Cricket 1914

274 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. J une 27, 1914. H e first played for Hants on May 15, 1899, against Lancashire, a t Old Trafford, and his 32 and the late Victor B arton ’s 38 accounted for just two-thirds of the runs from the b a t in the coun ty’s first. He made 23 and 37 v. Derbyshire at Southampton, and 37 in the first innings v. Yorkshire on the same ground ; but, owing doubtless to his m ilitary duties, he only played in two more matches th at season. In 1900, however, he was able to play more regularly, and did some capital work. Against Worcestershire at Worcester he made 42 and 86, the latter top score for his side in the match ; in the next game he scored 34 and 80 v. Lancashire at Southampton, he and A . J. L. Hill making between them 135 of a total of 177 ; and a few days later, in the coun ty’s following match, he h it up a brilliant 103 not out v. Warwickshire at Edgbaston, he and C. Robson adding 180 in partnership. These three successive games saw his best work of the season ; but he made several other good scores before it had ended. . He was in excellent form in 1901 ; hit a fine 147 v. Somerset at Taunton, when he and Major (then Captain) Greig added 148 together in an hour, and he and Webb 127 in 50 minutes ; slashed up 130 (19 fours) v. Derbyshire at D erby ; and made 92 v. Derbyshire at Southampton and 86 v. Leicestershire at Leicester. The following season was a v e ry wet one, and his play, always better suited b y fast wickets, the drive playing so prominent a part in it, suffered ; he did very little in the earlier matches ; in the later ones his best efforts were 74 v. Sussex at Hove and 53 v. Derbyshire at Derby. In 1903, when he succeeded Robson in the captaincy of the side, he was in much better fettle. He missed a century by four runs only in his first match of the season, v. Derby­ shire at Southampton ; made 66 and 65 in the game w ith Worcestershire on the same ground ; and against Sussex at Hove scored 103 (in 105 minutes) and 50, being top scorer in each innings. He was quite a t his best in 1904, very rarely indeed failing. His only century was a magnificent 118 (2 hrs., 18 fours) v. Yorkshire at Portsmouth ; but among his other scores were 75 in an uphill game against the South Africans at Alton (immediately before the Portsmouth match), 84 (top score of the game) v. Derbyshire at Derby, 75 and 67 (highest score of each innings) v. Warwickshire at Bournemouth, and 71 v. Worcestershire, 62 v. Derbyshire, and 63 (another uphill, fighting score, this) v. Leicestershire, all at Southampton. E ven better were the results achieved b y him in 1905. V ery rarely can a batsman of his forcible type have played more consistent cricket than he did then, for in 30 innings he was never out for a duck, and only three times under double figures. His 141 v. Worcestershire at Worcester included 23 fours ; he made n o v. Sussex at Hove, and in other innings put to bis credit such scores as 79, 71, 70, 68 not out, 67, 63, 56, and 50. For the first time he topped the thousand, having narrowly missed doing so in 1904. The next season was not one of his best, though he did by no means badly. His chief scores were 70 v. Sussex at Chichester and 66 v. Yorkshire a t Southampton. In 1907 he played 40 innings, and was never out w ithout scoring— only seven times under double figures. His two centuries were both made at Southampton, the i n v. Kent giving his side a big lift towards its ultimate win, and the 125 v. Surrey containing one six and as many as 22 fours. E ighty- four v. Sussex at Chichester, made out of 123 in the follow- on, when runs'were badly needed, and 83 v. Warwickshire at Edgbaston, a more restrained innings than usual, for it lasted 140 minutes (quick time for most men, however), were among his other feats th a t season ; while he also played