Day 1:
In their three days' match with Scotland which was begun at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, Surrey batted all day, and scored 433 runs for a completed innings. There was a slight interruption owing to rain just before the hour arranged for taking lunch, which meant that the interval lasted an hour and twenty minutes instead of an hour, but, apart from that, though there was more rain later, play proceeded without any further breaks.

A crowd of about 6000 attended. Surrey were at full strength, with one exception, P.G.H. Fender, one of the most attractive members of the eleven. In his place came C. Thain, who was formerly a member of the West of Scotland side.

There were three changes on the Scottish side from that originally chosen, J.A. Fergusson (Perthshire), W.W. Anderson (Fifeshire), and J.C. Christie (Glasgow High School) dropping out, and being replaced by T.D. Watt, C.S. Scobie, and C. Groves (Heriot's), who now plays for Redcar, a Yorkshire club.

Surrey batted first against the bowling of Watt and R.W. Sievwright, and a good start was made in what was anything but a good light by Hobbs and Sandham. Neither batsman tried to force matters, but runs came at a steady pace, with Hobbs the faster scorer. A double change was tried in the bowling, and when the total had reached 53 Surrey's "crack" batsman was smartly taken at point, J. Grieve holding a ball that might easily have been dropped.

Hobbs had not been seen at his best. He had scored sound enough cricket, but without that sparkle that has made him so famous as a batsman. He did not go out to hit the bowling, as is usually so characteristic a feature of his play, and he might have been taken by the wicketkeeper or in the slips when he had made 17. There were three 4's in his 29 and when he had made 8 he completed his 1000 runs for the season.

After his dismissal there was a long partnership by Sandham and Ducat, and numerous changes in the bowling were resorted to. Groves and W.N. Walker had a turn, and Watt and Sievwright came on again. Scobie and D.C. Stevenson were also called on, the Stirling County man getting his first chance when the Surrey total stood at 164 for one wicket. The batsmen, however, were very serious on their work, and never took any liberties with the bowling, which was invariably good, and was always backed up by smart fielding.

The fielding, indeed, was a feature of the play, and the Scottish players took a lot of credit out of the day's play in that respect. The exception was the wicketkeeper, who has often done better. He gave away a lot of byes, and was said to have missed more than one catch, one from Sandham before he had reached double figures. The second wicket put on 119 runs, most of which were got by Sandham.

Ducat was the first to go, caught at short leg, and the second wicket fell at 172. The retiring batsman had been at the wicket for an hour and twenty minutes, and included in his hits were five 4's. When 10 he gave a chance to Groves, who was bowling at the time, from a hard drive.

Sandham continued to go steadily on his way, and was content to play correct cricket. Slowly but surely his score mounted until he came to the nineties, and there he stood for fully an hour. Ultimately he reached the 100 in five minutes under three hours, which was slow going for a man of his skill and reputation, and was surely a compliment to the bowling and fielding side.

After reaching his century Sandham began to hit freely, and was ultimately out to a mishit to point standing deep. His last 24 runs came in less than ten minutes. From the way he had been playing previously one got the impression that he could have stayed in all day had he been so minded. He had had eleven 4's.

Shepherd was more enterprising, and 44 of his 59, got in little over an hour, were from boundary hits. Peach also hit merrily, and had ten 4's in his forty minutes stay, but Abel, a son of the famous "Bobby," of Surrey and England fame, was not so free, though to his credit fell the only 6 hit of the day.

Hitch had four balls. Two of the he dispatched for 4's, and the fourth saw him nicely taken by Watt at mid-off. Peach fell to a brilliant catch in the outfield by Kerr, who took a hard drive almost on his toes when running in to meet the ball. Abel was also dismissed by a good catch near the square leg boundary, the catcher being Jeacocke, who was acting as substitute for Scobie, who had a finger hurt in stopping a hard return. The innings lasted close upon five hours, so that the visitors had scored something like 90 runs per hour on average.

The Scots took their long day in the field well. The bowling never got slack, and the fielding, as has been stated, was remarkably good all through. Notable in that respect was G.W.A. Alexander, who was frequently cheered for clever work. Many good catches were made, and few that came to hand were let drop.

