Cricket 1883

No. 31. VOL. 2. Rejiskred for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1883. PRICE 2d. W IL L IAM M IDW INTER . T hough Australian by education and associa­ tions, Midwinter, the Sandhurst infant, as he has beendesignated by the humorists of the Colonial press, is an Englishman by birth. His identifi­ cation with the Gloucestershire Eleven was the first evidence that he had any right to a place in English cricket, and we have reason to believe [he discovery that his birthplace was Gloucestershire, was something of a surprise to the managers of that Shire. Midwinter, none the less though, was born in the County of the Graces, and the records show that he first saw the light 1,1 a village near Cirencester, on “Une 19, 1852. At a very early age he •eftEngland for Australia, and it is chiefly Australian cricket that he has been ■'lentified. Midwinter, like Boyle, with whom he has played so often on the cricket fields, both of England and the °l°nies, was, during the early part of his areer, mostly associated with Sandhurst, aVictoria; and, indeed, it was from this ^unection that he gained the soubriquet lbove-mentioned. As far as we can trace, lls first appearance in an Inter*Colonial -■jjntest \sas in March, 1875, at Sydney, . “ match, if we mistake not, in which °hn Conway, the manager of the first ■ jjstralian Eleven, made his debut. 0ugh he was only credited with fifteen out, and eight, he proved to be the n°st successful run-getter on the Vic- °rian side, and ia addition fairly shared .^at bowling honours there were with 5ain Cosstick, taking eight wickets at a °st of 122 runs. He did not help Yic- Jjjy in the next Inter-Colonial, in Dec., and in March, 1876, was only °derately successful, though his score nine entitled him to the position of highest ^ ributor to Victoria’s poor first innings of 37. was not one of the players chosen by (Jonway °rni the first Australian Eleven of 1878, but, aching England about the time of their arri- Was drafted into the team, and played ^n them in the first nine of their fixtures. )at rorm that he had shown in these earlier 1 ches was quite sufficient to prove his all­ round ability, and Mr. W. G. Grace, fully im­ pressed with the value of his services, was loath to see him inseparably attached to the Australian team to the exclusion of his County. The par­ ticulars of his removal from Lord’s, when all ready to go in for the Australians against Mid­ dlesex, to the Oval, to help Gloucestershire against Surrey, will be well remembered. It was this incident, indeed, which produced his severance from the Colonial players, and he was not again invited to help the team under Gregory’s command. A severe injury to his hand, from a hot return of Ulyett, in the first innings of the County against England, at the Oval, in­ capacitated him for all the home fixtures of Gloucestershire except one, and he was only able, during the season, to take part in seven out of thirteen matches His first year for the County was not attended with any extraordinary success, but the following season found him well to the fore, both in the batting as well as the bowling tables, and, after Mr. W. G. Grace, he was the best all-round cricketer of the year in Gloucestershire. He helped the South against the North, a the in Oval, 1879, and with some success, at least with the ball, taking six wickets at a cost of only 22 runs. This season, too, found him engaged as one of the ground staff at Lord’s, but he hardly came up to expectations, and it was not until the fol­ lowing year that he began to make a real name in English cricket. His first three- figure innings in England was his 103 against Surrey, at Cheltenham, in August-, 1880, and Mr. W. G. Grace and he fairly divided the Gloucestershirewickets, taking 117 out of 166, and at a very similar cost. During the winter of 1880 Midwinter paid a flying visit to Australia, and there he showed excellent cricket in some of the most important contests. On his return he was selected, in some measure perhaps on the form of his Colonial performances, to help the Players against the Gentle­ men, both at Lord’s and the Oval, and throughout the season of 1881 proved to be one of the best all-round English players, even though he failed to accom­ plish any very striking feats. By far his most successful saason in England was that of 1882, and on several occasions his hitting powers were fully demonstrated. For M.C.C. and Ground against Derby­ shire he scored four more in his one in­ nings of 137 than tlie County Eleven in their two attempts, and thrice more he was credited with innings of over three figures. His performance in the match between M.C.C. and Ground and Leicester­ shire, at Lord’s, will be well remembered by many. To those not so well read in cricket lore we may recall how Midwinter and Barnes raised the Marylebone score from 19 for two to 473 for three wickets, thus adding 454 runs while they were together. Though selected to represent the Players at the Oval, he did not take part in the same match at Lord’s, and, indeed, he severed his connection with the Marylebone club rather unexpectedly in the middle gf the season. Re- “ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron.