Cricket 1914

212 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. J u n e 6, 1914. A Recen t Am e r ican Expe rim en t of In te re s t to Cricketers . W h a t is the real speed of a cricket ball when bowled by our lightning trundlers ? is a question that has often been asked and never answered with any degree of certainty, but an experiment recently conducted in Bridgeport, U.S.A., has settled the question w ith mathematical exactness. The apparatus to conduct such an intricate experiment was manufactured by a firm of gun and revolver makers and is used for the purpose of testing the speed of the flight of bullets ; it is an electrical device, made in the form of a wooden frame equipped w ith fine copper wires running perpen­ dicularly, but not clear across the frame, so that the test calls for a certain amount of control when experimenting. A t a distance of 5 ft. on the other side of the wooden frame is placed a steel plate. B y means of electricity the time consumed b y the ball in travelling from its contact with the wires to the steel plate is registered. In order to get an idea of how fast a ball can be made to travel when thrown b y a human being, it was decided to secure the services of Walter Johnson and N. Rucker, who are recognised as the speediest throwers playing America’s national game of baseball, and as no other game in the world calls for the same amount of throwing ability as baseball, it will be admitted th at these two men are capable of throwing a ball faster than anyone else in the world. Johnson and Rucker were placed about 6 ft. or 7 ft. away from the copper wires, as they figured this distance would be the best for obtaining the greatest velocity b y the time the ball reached the machine. Johnson’s first throw registered 120 ft. per second, and Rucker’s registered 106 ft. per second ; Johnson made another attempt and registered 121 f t ; Rucker’s second attempt registered 113 f t . ; at Johnson’s final throw, the machine registered 122 ft. per second. Those present expressed the opinion that Johnson, at his top speed, was capable of hurling the ball at pretty near the 150 ft. per second mark. A railroad train travelling a t a mile a minute is only going at about two-thirds the velocity attained b y Johnson in the above test. --- +----- Scores. I f we were suddenly deprived of all the amenities of life as we know it to-day, which of them, I wonder, would be more acutely missed than the newspaper ?— th at ephemeral production to the making of which, as one of our high­ brows recently observed, so often go unrecognised “ some Balliol scholar’s brains.” Has this great, if scarcely novel, thought ever struck you as you unfolded your favourite sheet at the breakfast table or in the 9.15 ? The modern journalist is immensely interested in the art of making-up— that is, presenting the printed page in the form th at he thinks most pleasing to the eye. Soliditv of aspect is the thing to be avoided at all costs. Short paragraphs, “ brief as the posy of a ring,” an amplitude of headlines— anything, indeed, to break up the column— are his desiderata. To this end, sometimes, do editors even p rint poetry. Let not the poet delude himself into think­ ing th a t his editor has any affection for poesy as such— those great men very often are frankly ignorant of the difference between a sonnet and a trio let; what the wielder o f the abhorred shears really appreciates are the indented lines of varying lengths by which (sometimes alas ! by little else) verse is distinguished from plain prose. The occa­ sional stanza serves to lighten the column. W ith what joy, then, must the sub-editor hail each recurring cricket season ! For m y part, I think a page of cricket reports, diversified b y scores, the equal of any poetry that ever was written. W hy, scores, w ith their indented turnover lines, are lyrics in themselves, and endow the sporting page with a glamour known to no other section of the journal. Apart from this merely aesthetic aspect, scores— whether of matches we have ourselves witnessed or not— are close packed w ith interest of differing kinds. We are all familiar with novels in which cricket matches are graphically described, but the score is seldom appended in all its pregnant conciseness. In one of Mr. P. G. Wodehouse’s novels, however (a volume which a budding batsman of my acquaintance holds the chiefest treasure of his library), the description of surely one of the most glorious cricket “ rags ” ever imagined has the following school house- match score attached OUTWOOD ’S v. DOW N ING ’S. Outwood's.— First Innings. J. P. Barnes, c Hammond, b Hassall . . 33 M. Jackson, not out .. .. . . 277 W. J. Stone, not out . . .. .. 124 E xtras . . . . . . . . . 37 Total (for one wicket) . . 471 (Downing’s did not bat.) The last line reminds me of the score of th a t famous match between Hampstead and Stoics in 1886, when Mr. Stoddart made 485 for the former. On that occasion, I remember, the report added : “ Stoics did not b a t.” To the seeing eye, pleasant are the pictures to be conjured up while turning over old scores— whether of contests in the lusty infancy of the game, at old Hambledon, say, in the days when scores were meagre and bowlers lacked the recognition that was their due ; or a t aristocratic Lord’s (whose title induces thankfulness th a t the first proprietor of the ground was so happily named, suppose, instead of Lord, he had been born a Smith !) ; at the democratic Oval, home of so many heroes from Lohmann— not to go too far back— to Hobbs ; on some school or ’V arsity playing-field, such as A gar’s Plough, that haunt of ancient peace, or Fenner’s, where the poet “ stood serene,” “ . . . . indifferent to blisters While the Buttress of the period Bowled me his peculiar tw isters.” Averages at the season’s end are well enough— so are lists of centuries— but for sheer delight there is nothing to compare w ith the score and analysis, w ith their record of big innings and small, hopes realised and frustrated, catches accepted (but not of catches missed— should not this omission be rectified ?), and bowling successful and the reverse. In the season under w ay may you all have such mention in the scores as you deserve. C h a r l e s P l a i r r e . ----- +■----- B a lh a m W a n d e r e r s lost to Hook and Southborough b y 55 runs (totals 79 and 134) on Monday. They were a man short. In their second innings they made 122 for 5. P. K . W oollacott took 6 for 52 for them. T h is club will tour in Kent, June 8 - 13. The tour programm e has already been given. Headquarters will be Marlborough House, R oyal Crescent, Margate, and the following players will take part in the tour :— L. J. Blew ett, S. Butler, E. M. Cheshire, F. Hanna, S. Hanna, W . A. H anna, C. W . Langford, T. R. Pinkerton, D. G. Robinson, F. Swain. E. W estcott, T. J. Wheeler, F. H. C. W oollacott, and P. K. W oollacott (captain). T h e hat trick has been performed three times for the R adlett C.C. this season. W. Montgomery (Surrey, Somerset, and Herts) did it against St. Stephen’s (Hampstead) 011 Saturday. Among Saturday’s bowling performances in the Metropolitan district were : A. C. Higgs (Parson’s Green v. Roehampton), 9 for 5 4 ; E. C. K irk (London & County Bank v. Dulwich), 8 for 37 ; A. R. Tanner (Hampstead, v Surbiton), 6 for 1 7 ; W . Reay (Purley v. Caterham), 7 for 1 7 ; H. J. Mayes (Chigwell v. South W oodford), 6 for 11 ; G. W . Hammond (Hornsey v. Finchley), 6 for 37, A. Tunks (Kensington N. & S. v. L. & N .W .R.), 7 for 18 ; and F. Scoulding (Beckton v. Lessness Park), 6 for 13, including the hat trick.