Cricket 1914

J u l y 18, 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 347 Zbe Wlorlt> of Cricket. E d it o r : M r. A . C. M a c L a r e n . A s s is t a n t E d it o r a n d M a n a g e r : M r. J. N. P e n t e lo w . 61, TEMPLE CHAMBERS, TEMPLE AVENUE, EMBANKMENT, LONDON, E.C. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editor; sub­ scriptions, advertisements, and all communications on business matters to the Manager. Subscription rates: Inland, Nine Shillings per annum ; Overseas Ten Shillings. Pavilion Gossip. There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night— Ten to make and the match to win— A bumping pitch and a blinding light, An hour to play and the last man in. And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat, Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame, But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote— “ Play u p ! play u p ! and play the game !” H e n r y N ew bo lt . E v e r y o n e will regret the sudden illness which has de­ prived Sussex for the time being of the valuable services of Robert Relf. He is now in the King Edward Memorial Hospital a t Ealing, and, by latest advices, going on well after an operation for appendicitis which he underwent on July 9. P a r k i n , who did such fine work for Lancashire v. Leices­ tershire, though new to the Red Rose ranks, is not a new­ comer in county cricket. He played for Yorkshire v. Gloucestershire at Leeds in 1906, scoring o and taking 2 for 25. Then the discovery was made th at he was born on the wrong side of the Tees. The wrong side, that is, from a Yorkshire point of view ; far be it from us to propound the inferiority of Durham even to the biggest county of them a ll! In consequence of this discovery he was not asked to play again. F r o m 1907 to 1913 he played in a few matches for Durham and generally bowled w ith success, taking in all 56 wickets at a trifle over 13 each. Owing to his engagement by a Lancashire League Club he can only be occasionally available for his new county. H . T y l d e s l e y (a brother or cousin of William and James, one believes, not of the clan to which John and Ernest belong) had the distinction of taking a w icket w ith his first ball in first-class cricket. As he clean bowled a batsman who had made 70 and was pursuing a dogged way towards what would have been his first century, it was not a cheap wicket, either. T h is is not an unique feat, even as far as Lancashire cricket is concerned. That worthy veteran, Richard Barlow, as far back as 1871, performed it, his victim being the Rev. A. A. W ilmot of Derbyshire— a coincidence this, for Tyldesley’s w icket was a Derbyshire one. There are several other cases on record. T h e pluck of “ Razor ” Smith in continuing to bowl with a broken bone in his right hand— and bowling well, too— at Old Trafford last week must not be passed w ithout mention here. intended to be comic, of course ; no one would be less likely to attempt the humorous than a ’Varsity player in the match of the year, when every run counts. A m a t t e r of byes— Boswell ran and Shaw didn’t at first, believing the ball would reach the boundary. Then he started, and the unusual spectacle of two batsmen galloping side b y side was seen. The upshot was th at Boswell ran four, Shaw two. And the umpires wouldn’t allow three, though (4 -f 2) -i- 2 clearly = 3 (mathematically, that is), but only two ! H it c h may be in Ceylon next winter. He has offered his services as coach. His offer was addressed to the Ceylon Cricket Association ; but th at body is still in the future— - if anything can be called a body in those circumstances. The Ceylon public schools have formed an association, however, and it is quite likely the Surrey man m ay go out to coach the boys. M e n t i o n of H itch reminds one of that last w icket stand at the Oval against the Gentlemen. Though Hitch made a century v. Somerset once he has never done anything intrinsically better than this 68 ; and his little partner, Strudwick, is probably as proud of his 48 not out as of his biggest score— 93 v. Essex last year. G o o d stands for ninth and tenth w ickets have been much in evidence just lately. Besides th a t of H itch and Strud­ wick, the Gentlemen v. Players’ match at the Oval saw a smaller but scarcely less gallant one b y K irk and White. A couple of days earlier Burrows and Lane had put on well over 100 for Worcestershire’s ninth. H u d d l e s t o n and William Tyldesley at Gloucester added a hundred or so for the ninth ; Ernest Tyldesley and White­ head at Birmingham put on 131 for the tenth. Cox and Street in the first innings of Sussex v. Warwickshire at Hastings added 65 for the tenth. Shaw and Havelock Davies for Oxford v. Cambridge made the best stand of the first innings (59) for the last wicket. G o in g back a little further one finds John Douglas and Tremlin adding 101 unparted after the fall of the ninth w icket v. Derbyshire a t Leyton, and Huddleston and James Tyldesley adding 141 for the ninth v. Yorkshire a t Sheffield. O k late years ’Varsity captains have usually given trials to plenty of men. In Oxford’s first-class games this season 22 appeared, and in Cambridge’s 20. Last year also the Dark Blues had 22, while Cambridge tried 23. In 1912 the numbers were : Oxford 23, Cambridge 25. In 1911 only 18 appeared for each ’Varsity. A l i s t of really good players who have been up a t either Oxford or Cambridge and have failed to get their blues would be interesting. Some of them, easily called to mind, were G. F. Vernon, T. S. Pearson (now Pearson-Gregory), W. O. Moberly, T. A. L. Whittington, M. R. Dickson, A. Jaques, the Rev. C. D . Robinson, C. Pigg, E . Garnett, F. G. H. Clayton, F. M. Lucas, G. H. Simpson-Hayward, A . H. Hornby, T . B. Henderson, the Rev. C. J. M. Godfrey, the Rev. W . V. Jephson, the Hon. L. H. Tennyson, and H. G. Owen. Not all of these are claimed as great players, but all are or were good ones— superior to some a t least of those more fortunate than they. T h i n k , too, of those who all but missed the distinction. Ranjitsinhji, A. O. Jones, and P . R. Johnson only played once each v. Oxford ! E . A . S h a w and W . G. K . Boswell provided the spectators M r. R o w l a n d E. P r o t h e r o , the lately elected M .P. for at the ’Varsity match with a comic interlude. It was not Oxford University, never played much first-class cricket,