THE CRICKET TEAM.

EDITORS HARVARD HERALD: I was very much surprised to see the venomous and uncalled for communication about the cricket team in last week's Crimson, and wish here to say a few words in reply. The gentleman makes a few statements, which, to put them mildly, are as follows: (1) The cricket team does not practice sufficiently. (2) The cricket team is always beaten, and from these premises we draw the conclusion that (3) the cricket team should be repudiated. The first statement contains a very small amount of truth. Most of the team have been very faithful and regular in their practice, but others, on account of other athletic duties, have been unable to devote much of their time to it. On account of the recent rule of the faculty the cricket team has been unable to secure the services of a professional coach, and for this reason their practice has not been so effective as it might have been. Again, the practice ground is so bumpy that some of the men are afraid of being hit, and this so effects their play that it is a question whether their practice does them any good.

The writer also says the team is always beaten. Last fall the team was beaten two matches and won one. This spring, of the two matches played, one was a defeat, and the other resulted in a draw game, with a very creditable showing for Harvard. The Longwood club are accountable for most of our defeats, and the reason for this result is simply that they can put into the field a stronger eleven than we can. It is very unfortunate that the secretary of the cricket club has been unable to arrange matches this spring with Columbia and Princeton, since these teams are more evenly matched against ours. The matches arranged are, May 24th, Haverford College, and May 25th, University of Pennsylvania. Haverford has a strong team and will prove a very dangerous adversary, while the University of Pennsylvania presents almost as strong an eleven as America can show. Going to Philadelphia, the home of American cricket, our eleven can hardly hope for much success, though the practice it will get will tend to very good results in the future.

J. S. CLARK,Captain Cricket Eleven.