Cricket 1882

148 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. JULY 13, 1882. W 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 pi'ices. J. L., F. and Co. are the sole Manufacturers of Frowd’s new patent “ Special Driver ” Bat, which drives better, jars less, and averages 1^ ouuces lighter than any other B at; universally allowed to be the greatest improvement made in Bats since cane handles wero introduced. Publishers of JAMES LILLY­ WH ITE’S CRICKETER’S ANNUAL. Manufactory and Ware­ house 4 and 6, Newington Causeway and 78 aud *74, Borough (Boad, London. : e ' C R I C K E T . I A W e e k l y R e c o r d o f t l i e G am e - THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1882. m seia |‘ C r ic k e t ” this week consists of sixteen pages and a wrapper. This is the second enlargement since the institution of the paper. I “ C r i c k p t ” can b e had at W. H. Smith & Son’s book Stalia. * The first and second numbers are out of print. T H E A U S T R A L I A N CR I CKE T E R S . i No. 11 of “ C r ic k e t ,” to be published next Thurs­ day morning, will contain a portrait and biography ,>f G. Giffen, the Australian cricketer. Each lOllowing number will contain a portrait and oiography of a member of the Australian Team. j ^¥EI^:-0F:£aBgCRIP^JON* C r ic k e t ” is published at 17, Paternoster Square, ? London, E.C., and will be forwarded to any ad- dress inGreat Britain, for the Season of 13 weeks, /. including pi esent issue, for 2/8 in time for first ;l post on Thursday Morning. It is requested that ’ Postal Orders (not Stamps) be sent for Sub- j' scriptions and Scores. They can be made j ; payable to W . E . W r i g h t , at the head office, and crossed London and County, Holborn. [ ‘ C ricket ” is registered f o r transm ission abroad i and can be sent, post free, at the regular newspaper rates o f postage to a n y p a rt o f I, the world. ] Beading Cases for holding four numbers of ‘ C r ic k e t ” can now be had at the Office, price 2/-. TO ADVERTISERS. / C r ick et" presents an unequalled mediumfo r announcements a n connection with the game , as the circulation is already in dvance o f any newspaper o f the kind. The scores of most o f the t'rmcipal Clubs will appear exclusively in its columns, and .here is already a large number o f subscribers, including most the leading players of the day. “ C r ic k e t ” will be filed j; 70 for reference in the Pavilions of all the principal Clubs, ,y nd it will thus appeal directly to every class o f cricketer. 5 A limited number o f high-class Advertisements will be taken |n terms to be obtained o f the Manager. For ordinary Advertisements the charge will >e 31- an inch narrow column. A GROWING EVIL . A C o r r e s p o n d e n t , under the signature of c;‘ A Keen Cricketer,” in a letter published 3,in our paper of last week, pointed out a few ' ’f the many abuses which have of late been iallowed to creep into a certain class of i ricket. His remarks fairly represented the sentiments of hundreds who regard with disfavour an evident tendency among a sec­ tion of the modern school of players to reduce the practice of the game to a mere question of self convenience. The selfish cricketer is not, it must be confessed, a person of altogether recent growth. Many causes have no doubt tended towards the development of the species, but there can be little doubt about its origin. Its pro­ duction was coeval with the first issue of the average tables. A few years ago, and the records of the season were confined to the principal batsmen and bowlers. Un­ happily these are altogether insufficient, and they are now supplemented by the most elaborate statistics, giving the minutest details of every individual performance, no matter its quality. In many cases no dis­ tinction is made in the enumeration of exceptional feats with regard to the condi­ tions under which they are performed, and a batsman who can get a hundred or do the hat trick in a small school game figures as prominently in the register of the season as his far more capable fellow who makes the score or bowls the same number of wickets in one of the most important matches at Lord’s or the Oval. We may dislike the system of averages, but at the same time we can hardly remedy it. The princi­ ple which encourages a batsman to consider his own runs first, which tempts a bowler with the cheap glory of a long sequence of maiden overs, is no doubt a wrong one, but we fear that no expression of dissatisfaction from us will effect a change. The vanity