Cricket 1882

MAY 10, 1882. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 3 victories, eight drawn games, and only three defeats. The hatting and bowling averages for the eight first- class m itches that have been mentioned are given below, and for the sake of comparison the averages of the Australian players in the same game are given as well. In batting Ulyett stands at the head of the list with a total of 557 and an average of 37'2. His recent performance against the Austra­ lian Eleven, when he played such wonderful cricket for 149—the only century of the tour—and 64, is fresh ill the mind of the public; but, added to this, he has in his record 47 aud 17 against Sydney, 87 and 23 against the first Combined Team, aud 26 a’.id 67 in the return match. Shrewsbury has been most consistent, but among his greatest achieve­ ments were his 80 not out in the second innings against Victoria, when the Englishmen followed on, 72 not oat in the return match with the same colony, and 82 oat of 188 iu the first innings and 47 in the second against the Australian Eleven. I’ ites has proved himself to be the most brilliant hitter in the team, but as a rule his performances have b e e n marred by c’lances. In point of style he cannot be beaten, and among his b3S t items were his 71 against South Australia, 58 and 47 against the first Combined Team, 84 against Victoria, and 23 aud 52 not out in the last game with the Austra­ lian Eleven. Barlow, in point of style the very opposite to Bates, is the safest batsman in the team. His 417 for an average of 31 is made up of 75 and 20 against Sydney, 12 and 42 against Vic­ toria, 62 against South Australia, 31 and 62 against the Combined Team, and 16 aud 56 against the Australian Eleven. Selby’s principal figures are 5ti and 24 against Sydney, 55 and 70 in the first Combined match, 51 against South Australia, and 7 and 48 not out against the Australian Eleven. The rest of the men—if we except Scotton, who lias scored consistently throughout—are not strong in batting, but they include some of the best of English bowlers, and certainly the prince of English wicket keepers. Glancing for a moment at the Australian batting we find that Jones stands first with an average of 63. He lit.s been not out three times, aud his performance is of course not as good as McDonnell’s. Still he has proved himself to be in the front rank, and it is a matter for satisfaction that he is going home with the Australian Eleven. McDonnell’s figures are very good, and may very fairly be compared with Ulyett’s. To his 147 for the Australian Eleven the popular young Victorian is mainly indebted for his high position, but he has made besides scores of 51, 52, 19 and 23 (not out), and 14 and 25. Murdoch is, of course, well ill front, and his 294 has been made up by a series of double-figure innings, his highest being his 85 last week for the Australian Eleven. Alick Bannerman and Giffen are together. Aliek’s figures are 15 and 30 not out for Sydney, 38 and 8 for the Combined Team, and 70, 14, and 37 for the Australian Eleven. Massie has lately fallen off considerably, but thanks to fine scores of 56 and 76 for Sydney, and 49 and 22 for the second Combined Team, lie has the re­ spectable average of 29. Giffen’s 95 had a great deal to do with his large average, but his other innings were 30, 2, and 14, and he has played splendid cricket on every occasion. Horan and Blackham, to the former of whom belongs the honour of having made one of the only two cen­ turies against the visitors—both have over 20 averages ; but Boyle. Garrett, Palmer, and Evans have not displayed any very great form with the bat. Looking at the players in the light of these figures I should say that although the English team include* five batsmen that would be fit for almost the best team of England, the Australians are a little stronger in that department. Ill bowling the Englishmen certainly have the advantage. Peate, favoured occasionally by damp wickets, has an average of 16 ; and Bates, who is the best all-round wan in the team, at times proved very dangerous. Shaw did not work himself very much, but he sometimes proved useful in separating the batsmen when well set, and his analysis at Sydney of 116 balls 5 runs 25 maidens and 3 wickets is one of the curiosities of the tour. Midwinter, Peate, and ®ate.s did the lion’s share of the bowling, but TJlyett and Emmett, besides the others named, with Barlow, were always available, and were changed with great judgment by Shaw. Palmer, Garrett, Evans, and Boyle constituted the Australian bowlers, but although they all performed well on a thoroughly dry wicket, they could seldom prevent the Englishmen from reaching the third hundred. Spoffortli only appeared in the last match, but he was then very severely handled, and it is prett'^ clear that on the hard dry Australian wickets he perfectly harmless. Looking at the chances of the Australian Eleven in England I should say that the pick of Australia could defeat Shaw’s Eleven five times out of six ; but at the same time unless the English wickets are most favourable to the Austra­ lian bowling, the best eleven of England will pro­ bably inflict a similar defeat on the Australian Eleven to that recently administered by the Aus­ tralians to Shaw’s Eleven in Sydney. The follow­ ing are the averages referred to above ALL-ENGLAND ELEVEN. BATTING AVERAGES. j Matchs {i. a "3 a t-» | Buns 1 |Most in an Innings Times not out. Ave­ rages G. Ulyett 8 15 557 149 1 — 372 A. Shrewsbury .. 8 13 405 82 2 339 W. Bates 8 14 42J 81 1 32-4 R. G. Barlow 8 15 447 75 1 3113 J. Selby 8 14 363 73 - 2712 W. Scotton 8 18 215 5J* 1 205 E. Peate 8 14 111 33* 1 8 18-13 W. Midwinter 8 13 169 48 — 13 A. Shaw 8 13 141 40 — 1011 T. Emmett 8 13 128 27 — 911 R. Pilling .. 