Cricket 1914

76 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. A p r il , 1914. SOUTH AFR ICA . The South African Railways had an inter-provincial cricket and tennis tournament at Green Point, Cape Town, at the end of February, and scores of the three cricket matches played have reached us. Though they are scarcely of sufficient impor­ tance to warrant the full scores being given when space is so precious, they are interesting enough to be worth reference, for among the men taking part were quite a number of leading club cricketers, including Fred Le Roux (Transvaal and S. Africa), K. C. M. Hands (who had a trial or two for Oxford while in residence as a Rhodes Scholar), K. Logan (Natal), R. S. Cheshire (Border), A. Morrell (Border), C. Fock (W. Pro­ vince), C. R. Hand (Transvaal), F. W. Elworthy (Transvaal), and J. H. Moulder (Surrey and Transvaal). Transvaal and the Free State joined forces, and the other two teams were representative of the Cape Province as a whole and of Natal. In the first match Cape Province met Natal, the latter winning b y an innings and 46 runs— 284 (M. D. Millar 48, F. A. Leathern 47*, R. Morton 39, K. C. M. Hands 36, E. Clark 35) to 51 (A. H. W illoughby 21) and 187 (A. H. W illoughby 35, C. Holland 35, R. S. Cheshire 30). E. W. Ellison for the winners took 8 for 18 and 4 for 41. The Cape then met the combined Transvaal and O.F.S team, and lost by 3 wickets after a hard struggle. Scoring ruled low— Cape ii2 and 114 ; T. and O .F .S., 107 and 122 for 7. Young Cheshire’s 40 was the highest individual score for the losers, C. R. Hand’s 35 for the winners. Morrell did a sensational bit of bowling in the winners’ first, taking 5 wickets for 6 runs ; Le Roux had 7 for 64 in the match. Natal and the combined team then tried conclusions. As Natal had easily beaten the Cape side, and the Cape side had made a good fight with the Transvaal and O.F.S., the odds should have been slightly on the side of the Garden Colony men. But they lost in an innings, Elworthy taking 8 for 43 and Le Roux 8 for 63 in the match. Hand contributed 58 and C. Berry 48 to the combined team ’s total of 252 ; for Natal only C. L. St. Ledger, quite a young player (23), and K. C. M. Hands (28) reached 20 in either innings, the totals being 64 and 116. G. W. Stephen scored 111 for Green Point v. Cape Town on Feb. 14 ; but he is said to have had seven lives, which is nearly cat’s allowance, and much more than batsman’s. W. H. Short’s bowling for Cape Town (7 for 99 in an innings of 286) deserves a line. Nine catches were reported as going astray in Alma’s innings of 235 (J. McPherson 65) v. Western Province. It looks as though fielding were becoming a lost art at the Shank End. Rain curtailed play on the following Saturday ; but Michael Commaille (who should have been played for South Africa, many consider) celebrated his birthday by scoring a capital 109 for Cape Town. Green Point won on the first innings, however, the bowling of A. Bensimon (6 for 61) being a great factor in this victory. Alma’s 235 sufficed to give them first innings’ points against Western Province, too. Commaille followed up his 109 by scoring 131 v. Alma on Feb. 21, he and R. R. L u yt (74* at the close) adding 164 for the third wicket, which fell at 243. Alma had previously been dismissed for 139, Short taking 8 for 34. The Cape Town captain gave two chances at 50, but these were his only mistakes. For Claremont (244 for 4, dec.) J. Carstens played a chanceless innings of h i v. South African College. The boys were all out for 64. F. Smith taking 8 for 21. Resuming a fortnight later (the intervening Saturday having seen the M.C.C. team at Newlands), Lu yt carried his bat for 84 for Cape Town, the innings (two men absent) closing for 256. Alma made exactly that number for 8 wickets in their second innings (H. Bennett 63), and then declared in the hope of forcing a win. But Cape Town (W. F. Yeoman 73) hit off the runs required in 67 minutes, and secured the five points. Claremont polished off S.A.C. by an innings and 69 runs. On Feb. 14 Ward scored 136, Catterall 116 (or according to another account Ward 138. Catterall 117) for Germiston Callies v. Yeoville. On the following day Wanderers easily beat Pretoria (last season’s champions), with 204 for 9 in reply to 62. M. J. Susskind made 76 and Robert-Relf took 5 for 15 for the winners. Pretoria miss Baumgartner, who was far and away their best bowler. Crown Mines (348 for 9, dec.