Cricket 1914

J u l y 4, 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET 319 The ’Varsities at Eastbourne. CAMBRIDGE. Against a team nothing like so strong as that which Oxford had to meet later, Cambridge rather luckily (although pluckily) pulled through, owing to the wretched exhibition of their opponents after a good commencement in the second innings. Really bad cricket against some very moderate bowling brought this about. In the first innings of Cambridge Saville saved the situation after being badly let off at 30 ; his cutting past third slip was the one stroke to bring him his runs. He played watchful cricket throughout, unlike many of the eleven, who were apt to play carelessly. Of the others, Davies, after a not too promising start, warmed up to make some capital hits into the country, favouring the on-side not a little. W ith the exception of Pegler, who bowled very little, the bowling was not of a high class. Peat, Crutchley, Haig, and Ernest Smith, however, kept a good length, and that was enough to cause ten batsmen out of twelve to score but 58 runs amongst them, causing them to appear a very unfinished lot of players. They must have played very much below their form. On our going in to bat, Baker bowled me with a really good ball, which whipped back the breadth of the b a t; but Fane, who stayed to play a very interesting innings of 71, assured me that this was the only one he brought out during the rest of the day. Crutchley made some clinking cover drives off all the bowlers in his capital 68 ; Sarel was very much at home through­ out his excellent innings of 77 ; Leveson-Gower added a pretty 29 not out. Calthorpe, as last year, appeared to me the one reliable bowler of the eleven, who might be made more use of, since most of the others are very inconsistent. Davies, if a bit flighty, can be hit— of that there is no doubt. Baker bowls a clever ball that goes away, whilst Fairbairn gives all sorts of varying lengths, and Woodroffe merely bowls a fair pace that should not trouble real batsmen. In the second innings the Cantabs did no better. Wood made some good strokes, whilst Calthorpe also showed improved form, and Baker chipped in with a merry innings of 29, and young Browne played with a certain amount of confidence for 23, and should be a good enough bat to secure his blue next year. In our second innings Fane and myself had no very great diffi­ culty in getting 92 out of the 170 wanted to win, when one of those most unaccountable rots set in against very ordinary bowling, with the result that we were beaten by 8 runs. The captain and Peat were not there to take their innings. Leveson- Gower, however, had a badly swollen thumb and there was reasonable excuse for his absence. Wood’s wicket keeping in the first innings was of a very high order indeed, and was the feature of the match. OXFORD . The Oxford X II were up against a very different proposition from that which Cambridge had to face, since Leveson-Gower’s X I I included such as Spooner, Bird, Faulkner, and Douglas, and all proved to be in great form. The wicket was sweaty in places when Oxford took first strike, and Douglas with Pegler got amongst the early batsmen. Knott came to the rescue well, however, and with Melle made a prolonged stand, until the latter got himself out in having a go. Knott completed his century, and was then caught at the wicket. He played sound and interesting cricket throughout. Faulkner and Pegler were too much for the rest, the latter bowling very steadily throughout in capturing 5 wickets for 50. Spooner and Bird played capital cricket from the start of our innings and took the score past the 100 before Spooner was sent back for 56, made in something very near his best style. Bird also never played better than for his 71, and Crutchley, playing on the top of his form, got several forward shots through the covers in his well-known style which always reminds one of L. C. H. Palairet. Capt. Sarel again did well, and we had a lead of 170 or so when all were outed. The Oxonians stuck gamely to their work, Melle bowling really well without an ounce of luck, whilst Bristowe was very steady, and Burton put them in at a good pace. I am told that Rucker, who was not playing, is a really good bowler. White kept wicket well, being very quick in his movements. The Oxonians made a good start in their second innings, Knight especially playing nice cricket for his 57. He made some capital strokes on the leg side. Howell watched the ball very well throughout his innings, but has not many strokes to bring in runs at any pace. Bird was the first bowler to bowl for his slips, and he had the satisfaction of sending back Knight, who cut one straight at second slip, which performance Knott copied immediately afterwards, and with Faulkner bowling his best (sending down a terribly fast one at times) the remaining batsmen retired rather quickly. Bristowe alone showed much confidence. But I feel sure Naumann is a good batsman, also Wigan, who plays most attractively. The Oxonians appear to me a really good ’Varsity side, and should certainly come out of the Lord’s match with flying colours, for Cambridge does not seem in my judgment anything like a good side. -------------4-------------- Correspondence. TARRANT AND J. W . HEARNE. To t h e E d ito r o f t h e World of Cricket. S ir ,—The above cricketers must by this time have quite satisfied everyone as to their scoring abilities. Would it not therefore be a kindness on their part to remember that there are eleven players on a cricket side ? It is pleasant to read of large scores when runs are really wanted, but it is most unpleasant to see players making 200 or more runs their objective, knowing that, if they succeed, half their side will either get no innings at all, or have to go in with something like 500 on the board, which is perhaps worse.—Yours faithfully, Kent House, Eastbourne. E r n e s t S m it h . ----- +----- M il n e played a great game for Benwell Hill on Saturday, his 96 being more than half his side’s total of 172. R. E. Westcott (29) was the only other man who could play the bowling of Clifton, who at one stage had 6 for 17, but finished up with 7 for 51. The County Club— Benwell Hill’s opponents—won by a single wicket, E. Mortimer (35), R. G. Mortimer (32), and J. C. P. Thompson (29*) all batting well. E. Nicholls took 6 for 71. St. G e o r g e ’ s (238—J. S. Nesbit 52, W. W. Meldon 46, C. M. Skinner 38) easily beat Benwell (97), Skinner (the County captain) taking 7 for 40. Another match in the Tyneside League was of the runaway type, Ryton 197 (A. Newbiggin 52, A. J. Graveney 40) defeating Old Novocastrians by 107 runs. T. Graham had 6 for 49 for Ryton. N o r t h D u r h a m (118 for 9) beat Backworth Percy (82), Ward taking 5 for 34 and T. Pratt 5 for 37 for the winners ; and Tynedale (J. B. Hannay 5 for 43) defeated Tynemouth by 27 runs in a match of rather small scoring. St. L u k e ’ s (Woodside) beat Thornton Heath II by 19 runs—80 to 61. S. J. Cook (27 and 6 for 23) played good all-round cricket for the winners. “ AYRES’ CRICKET COMPANION” — 1914 . Post Free 6 d. Contains among other important item s:— “ CRICKET HISTORY OF CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL ** (with a number of Illustrations). By W. R. Weir. “ LEFT-HANDED BATSMEN & LOB BOWLING” By F. S. Ashley-Cooper. “ COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP.” — 1913 . By C. Plairre. “ SOUTH AFRICAN PLAYERS OF TO-DAY.” By J. N. Pentelow. “ A FEW CHIPS FROM THE BLOCK.” By “ Coverpoint.” % • Public Schools previously dealt with in this series have been Winchester, in the Companion for 1905 ; Sherborne, 1906; Aldenham, 1907 ; Harrow, 1908; 1 Eton, 1909: Westminster, 1910; Rugby, 1911: Marlborough, 1912; and Dulwich; 1913; Copies can be obtained from the Publishers. LAWN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SOUVENIR 1 9 1 4 (24 pages, P O S T F R E E .) Full of Interesting Items relating to the Game and the doings of the Champions. A Y R E S , L T D 11 1 PORTRAITS of POPULAR LAWN TENNIS PERSONALITIES. A L D E R S G A T E S T R E E T , X i O X t m O X K T .