Cricket 1914

M a y 30, 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 187 T h e Toronto Globe of a recent date has some news from Melbourne respecting the abandonment of the projected Australian tour in America this year. The cablegram (dated April 4th) states th at Austin Diamond had some weeks before received a message from Mr. R. B. Benjamin, the promoter, to say th a t he had given up the scheme. Diamond was surprised, as no reason was vouchsafed, and he had been working hard to get a team together. S in c e then, however, he has heard by mail from Mr. Benjamin, who says th at he has cried off the tour because some members of the last team had written to various parts of the States and Canada (Mr. Benjam in says America and Canada, but Canada is as much a part of America as Y o rk­ shire of England or Ulster of Ireland— we are non-political, but we can’t resist this !) informing the clubs th a t the Australian Board of Control had refused to give permission for the tour, and that a lot of unknown players would be brought. I n consequence of this, three of the centres withdrew their guarantees, and in consequence of that, Mr. Benjamin says he has done w ith Australian cricket tours for the future, and th at it will be many years before a team will pay its way like the last one which visited America. M e a n w h i l e Dr. R. J. Pope, the old New South Wales player, well-known both in England and north of the Border, has been in Barbados, and has talked to newspaper repre­ sentatives there of the possibility of an Australian team visiting the West Indies in the near future. T h is , if it could be brought about, would help to revive interest in the game in the islands and British Guiana, and, except in Barbados perhaps, some such fillip is much needed. A team to visit the West Indies would, of course, take in the States and Canada also ; and perhaps the Board may be induced to send a side if sufficient guarantees are forthcoming. D a t e s form the chief difficulty. An Australian team will be in South A frica in 1914-5, and another in England in 1916. T h e latter year is therefore out of the question. Nothing like Australia’s full strength is needed for an American tour ; but the presence in the side of three or four indubit­ able cracks is necessary if success in a monetary sense is to be achieved. B a r d s l e y and Macartney are not likely starters for another North American tour. If Trumper could be in­ duced to go, he m ight be counted as three men for spec­ tacular purposes, for his is a name to conjure w ith in the Western Continent and the Caribbean Isles. Everywhere the last team went enquiries were made for him, and regret for his absence expressed. A s u g g e s t i o n — for what it is worth— could not the Australian Board of Control and the New Zealand Cricket Council join hands, and send an Australasian team ? The inclusion of half-a-dozen players from New Zealand would be a big advertisement for the Dominion in America, and men like Reese, Hemus, Sneddon, Sandman, Robinson, Patrick, and others could all hold their own w ith the majority of the players who made a triumphal progress through the States and Canada in 1913. Not all of these mentioned would be available, of course; but there are others. I t m ight even be worth the while of the Dominion government to give aid to such a scheme. These are days when advertisement takes forms undreamed of even ten years ago. M r . B e n ja m in ’ s is not the first projected cricket tour which has fallen through. The back pages of Wisden for 20 odd years ago will show among the fixtures for the year a number made for an A ll America side which never ma­ terialised. Much later a Fijian team had matches made for it, but did not put in an appearance. And there have been other cases. T h e hat trick has been very much in evidence lately. In matches of public importance, P. G. H. Fender, P. Havelock Davies, and L. Gjers have all done it, and Booth only just missed it at Lord's ; while in club cricket there have been several instances. W h e n a batsman makes two centuries in a first-class match nowadays, the usual press comment is th at the feat has lost much of its noteworthiness because practically everybody has done it. B u t this is b y no means true. Among batsmen who have scored a good many centuries, the Hon. F. S. Jackson, H. K . Foster, W . W . Armstrong, Clem Hill, Sharp, Bowley, the late J. T. Brown, Iremonger (he has given up the cen­ tu ry habit, but he had it well developed at one time), Tarrant, Vine, Knight, Humphreys and John Gunn are numbered w ith the absentees from the list. A n o t h e r Yorkshireman who (like Rothery, Myers. Wilkinson, Grimshaw, Hardisty, and Rudston) at one time gave promise th at looked like securing him a regular place in the county team, has been suffered to leave for other parts. This is W . E. Bates, son of William Bates, the brilliant all- rounder of th irty years ago, who is now engaged b y the Briton Ferry C.C. He had the misfortune to get a finger badly dislocated a Saturday or two ago. O f late years the leading South Wales clubs have gone in strongly for men having some experience of first-class cricket. Vogler, Maxwell, Webb, Hacker, Bestw ick, and Soar are all cases in point. A c o n t r i b u t o r to the Sporting L ife bewails the passing of village green cricket. But, somewhat curiously, no instance th a t he gives has any very close connection with the subject upon which he dilates. M it c h a m , Thames D itton, Putney, Twickenham, and Roehampton are not the powers they were 25 years or so ago, he says. Still, all these clubs maintain a p retty vigorous existence, and probably their members are not in the least troubled b y the fact that some more wealthy clubs, possessing private grounds, now stand well ahead of them in the m atter of playing strength. B l a c k h e a t h have moved from their old quarters on the H eath itself to Rectory Field, Streatham from the Common to Pendennis Road, Wimbledon from the Common to Wimbledon Park. And all have profited by the change. T r u e , doubtless ; but none of those mentioned was a village club. Blackheath, Clapham, Islington, Peckham, and other suburbs the writer mentions were no more “ hamlets ” — as he calls them— a quarter of a century ago than they are to-day. W ith village green cricket Mitcham and Thames D itton (which survive) m ay have something in common ; but the others had little or nothing. F o r the true village green cricket one must seek such places as Brockham, Cranleigh, and scores of others in the home counties, Sussex, and Hampshire. Some essen­ tially village green clubs— essentially so by tradition and environment, th a t is— no longer p lay on the commons. B u t the reason for that is no secret. In these democratic