8 14 96 23 4 96 BOWLING AVERAGES. Balls. Buns. Mdns. Wkts. Avrg. E. Peate 2,387 627 297 38 16-19 W. Bates 1,800 565 227 31 18-7 A. Shaw 812 178 130 8 22-2 G. Ulyett 649 293 55 12 24-5 W. Midwinter 1,467 477 160 16 29-13 T. Emmett 668 290 71 9 32-2 It. Barlow 478 175 52 3 58-1 AUSTRALIA. BATTING AVERAGES. Match’ to .9'3 a a 3 P h Most in an Innings X 3 a ° > s> S. Jows 2 4 63 37 3 63 P. S. McDonnell 6 11 383 147 1 38-3 W. L. Murdoch 5 9 294 85 1 36-6 A. Bannerman 4 7 212 70 1 35-2 U. Giffen 4 4 141 95 _ 35-1 H. Massie 5 8 233 76 — 29-1 T. Horan .. 6 11 257 124 1 25-7 J. M. Blackburn 6 10 231 66 — 20-1 G. E. Palmer .. 6 8 113 34 _ 141 W. H. Cooper .. 3 5 29 22* 3 141 G. J. Bonnor .. 2 4 56 30 — 14 H. F. Boyle 6 8 97 43 1 13-6 T. W. Garrett .. 4 6 53 31* 1 10-3 E. Evans 3 4 20 11 _ 5 F. B. Spofforth 1 1 3 3* 1 3 The following played in one match only :—Edwards, 65 and 0; McShane, 22 and 4; Slight, 36; Turner, 21 and 11 not out; Baker, 15 and 14; Minchin, 8 and 0; Allan 2 and 8; Coulthard, 6 not out; C. Bannerman, 28 and 11; D. Gregory, 15 and 0; H. Moses, 5 aud 0 ; J. Davis, 18 not out and 6; Hiddlestone, 3 and 0. BOWLING AVERAGES. A. Bannersnan G. E. Palmer W. II. Cooper T. W. Garrett H. F. Boyle .. S. Jones.. .. E. Evans G. Giffen l'\ R. Spoffortli Balls. Buns. Mdns. Wkts. Avrg. 120 57 12 3 19 2,112 726 210 37 19-23 594 340 37 15 2210 1,327 518 137 23 2212 811 226 108 9 25.1 136 51 16 2 25-1 1,565 394 219 15 26-4 276 108 29 3 36 304 128 17 1 128 The following bowled in only one match:—MeShane, for 53 runs; Allan, 8 for 76; and Hiddlestone, 3 for 75. T he Law Club opened the season on Saturday last With a Club Match on their ground at Willesden Greeii. All their matches this season will be re­ ported i» this Journal exclusively. A F E W H IN T S TO JU N IO R B O W L E R S B y H. F . B oyle . (O f the Australian Eleven) Through the kindness of Mr. H. F. Boyle, we are able to present the following hints to young bowlers. Coming from so practical and experienced a cricketer, they will be read with great interest, and may further be of use to beginners. 1. The ball should be held firm but not tight, between the first and second fingers and the thumb, resting on the fourth finger, which should be par­ tially closed or curved. If held in this manner and delivered with a jerk or sudden turn of the wrist, the ball will break or twist, that is, diverge from its course, consequently be more difficult to play. 2. Determine on what style is most suitable to you, fast, slow or medium, having done so (do not alter or vary your style of delivery) fix upon the height, which in all cases nearly, is on a level or a little higher than the head ; this to a great extent is caused by the level and billard table-like wickets of the present day, also the improvement in batting. The higher the delivery, the more abrupt will be the rise from pitch, causing greater difficulty in playing, also giving the field more chance of a catch. 3. Having determined on style, pace and height (practice only will teach this), next decide upon the distance to run or walk up to the wicket before delivery. For fast bowling, from eight to ten yards will be found sufficient; medium, six to eight; aud for slow, from four to six yards. Of course these distances are not to be considered as fixed rules, the bowler will soon learn which is most suitable and least tiring, the latter being of great importance, for no one can put on the same amount of break or twist when tired or overworked as when fresh. 4. The bowler has now to fix upon which side of the wicket he will bowl from, over or round, the former being preferable on account of the liability to get batsmen leg before wicket. Most bowlers are able to deliver from both sides, which is an advan­ tage, and in many instances irritable to batsmen, if the latter all the more credit to the bowler, who has a better chance of getting a wicket. 5. The body on delivery of the ball should be square with the bowling crease, and as upright as possible. 6. Practice often but not too much at a time, from 25 to 30 balls per day will be quite sufficient for a commencement, and be careful not to bowl when tirqd, for assuredly if you do, it will lead to a care­ less and inaccurate style, probably spoil your chance of improving. 7. Direction will be the first part to learn, this can only be gained by constant practice, theory, of course, being out of the question. 8. Having gained direction, that is being able to bowl tolerably straight, the bowler has to begin his hardest task, viz:—to learn the art of pitching. By pitching I mean the distance the ball shall first strike the ground from a batsman’s reach, so that if he play forward the ball may go over the shoulder of his bat, if he play back it may suddenly rise and he may be caught. Of course, the distance will vary according to the height and reach of the bats­ man, his style of play, pace of ball, height of bowler, height of delivery, and iu some case on the nature of the ground. Too much importance cannot be attached to this part of bowling, for without pitch, no matter how much a ball may break, it is easily played or hit with safety. Therefore cultivate pitch, which having acquired will enable you to drop a ball just where a batsman least likes it, causing him to feel uncom­ fortable, lose confidence, perhaps cramp his play, thereby leading him to commit an error, by either bowling or getting him caught or stumped. The beginner, having acquired direction, pitch and break., must not congratulate himself on being proficient, for, if pitted against a good batsman, be will in all probability find his master. His best deliveries may be played back to him or mid off, or forward for singles ; or the batsman may step out