Cricket 1914

i6 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. J a n u a r y , 1914. The Programme of 1914. ’■'At the Secretaries’ meeting at Lord’s on December 9th the bulk of next season’s fixtures were mapped out. The list is not quite complete, as Oxford are sure to arrange more matches — only five appear for them at present— and there are also the University trial games, the M.C.C. matches with Minor Counties, and two or three Schools’ matches at Lord’s to add. There are 192 matches fixed for the County Championship, as against 184 in 1913 and 172 in 1912. It is evident that County executives do not believe cricket to be dying ! G l o u c e s t e r s h ir e , K e n t , M id d l e s e x , N o r t h a n t s , N o t t s , an d W a r w ic k s h ir e p la y th e {sam e co u n ties as la st y e a r ; b u t th e ca rd s of all th e ten o th e r co u n ties sh ow v aria tio n s. D e r b y s h ir e do not meet Sussex, but renew fixtures with Worcestershire (unmet for a dozen years or so), and Yorkshire. E s s e x play all their opponents of last year, and, in addition, meet Leicestershire, Somerset, and Worcestershire. H a n t s add Lancashire to their opponents of 1913. L a n c a s h ir e drop Worcestershire in favour of Hants. L e i c e s t e r s h i r e ’s additional games are those with Essex. S o m e r s e t meet Essex (for the first time in nearly tw enty years) and Surrey, besides their eight antagonists of last season. The games with Somerset are an addition to the S u r r e y card. S u s s e x substitute Worcester­ shire for Derbyshire. W o r c e s t e r s h ir e do not meet Lanca­ shire or Yorkshire, but have renewed matches with Derbyshire, Essex, and Sussex. Y o r k s h i r e play Derbyshire in lieu of Worcestershire. Besides the six whose cards reveal no change, Lancashire, Sussex, and Yorkshire have the same number of championship matches as last year. Essex will play 6 more, Somerset 4 more, Derbyshire, Hants, Leicestershire, Surrey, and Worcestershire each 2 more. No county has cut down its list. Hants, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Yorkshire have all but a complete schedule, Northants alone being missed from the Hants list, Derbyshire from the cards of Kent, Surrey, and Sjissex, and Worcestershire from th at of Yorkshire. Lancashire play 26 matches, not meeting Somerset and Worcestershire. Essex, Leicestershire, and Warwickshire have 24 games each, Glou­ cestershire, Northants, and Worcestershire 22 each, Derbyshire, Middlesex, Notts, and Somerset 20 each. . Between the counties with the longest cards and those with the shortest there is now only a difference of 8 matches. Ih e disparity has been much more marked in the past, the biggest difference being 14, when Yorkshire played everyone and Somerset had only eight opponents of a possible fifteen. A s usu al, th ere are ch an ges in th e secon d -class co u n ties’ list. B e d s , B e r k s , D e v o n , N o r f o lk , an d S u f f o l k alon e h a v e th e sam e fix tu res as in 1913. B u c k s p la y D o rset in stead of H erts. C am bs p la y H e rts an d L in co ln sh ire in stead o f D u rh am and N o rth u m b erlan d . C h e s h ir e ’s card in clu d es E sse x II an d a ren ew al o f th e S taffo rd sh ire fix tu res, L in co ln sh ire and M onm ou th d isap p earin g from it. C o r n w a l l su b stitu te W ilts fo r D o rset. D o r s e t p la y B u c k s in stead o f C orn w all. D u rh a m h a v e G lam o rga n in lieu of C am bs. T h e n ew side, E s s e x II, n a tu ra lly h a v e fix tu res w ith th e secon d eleven s o f th e ir n eigh bours, K e n t an d S u rre y, b u t h a v e to go ra th e r far afield fo r th e ir o th e r gam es, w ith C h esh ire an d G lam organ . G la m o r g a n do n o t p la y K e n t II, b u t ad d E sse x II an d D u rh am to th e ir ca rd . H e r t s m eet C am b s in stea d o f B u ck s. K e n t II p la y M onm outh in stea d of G lam organ , an d h a v e ad d itio n al fix tu res w ith E sse x II. L i n c o ln s h ir e p la y C am b s in lieu o f C h esh ire. M o n m o u th ­ s h ir e m eet K e n t II in stead o f C h esh ire. N o r th u m b e r la n d d ro p th eir m atch es w ith C am bs. S t a f f o r d s h i r e ren ew th eirs w ith C heshire. S u r r e y II ad d E sse x II to la st y e a r’s list. W i l t s add C orn w all. Northumberland’s is the only shortened list— 8 matches instead of 10. Staffordshire play 12, against 10 last season. Durham and Lincolnshire have the same number as last season, 10. Glamorgan, K ent II, Surrey II, and W ilts increase from 8 to 10. The other sides all play the minimum number re­ quired— 8. The total is 92, an increase of 8 on last season ; but, of course, the addition of Essex II accounts mainly for this. Outside the championship Cheshire and Lancashire II, and Surrey II and Yorkshire II meet. Derbyshire play for the first time at Burton-on-Trent; Essex will give Colchester a trial, and renew the Southend experim ent; Gloucestershire play