Stevenson, Walker, and Groves were the best of the bowlers, but Sievwright, Scobie, and Watt also did well, better than the figures would seem to indicate. The last-named was the only one who did not get a wicket. Only quarter of an hour remained at the close of the Surrey innings, and stumps were at once drawn.

Day 2:
When play was resumed yesterday in the Scotland Surrey match at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, the Englishmen had completed an innings, and Scotland were left in the position of having 284 to make to save the risk of being compelled to follow on.

They did not do so, but the Surrey captain was in a generous mood, and did not avail himself of his right to make his opponents to go in again. As a result of Surrey going in for a second time they ran up a big advantage, and at the same time a third day's cricket was assured. Some interesting play was seen during the day. In some cases the Scottish batting was very good, and in others it was disappointing.

The middle men in the side did not give much help, but there was a useful tail to give support to the first three batsmen, and as a matter of fact the last three partnerships saved the side from being out for a very paltry total, the score from 101 for 7 to 187 all out.

There was lively batting seen in Surrey's second innings, and though Hobbs was very sedate for him, no fewer than 191 runs were scored by the visitors in an hour and a half's time. Though he did not score rapidly, he had only 50 of the aggregate, Hobbs' batting must have been greatly admired by the true lovers of cricket who were present.

The master hand was there all the time. Completely at his ease he was, and doubtless he was playing with an object in view, that of giving the crowd, what many of them had come out to see, a batting display by himself. The Scottish bowling was made to appear much more easy yesterday than on Saturday, and the fielding continued to be very good, few runs being concede unnecessarily, and only very difficult chances declined.

J. Kerr and G.W.A. Alexander made a capital start for Scotland against Hitch and Peach, and though the scoring was never rapid, a double change in the bowling was made, C. Thain going on for Hitch at 29, and Shepherd for Peach ten runs later.

The batsmen, after an easy start, began to score more freely, and they looked like staying together to lunch time. But the last ball before the interval proved the undoing of Alexander. It was a particularly good one, and came just sufficiently to beat the bat. The first pair had put on 48 in about fifty five minutes, and both had played in capital style, scoring well after taking time to play themselves in.

They were quick to take advantage of the fact that Hitch had no fielder at leg. His only man on that side of the field was his mid-on. He had a great array of fieldsmen in the slips, four in a row close up, and a fifth near the boundary, and his point came very near to being an additional man in the same region.

For Kerr he had an extra man close in, in front of the wicket, somewhere between silly point and silly mid-on. Kerr did not long survive the interval before being snapped at the wicket. The Scottish captain had played in characteristic fashion for about an hour and there was but one 4 in his 26. D.A. Mackay and J. Grieve made a useful partnership which realised 31 runs, and of these the Selkirk man contributed but 9. Mackay's was a bright display, and in his half hour's stay at the wicket for 27 he had four 4's.

Three wickets were down for 82, but after that there was something like a collapse, and seven men were out for 101. That was a sudden change in the situation, and the bowling of Shepherd had a lost to do with it.

T.D. Watt was batting very carefully , which, in the circumstances, was the proper game to play, and he found in C.S. Scobie and R.S. Cranston excellent partners, Scobie batted well, and played up to his reputation. Five 4's he had, and he put together his 26 runs out of the 37 which the eighth wicket added to the score.

Cranston's was a breezy innings. No time was wasted by the Fifeshire stumper, who was at the wicket for only fifteen minutes, and in that time scored a 6 off A. Jeacocke, who was bowling slow leg breaks, five 4's, a 2, and three singles.

Thirty one of the 36 got for the ninth wicket came from his bat. Watt was last out, and it was a pity he did not carry his bat after his stay of an hour. His stand, which was characterised by sound defence, was a valuable one for his side.

Surrey had a lead of 246, but went in for a second time, probably to give the crowd of about 3000 an opportunity of seeing Hobbs and others batting. Hobbs and Sandham opened the second innings as they did the first without any attempt to rush matters, and the bowling was in the hands of Watt and Sievwright.

With only 17 scored a misfortune befell the batting side. Sandham called his partner, but Hobbs failed to respond, and so smartly and accurately did Alexander send in the ball that Sandham was run out. Then Hobbs and Ducat took the total to 66 before the latter was taken at the wicket, and four later Shepherd was caught in the slips.

