CRICKET CURIOSITIES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 16, 30 December 1932, Page 3

CRICKET CURIOSITIES

SOME REMARKABLE INSTANCES 1 I Mr J. H. Absolom, of Rissington,\ has kindly forwarded ns a clipping, 1 taken from a paper published in 1924, ! in the hope that it will be of interest to local cricketers and their supporters. He adds that the Absolom mentioned was his uncle, who played for Cambridge and Kent and for the Gentlemen of England. He also toured Australia and New Zealand with the late Lord Harris’ team. It was a peculiarity of his to walk, if possible, to the playing field and back again, even if it was four or five miles away, carrying his cricket bag He never wore pads or gloves, even when facing the demon fast bowler of Australia, Spofforth. The article forwarded states:— Most followers of cricket are aware that Dr. W. G. Grace, Hayward and Hobbs have each scored a hundred centuries; that Mr ■A. C. MacLaren once made 485 runs against South Africa. But there are many records in minor cricket that are well worth recalling.

For instance, how many people know that in -1875, against Ealing, the

jNI.C.C. were aU out tor seven runs, the lowest score ever made that I tnjnoua club?

'tkvs. sssssvk xK hjsx UWct win probably never be sur-, passed, Vx the years \%7O —lb he took 2325 wickets, an average of 465 vic- ( tuns each season. As Sir Walter Scott, would have said, “Prodeegiousl” I ’ Mr C. H. Titchmarsh, who toured i New Zealand last year with Mr MacLaren’s team, hit 21 centuries in 1913, I with an average of 62.75, an easy record in club cricket. When Kegworth played Diseworth, about 70 years ago, the former must have smiled for they dismissed their opponents for a single run. Diseworth, however, won, as Kegworth failed to score I The highest score ever made in England was compiled by A. E. J. Collins iu .. Clifton College house match. He made 628 not out, and his innings occupied the best part of a week. He is said to have been missed in the first over. Captain Richards, m a regimental match in South Africa, performed an amazing feat. He scored 101 in the first innings and 185 in the second, and no other player reached double figures! In the first innings the next highest score was two! In another Army match—Royal Munster Fusiliers v. Army Service Corps in 1895—Private Fitzgerald and Captain Oates were concerned in a partner-

) ship of 625 for the second wicket. This .canatituted the Unseat partaiexahiv ** ’record. . Ksa wxXsisx 'wss. ) a few years ago in the South of Engiland. The side hatting iasfc wanted 'two runs to win and had lost six wicI kets. Yet the last four wickets .fell at the same total, and only / one bail was delivered I This ja how jit happened The bowler running up to the crease and seeing the batsman out oi his ground, whipped off the bails and so ran him out. Sharp practice, but it meant a wicket. The next player exceeded the two minutes allowed him to get to the wickets so another man was out. The bowler then bowled the fatal ball. The batsman drove it back hard. It struck the other batsman on the head and rebounded into the hauds cf a fieldsman, who managed to hold it. The injured batsman was so badly hurt that he had to retire, and the eleventh man therefore found that he had nu partner.