NOTES BY LONG SLIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2728, 27 June 1906, Page 65

NOTES BY LONG SLIP.

A deputation from the Albion Cricket Chifc is to wait on the Otago Rugby Union at its next meeting, on Monday, for the purpose of considering improvements to the North Ground. The membership of the Marylebone Club Jast season numbered 5026. This was made \r» of 375 life members, 4351 paying mmbera, and 302 "absent" members. Th-3 Subscription fist la&t season amounted to £13 717 The "present secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, Mr B. J. Wardill (who plawd for Victoria agains: New South Wales a* far back at 1&66), was appointed in the Reason 1877-78, and has held the office ever since. Having managM tni«e Australian teams in England, in addition k> having been a. member of the first Australian team of ritfemea which competed %t Wimbledon in 1877. One of ths most extraordinary gatemoney proposals ever made in connection Vith cricket (says Sydney Befcwe) comes liom the New Zealand Cricket Council, vide the New Zealand press. In response to tho cablegram last month from PJa.J°r Wardill, representiug the Melbourne C.C., * It- offered "£2033' for a 50 days' toor of the - pert- English, team, including one of the five test- matches between England end Australia-" The New Zeatwid. Cricket Council ' witt"-be>ett advised. to "go slow.'^ Aa the constitutional controlling- body in New Zeafand,^ it" were well that it should maSe a ■tiofc© in capital letters oi the fact that iKefe-ia "a- similar bocry representing Aus-v-treE*,\and similar bodies representing the internal cricket of the States. Authority is given for the statement that &> far as the Marylebone Club is concerned bo invitation for an English team to viat Australia will be accepted unless emanating from United Australia. At a special meeting of the Marylebone Chib the following alteration was made in law s*- of cricket, having reference to the declaration of the innings in a. two-day match. The- law as amended is:— 'Law 54-: That in a Jwo-day match the cap tarn of the batting side has power to declare his innings at a close at any time, but >uch declaration may not be made on the | Srst day later than one hour and 40 minutes before the hour agreed on for drawing Jtumps."' "The provision in the latter part pt tbe> law ha» no doubt been made to present a side forcing the other in to bat in Jailing light. , One of the most promising young bowlere )n England at present is J. N. Crawford, Df Surrey. In the first week of county irieket .he captured 13 wickets for 64 rune, Jrcluding an analysis of six for 13 against '.Northamptonshire. In looking through the balance sheet, of - Ihe Surrey County Club for 1905 it is seen jhat its receipts for the two matches against ' Ac Australians and the tests in ISOS totalled £6793, and the expenditure (rnfelading the gate money handed over to the OPeafc Board of Control), £5034, so that the southern county netted over £1700 on the Visit of the Australian . Eleven la6t year. jTbe actual profit of the year was £1208. A -movement is- on foot to present a testimonial to 8. M. J. Woods, the old AusJian .cricketer, who has for many years played 1 for Someisetehire. ' A recent cable message stated that in a ■match between £?assex and Derbyshire, at | Brighton, Dwyer took nine wickets for 35 j tarns. E. B. Dwyer is an old Sydney j fcricketer. who has qualified for Sussex. He j is a right-hand medium bowler, and used J to play for Glebe and Burwood- In Sydney ho was considered a better batsman th&D bowler. Playing for M.C.C. and Ground 1 against Yorkshire, G. L. Jessop, the world-famous hard hitter,, in the second innings knocked up 55 runs in 30 minutes, hitting 10 fours and but four singles. In the first innings Jessop scored" 63, and is said to have lost a lot of the recklessness which accounted Tor his failures last season, picking out the halls to hit and playing the more difficult ones. The M.C.C. have decided to welcome «. South African cricket team in 1907 — so that IBngland will have the South African Rugby footballers next winter, and their cricketers the following summer. They are to be given three test matches, to be played to a finish, if possible. This will bo welcome news to the Cape, but we (Athletic* News) agree with Lord Hawke, who, interviewed on his return from India, declares that the ' South Africans are 50 per cent, a stronger ! . side on their own matting wickets and in their own climate than they are likely to be on our grass, and in our grey and Jrumid ' atmosphere. j Under the caption "Disunited Australia,"- I - the contributor of cricket notes to the Athletic News has the following : "The •{M.C.C has, we believe, received invitations to -send teams to New Zealand and Australia next winter. For the moment no definite reply can be sent to New Zealand, and as the Melbourne Club has taken the initiative in the Australian Commonwealth, its request is hardly likely to be acceded *oJ f The greatest excitement was associated *rith the closing stages of the LeicestershireiLanoashire match, played at Leicester on Wednesday, May 9. On a pitch materially affected by rain and sunshine, Leicestershire's chance of making 161 runs to win seemed rather remote. However, steady play by the rome team and bad fielding, by Lancashire brought th-a former's total up to 160, when G-ill hit » ball high to mid-off, and wa.3 caught by Poidevin, Lancashire winning by one run. What would have happened to the ex-Australian if he had missed the catch it is hard to say. The old-timer Tom Hayward was the •bright particular star of the Surrey-Nor-thamptonshire match, played at Kensington Oval on Tuesday, May 8. Northampton .were kept busy in the field from half -past 11 to 'half-past 4, and of the 429 runs amassed by Surrey, Hayward had to his credit no less than 219. According to the Xkmdon Sportsman, Hayward has done many excellent things in his time with both bat and ball, and to-day, at the age of 35, he wields the willow in a manner that even his famous uncle, the Tom Hayward of. the days of Carpenter and Tarrant, the wonderful Cambridge trio, would have acknowledged, could be hare seen it, to be ■Jl that is true and correct. Hayw*rd was certainly batting on a perfect pitch, and the attack to which he was opposed might have been more deadly. No* \.aa he engaged in an uphill game, for Surrey had At the close of Monday's proceedings gained a. decided advantage by scoring 83 Itr the loss of only three batsmen. Allowing for »II this, Hayward, in compiling an innings

