Cricket 1882

JULY 13, 1882. CRICKET; A 'WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. - ^ P f l Y m i O p j v G G ^ I P - l ^ They are the abstracts and brief chronicles of our time.— Hamlet. I s e e some of the newspapers are already giving particulars of tlie team wliicli accord­ ing to them is going to visit Australia in the autumn, under the care of the Hon. Ivo Bligh. A reporter nowadays is nothing if he does not anticipate events. He is little if not imaginative, and in this case some one has certainly been drawing on his imagination for his facts. One of these zealous newshunters has found out that Mr. Bligh, who, by the way, every one is rejoiced to hear is regaining his health, will be ac­ companied by Messrs. A. P. Lucas, G. F Vernon, 1C. T. Studd, G. B. Studd, A. G Steel, W . W . Bead, C. F. Leslie, E . F. S. Tylecote, Barnes, Bates, Morley, and Bar- low. The team certainly does credit to the critic’s cliscrimination. I can fancy how some of them would score on the hard and fast Australian wickets. But in reality such announcements are altogether premature. It is not by any means certain that the trip will ever come off. Indeed, from what I hear, there are now grave doubts. A n o t h e r ingenious paragraph manufac­ turer has discovered an extraordinary piece of intelligence, that the possibility of a fourth Australian tea,m to visit England in 1884 is already under discussion* I fancy that if Murdoch were asked his views on the i matter, he would repeat the general opinion of the Colonial press, in commenting on the preparations for the present tour, that some years will elapse before we see another Australian team of cricketers in England. Murdoch, Massie, and Garrett, in any case, would hardly be likely to make the journey again, and unless a chance could be seen of sending an almost entirely new team, the prospects of another visit before at least 1886 or 1887 are very remote. W h e n I heard of Barlow’s extraordinary performance at Nottingham on Saturday, I hardly knew whether to smile or weep. I have in my small way endeavoured to do full justice to a constant succession of sen­ sational performances with bat and ball during the last ten weeks. But Barlow’s last exploit fairly takes my breath away. In the second innings of Lancashire he went in first and carried out his bat, having been in two hours and a half for five. I think that beats the record. Only a week before at the Oval Mr. A. P. Lucas was in an hour for no runs ! When I have my benefit I lion 'both the Amateur and Professional ;e just mentioned will be thoroughly in practice. If so, we shall be pretty sure of a good Saturday afternoon. Now for the other extreme. Three weeks ago I called attention to some fast scoring by two Surrey amateurs—Messrs. W. S. Trollope and N. C. Bailey, who made 160 runs in the hour in a match at Sand­ hurst. On Saturday week two once very prominent amateurs, Messrs. D. Q. Steel and W. S. Patterson, both of whom by the way are ex-captains of UppinghamSchool, did some tall run-getting for Liverpool against j Birkenhead Park. A hundred runs were got in the first forty minutes, and 250 in the two hours. While on the subject of rapid scoring a correspondent asks whether I can remember some extraordinary run-getting of Mr. Hone, the Irish Amateur who accom­ panied Lord Harris’s eleven to Australia in ; 1878. On reference to James Lillywhite’s “ Annual” of 1879, I find that in a match be- j tween Phoenix and Birkenhead Park, on the j latter’s ground on August 20 and 21, 1878,! Mr. Hone himself scored 97runsin less than half an hour. In his 136 were two sevens and two sixes (all run out but one), and only seventeen singles. My informant adds that the bowling and fielding of Birkenhead were very good, and that the batsman gave no chance until he was out. I am not quite certain about this, but I fancy that the last wicket put on nearly 180 runs. T h e presentation of the testimonial sub­ scribed for by Kentish cricketers to Lord Harris is to take place on the St. Lawrence Cricket Ground at 2.30 p.m., on August 9, the Wednesday of the Canterbury week. It is to consist, I learn, of a pair of candelabra of the value of 400 guineas. They are now ;on