Cricket 1882

132 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, JULY 6, 1882. C R I C K E T ! L A W N T E N N I S !! F O O T B A L L ! ! First Prize Medal at Melbourne Exhibition, 1880. JAMES LILLYWHITE, FROWD & CO., Manufacturers of all articles used in the above and other Athletic Sports. Speciality for the highest class Goods. Bats specially seasoned for hot climates. Price Lists and all parti­ culars may be had post free. Shippers supplied at wholesale prices. J. L., F. and Co. are the sole Manufacturers of Frowd’s new patent “ Special Driver ” Bat, which drives better, jars less, and averages ounces lighter than any other Bat; universally allowed to be the greatest improvement made in Bats since cane handles were introduced. Publishers of JAMES LILLY- WHITE’S CRICKETER’S ANNUAL. Manufactory and Ware­ house :—4 and 6, Newington Causeway and 73 and 7it Borough Road, London. C R I C K E T . A W o e l d y R e c o r d of th e G am e , THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1882. “ C r ic k e t ” this week consists of sixteen pages awl a wrapper. This is the second enlargement since the institution of the paper. “ C ricket ” can b e had at W. H. Smith & Son’s Book Stali3. The first number is out of print, but we propose to arrange for a re-issue, if a sufficient number of subscribers can be obtained. Due notice will be given of this. • ^ E ^ ^ v 0 F :g U B g C f ( I P T J 0 N < - “ C r ic k e t ” is published at 17, Paternoster Square, London , E.C., and will beforwarded to any ad­ dress inGreat Britain , for the Seoson of 14 weeks, including piesent issue, for 2/10 in time for first post on Thursday Morning. It is requested that ^ Postal Orders (not Stamps ) be sent for Sub­ scriptions and Scores. They can be made payable to W. R. W right , at the head office, and. crossed London and County, Holborn. ‘ C r ic k e t ” is r e g is te r e d f o r t r a n s m is s io n a b r o a d a n d c a n be s e n t, p o s t f r e e , a t th e r e g u la r n e w s p a p e r r a te s o f p o s t a g e to a n y p a r t o f th e w o r ld . Reading Cases for holding four numbers of ‘ C r icket ” can now be had at the Office, price 2 /-. TO ADVERTISERS. C ricket ” presents an unequalled mediumfor announcements n connection with the game, as the circulation is already in idvance of any neicspaper o f the kind. The scores o f most of the irincipal Clubs will appear exclusively in its columns , and here is already a large number o f subtcribers, including most \f the leading players o f the day. “ C rick e t” will be filed oo for reference in the Pavilions of all the principal Clubs , t nd it will thus appeal directly to every class o f cricketer. A limited number of high-class Advertisements will betaken n terms to be obtained of the Manager. For ordinary Advertisements the charge will je 3/- an inch narrow column. AMATEUBS AND PROFESSIONALS. T h e victory of the Players over tile Gentle- nen at the Oval on Saturday is an event lot without its significance. The fact that ,he representatives of the Amateur element lave only once been beaten in this match on ;he Surrey ground since 1865 would alone •ender the success of the Players worthy of ipecial comment. But apart from this the ■esult of last week’s match suggests some mportant reflections. The poor display of the strong batting team which represented the Gentlemen against the Australians really was hardly to be attributable to any fault of the ground. Such an excuse may have satisfied a few superficial critics, but no such plea could possibly be urged for the second defeat the Gentlemen sustained on the Oval this season. This time there could not be any tangible objection either to the composition of the eleven or to the state of theground. The fast bowlerwhose absence was so properly regretted against the Austra­ lians had been duly secured, and there was certainly nothing in the wicket to prevent the success of the Gentlemen, even when they went in with 238 to win. The loss of such sterling batsmen as Mr. Frank Penn and the Hon. Ivo Bligh just at the present time is, of course, much to be regretted, but it would certainly appear as if the undoubted supremacy so long enjoyed by the Gentle­ men is in danger of being destroyed. The admission that much of the success which has attended them for the last fourteen or fifteen years has been due to the exceptional skill of one phenomenal