— J. A. Lawrence 96, D. D. Davies 73) could not quite manage to beat E. R. P. M. in the game played on Feb. 14 and 21. It was W. T. Gardner who saved his side (237 for 8 at the finish), playing a cool and invaluable innings of 104*. Some people think that Gardner might well have been played for the Transvaal in one match at least this season. The game between the Pirates and R. W. Stanton’s Wanderers’ X I on Sunday, Feb. 22, was marred by unpleasantness. The Pirates would not hurry to turn out after a shower (it is said) and refused to go on fielding after 6.15, although the batsmen thought the light quite good enough— Wanderers needed only a couple of dozen runs, with 4 wickets to go, at the time. It appears that no definite hour for the drawing of stumps had been fixed ; but the Pirates are to answer for their dilatoriness to the Transvaal C.U. Such things as this are bad for cricket in every way. Victory or defeat is a trifle compared with playing the game. Robert Relf took 8 for 61 for Wanderers v. Randfontein on Feb. 28. On the same day John Gunn scored 112 in brilliant style at Durban. He was playing for Waverley v. Queen’s Park. Q.P. had made 177 (Herbert Taylor 55, H. W. Chapman 42), Gunn taking 5 for 50. W averley’s first innings only totalled 88 ; their second (two men absent) reached 187 , but Gunn made the lion’s share of these. He reached his century in 90 minutes, and hit 6 sixes and 4 fours. It was his last innings of the season in Durban ; not, perhaps ,his last there, as he seems to have made a very good impression, and may go back. Chapman (4 for 29 in the first) and W. F. Easterbrook (5 for 22, second) bowled well for Q.P. Greyville (Luther Field 73, A. C. King 60) beat Zingari by 90 runs ; and Casuals, going hard for full points v. Wanderers, just failed by two runs to make the necessary number in the time, but took first innings points. E. H. Easterbrook (11 for 73 in the match) bowled particularly well for Wanderers. Totals, Wanderers 90 and 120 ; Casuals, 126 and 84 for 9. Joseph Cox (5 for 16) and J. Davison (4 for 22) put out the strong Queen’s Park team for 43 on March 7, and Greyville replied with 171 (A. C. King 46*, A. J. Abrahams 44). A t Maritzburg N. King scored 151 for Standard v. Royals. Michaelhouse College, at which Dan Taylor (an old boy of the school) is games master and bursar, have won the Northern Districts Cup, defeating in turn Estcourt (188 to 55), L ad y­ smith (118 to 80), and Utrecht (224 for 9, dec., to 48 and 163). The final was played at Ladysmith. Two masters played in the school team ; and D. Taylor (6 for 18 v. Estcourt, 7 fgr 39 v. Ladysmith, and 11 for 71 in the final) did great work with the ball, but did not make many runs, the boys attending to this department. The Northern Districts Cup was formerlyc ailed the Christopher Cup. First competed for in 1896-7, it became two years ago the property of Newcastle, by three successive victories in final games, but was given back for competition, with a change of name, however. In all the cup has been competed for 17 times (1899-1900 a blank season, owing to the war), and has been won six times by Ladysmith, four times by Estcourt, four times by Newcastle, twice by Michaelhouse College, and once b y Dundee. TH E UN ITED STATES. A big effort is being made to restore cricket in San Francisco to the standard of its palmy days. There will certainly be four clubs in the League this year— Golden Gates, Alameda, San Mateo, and Barbarians— and there may be six. A t a meeting of the California C.A. in the middle of March Mr. H. Ward was elected president, Mr. C. Stevenson, Mr. Norman Logan, and Dr. Segar, vice-presidents ; and Mr. E. A. Singer secretary. The last-named, a keen supporter of this paper, was formerly well-known in Shanghai cricket ; he is what our friends across the pond call “ a live wire,” and should make things hum a bit if he gets the chance.