Cricket 1914

M a y 23, 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 165 only 20 runs, and in each case the other side having to go in for th at nasty short period before call of time. Sussex suffered more than either Leicestershire or Somerset during the time. G l a m o r g a n lo s t £42 o d d o n la s t s e a s o n ’s w o r k in g , a n d h a v e n o w a d e b it b a la n c e o f n e a r ly £ 450. D u r i n g the match between Griqualand West and the Transvaal a t Easter W . T . Gardner, of the latter side, was run out while lying on his back in the middle of the pitch, having slipped up. The wicket-keeper is said to have flicked off the bails w ith obvious reluctance. There must be more softness of heart in South A frica than most people had suspected ! Over here there would be no compunction In such a case. I t is good to see Andrew Ducat picking up his old form at once after being out of the game for a whole season through a broken leg sustained at football. “ L o n g - L e g ” in the Sporting Life says : “ Forty-three is a comparatively ripe old age for a batsman ; it is an advanced age for a b ow le r; it is a tremendous age for an all-rounder— the thousand-runs-and-a-hundred-wickets-per- season all-rounder, who is, at the same time very nippy in the field. And of such is H irst.” L a t e r on he thus accounts for the perennial youthfulness of Yorkshire’s “ Jarge ” : “ The gods were good to him in the matter of build. Had he been six-feet high and slender of build, it is unlikely th at he could have stood the strain of so many arduous summers. That the little ’uns last longest is an old saying. Gregory, Quaife, Abel, Tyldesley are names which readily occur to mind in this connection. And although the greatest of all cricketers stood among the tallest, he was very square of build in addition.” B u t , after all, the little ’uns have no monopoly of long cricket life. W h at of W illiam Gunn, George U lyett, Lord Hawke, and others in this connection ? T h e i r Majesties the K ing and Queen, w ith Princess Mary and the Prime Minister (in his dual role of W ar Minister), watched part of the game between the First and Second Divisions at Aldershot on Saturday. H. L. Sim m s is expected home from India next month. A. T . C l i f f , who batted well for Worcestershire at the Oval, is not exactly a colt, as he is nearer forty than thirty. He has made a good many runs and also taken wickets for the Worcestershire Gentlemen. T h e Athletic Nexvs says that W . C. Millward, a son of Alfred Millward, the old Worcestershire player, who was till lately in charge of the Sussex Nursery, will be home on holiday from the Argentine, where he is a heavy scorer, and may turn out for the Midland county, in which he was born. P a r k i n , who has played with great success for Durham and once or twice assisted Yorkshire in earlier days, will appear for Lancashire in Whit-week. M e a d (Philip of that name) has played 28 innings (4 not out) v. Leicestershire, and has totalled 1516 runs in them, w ith the very fair average of a trifle over 63. In chrono­ logical order, his scores have 20, 57, 6 (1906), 14, 22, 24 (i 907), 30, 119 not out, n o (1908), 63, 15, 89 (1909), 14, 127, 2, 70, 109, 100 not out (1911), 32, 9, 6 i, 14 not out (1912), 102, 113 not out, 4 ( 1913 ), and 76, 22, 92 (1914). A l l but the 14 and 127 (for M.C.C.) were made for his county, which did not meet Leicestershire in 1910. The 28 scores include seven centuries (two in a match twice), and seven innings of between 50 and 100. Mead has yet to be out for a duck against the Midland side. W a r w i c k s h i r e people'— such of them, a bigger propor­ tion than of old, as take an interest in the affairs of their county club, th at is— had quite a fright last week when Frank Foster announced th at his father’s death and his brother’s illness made it necessary for him to devote his attention entirely to business and give up first-class cricket. B u t his resignation of the captaincy was not effected w ith­ out p ro te s t; and ultim ately the protest made prevailed. T h e side could ill afford to lose him. He took command very young, w ithout the experience which is usually needed to form a tactician. Bu t his buoyant optimism and his sheer determ ination lifted the team to heights never attained before, and accomplished something very like a revolution in its methods. Whether Warwickshire was the best county side of 1911 must remain a m atter of opinion. It was the champion county side, anyway, and for that it had very largely to thank Frank Foster. J o h n B o a r d is a very unlucky cricketer. L ast year he broke a leg ; now, in Gloucestershire’s first match, he has strained the muscles of a leg. Curiously enough, he seemed less liable to accident while keeping wicket. A f t e r all, as it turns out, it was not Cecil Wood who made the first-class century of the season, but his partner, Coe, who got in just ahead of him. This was the sturdy pro­ fessional’s thirteenth hundred in big cricket. “ F e l i x , ” in the Australasian of April 11, refers to a big-scoring match in the Myrtleford Association. T. Patton scored 408, he says, and Norman Rippon 321, the two putting on 641 for the third wicket. They were playing for Buffalo River. No further details are given, so the ardent collector of cricket records must possess his soul in patience for a while. The total may have been over 1100 (the record is 1094), or it may not. Anyw ay, it’s no great odds. S y d G r e g o r y had the ill-luck to get a finger broken while playing for Waverley v. Sydney University on April 4. He had scored 28, and turned to get a ball for Cooney aw ay to leg ; but it got him on the right hand, and broke the second finger above the middle joint. In well over tw en ty years of big cricket he never had a serious injury to his hands, though he seldom wore gloves. O n c e a t Bradford he was hit on the jaw b y a ball from Schofield Haigh, and bit his lower lip right through. Ten stitches were put in. He resumed his innings after lunch. When he got out it was found th at every stitch had gone— bitten away. G . L. G a r n s e y , who for a few seasons was quite one of New South Wales’ best bowlers, though he never came to England w ith a team, was lying very seriously ill in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital a t Sydney early in April. T h e Australian Board of Control has agreed to repay to the M.C.C. the losses incurred b y the great club in the last three tours in Australia, recognising the fact that the M.C.C. should not be called upon to find money for the benefit of Australian cricket. T h e North v. South match in Tasmania, usually played a t Christmas, w ith a return a t Easter, was not carried out owing to a dispute only indirectly connected w ith cricket.