Scotland v Sir Julien Cahn's XI 22 & 23 July 1938 by Cricket Scotland

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Ground:	Raeburn Place, Edinburgh
Scorecard:	Scotland v Sir J Cahn's XI
Event:	Sir J Cahn's XI in Scotland 1938

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DateLine: 4th February 2013

 

 

Day 1:
In the second of their international engagements for the season, Scotland performed well daring the first day of the two days match against Sir Julien Cahn's XI on the ground of the Grange CC at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, yesterday. Sir Julien won the toss, and, with the pitch fast, and in good run-getting condition, had no hesitation in deciding to give his team the first innings.

 

The Scottish bowlers, however, were never overawed by the calibre of the batsmen opposed to them, and, with Baxter, the former Loretto. Grange, and Lancashire man, who now occasionally appears for Middlesex, as the spearhead of their attack, dismissed the visitors in three hours twenty minutes for the moderate total of 195.

 

Baxter howled thirty overs from the same end without a break, and, apart from his remarkable stamina as a fast-medium bowler, always showed length and, hostility, in his deliveries. His six wickets were certainly sell earned.

 

R.S. Hodge, of Greenock, began well by taking the first two wickets at small cost, but in his subsequent spells of bowling did not impress as a "hostile" bowler, and J. S Symon, of Perthshire, and W. K. Laidlaw, of Melville College (F.P), though bowling a good length, only now and again lured the batsmen into making faulty strokes. The Scottish fielding was excellent, and few runs were given away.

 

H.F. Sheppard (Glasgow University), B.R. Tod (Edinburgh Academicals), and B. G. W. Atkinson, (Grange) were perhaps most often in prominence, but that was mainly because they were afforded most chances, the whole team being "on their ~ toes" from start to finish, and making the opposition fight for their runs.

 

Special mention must be made, however, of Sheppard's two catches, in the "gully," both being taken with the utmost certainty when hard cuts from Baxter's bowling were made not just off the middle of the bat, and the ball was travelling very fast and wide of the fielder. McTavish was hardly in his best form behind the wicket, but with three strange fast-medium bowlers sending down in-swingers, a concession of 11 byes was by no means bad.

 

When Scotland came to bat, D. Ballantyne (Grange) shaped in great style. Standing well to the opening fast bowlers, J.G. Lush and J. B. Hall he cut and drove so well that he claimed 29 out of the 54 put on for the first Scottish wicket in forty minutes. Five excellent 4s came from Ballantyne's bat during this bright partnership, in the course of which. Sheppard, though less spectacular in his methods, was, however, never overs-shadowed. In point of fact the latter's innings of 71 not out proved, in the end, to be much the best "knock" of the day.

 

Without giving a chance, he reached his half-century in eighty-five minutes with five 4s as his principal scoring strokes up to that point, and when stumps were drawn had still given the bowlers and fielders no encouragement in reaching 71 not out (eight 4's) in one and- three-quarters hour. While a well-timed square-cut seemed to be his best stroke, he also showed a marked ability to place the ball for singles all round the wicket.

 

T. Spowart, Dunfermline, Tod, and Atkinson, made small, though useful, contributions to the Scottish score. Spowart had the distinction of hitting a particularly good 6, an on-drive sending the ball well over the ropes, where, after pitching, it bounced into the Press box.

 

J. M. Hardie of Stenhousemuir was unlucky enough to have to go in to bat with only a few minutes left for play, and it came as no surprise when he was bowled with the last ball of the day. So far, Walsh has taken four wickets for 50 runs, and the Scottish wickets have fallen at 54, 94, 105, 136, and 141.

 

Day 2:
The second day's play in the match between Scotland and Sir Julien Cahn's XI, on the ground of the Grange C.C. at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, took place on Saturday, the visitors in the end having much the better of a draw. When, stumps were pulled, Scotland were 131 runs behind with only four wickets in hand.

 

The Scots began the day 55 runs in arrears, with only five men dismissed in their first innings, but, with A. K. McTavish unable to take his allotted place in the batting order, owing to a badly damaged finger, they failed by one run to reach the opposing total of 196.

 

The Scottish bowling was good in the early stages of Cahn's XI's second innings, but became loose later on against the forcing tactics adopted by C. S. Dempster and V. Jackson, who hit very hard all round the wicket to add 133 runs in an hour. Dempster was missed in the outfield from a lofty on-drive, but, this apart, neither batsman gave a chance, each hitting eight 4s during a particularly bright partnership. Dempster also showed an ability to place his strokes that was greatly admired. R. E. C. Butterworth and H. Mudge put on 75 for the visitors, but neither shaped convincingly, and the former had fortune on his side when, in an over by R. S. Hodge, he was completely beaten three times, without losing his wicket. Each hit four 4s.

 

Sir Julien did not afford his bowlers much chance of dismissing Scotland a second time, as he delayed the closure until only, one hundred minutes were available for play. During this time the Scots compiled 116 for the loss of six wickets. H.F. Sheppard again shaped well in partnership with D. Ballantyne for the first wicket before he was out lbw to J. Walsh for the second time in the match. Ballantyne hit several very fine 4s in his 20.

 

B.R. Tod compiled 25 quickly before becoming Walsh's seventh lbw victim of the two innings. J. S. Symon batted very soundly when there was just a chance of Scotland being dismissed, and very wisely took most of the "strike" against Walsh towards the end.

 

Walsh is undoubtedly the cleverest bowler seen in Scotland for some time. With a short run and an easy left-arm delivery, he mixed his spin and flight in most puzzling fashion, and showed an extraordinary faculty for inveigling his opponents into stepping in front of- their wickets.

 

In his two matches in Edinburgh he has claimed 27 of the 36 wickets taken by his side (including one run out), and no fewer than twelve through lbw decisions. In point of fact, but for him the visitors' bowling would have afforded few problems for the Scottish batsmen. He took 13 wickets in this match and Sir Julien Cahn and H. Mudge one each.

 

It is pleasing to put on record that the Scots compared favourably with their opponents in the field, with B. G. W. Atkinson, Tod, and Sheppard perhaps most out-standing. Four times during the course of the visitors' second innings Atkinson hit the stumps with fast returns. As captain he was an inspiration to his side in this respect.

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