. P a r s o n ’ s G r e e n declared a t 184 for 6 (A. C. Higgs 42, T. Mack 40*. F. G. Driver 34, J. S. Thompson 30*) v. Boston Park at Ealing, and by ca ll of time had lowered 8 wickets for 164 (C. Gluyas 41, L. C. YVeber 32), so that it was anybody’s game at the finish. St. L u k e ’ s (Woodside) beat Enmore S.C. by 47 runs— 69 to 22. The Rev. P. M. Bowman’s 20 was the top score of the match. S. J. Cook was in deadly form with the ball for the winners, taking 8 wickets for 4 runs, and doing the hat trick. H a m p s t e a d N o m a d s had a good win over Finchley— 194 for 7 to 170. For Finchley A. G. Parsons hit well for 68 ; R. F. Popham (Norfolk) batted superbly for his 73 for the winners, and F. C. Boully was merry (but lucky) in making 57. The Nomads had a new bowler in their team, A. J. Fullerton, and he took 8 for 51, all clean bowled. H e takes a short run, but bowls quite fast, and seldom sends down a bad one. T he Nomads’ half-day team lost narrowly to Allom. The totals- were 101 and 91. F. Cook made 43 for Allom ; no one else reached 20 in the match. W. Dale, who only lately left Malvern, took 6 for 6 for the losers. Five were hit off his first over ; afterwards no one seemed able to play him at all. A. E. S a n d e li. made 115 for Old Whitgiftians (165) V. Wimbledon (1 1 4 for 8). P u r l e y at home declared at 2 13 for 8 (G. H. Ashbery 72) v. Sutton, who replied with 143 for 4 (A. C. Larn 61, P . R. Waterer 50*). A. F. M a y n a r d (Durham School and Durham County) scored 1431 for Emmanuel v. Clare at Cambridge on Monday.