" NOT OUT."
THEceicket season comes to a close this week, and no more splendidly dramatic ending could have been imagined than the great match between Middlesex and Surrey. Until the middle of Surrey's second innings on Tuesday it seemed as though Lancashire would be champions. But Surrey showed once more that brilliance and staying power do not often go together, and their collapse before the disconcerting bowling of Mr. Stevens and J. W. Hearne gave Middlesex the victory. It is undoubtedly a popular win. Lancashire have
played well, but their powers have not been tested to the same extent as those of the new champions. Middlesex may not have the brilliance of some elevens, but in their matches with Kent, Yorkshire, Surrey, and Lancashire, thus meeting the best batting and bowling of England, they have proved them- selves the finest all-round cricket eleven, and they deserve without question the honour that has come to them. In face of the enthusiasm and huge crowds, not only at the last and most important match of the season, but at many of those which took place in the preceding weeks, it is astonishing to recall that just before the war there was much talk about
the decline of county cricket. There was never any.
fear, AS far as we remember, that the game itself was losing popularity- In some rural districts, no doubt, owing to the dearth of young men, the village cricket pitch was becoming overgrown or left to the attentions of chickens and geese, but generally speaking the game still retained its hold, and a firm hold. The fact is that when seen in its simpler—perhaps cruder—form, in local club matches, the game rarely runs any risk of dullness. Whatever ideas the players may cherish as to the scientific skill of their performance, the game is not overcharged with them, and the spectators are certainly unaffected. The essentials of the game, with all their exciting possibilities, are -seen and comprehended at once. There is nothing aloof about .cricket played under these conditions. You may watch its infinite variety at close quarters—so close, indeed, that any boundary by Mr. Black may hit you on the head, and you may easily hear what Mr. White said when he dropped that easy catch that gave his opponents the game ! The personal element is not shut away in the recesses of some pavilion. You may ewe the batamea waiting with apparent nonchalance for their turn, and you may try to glean some idea of what they are thinking about their chances. In this, of course, you will be disappointed, for, being Englishmen and sportsmen—and what more perfect exhibition of imperturbability can be conceived ?—they never show their feelings. You -will never gather whether Mr. Black is nervous any more than you could gather whether Mr. Jack Hobbs—to assume, of course, an improbability—is nervous before going in to Woolley's bowling. If you are a psychologist you may deduce the chances of this one or that, and •probably find your deductions all wrong. If you.are not a psychologist, but merely a gambler, you may put your money on Mr. Brown, because he looks like the great " W. G." and see him come out with a duck. But, in any case, -you will see them and realise that not till the last wag of the tail has the game ceased to have its thrill.
Astonishing as it now seems, however, the fact remains that at the beginning of the war cricket mite highest form—county cricket —was said to be dying. Professionalism was spoiling the game. Batsmen thought too much of their averages. Style was given predominance over sport. The inevitable wise old gentlemen wagged their heads and vowed, of course, that cricket was different in their day. Think pf " W. G." .and Sammy Woods and Stoddart—those were men, if you like ! In placket it seems —whatever it may be in other matters—that 'Mark ,Antony', dictum is reversed. The glory of great men lives after them,; their dullness is interred with their bones. Looked at down the ages the great Doctor always kit hemp and was never known to spend an hour in steady defence with an average of a single in two overs. Critics and experts, and many who were neither, argued and debated, and numerous, and often fantastic, were the remedies suggested. The controversy was stopped by that mighty interruption, the war, but very soon after fightierg had ceased and sport began to come to its own again, it was heard -once more. Cricket must be brightened, and now was the time to do it. Bowling must be varied. Batsmen already found it varied enough, but in the interests of brighter cricket something must be added. The googly must be encouraged, the swerve, the lightning ball, the ball with a spin, a twist, a jump, a lob—anything but a good straight fast length ball. Wickets should be wider ; teams .should be shorter ; more left-handed batsmen should be sought for ; matches should be fiaiished in one day. Opinion became so agitated that,at last it penetrated the sacred recesses of Lord's. The M.C.C. itself took counsel together, mid eventually two or three practical suggestions emerged and were acted upon. The over was lengthened to six balls, hours of play were extended, and matches began on more popular days. In the interests of popularity, the last innovation was probably the most valuable of all. Saturday, the great weekly holiday, the opportunity of the majority, now sees a full day's play instead of, as formerly, often seeing nothing but an abrupt or tame finish before' luncheon or no match at all.
