CRICKET.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 18 May 1912, Page 5

CRICKET.

SOUTH AFRICA v. YORKSHIRE.

81 CABLE—PREBB ASSOCIATION—COFTHIGHT. (Received May 18, 9 a.m.) LONDON, May 17. The -weather was dull. The South Africans in their first innings made 170. SOUTH AFRICANS.—First Innings. Taylor, b Hirst 0 Nourse, 1) Hirst 10 Snooker, b Hirst 4 Hartigan, c Dentoti, b Haigh '.'. 57 White, b Haigh 49 Schwarz, b Haigh 0 Mitchell, b Haigh 8 Beaumont, b Rhodes 17 Pegler, c Drake, b Rhodes ...... 8 Carter, b Haigh 5 Ward, not out 1 I Extras \\ Total ....^l7O * Boy.ling Analysis: Hirst, 3 for 50Booth. 0 for 22: Haight, 5 for 33; I Drake. 0 for 23; Rhodes, 2 for 31. YORKSHIRE.—First Innings. Rhodes, c Carter, b Pegler 3 AVilson, b Pegler ... 26 Denton, b Pegler 82 Drake, b White ... 46 Hirst, c Ward, b Carter .. 65 Tasker, c Mitchell, b Pegler 0 Booth, c and b Pegler 0 Bates, b Hartigan 3 Hnieh. not out 53 Whi+^. not out 7 Extras ■ 11 Total (for 8 wickets) 296 A CELEBRATED CRICKETEPt. The Trent Bridge ground, on which the Australian cricketers played the first match of their tour this week, is in some respects the most famous cricket field in the world. It was the scene of many great matches 60 or 70 years ago, and its history is associated with the name of a noted cricketer, whose memory still is green. This was William Clarke, who was born at Nottingham in 1798. Dr L. O. S. Poidevin, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, states that in many' places where portraits of cricket heroes are displayed there are copies of a pictwe of Clarke, "a venerable and somewhat portly gentleman, rather above the medium height." "He stands in the foreground of a landscape," writes Dr Poidevin. "with flannelled shirt and trousers, with a spotted tie wound round a mighty stand-up collar, with muttonchop whiskers, and with a huge silk hat above his stern countenance. In his right hand he holds a cricket-ball, and the picture is entitled, 'The Bowler.' " Clarke Avas a bricklayer, but he loved cricket, and made his fortune out of the game. He lost an eye while playing fives, but Dr Poidevin says that he could see further at cricket with one eye than many people can with two. He could "always discern the wickets, discover a batsman's weakness, and peep so far into futurity that^ie saw the possibilities of cricket and the needs of th«- public." Clarke rented an inn and some meadows on the south side of the River Trent at Nottingham, and in 1838 he opened this property as a cricket ground, charging sixpence for admission. Then he founded the All England XL, which was responsible for developing and popularising the game in the pioneer days. Clarke was secretary, manacer, and captain of the eleven, and all the great matches were played on his "round. Sixty years ago a match *>+. T-.-ent Bvidee F'-eomentlv attracted 20.000 onlookers. Clarke himself retained his prowess until he was ouite an old man, ar>d he i«t remembered as iho oreatest underhand bowler that England has seen.