No-one grudges Derbyshire their second County Championship after lapse of 62 years, but there will be sympathy with Northamptonshire who were robbed by time of a certain victory against the new champions. Jon Tuesday. Grim tragedy off the held has filled the cup of Northampftonshire's woe. RP. Northway tuas been killed and Bakewell, the of the game's most ancient traditions, but he ives his rider a good chukker for his money and the spectators a full quota of real enjoyment. The Polo enthusiast here does noi _lack mentors; among them is Mr, Mayes who has opportunely con: mit fed to paper and the four pages of a brown covered brochure some "polo points for players and umpires" Mr Hayes therein does not recapitulate: the rules in full but, with the help of diagrarh and letterpress, he expounds "the less readily. appreciated and. more intricate points of some of them." Thus he explains how each of two players riding {rom opposite directions to meet the ball must con~ duct himself to hit that ball on the off-side of his pony. He shows that the player, ahead of and on the line of the, bail, has no stalus—in other Words cannot inlerfore with an_on-Jcoming opponent possessing the right of way. Mr. Hayes pleads for com-. petent umpires—an echo of recent moans in London where umpiring, seems from all accounts to have been Patchy even in important matches. With the prospects of to-day's match this journal's expert has dealt, It is sufficient here to congratulate the winners in advance and to hope that the losers will learn enough to turn the tables another year, hero of the last match, most serlous-Ty injured. Throughout the season Northamptonshire "have failed secure a single win and in meeting [Derbyshire—their last match indeed—they put up their best performance, the stumps being drawn with Derbyshire still 173 runs behind and only three wickets in hand, Being ahead fon the frst innings Derbyshire took ye points which made their claim to the Championship honours unas sallable, No doubt in meeting Somersetshire and Leicestershire they will try to show their independence fof those points snatched so luckily from their plucky opponents Chesterfield." Northamptonshire's disappointment will be all the greater because there is now no hope of resistering even the single victory which came to them last season. The struggle for the honour of being runners up to Derbyshire is still open. Yorkshire cannot afford to drop more points with Middlesex and Nottinghamshire hard on their heels. Derbyshire's triumph has been well earned {oF
Wisden has observed that Derby~ shire's Championship of 1874 cannot be compared with that feat of getting second in 1995—and, the oracle might have added, with the 1994 record of winning 12 matches outright for a percentage of $3.09 which carried them from sixth to third place in the fable, Thus they: have steadily climbed up, rung by rung, from 19% to thel= present eminence which is due to good all-round play, true erleket keenness and a sound polley of encourozing their "young professionals. Worthington's batting, and the bowling of Copson, Townsend (IF) and Pope (A.V.) have been valuable assets. The champions have been formidable, have not had always: the best of luck for weather and other reasons, but have shown more joints than the great Yorkshire usually are expected to possess in their armour. Sutcliffe is bowing to time, Hutton has mot come on as rapidly was expected and, though it seems sacrilege to criticize Verity in his place at the top of the bowling /has averages, it must be confessed that hho has had curious lapses to set off some really brilliant feats. The sight fof England's chief slow bowler send-Ing down full tosses and long hops encouraging to the rabbit, but it may account for the occasional uncertainty which marked Yorkshire's record this season. Everyone will hope that Verity will keep those symbols of his comradeship with esser'men for home consumption. Australia must see him only in his "Ereles! vein."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.