cricketer is, perhaps, an unpleasant one, but it is none the less a fact. The history of these matches will show how much the Gentle­ men have been indebted to Mr. W . G. Grace. Both in batting and bowling he has been the mainstay of Amateur cricket. He has either broken the bowling of the Players and made it easy for the rest of the team, or if he has failed in this, which has been very seldom, he has been accountable for a large proportion of the Players’ wickets. It was, of Gourse, not to be expected that his extraordinary powers would last for ever, and now that he is a little less reli­ able in scoring, as well as in bowling, Amateur cricket is already beginning to suffer appreciably. It remains to be seen how correct our estimate is, but at the present time it seems as if the relative posi­ tions enjoyed by Amateur and Professional players for some years are about to undergo a change. For a long time their superiority in batting has enabled the Gentlemen to make up for the advantage possessed by their opponents in bowling. In this respect though there is,it must be admitted,now very little disparity. The last two or three yearshave produced a great improvement in the batting of Professional players, and now there is no lack of bowlers who are also reliable bats­ men. Conspicuous instances are easily to be found in Barlow, Barnes, Flowers, Mid­ winter, and Bates—all of them dangerous batsmen as well as effective bowlers. In batting and fielding just now the difference is imperceptible, but in bowling the Players have an immense advantage, and it is open to question whether for many years Amateur bowling has been so weak. There was with the exception of Mr. C. T. Studd hardly a bowler above the average in the two University elevens of this year. At the present time, too, there is not a fast bowler among the Amateurs who can be considered as really rehable. The experience of the match just over at Lord’s is so far satisfactory in that it shows the form of the Gentlemen to be better than their two recent appearances at the Oval would have led any­ one to believe. The incidents of that game though do not affect the basis of our argument that amateur cricket on the whole is not quite so good as it was two or three! years ago. ^ c P 7 I Y m i 0 N : G 0 S £ I P ^ They are the abstracts and brief chronicles of our time.— Hamlet. I t is with the deepest pain that I have to make the admission, but I have, though unwittingly, incurred the displeasure of Mr. W. G. Grace. Though some portions of that gentleman’s remarks are a little personal, I prefer to give his letter in full. This is what the Champion of all the Champions says :—- TO THE EDITOR OP 1‘ CRICKET.” S i r , — Your correspondent under Pavilion Gossip has, I should say, a very small knowledge of cricket, for the fielding of the United Eleven at Chichester was exceptionally good, and not as he styles is loose. You have made the same mistake as other papers in calling the eleven Mr. W . G. Grace’s, at I did not get up the team, and had nothing to d j with it as far as arrangements went. Yours truly, W. G . G r a c e . I h a v e the very greatest respect for Mr. Grace in every condition of life, but I can­ not help thinking that he wants a little of the spirit of humour. If he had read my remarks a little more carefully he would have seen that I myself never expressed an opinion of any kind on the fielding at Chichester. Personally, from actual obser­ vation, I could say nothing of the match, nor indeed, I suppose, could the facetious gentleman who perpetrated the joke at the expense of the United Eleven. It was a poor little attempt at fun, and I am sorry that Mr. Graca should have taken it for a moment in any other light. At the same time, I really think that his grievance lies with the management of the Chichester ground, which did actually advertise the match with the high-sounding title of “ Australians v. England, selected by Mr. W. G. Grace.” Mr. Grace, by the way, adds that he is going himself to get up the United Eleven to oppose the Australians at Tunbridge Wells on August 31 and following days. If so, Murdoch may expect to have it rather warm. A w e e k or two back, in commenting on a feat of Nash’s, the Lancashire bowler, in taking four Somersetshire wickets in an over, I asked for any similar performances jn first-class matches. A correspondent (Mr. R. Green) writes me as follows :—