Page:The Crisis in Cricket and the Leg Before Rule (1928).djvu/11

Rh match were at least two to one on Kent, yet they lost points and the side who were in the worst position gained thereby. As recently as the end of July, 1927, when Sussex and Surrey played at Brighton, the first innings ended in a tie, but at the end, Sussex were 155 runs in front, when Surrey had lost eight of their best wickets, and although the odds must have been five to one at least on Sussex, yet points were divided. These two instances show how absurd the position is in county cricket, yet no satisfactory system can be found, the principal and probably sole reason being the huge run-getting of the present day. Drawn matches unfortunately must always be with us owing to our climate, and for this reason alone some steps should be taken to attain the one paramount object, the obliteration of drawn matches except when caused by bad weather.

The matches played between public schools never have more than two days allowed them, and bad weather and high scoring affect matches so much that a definite finish is getting to be exceptional. The last six Eton and Harrow matches have all been drawn, and four out of the last six between Cheltenham and Haileybury, and the same number of Eton and Winchester matches. The weather, no doubt, has been responsible for many of these, but big run-getting is frequent, and the day may come when schoolmasters, and even the boys, will begin to doubt if it is worth while to spend so much time and money on cricket when so many of the inter-school matches are unfinished.

In England we have a crowd of matches crammed into a season of a little over four months, and to give more than three days would be impossible even if desirable. But