which is satisfied with the publicity of a place in the chief batting and bowling records of the year is, after all, of a harm­ less kind, and will do no serious mischief. The cricketer who has no other thought than his average is a bore, but he is harmless by comparison with the insufferable nuisance who wants to catch a train or cannot get on the ground before noon. At the present time there is, among a certain class of cricketers, a want of thoroughness which, if encouraged, may even in the short future do a serious wrong to the game. In a neat little speecli on the occasion of the presenta­ tion of Mr. W. G. Grace’s testimonial, Lord Charles Russell only did justice to the greatest cricketer of the age when he attributed his extraordinary success to the thoroughness with which he entered into the game. From the first to the last ball of a match he was always working hard fo r his side, and no one could tell whether he was losing or winning. There are others on whom the same compliment might equally be passed, but it is to be feared that they are rather the exception than the rule. We maybe hypercritical, But it seems to us as if the disposition to play at cricket is very much on the increase. Our correspondent writes feelingly of the injury that is done to the game by two classes of selfish cricketers. Those who have much to do with one-day matches have reason to know to their cost the man who invariably comes down late as well as him who is engaged the whole of the afternoon in scheming for the best means of catching an early train home. It is not that business prevents the one getting down in time for the start any more than that there is any real reason for the other’s de­ parture before the completion of the day. It is often mere laziness in getting out of bed that explains the failure to turn up at the appointed time in the one case, in the other it is nothing more than a desire to be back in time for dinner. Arguments are fairly wasted on players so utterly lost to all sports­ manlike feelings. It is fortunate that this genus is almost unknown in first-class cricket, though instances might easily be cited of the same kind even there. It would not be difficult to name more than one amateur who prefers the attractions of what we may call five o ’clock te^ matches to the real sport of batting againslrthe best bowlers or bowling against the most skilled batsmen. The un­ easiness of some players at times when even an important fixture is prolonged beyond the Friday night, at the expense, perhaps, of a festive Saturday’s match, is not always thoroughly hid ; but after all a cricketer has a perfect right to select his own matches, and his selection can only be criticised as a matter of taste. But with the players who leave their side to tlioir own devices for an hour or two either at the commencement or the conclusion of the day, the case is alto­ gether different. They are altogether unworthy of a moment’s consideration, and it is the fault of the captains of elevens if the race does not soon becomes extinct. If cricket is worth playing at all it should be played in earnest. It is a game that should be carried out strictly according to rules or not at all. The cricketer who is in the habit of coming down lata or going away early should be subj ected to the Irish system of Boycotting. If captains deliberately refused to allow places in their teams to offenders of this kind, however marked their cricket ability, they would cease to exist, and the game would be benefitedmaterially. The necessity of some severe treatment, is evi­ dent, and the longer the sentence is deferred, the greater will be the difficulty of providing an immediate remedy. O rleans C lur v . W ill o’ the W isps .— Played at the Orleans Club on Saturday. Score :—Orleans, 141 ; Will o’ the Wisps, 98. E ton C ollege v . I Z in gari .— Played at Eton on Saturday. Eton College, 126 (J. Hargreaves 26); I Zingari, 208 (S. W. Gore 54.) T he C anadian C ric k e t F ie l d . — A weekly Record and Review of Canadian Cricket. Published every Wednesday during season except May and September, when there will be only two issues. Advertisements and Subscriptions will be recei, ’ at the office of “ C ricket ,” the London Agency Advt. C ricket .— A song, written and composed by J. H. Smith, and dedicated_to A . N. Hornby, Esq. “ It will be welcomed heartily by all lovers of the manly and truly national British game.”— Era. Post free, 18stamps, of the hor, 22,Clifton-street, W olverh a m p ton .— [A d v t .]