view at Mr. Burgiss-Brown’s, 18, Week- street, Maidstone, where they are to remain until the 25th, and from that date until August 9 they can be seen at Mr. Mason’s, High-street, Maidstone. The presentation will be made by Lord Darnley, the President of the Kent County Club. Nothing in the shape of a cricket testimonial has ever been more thoroughly deserved; T h e mention of Canterbury reminds me that I have received some information re­ specting “ the we e k ” which may be of interest. As has been already announced, the old programme has undergone a change, and there will only be two instead of three fixtures as heretofore, the first Kent v. the Australians, the second Kent v. Middlesex. A ball will be held on Wednesday as well as Friday, and in addition to the Cavalry Band, the bands of the Boyal Artillery from Wool­ wich and Dover will also be present. The Kentish teams for the two matches will be chosen from the following :—Lord Harris, Hon. Ivo. Bligh, E . F. S. Tylecote, W. H. Patterson, A. Penn, B. S. Jones, W . Foord Kelcey, M. C. Kemp, H. W. Benny-Tailyour, F. A. Mackinnon, C. Wilson, Lord Throwley, G. Hearne, and Wootton. The inhabitants are already bestirring themselves to decorate their houses in honour of the meeting, and every one will echo the hope that the weather will not interfere with the success of one of the most pleasant gatherings of the cricket year. A l i n e for a bowling feat worthy of notice, though in a small match. On Saturday, the 1st, B. P. Burton, playing for the Mansfield Boad club against an eleven of Hucknall Torkard, took two wickets with the first two balls he bowled, three in one over with the second, fourth, and sixth balls, and three wickets from the first three balls of the succeeding over. He dismissed four batsmen with four consecutive balls; and his eight wickets, all clean bowled, were obtained without a run being scored off him. His complete analysis was:— BallsMdns. Runs Wkts. 36 4 i 9 I t a k e the following from the American Cricketer: — “ In a recent match in the Auck­ land Domain, N.Z.; in which Jem Mace was a participant, ‘ tlie Champion of tlie W orld ’ had to be assisted off the field suffering from a severe blow in the abdomen administered by a cricket ball, which Jem ought to have caught.” This surely is the irony of fate. By the way the Cricketer, a most excellent little paper, reproduces a paragraph respecting Justice Bowen, quoting it from the Toronto Mail. The Mail, it may interest the editor of the Cricketer to know, is indebted to the writer of Pavilio'h Gossip for his information. (See No. 4 of C r i c k e t . ) I h a d hoped that Mr. W. G. Grace’s letter, which I published last week about the match between tlie United Elev— I mean ten—- at Chichester, would have demonstrated so clearly my want of knowledge of the game, that I should have been spared any further reference to wliat appears to be rather a sore subject. But unfortunately I have some good-natured friends who will not allow me to be even figuratively sat upon. One of these, who signs himself “ Fairplay,” in a lengthy communication, which I have not the space to insert in full, is a little troubled by Mr. Grace’ s remark, “ The fielding of the United Eleven was excep­ tionally good.” This is how he relieves his mind. “ The only exceptional thing about the fielding, as far as I saw, was the appear­ ance of a fieldsman in black trousers and a black felt hat.” “ Fairplay ” is something of a wag, and I forgive him this once. A p e c u l i a r printer’s error occurred in t paragraph in our paper of last week, relative to the great tennis match of the year ai Lord’s, the result of which C r i c k e t was, ] believe, the first to record. By a curious mistake, the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton was made to beat Mr. J. M. Heath, late th< Champion, instead of Mr. J. M. Heathcote the Champion. The contest was for tin GoldBacquetof the M.C.C.,which practically carries with it the Amateur Championshij of the year. The success of Mr. Lyttelton who is well-known to cricketers as perhaps the best amateur wicket-keeper of the daj was the more noteworthy, in that Mr. Heath cote has held the trophy against all comer since 1867.