19 SEPTEMBER 1903, Page 24

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as Lau not been reserved for review in other forms.] Ten Thousand Miles through India and Burma. By Cecil Headlam. (J. M. Dent and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—Last year, the year of the Coronation Durbar, a well-known cricketer, Mr. K. J. Key, captained a team of "Oxford Authentics" in a cricket tour through India. Cricket in India resembles the strawberry at home. It lasts a long time if you pursue it. There are some regions where you play it at Midsummer, and others where you play it at Christmas. The " Authentics " sailed from Tilbury on October 23rd, played their first match on the Gymkana Ground at Bombay on November 17th, and their last at Cawnpore on February 12th. (Naturally the Midsummer cricket did not come within their scope of operations.) It was a highly successful tour. Out of nineteen matches played, two only were lost, and these were played in the first fortnight after their arrival Of the five drawn matches, four stood greatly in favour of the "Authentics," the fifth was "anybody's match." The batting averages were distinctly good, Mr. P. H. Hollins heading the list with 47.3 (29 innings, 3 not out, and a total of 1,230 runs), Mr. A. H. Hornby coming next with 40.3, Mr. Clayton third with 37.62, and the captain fourth with 35-3. The special subject of the book is well handled. (There is an interesting account of native cricket, in which the Parsecs at present hold the first place.) But other matters are also incidentally spoken of, and the whole is a very readable volume, even for those whose interest in cricket is not absorbing.