Cricket 1882

JUNE 29, 1882. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. i d ; n only ones who figured at the Oval last week, but no less than seven of the Australians took part in both matches, to wit, Murdoch, Bannerman, Spofforth, Garrett, Horan, Blackham, and Boyle. So much ink has been slung by capable as well as incapable writers with a view to account for the defeat of the Gentlemen, that my remarks will be brief. So much trouble has been taken to explain the ill success of our eleven, that it would perhaps be presump­ tion of me to point out that one very important factor in the result seems to have been utterly ignored. Qui s'excuse s’accuse is an old axiom. No doubt the worthypeople who attribute the collapse of the Gentlemen to the worn wicket, who cry so lustily about the want of a fast bowler, may all be perfectly correct intlieirpremises. With such plausible excuses it may be unbecoming of me to suggest that the Australian team had something, no doubt very very little, but still something to do, with the poor show of a picked eleven of English amateurs. I t may be satisfactory to a few ta hug to themselves the small consolation that the wicket was worn, or that the team was ill chosen, but the public generally I fancy will be agreed that the Australians won by sheer good cricket, and that on the form of this match they were infinitely superior in batting, bowling, and fielding. Granted that they had the best of the wicket, this is one of the fortunes of the game. Granted that the English team might have been improved by the presence of a fast bowler, it may equally be pleaded that what bowling there was might have been better utilized, and that it was as much mistakes in the field as the want of a fast bowler that raised the Australian score to 334. And granted, for the sake of argument, that the wicket was worn, the wioket could in no way be accountable for the very feeble display of batting which marked some periods of the Gentlemen’s second innings on Saturday. As I think over the tameness of some of the batting at the close of the match, I recall Hamlet’s words:— Auil the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale east of thought ; And enterprises of great pith and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. No one believes that it was the right form of many of the English team, but there it was. ’Tistrue, ’tis true ’tis pity, and pity ’tis ’tis true. for this purpose than to alter their fixture on July 10 with the Marylebone Eleven, whom they are most anxious to meet. A s u g g e s t i o n lias already appeared that ft return match should be played with a view to give the Gentlemen a chance of retrieving their laurels. Everyone would-be delighted to hear of this second meeting, and I feel sure that the Australians would only be too pleased to meet their opponents of last week a second time, but they are more likely to throw up one of their later matches B e f o r e leaving this rather unpleasant subject of the Australian match it may be interesting to know that Mr. R. C. Bamsay, who took Mr. Evans’s place and at Cam­ bridge contributed so materially to the one reverse of the Colonial team, is himself an Australian. He was born in Queensland. I f what the Limerick Chronicle says is true, Irish cricket is likely to be placed in the same position as hunting in the Green Isle. According to that journal the local authorities have received intimation that it is the intention of certain evil-disposed persons to destroy the grounds of the County Limerick Cricket Club and Lawn Tennis Club. Such a purposeless scheme is almost incredible. A f e w details with regard to the principal members of the Australian team tip to and including their victory of Saturday last may be interesting. They have played 11 matches, winning seven, losing one, and drawing three. They beat Oxford, Sussex, Surrey, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Gentlemen of England, lost with Cam­ bridge, and drew with Yorkshire, Notting­ hamshire, and the Orleans Club. The biggest innings of the side has been 643 against Sussex, and the smallest 75 against Orleans, while the highest innings hit against them was 271 by the same Club, and the lowest 48 by Surrey. Murdoch has made 863 runs in 16 completed innings, averaging 53.15 runs per innings. Massie has scored 621 runs in 17 innings, averaging 36.9. Black­ ham, 211 runs in 9 innings—an average of 23-1. Bannerman has scored 417 runs in 17 innings—an average of 24.19. Giffen, 336 in 15 innings, average 22.6; Horan, 219 runs in 11 innings, averaging 19.10 ; Bonnor, 222 in 9 innings, average 24.6. In bowling Palmer has taken 57 wickets for 879 runs, average 15.34 ; Spof­ forth 43 wickets for 772 runs, average 17.41 ; Garrett 81 wickets for 507 runs, average 16.11; Boyle, 25 wickets for 346 runs, average 13.21 ; and Giffen, 28 wickets for 385 runs, averaging 13.21. W h a t I hear, in brief.—That Midwinter has suddenly given up his engagement with the Marylebone Club, and leaves England in September for Australia “ for good.” That there is a chance of the Australians meeting Shaw’s Eleven in September in London. That the match between the Australian team and Northumberland is likely to be altered to Australians v. North of England. That Mr. J. H. Spencer’s 185 for the Phcenix Club against the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin on Tuesday last is the biggest in­ dividual score made in Ireland this season. W hat a flutter the election to the City p ; * i u ’ • i ! i Bemembrancership caused recently amor 1/ cricketers. Not to mention Mr. E . if Craigie, who was in his day a good perforn! • at Harrow, there were two other candid: well known in different ways to cricketil. { The one was Mr. William Yardley, a :•*'/ years ago one of the very best amateur bt jtfjf men, whose 130 in 1872 is the high? recorded innings in Inter-Univers matches ; the other Mr. E . C. Willough’ whose chief claim to distinction rests on desire to pose as an obstructionist. Me1 bers of the Marylebone Club will rememl well his interesting dissertations at the ann]| ; , meetings on the lavish expenditure of tr. >1 management in soap and brushes. It ghj* ; ; the writer of these notes great pleasure think that the choice of the civic authorit should have fallen on Mr. G. P. Goldnt an old school-fellow. All “ Benites” of 1 time will be glad to hear of his success. --------- ' l i : A c o r r e s p o n d e n t is good enough to se: ; me particulars of what he justly descril i as a novel cricket match, to take place fji ( Nottingham on Saturday next. The fixtu is between the Town Clerk’s Eleven and , James01dknow’sEleven,andthe proceeds a to be given to the Nottingham hospital j The sides are to consist of Aldermen, T ow ,1 Councillors, and other civic magnates, aii my informant states that he believes that costume de rigueur is to be worn, in the sliaj of tall hats, white waistcoats, and blact jl trousers. To add to the novelty of tl entertainment, Sir Henry Bromley and Caj tain Holden are to officiate as umpires, shall be curious to see whether the captaiy £ will carry out, in its integrity, the first pai s of Rule X XXV II., which declares that t t umpires shall pitch fair wickets. It may b! as well to remind the Town Councillor^ that they had better bring their own lun) cheons. I h a v e heard many an ingenious explana : tion of the causes which have conduced to t batsman’s downfall. None though can clain the simplicity of Morley’s reply as to the character of tlie ball which bowled him in tin match with the Australians on the Trent Bridge ground at Nottingham. This is Morley’s account of the ba ll: “ It beat me ir the pitch, it beat me in the pace, and i/ beat me in the fiiijlit.” L ast week,commenting on somesensationa scoring by Messrs. Trollope and Bailey for Streatham Club at Sandhurst, I asked for. the best performance of the kind. In reply a valued correspondent recals a feat per­ formed for West Kent against the Royal Artillery at Chislehurst on July 21, 1877, by Messrs. F . Penn and C. C. Parr. The ' gunners concluded their innings a few \ minutes after 5 o’clock for 353. West Kent went in at 5.15, and after losing Mr. Robertson for none, Messrs. Penn and Pan- scored 206 for one wicket by 6.30 (75 minutes), the former 101 not out, the latter