[of 219, accomplished a wonderfully fine performance. In first on Monday afterj noon, he was eighth out at 4 o'clock yesterday, the score having by that time been carried to 392. Hayward ia one of the most stylish batsman playing cricket. Hayward followed up the above score by knocking up 135 against Leicestershire on the following Thursday, thus making his fourth century in succession. The cable has since informed us that Hayward has compiled his eighth century of the season. A very curious incident occurred m the match between the London County C.C. and Kensington at the Crystal Palace last month. Marshal was bowling, and one of the Kensington batsmen, in pulling him, mishit pretty hard to C. B. Grace at short squareteg. C. 8., in trying to catch, missed the ball, which hit him on the top of his head, knocked him down, and went on to be caught, at least 15 or 18 yards away, by mid-on, W. G., who made 120 without a mistake, and Marshall (90) put on 143 | for the first wicket of the London County I C.C, and E. H. D. Sewell gave the KenI gington bowler 3 the long handle, scoring 57 ia less than 25 minutes. In their time dogs have been put to a I variety of usps, ar an instance of one of our canine frieni. being: the hero of a cricket match may uoil be recorded (says * London paper}. It was as a result ot a somewhat skigulai match made between. Lord Charles Kerr and Mr J. Cock, his lordship backing his servant. James Bridge*, and his water spaniel (Drake) against Mr Cock and Mr Weatherall. The match was for 1 50 guineas aside, and was played on the Holt Road Cricket Ground, near Farnham. The only use to which Drake could he put was, of course, in fielding, eat at this he proved himself an adopx, catching the ball at the rebound, and promptly bearing it to his partner. Moreover, he won the match for his side. Mr Cock had made within one run of the number obtained by Bridger when he was out, and W«theraJl vent in. The first ball received the latte* hit smartly, and started to run ; but Drake had judged the flight of the ball so well that he caught it, and delivered it so quickly to his partner that Wetherall's stumps were put down before he could get | back to his crease. ! The Melbourne Cricket Club is to-day I the oldest local institution of any description in Victoria, having been founded in 1839, less than two years after John Bat.man sailed up the Yarra and landed where white men had never before set foot. That fact in itself (says " Mid-on ") is sufficient to show that no incident of special importance could possibly have marked the first few years of the Melbourne Cricket Club's existence, as the colony's inhabitants totalled only a handful, and for a time the crickefc played was therefore merely of the practice order, or. at most, extending to single-wicket matches or games between sides picked from the club. The original ground was on the south side of the Yarra, but in 1853 a move was made to the present site, which has ever since been the home of the Melbourne Cricket Club. Here many of the world's champions and notabilities have been introduced to the Australian public. In 1856— exactly 50 years ago — the Melbourne Cricket Ground was the scene of the first match between Victoria and New South Wales; in the season 1861-62 the first visiting cricket team from England appeared; 1875-74 brought the unrivalled champion W. G. Grace, who came again in 1891-92 with Lord Sheffield. In was on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1870 that the English champion runners Bird and Hewitt and the famous walker Topley appeared; in 1881 the foundation stone of the existing pavilion was laid by the present Prince of Wales and hi 3 brother, the late Duke of Clarence, who were then midshipmen on ! board H.M.S. Bacchante : in 1888 a renrei sentative team of American baseball [players appeared on the ground; and 1905 ! saw the English pedestrian Alfred Shrubb, [ who has cut all the world's long distance records, and the American sprinter Arthur Duffey, who holds the world's record for 100 yds. Some years ago a number of the club's books of early records were destroyed by fire, but those still existing cover the last 46 years, going back to 1859, and they disclose some remarkable figures. For example, the club's total expenditure during that period has been £192,784, of which £109,254 has been expended on the ground in buildings, fences, water, soil, seed, rates, drainage, wages, lighting, and tennis courts. Members' subscriptions and entrance fees have covered the sum of 1 £136,744, and the aggregate income from other sources has totalled £56,040. Last ' year members' entrance fees and subscriptions represented a revenue of £6600, and for the present season the amount will probably be over £11.000. the club having now 3500 members, whose annual subscription is 2gs each, and 1000 junior and country members at 1 guinea each. Those two items Account for £8400, added to which are the entrance fees of 3gs each of a large proportion of the last WOO ! members elected since the annual meeting i in September, 1905. CRICKET IN ENGLAND. LONDON, June 20. Spooner compiled a score of 240 playing for Lancashire against feomersetshire. June 24. Hayward made his eighth century of the season by scoring 144 runs in a match against Oxford University His aggregate for the seaeon is 1754 runs — an average of 79.