Cricket 1882

“ 1 v. ^ether joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— Btjron. Registered, for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY. JULY 6, 1882. p r ic e 2d. j o h n M c C a r t h y b l a c k h a m . Considering his all-round excellence CI4 a. cricketer, it i3 a little surprising that the vriMuA keeper of the Australian team has not had hi J doubted merits more generally extolled, and Spofforth and Massie and Banner- man nave been lauded, and justly so, as in their different ways players of exceptional skill. And yet it is strange that the British public should have, in some small measure, preferred their claims to those of a crickeier like Black­ ham, who in one department of the game has at least no superior, either in England or in the Colonies. John McCarthy Blackham, whose portrait we reproduce through the kindness of the proprietors of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, is a Victorian by birth. He was born at Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne, on the 11th of May, 1855, and has con­ sequently just completed his twenty- seventh j ear. The first club with which he was associated was the Carlton Club of Melbourne, the nursery of many leading Victorian players. It was as a batsman that Blackham was first fancied, and his appearance as a wicket-keeper may perhaps be described as some­ thing of an accident. The effective manner in which he took the ball at practice on the collapse of a scratch match, gave him his first chance as a wicket-keeper for the second eleven of his club. Despite the excellence of his show there, he could not secure a permanent position in the first team, and it was not until his undoubted merits were recognised on the occasion of a Press match in Melbourne, by Mr. John Con­ way, the manager of the first eleven which visited England, that he gut any­ thing of an opening. Indeed it is to Conway’s timely recognition of bis skill with the gloves that Blackham attributes his present fame as a cricketer. A t that time Conway was not only one of the leading players of Victoria, but the captain of the principal club of the Colony, the South Melbourne. As Blackham was not able to secure a place in the first eleven of the Carlton, he readily accepted Conway’s proposal to join the South Mel­ bourne, and it was with that body that he first acquired fame as a wicket-keeper. One of his first games for South Melbourne was in the celebrated “ century” match, and on this occa- still maintains his connection with the South Mel­ bourne Club, and in addition he is undoubtedly, if not the most stylish, one of the most useful batsmen in Victoria. In the last Inter-Colonial at Sydney, he scored 99, and his average for the Australian season just finished exceeded 30 runs. He has been over in England with each of the three Australian elevens, and has always proved himself to be one of the very best players of the party. As a bat he is now more reliable than on either of the two previous visits, and on more than one occasion he has proved himself to be more useful than some of the more fancied batsmen in the team, notably at Nottingham, where his first score of 56 not out on a difficult wicket practically saved his side. That he can field is shown by the fact that in one of the most important matches of last season in Australia, when unable to keep wicket, he gained the trophy for the best fielding of the match. It is as a wicket-keeper though that he will generally be known, and we make bold to say he has not a superior. He stands up without the slightest fear, no matter how fast the bowling. There is no pretence or show about his keeping, but he takes every kind of ball with the greatest ease, and on the leg-side he is surer than any one we have ever seen. A sore throat prevented his taking part in some of the matches of the present tour, and he was very much missed. It was, indeed, the want of a thoroughly good man at the wicket that helped in some small degree to produce the one defeat the present Australian eleven have suffered. Even among the picked players who form that team Blackham can claim to have no superior as an all-round cricketer. To the curious it may be interesting to know that he is 5 feet 9J inches in height, and lOst 121b in weight. M.C.C. and G round v . N orfolk . —Played at Lord's on Thursday and Friday. M.C.C. won by four wickets. M.C.C., 151 and 179 for four wickets (I. D. Walker 74); Norfolk, 132 and 197 (C. J. Jarvis 72.) C leveland v . M aida V ale . — Played at Eton and Middlesex Ground, July 1. Cleveland, 66 ; Maida Vale, 77 for eight wickets. sion he was singularly successful, taking five (wickets in the first and two in the second (innings, besides scoring 65 and 10. This performance so far established his reputation that in 1874 he was selected to represent Victoria against u,‘'j NowSouth Wales, the samematch we believe in which Murdoch (Horan made his first appearance. At .first opinions in Australia were divided as to whether Murdoch or Blackham was the better wicket-keeper. Even on the occasion of the first Australian visit here there were some critics who adjudged Murdoch to be little if at all inferior Blackham’s performances then though soon left no doubt astohis superiority, and for some years he has been universally regarded by Australians as the wicket-keeper of the day. Blackham