Cricket 1882

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 14. VOL. I. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY. AUGUST 10, 1882. PRICE 2d. P E R C Y S T A N IS L A U S M cD O N N E L L . H ad the Australian Captain been able to collect the team originally intended to visit thi» country, Percy MoDonnell would have been the youngest member of the party. It was only the substitution of S. P. Jones for E. Evans, reputed to be the best all-round player in the Colonies, at the last moment, that de­ prived him of this position. With the exception of Jones, he is the youngest of the thirteen players forming Murdoch’s band. By a popular error McDonnell has been assumed to be Victorian by birth, and indeed the compiler of a pamphlet, purporting to give a full, true, and particular account of the Australian cricketers, has done his best to perpetuate this mistaken notion. As a matter of fact, though, it does not seem to have been generally known to English players that the young Victorian is by the accident of birth a Londoner. He was bom in Kensington, on the 13th of November, 1860, and is consequently still a few months short of the comple­ tion of his twenty-second year. His connection with Victoria began at an early age, and he was only three years old when his parents settled in the now thriving city of Melbourne. He was educated at the Jesuits’ College of Melbourne, and there his fancy for cricket evidently had full encouragement. His aptitude for the game impressed more than one of the members of Mr. W. G. Grace’s team which visited Australia at the end of 1873, and youngster as he was then, only thirteen years old, he must have shown exceptional talent to justify the expectations created in the minds of some of that party. While he was still at college and only fifteen years old he played for the eleven of the Melbourne Club. About this time, too, be acted as captain of the Combined Schools against the Melbourne Club, signalising his occupation of the posi­ tion by defeating an eleven, including such player* as Murdoch, Midwinter, Alexander, Moule and Terry. He had just completed his #ighteenth year when he was chosen torepresent Victoria in the Inter-colonial match in Sydney. On that ocoasion he was unsuccessful with the bat, failing to soore either time, though not out in the second innings; and in his next match of im­ portance, when he represented the Combined Fifteen against the Australian Eleven which visited England, his batting showed precisely the same results. In the opening match at Melbourne of Lord Harris’s Eleven, he played two good innings of 21 and 25, and in the first Inter­ colonial of the same season he confirmed his reputation by an excellent score of 48 against the bowling of Spofforth, Garrett, and Evans. Though ho was as yet only nineteen he was chosen to form one of the second Australian Eleven for England, and as one of that team was a prominent figure during the series of matches played here in 1880. His vigorous batting was indeed one of the most noticeable features of the Australian cricket in that tour, and some of his performances have not been forgotten even now. His scores of 42 and 79 against Gloucestershire were his most successful displays, but he proved his hitting abilities even to greater advantage in the memorable match against England at the Oval, and there are many who can vividly recal the way in which he opened hia shoulders in both innings for his 27 and 43. His success on the oocasion of his first visit was complete, as in the batting t tables ho was second only to Murdoch, with whom indeed he ran a close race. His aggregate in all matches during that tour showed 1,020 runs, and in eleven a-side matches he had. the excellent i] average of twenty-three for eighteen completed innings. Ou his return to 1 Australia his good fortune was even more pronounced, and last season some i large scores were attached to his name. His average for the Melbourne Club was as much as 37, and he could claim the distinction of being the highest run- getter in Victoria, his aggregate showing just on 800 runs. Against Alfred Shaw’s team he was particularly successful, and j came off for the Australian Eleven, in • both matches against the Englishmen,1 scoring 149 in Sydney and 52 in Mel bourne, the former in every way a bril-, liant innings. A severe sunstroke just before leaving Australia prostrated him so utterly that he had to be carried on board the steamer, and it was very doubtful at one time during the passage whether he would ever reach England. He has not even yet quite recovered his strength, but his play during the last few matches has shown marked improve­ ment, and it certainly would appear as if he was leturning to quite his besl form. His best scores up to the present time have been his 82 against Yorkshire, at Middlesborough—a very finely hit innings—his 70 last week against Glou­ cestershire, and his average so far during this tour is over nineteen. When he is in form he is an exceedingly dangerous batsman. He is, perhaps, a little too ready to hit when first going in,but when he gets set he hits with great resolution, and is clean and sharp all round, best,perhaps, on the on side. He is, too, an excellent field, and can bowl at times, though of no great pretensions in this department. McDonnell has an appointment un der Government in the Education Department o) the Civil Service of Victoria. Hia unassuming manners make him a general favourite, and few cricketers are more popular in the Colonies.