That was good work for Scotland. Both these wickets fell to Scobie, who, however, suffered severely when Abel came in. The newcomer hit up his 56 in just over 20 minutes, and most of his runs were got off Scobie, including three 6's, all drives. In one over he punished the Stewart's man for 22, but that over was his last, for from the sixth ball of it he was finely taken close to the boundary line by Watt.

Scobie had another success, his fourth, when Harrison was bowled, and soon afterwards he was taken off, having at that point had 65 runs hit from his bowling. Hobbs, if always correct and polished, was very quiet, and seemed almost to be content to look on while the others were hitting.

Abel had 56 of the 61 scored for the fourth wicket, and Hitch had actually 26 of the 27 got while he was with Hobbs. Besides his 6's, Abel had six 4's, four 2's, and six singles, and Hitch had one 6 and three 4's in his not out 26.

Hobbs was fully an hour and a half at the wicket for his 50, which is not exactly Hobbs's style. But as matters turned out it was good that he should have been left not out, along with Hitch, the big hitter, to resume the third day's play. At the close of the day Surrey were 437 runs on, with four wickets in hand. The Scotsmen have a big task on hand to secure a draw, which is all they can hope for.

Day 3:
Play in the third day of the game yesterday between Scotland and Surrey at Partick was seriously interrupted by the weather, and in the end the Scots were lucky to escape defeat by a single wicket.

The Scottish batting, with few exceptions, was of poor quality, and after the fine stand made by J. Kerr and G.W.A. Alexander for the first wicket, something better than a scramble for a draw should have been obtained. The Surrey men played keenly for a win, and if they had not pressed their advantage on the previous day they were certainly "all out" yesterday to bring off a victory. And but for the curtailment of play in the early part of the day, on account of the weather, and in the evening to allow the visitors to get a train for Sunderland for their match with Durham to-day, they would doubtless have been successful.

Heavy rain fell in Glasgow during the forenoon, but the weather cleared before noon, and in the afternoon was bright and fine. The pitch, however, was badly affected, and no play was possible until half an hour after the time the game should have resumed following the lunch interval. As it had been arranged to draw stumps at half-past five, there was only a period of three hours for play.

Surrey had an overnight lead of 437 runs, and at once closed their innings. Hitch and Peach bowled at the start, and Kerr and Alexander took no risks. They were doing their best to make a draw certain. So quietly did they bat that the first hour produced but 38 runs.

Kerr was in one of his dourest moods, and, after getting a 4 in Peach's first over, the second of the innings, he stood for forty five minutes without getting a run. The Aberdeenshire representative was more free and easy in his methods. For fully eighty minutes the opening pair were together, and they seemed to have put Scotland on the way for an easy draw. But a change in bowling brought A. Jeacocke on at 45 with breaks, and with only 15 more runs added, seven of which were off the new bowler, the Surrey captain broke up the stubborn partnership, and, curiously enough, both batsmen went from successive balls, Alexander hitting out, and being caught in the deep field, and Kerr being bowled with a ball that beat him by the break. And a third wicket fell immediately to Jeacocke.

There was a collapse after that, though D.A. Mackay and W.N. Walker made useful contributions. The latter was at the wicket for nearly an hour, and, in the circumstances, his stand was a valuable one. Strudwick had a chance of stumping him when he had made 10, but failed to gather the ball.

T.D. Watt and C.S. Scobie both stood for half an hour and helped to tide Scotland over till time for drawing stumps. There was, however, little credit in the draw for Scotland, and a win for Surrey would have been a more satisfactory result.

The similarity in the numbers of runs got by five of the six Surrey bowlers was noteworthy. Three of them finished with practically the same figures.

Jeacocke had the first three wickets, and at one time had three for 7 runs, Hitch the second three, and bowled splendidly for a spell, and Peach the last three. The Surrey fielding revealed nothing particularly notable, and in that respect at least the Scots could be said to have held their own.

There would be an attendance during the day of about 2000, making close upon 10000 for the three days.

(Article: Copyright © 2013 Cricket Scotland http://cricketscotland.com)