Cricket 1882

JUNE 15, 1882. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 85 ^ c P ^ Y I I i I 0 N v 6 0 3 ^ I P ^ They are the abstracts and brief chronicles of our time.— Hamlet. D u r i n g the five weeks that we— you and I, gentle reader—have been acquainted, we have had so much, I hope, in the way of cheery gossip that it pains me to have to allude to one disagreeable subject in connec­ tion with cricket since we last met. Need it be said that I refer to the unpleasantness which marked some part of the proceedings in the Australian match at Nottingham on Thursday. I t would have been better, as many think, had the whole affair been kept within the bounds of the Trent Bridge ground, and it certainly was not the best of judgment on the part of the county authorities to make it public property. The absence of any pro­ vision at the luncheon tables for the Austra­ lian players showed faulty management and an apparent lack of hospitality which every­ one will regret, but after all the colonial team were not worse treated that are English amateurs generally on county grounds. Everyone will regret that there was even the semblance of neglect to Murdoch and his comrades, but any one who knows much ahout the catering arrangements for cricket matches will bear me out that as a rule amateurs have to scramble for their luncheon on the majority of English grounds and almost to fight for a place at the tables with the general public. That such should be the case is a reflection I know on our management, but that it is so is unquestionable, and the way in which amateurs are neglected is, as a rule, a disgrace to many of our clubs whose guests they are. That there was a reprehensible want of care in providing necessary accom­ modation for the Australians will be admitted. At the same time the disposition of their Captain to regard it as a deliberate insult would appear to be unworthy of a man of the world as Murdoch must be, un­ less there was more in the case than is set forth in the official explanation of the Notts Committee. T he other question of the roller is such a mighty one that I feel utterly unable to treat it with becoming awe. I am personally most desirous of giving it all the importance it deserves, but the idea of Capt. Holden, representing the majesty of the law of Notts, the terror of thelawless“ larrikin,” the autocrat of Trent Bridge, being ordered off the middle of the enclosure he rules with such severity is really too much for my nerves. It would be a sight to make the angels weep. As an historical cricket tableau it would be immense. T h e Australians might well have accepted the invitation of Mr. William Wright, whom I know well as a thoroughly good sportsman, to dine with him on the second day, and their dignity would not have been compromised. The only humorous feature of this particular phase of the dispute is the difference of opinion between Murdoch and the Committee on the question of this same invitation. The Committee say that the Australian captain declined it. Not so says Murdoch: “ I begged to be allowed to ex­ cuse myself.” Is not this the same fine distinction that is said to exist between tweedledum and tweedledee ? W hile on the subject of historical tableaux there is another that occurs to me in con­ nection with this same business. I would respectfully suggest to Bonnor, who does seem to have been badly treated if the report in the Nottingham Express is correct, the chorus in H.M.S. Pinafore :— “ In spite of all temptations To belong to other nations He is an Englishman.” I know for a fact that Bonnor is proud of his English connections, and I believe he is thoroughly English in heart. No one will for a moment excuse any sort of slight to the Australian players, and if the account given by the Australian Secre­ tary, who is himself a good fellow and certainly not of a meddling character, is correct they certainly were treated dis­ courteously. But are they not themselves hyper-sensitive, a little too ready to take offence; A slight sprinkling of the suaviter in modo might, perhaps, be infused into their general proceedings with advantage. L ast week I called attention to the highest score of the season— the 802 made by Mr. F. M. Lucas for Horsham v. Stor- rington on June 3. Since that time I am glad to see that Mr. Lucas, who is, I believe, a cousin of A. P. of Surrey fame, and who has been tried more than once for his Uni­ versity, figures among those who have just qualified for mathematical honours at Cambridge. M ore anent the great run-getting perfor­ mance of Barnes and Midwinter in the recent match between Marylebone Club and Ground v. Leicestershire at Lord’s. A cor­ respondent, in reply to my inquiry as to the best previous feat of the kind, is good enough to call to my notice an achievement as late as last year which far eclipses that of Messrs; G. F. Grace and I. D. Walker in 1870. He alludes to the 404 made by the two old Etonians—Mr. W. F. Forbes and Lord Throwley— while together for Mr. A . E . Fellowes’s XI. v. Huntingdonshire on July 10th. I ought to have remembered it. None the less, J. M., I thank thee. T he ground at Bickley Park has always had a great reputation for its run-getting properties, but its record on Saturday las) was really extraordinary. The score of the match between the home club and the Incogniti will be found elsewhere I believe.; but I am indebted to one of the Bickley team for some interesting particulars respecting it. A commencement was delayed owing tcj rain till 12.30, and play was stopped again at; 1.30 for an hour. Stumps were drawn aft 6.30, so that Bickley scored 420 runs for thmj wickets in just five hours. Not a bad perj formance on a slow ground ! “ W here all did well it is almost invidi; ous to particularise.” Friend of my youthj companion of my riper years, and solace O’ my old age, I am pleased to see you one* more. I have met the familiar sentence many a time and oft in athletic report: of every kind, but I had missed yoif for a few days and I had feared tliaf. you had passed away to a better world? Cricketers have to thank the Sportsman o:\ Monday last for your reappearance in <1 graphic account of the third day’s play between Middlesex and Yorkshire. I am not going to repeat the trite saying1 about cricket and its eccentricities, for thes<j are of daily occurrence. The performanc| though of the Cambridge eleven against L an 1 cashire on Monday, more especially after thei run-getting against the Australians, deserve^, more than passing notice. It is not oftei. that seven wickets are down for nine runs ii a good match, and it is open to questioi whether a University eleven has evergainei1! this distinction before. In 1879 Notts go, Derbyshire out for 16, and in the following year Surrey were also dismissed by tli! Nottingham eleven for the same total, W in both of these the total was more thai that of Cambridge at the fall of the seventl wicket. But even this record of the Caiv tabs pales before that of M.C.C. and Ground against Surrey at Lord’s in 1871, whel seven wickets, inc’ uding that of Mr. W . G' Grace, were down for no runs. A t the request of the Secretary of th| Marylebone Club, I am pleased to gblj publicity to another statement respectin' “ the cricket scandal in Australia.” Alfre( Shaw’s denial is naturally of such impoi§ tance that I can only repeat my regret a its late appearance. We, the undersigned, wish to state, with regar : to the so-called cricket scandal in Australia, thd we emphatically deny that there is any truth it! the rumour that either we, or, as far as we knov!^ any other member of the team, were offered#; bribe to lose any of the Australian matches, nc^ did we hear any such report until after our arrival in England. (Signed) A lfred S h a w , Captain. |. J ohn S e lby . The above statement was to-day voluntaril tendered by Shaw and Selby iu person to tli1* M.C.C. Committee in this their first appearance ci Lord’s Ground this season. Lord’s, Jnne 12.