Cricket 1882

SEPT. 28,1882. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 31: tion. The eagle has only Been killed by a feather from its own wing. B ret H arte was evidently thinking of one of the Australians when he wrote these lines. Was it Spofforth ? 11 Oh, say have you seen, at the willows so green, So charming and rurally true, A singular bird, with a manner absurd, Which they call the Australian Emeu. Have you Ever seen this Australian Emeu ? ” Refrain— That long-legged Emeu. [Is this emeusing ? — E d .] T his evening the Australian cricketers are to be entertained at a banquet at the Criterion by the principal Colonists resident in London. There is something very appropriate in the selection of the Criterion. It is in tho fitness of things that Spiers and Pond should be the purveyors for this occasion, as it was that now world-renowned firm who were the promoters of the first visit of English cricketers to Australia, of which I have already spoken. According to all accounts the banquet will be on a large scale—everything in connection with Australia, by-the-way, is on a large scale— and there will be a large muster. Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., a former Governor of Victoria, will preside. T o - mobrow night the team leave London for Liverpool, at which port they embark on Saturday in the Greyhound of the Atlantic, the Alaska, for New York, the first stage on their homeward journey via San Erancisco. Taken all in all, their trip has been a very satisfactory one, financially as well as in its main object, the display of good cricket. They have worked well together, harmoniously and unselfishly, with the one aim of maintaining the repu­ tation of Colonial cricket, and their success has been very marked. Englishmen gener­ ally will be to their faults a little blind, to their virtues ever kind. For myself I wish them heartily the best of luck. To use the toast of Rip Yan Winkle, “ Here’s your good healths, your wives and your families; may they all live long and prosper.” It is instructive in its way to estimate the rapidity with which news travels, more especially when it soars beyond the regions of truth. The ordinary sporting writer is a very prosaic person, not given to reckless assertion; happiest, perhaps, when he has a acing calendar ora score card to workupon. There are some, though, in whom discretion is less marked, and the flights they take at times are very dangerous. A fortnight ago the special correspondent of the Sportsman now on his way to Australia with the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team, hinted that there was a likelihood that Mr. I. D. Walker might be induced to take the place of Mr. M. P. Lucas, who was obliged at the last moment to give up all idea of fulfilling his engage­ ment as one of the team. So far there was little harm done. Las Saturday, though, another ingenious writer in the same paper had so far improved on the rumour as not only to announce Mr. Walker’s definite intention to go, but to analyse his claims to a place in the team. With a charming unanimity the whole provincial press has helped to disseminate the report of the Middlesex Captain’s de­ parture from England. As I stated, though, in last week’s C ricket , it has never been his intention to make one of the party. The policy of making such positive announce­ ments without taking the slightest trouble to verify their accuracy is surely open to question. W h ile on the subject of this same English trip to Australia, there seems to be in certain papers a rather hazy idea as to the identity of some members of the team. It is not, I may state, M. Read, the Surrey professional, but Mr. W. W . Read, the amateur, who is on his way to the Colonies. There are eight amateurs and four professors now in the party. The former consist of the Hon. Ivo Bligh, Messrs. C. T. Studd, G. B. Studd, G. F. Yernon, A. G. Steel, C. F. Leslie, W . W. Read, and E. F. Tylecote. The professionals are Barlow, Bates, Barnes, and Morley. The amateurs, by an arrangement with the Melbourne Club, the promoters of the tour, have their expenses provided; the four professionals in addition receive a sum of money. How the marriage bells have been ringing for cricketers recently. Last week I called attention to important announcements affecting the condition of Messrs. R. Howell and C. C. Mackarness, both of them in their time good football players as well as cricketers. Here is another notice, taken from the Daily News of Thursday:— September 20, at the Church of St. Joseph’s Retreat, Highgate, Augustus F. Justice Ford, third son of the late William Augustus Ford, of Sussex- square, Hyde Park, to Etheldreda Mary, eldest daughter of William Henry Smith, of Harley, Chislehurst. It is, I hope, no breach of confidence to say that Mr. John Shuter is also to be married next month. Every one who knows the popular captain o f the Surrey eleven will wish him long life and happiness. “ T hat jolly little paper, C ricket .” There are many, I hope, who echo the kindly sentiment of “ The American Cricketer.” I t will interest northern cricketers generally to know that the Derbyshire Committee intend to arrange a match at Derby next year for the benefit of their trusty professional, William Mycroft. Con­ sidering what the burly bowler has done for the county, it ought to be a good one. The fixture, it is hoped, will be North against South. W hy will writers persist in propoundi: the erroneous theory that a batsman cann be given out l b w to a bowler bowlii round the wicket. The author of a rece leader in the Daily Telegraph, criticisii the suggestions of certain reformers { altering the game, adopts what I had hop was almost an exploded notion. “ W i round-arm bowling,” he says, “ experimeii have shown that it is almost impossible f a batsman to be out leg-before if tl bowler is bowling round the wicket.” A most impossible, is it? I had intendi to publish a diagram this week, to she the fallacy of such arguments. Unfort!' nately, though, the heavy pressure on a la number necessitates its postponement for< more convenient season. O ne last noteworthy piece of bowlii before we part. On the 20th inst. Mr. E . Diver, playing for the Stygians on the scho ground at Charterhouse-square, took i ten wickets of the Merchant Taylor’s elevei He clean bowled eight of them. , So far we have news of the Hon. L Bligh and his Anglo-Australian team up • Tuesday last. A telegram from the speci, correspondent of the Sportsman announci the arrival of the Peshawur, with Messr Bligh, Steel, Tylecote, Read, C. T. Studi and Barnes and Morley, atPort Said on th: day. “ O ur revels now are ended,” to quote froi the Tempest. The stage has to be cleare for the rehearsal of the great drams F ootball , to which with all fitting modest I request your earnest attention. For som five months you and I , most patient readej have babbled of green fields pleasantly, a well as to our mutual advantage and in struetion, I trust. To our next merr meeting th en ! L ord ' s G rou nd v . S ussex C ounty G rou nd .- Played at Brighton on Monday and Tuesday. Th home team -won by seven wickets; Sussex, 144 (U H. Dudney, 59) and 32 for three wickets ; Lord’s 27 and 147 (G . G . Hearne, 71). In the first inning of Lord’s,Seneschal (fast round) took nine of the te wickets,the other batsman beingrun out. His analysis was nine overs and two balls for five runs and nin- wickets. S p y bey ’s R e q is t e r o f N ottin gh a m C k ic k e t .-’ Now ready? A most interesting record of tho County doings in 1882; Fullscores, analyses averages, and other particulars. 6Jd., post free* Published by F. G. Spybey, 43, Long Rowi Nottingham. London Agents, “ Cricket Press,” 17 Paternoster Square, E.C.— [A d v t.] Mr. C . F. C lark , playing at Peckham Rye forth* Lansdowne C.C. against the St. Mark’s C.C. ol Saturday, September 16, bowled 24 balls for onu run and four wickets (all clean bowled.) T h e T h ir d A u s tr a lia n Team in E n g la n d .— Full account of the tour, with scores, averages, results, and portraits and biographies of the four­ teen members of the party, will be published early in October at the Office of C r ic k e t , 17, Paternoster square, London, E.C., price 6d,