Cricket 1882

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 16. VOL. I. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY. AUGUST 24, 1882. PRICE 2d. A L E X A N D E R CHAS. B AN N E RM A N . I f the merits of cricketers are to be guaged by their physical advantages, the diminutive player who forms the subject of our sketch should have much the best of the comparison by inches. His elder brother Charles, who is still re­ membered in England from the brilliant play he exhibited with the first Austra­ lian Eleven in 1878, was born in Kent. England, however, cannot claim the Jupp of Australia, as A. C. Bannerman has been termed, for he was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on the 21st March, 1859, and is now consequently well in his twenty-fourth year. He served his apprenticeship with junior teams until 1876, when ne joined the Warwick Club, one of the foremost cricket societies in the Colony of New South Wales. With its first eleven the brothers soon made a hi^h reputation, and it was the connection of the younger with that club that first brought him into prominent notice. Amongst several big innings for the Warwick may be mentioned the performance of the two Bannermans against Sydney, when Alick scored 154 and Charles 150. In the first match A. C. Bannerman took part in, played on the Association ground at Sydney, the leading ground of New South Wales, he was singularly success­ ful, being credited with a fine innings of 169 not out. Though he does not appear to have taken part in an Inter-colonial until the close of 1879, his fame must have been thoroughly established to justify his selection to form one of the first Australian team which visited England in 1878. During that tour he was used to go in first with his brother, to whose free batting his patient style offered a marked contrast, and his right to a place in the team was fully proved by Ms posi­ tion in the batting averages, in which he was only second to his brother. In his first Inter-colonial in 1879, though Mur­ doch, C. Bannerman, Evans, and Massie were on the same side, he was the principal scorer for New South Wales iyith 52 and 18, and it was to his stolid defence that in some measure was to be attributed the defeat of the Victorians by only thirty-three runs. In the next Inter-colonial, a month later, he was the only batsman to get double figures iu each innings, and his all-round cricket at this time was so good that he was one of the first chosen to visit England with the team commanded by Murdoch. In the fifty innings he had in England he made 726 runs for an average of 17.29 (the third on the list), but in the later matches of the team he improved his position materially, and his long score of 103 at Kapunda against Twenty-two of Northern Australia was, with the exception of Murdoch’s memorable 153 not out against England at the Oval, the only innings of three figures during the whole tour. The last season in Australia found him in better form than ever, aud some long scores were attached to his name in connection with the Carlton Club of Sydney. Five times he made over a hun­ dred runs in an innings, and his form in first-class matches was equally good, his record against Shaw’s Eleven especially. His best show was his 70 for the Australian team, but his scoring was very consistent, and in his seven innings he had an aggregate of 212 runs for an average of a little over 35 runs. Considering his size (he is only 5 feet 5 inches, the same height as Briggs, the Lancashire professional), he has few equals as an all-round cricketer. As a batsman ho is gifted with extraordinary patience—with unwearying defence—though not want­ ing in hit on occasions, as he showed in the second innings of Australia against England at the Oval in 1880. He watches the ball very carefully, and is a most difficult wicket to get at any time, as the United Eleven found to their sorrow at Chichester, when he was in all the first day and part of the second, declining to take a liberty of any kind even with Dr. E. M. Grace’s tempting “ lobs.” In the field he has few if any enperiors, and at mid-off is certainly without a rival. The splendid catch with which he disposed of Morley at the Oval in the recent match against tho Players, will not soon be forgotten. His pick up is very smart and clean, and his return to the wicket especially quick as well as accurate. He is, too, a very fair medium pace round-arm bowler, and lins often been found useful as a change when two batsmen have got thoroughly well set. The Australians themselves have a very high opinion of Bannerman’s abilities, and he is without a doubt the keenest cricketer in the team. He is iu the employ of the Civil Service of New South Wales, holding a position in the Government Printing Office at S y d n e y . _______________ O n Saturday, at Clapham Common, in a match, Alberta v. Unity Junior, (Alberta 66 and 39—105; Unity Juniors 79 and 25—104), W. F. Davis took 15 wickets for 24 runs, in second innings taking 7 wickets for 9 runs. S mall S coeinq .— In a match between Manor Park and Alert, on Saturday, the latter, in their second innings, were dismissed for two runs, including one bye. H e r t f o r d s h i r e v . B e d f o r d s h i r e . — Played on Friday and Saturday last at Hitchin. Hertford­ shire won by an innings and 40 runs. Score— Hertfordshire 239 (C. Pigg 88 ); Bedfordshire 90 (H. G. Tylecote 55 not out) and 10.9.