The game in essentials, however, has not been altered. Yet, as we have said, it would be ridiculous now to speak of the deelke of cricket. In spite of lamentable weather conditions, county motches everywhere have aroused the keenest interest. Not for a long time has the Oxford and Cambridge rivalry been more eagerly anticipated. Both University teams had dis- played such a high level of excellence that for once the expert was daunted in prophecy. There are some things for which our weather can never be forgiven, and the loss of this match is one of them. At the &trey and Kent match a fortnight ago the attendances beat all records. Some 70,000 people visited' Lord's for the great Middlesex and Surrey game. 011 Saturday by 3' o'clock the gates had to be closed. It is estimated that some 30,000 people thronged the seats mad- gangways, stands' and balconies, hung on to railings and sat on roofs; and extended in a dangerously -wide band on the grass of the sacred lawn. It may be said, perhaps, that much of- this' keenness is due to reaction after the war. But if so, the argument is all in favour of the game, for no one, weary of war, would elect to sit out hours at an essentially dull game. It may be said, again, that a game's popularity cannot fairly be judged by its great festivals, such as the recent matches. This might perhaps be true in some degree of such events as the University matches, where, though the play is so often brilliant, it is for a large proportion of the onlookers but a secondary considera- tion. But anyone who has been at the Oval or Lord's recently knows that there is nothing in the argument applied generally, John Smith may bring a certain number of " his sisters and his cousins and his aunts " with him who come to see why John likes it, but the- great majority are enthusiasts. He could indeed be no superficial admirer who could sit hunched on the grass for three hours and, when he• dared to move to ease his cramped limbs; is shouted at " to keep his head out of the light ; we've come to see Hearne, not you ! " At every ball there is a hush as when at the opera the conductor takes up his &lion, and there is a great outbrea,th of relief when the tension is relaxed. There is a mighty groan, half of amusement, half of sympathy, when a catch is missed. There is a quick, strangled shout when Warner misses a ball and for an instant wonders what has happened to it. The crowd knows—and laughs with him, 'Criticism is rife but, excepting with the usual fanatics, is tem- pered with judgment. " A bit slow—but he knows he's got to steady the game." "Ah, d'ye see that ? Mistimed his ball." And no game surely can be anywhere near its death which can so_ interest the small' boy. " Dad—Hendren'! " exclaimed one boy in a hushed, awed voice at Lord's last week, when the magical. number went up and that redoubtable god came out from Mount Olympus: The small boy knows his game and is not shy in acclaiming his heroes. " Good catch, sir ! " cries 3 ft. 6 ins. when Peach of Surrey in the outfield dismisses some brilliant batsman.
Cricket has survived its great controversyand is, we think, the better for it. There was and still is some danger that professional regard for averages may do it harm. Cricket lovers never com- plain of a " slow " game when it will save a side, but they are not ready to countenance it for the mere sake of Blank's average. Cricket has been fortunate this year in that so many notable games have been played in London. The advantage this is to a sport may be realized' when we think of the Cup Tie Final at the Crystal Palace every year and the great Rugby Internationals at Twickenham. So often it happens that London, that devotee of sport, has to learn of the cricket finals through its newspapers. In many ways the season just closing has been full of drama. On wickets that owing to weather conditions should have been all in favour of the bowlers batsmen have run up great scores. Popular clubs have made extraordinary collapses ; mediocre clubs have made astonishing recoveries. Personality, that great element here as everywhere, has added its quota of interest. If no one has hailed a Grace or a Palairet or a Lohman, it is perhaps because we are a little too near our generation. Some of us would like to venture on prophecy, but we must refrain. And no more fitting farewell to a great personality could have been devised by any expert in drama than the match in which " Plum " Warner, playing his last innings in county cricket, saw the championship go to his beloved team. Every member of the team would agree that it is to his skilful and genial leadership, his capacity for steadiness as well as a good sporting game, that Middlesex owes its success. The cricketing public have never failed to appreciate these qualities, and wherever he elects to come out for an innings there awaits him a great roar of welcome such as he has so often heard as he came down the steps of the pavilion at Lord's. The scene now shifts to Australia. Under the captaincy of that indomitable fighter, J. W. H. T. Douglas, the English team goes out to meet the challenge of that sport-loving Dominion ; and whether they come back victorious or not, they take with them the trust and good wishes of all cricket lovers here.
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