CRICKET.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 26, 26 June 1912, Page 10

CRICKET.

ENGLAND’S ELEVEN.

England docs not mean to take any chances in her efforts to come out on top in the series of triangular tests. 'lhe side that the Marylebone Club has chosen to play against Australia is a great one. The only player who might have been included with advantage is “Razor Smith, the Surrey crack, and even then •it is difficult to say who should be. dropped.

The eleven fe: C. B. Fry (captain), P. F. Warner, R. 11. Spooner, F. R. roster, J. B. Hobbs, W. R. Rhodes, S. F. Barners, F. E Woolley, anil E. J. Smith. Either Gilbert, Jessop, or J. T. Hearne will fill the eleventh place. Thus England has seven splendid batsmen, five first-class bowlers, and a clever wicketkeeper, and the balance of amateur and professional is well maintained. It is noticeable, that of the cricketers on the side who in England are known as “gentlemen," in contradistinction to the professional players, and who arc still, in many- newspapers, vouchsafed the privilege of the titular “Mr.” before their names, all have been cricket wonders during their scholastic careers, and have risen to greater things in the big game later on. A word or two concerning each of them may not be out of place at such a time as this. With the exception of Frank Foster, they have seen much cricket. <!. B. Fry’s life-story and deeds were reported a week ago. G. 1.. JESSOP. Gilbert Jessop, “the crouotier,” is « more interesting product of the game, perhaps, than even Fry. He has an uglystand at the wicket, his head just before he makes a stroke being pretty well on a level with his hips, and when he hits a sixer he seems to fairly jump at the ball and fling his whole body' at it. He is unorthodox, and it has been well said that his success lies in his unorthodoxy. He jdays strokes that no other Isitsman would dare to use. They are all ami entirely his own. Even at school he was a demon, and in 1895 had lhe remarkable baiting average of 192 for each innings, and look IM wickets al a cost of two runs apiece. It is uu-

necessary to refer to all the great scores that he- has raced through. As early as ISM, in. the Freshmen’s match at Cambridge, he knocked up 102 in an hour by means of 32 hits off 57 trails sent down to him, and after that he took five wickets for 39 runs. He bowled a, fast ball in those days, but does little in this department of the game now. Another wonderful innings of Jessop’s for the ’Varsity- was against Yorkshire, when he got 101 out of 118 in 40 minutes, a feat that was more like conjuring than cricket, ami in 1899, in another game against Yorkshire, this time on the University Ground, he bit up 171 in less than two hours. He once made 240 off 100 balls in 200 minutes against Sussex. But of the many meteoric displays that he has given that at Hastings in 1907 will take some beating, even by himself. Playing for the Gentlemen of the South against the Players of the South, he completed his li)0 in 40 minutes, and knocked up 191 out of 234 in 90 ininiit.es> Six times he lifted the ball out of the ground, and there were 30 fours among his figures. In a -crisis Jessop exhibits a bulldog tenacity, and ho has often pulled an England game out of the fire. I*. F. WARNER. “ Plum ” Warner is another of England's great cricket names, and another of those who won their laurels at school, kept them through a University career, and went on to county and England and world cricket with a steady record of wonderful batting. The first, of a long roll of centuries came from his Mt in 1897. He is one of the most travelled cricketers, has been to the Cape. NewZealand and Australia, and as he was born in tile West Indies, he lias seen most of the corners of the world. It is now a matter of history that he succeeded where great leaders like Stoddart and MaeLaren had failed to take back to England from Australia the mythical “ashes"; and not content with doing it once, lie repeated the feat on his last visit, although he played in none of the' tests, and did not captain the team that all the English critics said would fail. Warner always looks upon one game as the game of his life. It was for Middlesex against Essex at ixird’s, in 1910, and in the second innings, when eight men were out for 102, his side wanted 100 runs to win. S. H. Saville became his partner, and the pair put on 101 runs in an hour. For his 101 runs not out Warner stayed in four and a half hours. F. R. FOSTER. F. R. Foster is a cricketer who has come to the front in a flash. Nothing was known of him outside local games until 1908, but two years later he bowled in such form for the Gentlemen against the Players at the Oval that the best judges did not hesitate to describe him as one of the English cricketers of the future. Even up to the end of 1910 he was regarded as little more than a bowler. But in the summer of 1911 Foster improved out of all knowledge as a batsman, and was, by general consent, the best all-round player of the year. Moreover, lie became captain of Warwickshire, and, more than that, was the youngest county captain then playing. When be helped to carry his side to the top of the championship table everything was predicted for him, and he looks like, fulfilling all the prophecies. He is young yet, is the personification of youthful energy, bow-ls a ball that seems quite ordinary until il pitches, and then comes off the ground with a zip and spin that plays sad havoc with the greatest batsman. How- lie, with Barnes, went through Australia's ranks last year is now a matter of history. He is a fine bowler, and a splendid batsman, and if is a pity that England has not more youngsters of his type. R. 11. SPOONER. - R. 11. Spooner was another fatuous pub lie schoolboy, perhaps the most famous since his prototype in the Lancashire XI., A. C. MaeLaren took the world bystorm at the close of his Harrow career. He has always been high up in the averages. When he first played for his county, against Middlesex, at Lord's, Albert Trott and J. T. Hearne, theu bowling at their best, had no terrors for him, and ho got 44 and 83 in irreproachable style. He has assisted in a number of big partnerships, notable among them being 368, for the first wicket, witji MacLaren for Lancashire v. Gloucestershire, in 1903, and 223, also with MacUiren. fo> the first wicket, for Lancashire v. Sti» sex, at Manchester in- 1904. Last ye^ l he was third among lhe flrsl-ehtss batsmen, with 51.37 for 45 innings.