SOME CRICKET CURIOSITIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11809, 11 August 1900, Page 2

SOME CRICKET CURIOSITIES.

(From Oub Own Cobiusspond3NT.) LONDON, June 30;

Cricket has been played under varying, conditions due to the excessive changeablencsa. of the weather. One day the batsman triumphs, another time the- bowler has, it all: his own way. It is a most curious seasonAt present York, Lancashire, and Sussex still retain an unbeaten record among the counties* while Surrey, the champion of last year, is far away down the- list, owing to the falling, off in bowling. Richardson continues com-, paratively ineffective. Lockwood is in good, form, and Brockwell occasionally comes off?.' but far more than this is needed. ■ Special cricket " incidents" have been- ■ numerous and remarkable during the past, fortnight. To begin with, Arthur Mold, the famous fast bowler of Lancashire, and perhaps the best fast bowler in England, has, for the first time in his career, I believe, been no-balled for throwing. Phillips was the no.-. balling umoire, and it will bo remembered that it was" he who no-balled Jones in Australia, and Fry, the Sussex fast bowler, in England. So clearly he deems himself to have a mission to put down unfair bowling., I confess that Mold's deliveries alway^ seen*-, to me most beautifully fair and " clean,, and. this was also the view of so eminent a judge of cricket as the late Bishop Jenner, of l)ui>edin, with whom I once watched Mold bowling and discussed it. However, Mold was instantly taken off by his captain,. MacLaren» and did not bowl again in that match. in the next Lancashire match he bowled as usual, and with deadly' effect, but without being no-balled. What imparts oarticular interest tcs tmis action by Phillips" is that it is the first, en-, forcement of the new Marylebone la.w_ tea. v not merely the umpire at the.bowler^ wicket,: but either umpire, may no-ball a. player whose, bowling he deems unfair. Jr. this case I hillips was not officiating at tha bowler s wicket, but as the umpire who was did not ca11,.-tie did. . . ~-'*. The next incident was that m a big matohv a batsman misunderstood the umpire as haying given him " out " for a catch, and walkedaway from liis wicket, whereupon the wicket- | keeper promptly levelled the stumps and applied for "out," which of v course had to be given. lam glad to say this has. been, strongly condemned as sharp practice. But. next arose the question: How was the batsman out? "Stumped," said one umpire; " Run out," said the other. But clearly lie was not stumped off the bowling according; to the laws of cricket. , On the other hand! he was not attempting a run. So it seemed a deadlock. However, in the end it waa called "Run out," but a disagreeable " tastej* was left behind.

Next came a still more curious point. A. player who was batting was certainly caught very low down by the bowler. The thing was so plain to all who could see what took place that the batsman walked away at once without a moment's hesitation; but as it happened neither of the umpires could see the catch, one of the. players being between the umpire and the bowler at the moment when the latter caught the ball. So each' Vmpire declined to give the batsman "out," ,as neither had personally witnessed the acfe of catching. In these circumstances the captain of the team in the field generously went, after the retiring batsman and requested hin\: to resume his innings, ..as the umpires had not given him "out." He did so, but was soon caught again off the same bowler, so thelatter got the credit of the wicket after all, for his averages. ' Now comes a, hew " record." Essex was playing Derbyshire, and had won the toss for choice of innings. Rain had fallen during the night, and apparently had damaged the pitch. In these circumstances Mr Lucas, on winning the toss, did what any captain would have done. He put the other side in first. But, to the amazement and horror of Essex, the Derbyshire men found the. wicket perfectly easy, and treated the formidable Essex bowling as if it had been the simplest stuff possible. Kortright's cannon-

shots, Mead's deadly medium-pacers, Young's

dangerous left-handers, and Bull's insidious slows were hit all over the place, and Derbyshire actually ran up a score of 508.f0r the

first innings. Nothing like this has ever before been, known when a side has been put in first by its opponents.

Lastly, playing for Gloucestershire, against the visiting team of West Indian cricketers— who, by the bye, have so far been defeated in every match but one, —Jessop, the county captain, accomplished what I believo to bo the unprecedented feat of scoring 157 rnns in exactly one hour.

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