Cricket 1914

A p r il , 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 77 More important than the matter of more clubs is that of more grounds, for last season, when clubs were few, grounds were fewer. Fortunately, this difficulty is also likely to be over­ come, and substantial sums are being put up for the purchase of more grounds. There is talk of “ a big international serits in 1915,” when Australian, English, Philadelphian, and Cana­ dian teams are said to be likely to visit San Francisco ; but the plans for such visits must be regarded as very much in the air at present. IND IA . The extent to which school cricket is played in India is well illustrated by the. figures for 1913 of St. Joseph'^ College, Bangalore, a portrait group of whose X I appears on this page. The side is that which won the Fraser Shield in a tournament among the European schools of Bangalore ; but in the averages sent as many as 27 names of those who played in 10 or more innings are included, and 13 of the 27 took 10 or more wickets. The school played 46 matches, won 32, lost 13, and drew 1. C. Simon was its crack all-round man ; he scored 680 runs, with an average of 29-5, and ’took 69 wickets at 14-1 each. C. Mahoney totalled 557 (average 24-2): and C. A. Steele, A. Paul, M. Maybury, A. Reuben, M. Determes, P. McCosh. J. Sexton, C. Tremenheere, E. Bird, J. Frost, H. Tremenheere, and N. Nugent had batting averages ranging from 28-5 to 15-2, so that the school evidently had a pretty solid lot of run- getters. The bowling figures are, if anything, better. Besides Simon, W . Lines (73 wickets at 7-6), H. Tremenheere (85 at 10-2), and M. Maybury (46 at 12) all did a good deal of execu­ tion, and A. Reuben, J. Rodrigues, J. Frost, H. Little wood, C. Mahoney, B. Watts, D. Rule, and C. Tremenheere all took more than 20 wickets, the worst average being under 14. That the game flourishes at St. Joseph's College is very evident. At Allahabad, one regrets to hear, cricket is almost a thing of the past. Lawn tennis and hockey have usurped its place. The Madras Club had, on the whole, quite a successful season. Their great drawback is the scarcity of opponents strong enough to extend them. There are dozens of small native clubs, of course. Most of these are affiliated to the Madras United C.C., which is thus able to put in the field a really strong native team, perhaps the strongest side the Madras Club meets. This season honours were easy in matches with the United ; and the Madras men had the satisfaction of beating their other prin­ cipal rivals— Bangalore and Kolar Gold Fields. Col. R. M. Poore played for Bangalore. He did not make many ; but a correspondent says that he seemed just as good a bat as ever— which means very good indeed, of course. The Madras C.C.’s star bat was Capt. W. W. van Someren, with P. W. Partridge (who used to play for Norfolk) as a good second when available. Carrick, of the Winchester team of three or four years ago, was good all-round ; Shattock (quite recently of the Streatham C.C.) kept wicket excellently ; but the bowling was weak, except for Brodie. The correspondent who sends this information has something to say on the subject of the Madrassi native’s cricket charac­ teristics. “ He has little or no idea of sporting cricket " (he writes), “ and his play, though as an exhibition of defence it may be admirable, is deadly dull. He runs like the deuce for his own hits, and indulges in a sort of leisurely amble when his partner makes a scoring stroke. He will run his partner out without a qualm sooner than risk a short run. In the field he is variable. His catching is good, and his ground fielding fair ; but he won't take the trouble to run when the ball is past him ; he will stand and watch it trickle^to the boundary. In Mr. E. H. D. Sewell’s “ Triangular Cricket ” (says our correspondent) mention is made of the Kolar Gold Fields ground as being very suitable for a swerving bowler. But the reason for that is not far to seek : it is always blowing at least half a gale there ! P. M. Morris Davies, of theGold Fields team, is a really fine bat, by the way. The Indian Daily News of March 2 contains a review of the Calcutta cricket season of 1913-14. From this it is easy to pick out several items of interest. Centuries numbered as many as 45, the highest being M. M. Battiwalla’s 166 for Asiatic Petrol v. Budge-Budge. P. Gunpat, the young Hindu batsman, made three centuries, all for Nattore , S. Mcokerji also made three ; but Yusuf Bey, the Mahommedan crack, topped both, with four to his credit,all for Nattore. Among other names which appear in the list arethose of the Maharaj-Kumar of Nattore, L. G. Colbeck, the old Cantab, Nazir Hossain, S. Mookerji (twice), G. Peal (twice), and L. H. Sempre (twice). As many as 13 centuries were made for Nattore, which side made the highest total of the season, 383 S t. J o s e p h ’ s C o l l e g e (B a n g a l o r e ) X I, 1913.