innings of 69, 59 not out, 54, 46, 42, 40, and a dozen of between 20 and 40. His consistency was the more remarkable as many matches in 1907 were fought out on bowlers’ wickets. Another good year was 1908. He only once reached three figures, scoring 108 at a critical time v. Worcestershire at Worcester. Hants were 21 behind on the first innings (in which he had made 46), and had lost Bowell, Llewellyn, and Mead for 37 when he came in. He risked less than usual, but made his runs in 135 minutes, though he hit only 6 fours. In the end Worcestershire won narrowly, b y 2 wickets. Twelve fours were included in his dashing 79 (in 90 minutes) v. Sussex at Portsmouth, which immediately followed this. Among his other scores th a t season were 62 not out, 62, 57, 53, 50, 48, 45 not out, 41, and eight of between 20 and 40. For the third time in four years he totalled over 1000 for the county ; and in the five seasons 1904-1908 inclusive he aggregated more than 5000 for Hants w ith an average of over 33. On the whole, the next four seasons were rather a lean time for him. He did not play quite as often, missing some of the earlier matches in some seasons through being abroad. B ut he scored a brilliant 138 (made in 140 minutes) v. Worcestershire at Worcester— always a favourite ground with him— in 1909. -Perhaps his best innings in 1910 was his 92 v. Worcestershire at Bournemouth, when he joined F ry w ith 6 wickets down for 141, and helped to take the total to 300 before they were parted. In 1911, aided by luck, he hit up a slashing 125 not out (4 sixes, 20 fours) v. Gloucester­ shire at Bristol, he and A . E. Fielder adding 147 for the last wicket in 40 minutes. A very bad season in 1912 was followed b y a renascence in 1913, when he played quite in his old form, scoring 90 v. M.C.C. at Lord’s and nine other scores of 50 and over, with 14 of between 20 and 50. That he is b y no means done w ith yet he has shown conclusively this year, w ith 87 v. Derbyshire at Basingstoke and the two recent hard-fighting innings referred to earlier in this sketch. Sprot was “ ever a fighter.” The tight place— and Hampshire has been in plenty of tight places— brings out the best in him. He considers, one deduces, a tta ck the best method of defence, and while others potter (not that the general run of Hampshire batsmen are of the pottering type, by any means) Sprot punches. A very big proportion of his runs comes from fours, and a very big proportion of his fours from lusty, open-shouldered drives, though he is also distinctly good at getting the ball away to leg. He has taken a few wickets in his day, but never reckoned him­ self any great shakes as a bowler. In the field he could hold his own w ith most men, and even now, though scarcely as quick as of yore, is no passenger when the other fellows are batting. A finely-proportioned, upstanding, handsome man, he looks a soldier all over, though he is no longer one. B u t he did not quit fighting when he quit soldiering. His record to date (June 20) for Hampshire is :— SEASO N . M. INNS. N.O. RUNS. A VE R . H.S. 1 8 9 9 ------- 5 IO 0 195 * I 9-50 37 I9O O . . . . 1 7 34 2 8 5 7 26-78 io 3 ] 19 0 1 . . . . • • 1 7 29 2 9 3 2 34 51 147 19 0 2 . . 14 24 I 4 20 18 -2 1 74 1903 ------- • • 15 2 7 3 8 4 3 35*12 103 I 9 0 4 ------- 28 I 9 9 1 3 6 -70 11S 1905 ------- 30 I 12 0 6 41*58 14 1 • • 15 29 2 6 3 1 23*37 70 1907 . . . . 22 40 2 1 2 7 2 33*47 12 5 20 35 4 10 0 5 3 2 -4 1 108 1909 ------- . . 18 2 7 1 575 2 2 -11 138 I9 IO . . . . 20 29 1 595 21-25 92 . . 19 33 4 6 2 7 2 1-6 2 1 2 5 1 . . 19 1 7 2 18 4 12 -2 6 29 1 9 1 3 ------- 20 36 I 1 1 5 8 33*08 90 1 9 1 4 ------- 11 O 4 1 9 38-09 13 1 •• 259 439 27 1 1 ,9 1 0 28-90 147 Outside the county’s matches his six innings realised a total of 1 16, the addition of which to the figures above-will give his complete first-class record to date. J. N . P.