again, after a lapse of many years, at Moreton-in-the-Marsh ; Lancashire appear for the first time in a county match a t Lancaster, an interesting experim ent; and Somerset have a week at Weston-super-Mare, where a county match has not been played for over 30 years. Aldershot is not experimented with again by Hants ; but Leicestershire give Coalville, Hinckley, Loughborough, an’d Ashby-de-la-Zouch matches, as in 1913 I and the other counties which go in for the spreading out of games as much as possible have adhered to the principle, though it seems a p ity Sussex should not have a match at Chichester. Except that Devon plays one game at Sidmouth and Mon­ mouthshire is down to play one at Monmouth, there appear to be no additions to the grounds brought into use by the second- class counties. But then most of these— Berkshire, Cambs, Devon, Norfolk, and Northumberland are the exceptions— have already tried nearly every possible venue, in the majority of cases without affecting gate receipts much one way or the other. The big match at Lord’s on June 22 is the one outstanding addition to games outside the ordinary rut, though the renew .11 of the M.C.C. v. Minor Counties game is a very welcome feature of the list. Week-end starts are much more numerous. As many as 48 first-class matches start on days other than Monday and Thursday, not long since regarded as invariable for this purpose. There are 32 set to begin on Saturdays, 10 on Wednesdays, and 8 on Fridays. Northants is concerned in all the Friday starts, and the faith of that county’s executive seems to be pinned firmly to the principle of a good and full second day for the half-holiday crowd— a principle which has much to be said for it. The Wednesday games are probably a necessary sequence to the Saturday ones. The new system must have caused a great deal of increased difficulty in dovetailing fixtures. Two great players, Frank Tarrant (Middlesex v. Hants, May, 30, June 1 and 2), and John Hobbs (Surrey v. Kent, August 10, 11, and 12) take their benefits. Weeks are numerous. Including the Cheltenham and Scarborough Festivals (which are not strictly weeks, as each runs to three matches), they stud the fixture list at frequent intervals. The Bath Week (May 21-27) comesfirst, with Surrey and Sussex opposing Somerset. The Tonbridge Week begins on June 15, Hants and Yorkshire visiting the Angel Ground. Horsham celebrates from June 22 to June 27, Hants and Cambridge University appearing there. The Hastings Week (Warwickshire and Gloucestershire the visitors) begins on July 9 ; that at lunbridge Wells (Essex and Notts opposing Kent) on July 13 ; Maidstone has July 20-26, Gloucestershire and Middlesex providing the attractions (but th at’s wrong— the Kent team is the real attraction to the Man of K ent or Kentish- man !) ; Canterbury begins, as ever, with the August Bank Holiday, Sussex and Northants appearing on the St. Lawrence enclosure; Cheltenham (August 10-19) will see Notts, Sussex, and Surrey ; Dover (Lancashire and Worcestershire appearing there) begins its Week on August 17 ; Eastbourne (Lancashire and Worcestershire) and Portsmouth (Warwickshire and Lancashire) both start on August 20; Weston-super-Mare (Yorkshire and Essex) and Bournemouth (Essex and Kent) begin on August 27 ; and Scarborough, the last of them all, starts on September 3. No other Weeks are listed ; but one notes that Hampshire play at Southampton July 16-22, that Notts are at home July 23-29, Warwickshire August 3-8, Sussex August 6-12, Somerset (at Taunton) August 10-15, and Sussex again August 31— Sept. 5, so that there would be no difficulty about the'arrangement of more if local enthusiasm could be stimulated sufficiently. There are few changes in the first-class umpires’ list. Vining and Webb drop out, and their places are taken b y Marlow and Milward. Killick and T. Flowers are reserves instead of Hutchings and Senior. The list now stands thus : A. J. Atfield (Gloucestershire), II. Bagshaw (Derbyshire), R. G. Barlow (Lancashire), J. Blake, T. Brown (Bedfordshire), H. R. B utt (Sussex), J. Carlin (Notts), G. P. Harrison (York­ shire), F. W. Marlow (Sussex), A. Milward (Worcestershire), J. Moss (Notts), F. Parris (Sussex), W. Phillips (Lancashire), W. Richards (Warwickshire), C. E. Richardson (Leicestershire), F. G. Roberts (Gloucestershire), A. E. Street (Surrey), A. E. Trott (Middlesex), W. A. J. W est (Northants), and A. A. White (Sussex), with T. Flowers and E. H. Killick as reserves. Only three alterations were made in the list of umpires for the Second Division Championship, Fenwick coming in instead of Gregory in the Northern Section, and W. Smith and Barrett for Brown and Johnson in the Southern. The full list is : North— B. Brown, W . Caldow, S. Doughty, T. Fenwick, W . H . Harden, and M. Myers ; Midlands— T. Attewell, C. Marshall, A. C. McArthur, G. Perkins, G. Rye, J. P. Whiteside, and S. Wrigley ; South— H. Barrett, A. E. Hoar, T Holton, C. Hughes, G. Hutchings, E. Merrifield, and W . Smith.