Cricket 1914

320 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. J u l y 4, 1914. An Appreciation of W illiam Huddleston. B y F r e d J. C h a p p l e , j u n r . B o r n on February 27, 1875, at Earlestown, the worthy playerJVho takes his benefit at Old Trafford this week— a well-earned benefit, too— must be counted among the veterans now. Y e t he is still practically unplayable, given his w icket— the true sticky type, to produce which sun after rain is needed— and he is, as he always has been, a better bowler on a perfect pitch than many people think. W il l ia m H u d d l e s t o n . When the w icket suits him he imparts just sufficient break, avoiding the not uncommon error of breaking too much, and his medium pace right-hand stuff, bowled with an irreproachable length, keeps the batsman playing all the time. As samples of his skill under these conditions, the match w ith Yorkshire at Manchester in 1909, that w ith the South Africans in 1912, and the recent one in which the champions went under to the Red Rose, may be quoted. Never a batsman of front rank pretensions, Huddleston has yet earned the right to be considered as an all-round player. He is a capable slip fieldsman, and in batting seems to be bent on the double mission of knocking the cover off the ball and the edge off the bowling. He has never made a century for the county y e t ; but there is no reason why he should not do so in the future, for he got as far as 88 v. Yorkshire at Bramall Lane on one occasion, pulverising the White Rose bowlers, for he began w ith a hit to the pavilion, and five sixes were included in his score. Besides this, other scores for which he has been responsible are : 82 v. Surrey, Manchester, 1912 ; 78 not out v. Surrey, Manchester, 1909; 71 v. Worcestershire, Stourbridge, 1909; 67 v. Leicestershire, Leicester, 1913 ; 67 v. Gloucestershire, Gloucester, 1914 ; 56 v. Notts, Manchester, 1909; and 55 v. Worcestershire, Manchester, 1911. Huddleston has had his ups and downs, and on the whole has scarcely been as lucky as many cricketers in no way superior to him in ability. He joined the Old Trafford ground staff in 1896, and figured for some time in club and ground and second X I matches. When he left, three years later, he had only played in two first-class games v. Middlesex and v. the Australians. His good and, strenuous work for Todmorden and Church in the Lan­ cashire League brought him again under the notice of the County Committee, and when he n ext played for Lan­ cashire— and for some time afterwards— he was still the Church professional. In 1907 he rejoined the Old Trafford staff, and has been there ever since, playing as a regular member of the county team in recent years, after several seasons of being put in and left out according to the state of the w icket or the other players available. In all first-class matches to date he has totalled 2477 runs w ith an average of 12-20, and has taken 651 wickets at 16-98 each. He is also credited w ith somewhere about 150 catches for the county. Among his best bowling feats m ay be enumerated the follow ing: 13 for 41 v. Notts, Liverpool, 1906; 11 for 107 v. Kent, Manchester, 1914 ; 10 for 62 v. South Africans, Manchester, 1912 ; 8 for 24, v. Yorkshire, Manchester, 1909 ; 8 for 31 v. Derbyshire, Glossop, 1910 ; 6 for 14 v. Leicestershire, Manchester, 1912 ; and 5 for 24 v. Somerset, Manchester, 1906. Everyone— and the writer of the above not least, for he has a high admiration of Huddleston as a hard-working, capable, and sportsmanlike cricketer— will wish him a bumper benefit. --------+ -------- THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP. P o sit io n o f A f f a ir s o n J u n e 30. (The matches then in progress—Yorkshire v. Essex, Sussex v. Notts, Gloucestershire v. Kent, and Warwickshire v. Lancashire—are not included here.) W. ON L. ON PTS. PTS. PER­ p. w . 1 ST 1 ST L. OBTD. POSS. CENT. Middlesex .. 10 6 2 2 O 38 50 76-00 Surrey 12 7 2 2 I 43 60 71-66 Warwickshire 9 s 2 O 2 31 45 68-88 Hampshire 12 6 2 3 I 39 60 65-00 Kent 9 5 I I 2 29 45 6 4 4 4 Northants .. 10 4 I I 4 24 50 48-00 Sussex 9 3 I I 3 19 40 47-50 Notts 8 1 4 I 2 18 40 45-00 Essex 9 4 O O 5 20 45 44-44 Leicestershire 12 3 3 I 5 25 60 4 1-66 Yorkshire .. 12 3 1 6 2 24 60 40-00 Lancashire .. 11 3 1 4 3 22 55 40-00 Derbyshire 9 3 1 0 5 18 45 40-00 Worcestershire 9 1 1 1 6 9 45 2 0 0 0 Somerset 8 1 0 0 7 5 40 12-50 Gloucestershire 8 0 1 0 7 3 40 7*50 (No result in Worcestershire v. Sussex ; hence omitted in calculating points.) A f t e r going undefeated through 13 matches, Grantham have lost three in succession. On Saturday Blackwell Colliery beat them by 1 1 9 to 56. J. Burlinson (35) batted well and Widdowson (31 and 8 wickets) played good all-round cricket for the winners. Grantham II beat King’s School by 10 runs, a result mainly due to good bowling by F. Geeson, jun. (7 for 19). D u r in g the past few days there have been two instances of a bats­ man’s scoring two centuries in a match, H. L. H. D u Boulay doing it for Clifton College v. Old Cliftonians, and the Hon. A. E. Mulholland for Household Brigade v. Green Jackets.