Cricket 1883

JUNE 7, 1883. CEICKET ; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 153 The abstract and brief chroni< li of the time.— Hamlet. “ B u t , Lord! tliere’s no minding what one hears ; though, to be sure, I had this from very good authority.” Mrs. Candour prattles tliusly in the School fo r Scandal. The lines occurred to me as I saw the name of Mr. C. A. Smith among the bowlers for Cambridge Uni­ versity on Thursday, jiist as I had helped to circulate a report about his probable breakdown for the season. My infor­ mation was of the best, blit the strain does not appear to have been anything like so severe as was at first thought. In any case, everyone will have been pleased to see Mr. Smith so soon again in the field, and the wish will be equally sincere that he will be able to do Cambridge Univer­ sity and Sussex the best of service thougliout the year. A c o k r e s p o x d e n t thinks that the at­ tention of the responsible authorities might well be called to the fact that in the match against the Crystal Palace Club at the Crystal Palace on Saturday last, the Marylebone Club was only represented by seven men, and that these seven did not show up till twelve o ’clock. I quite agree with him that “ this is not business.” T he fluctuations of cricket! In the Midlands, in the three matches they played against Notts, Leicestershire, and Derbyshire, the Surrey eleven were ac countable for an aggregate of 623 for 60 wickets, an average of not 10£ runs for each batsman. At the Oval up to the present time they have totalled 1,025 runs for 23 wickets—avtrage 44 £ runs per wicket. Again the glor—-------but you know what I mean. I k my innocence I was under the im­ pression that the critics would have given Surrey some litt'e credit for their big performance in making 650 against Hampshire, if only because it was the highest score in an English match of public interest. The sapientones, though, many of them, have agreed that it was after all, to use Asa Trencliard’s expres­ sion, “ small potatoes and few in a hill.” Against bowling like that of Hampshire, such was their contention, any eleven could make anything. Yet, if I remem­ ber aright, Sussex were dismissed by a weaker bowling team of Hants for 196, and on Monday at least nine Sussex wickets were got rid of by the very same bow­ ling for 94 at Southampton. Nay, more, if the records are true, in the first mat against Sussex, Mr. II. Armstrong bowled 36 maidens out of 57 overs—not a bad performance on the Brighton ground. Not even their best friends would desire to magnify the value of Surrey’s scoring, but at least it was a feat for which the eleven deserve fair credit. And in justice to the fielding of Hants during a long and trying innings, I would a 'ain repeat that the 513 runs got by Surrey on the second day were made without a catch missed in the field. I t is with deep regret that I have to record the deaths of two fairly well-known amateur players. Old Harrovians espe­ cially will be grieved to hear of the loss of one of their number, the Eev. J. H. Gibbon. He not only played for the School at Lord’s in 1866, but also for Oxford against Cambridge in the follow­ ing year' and was subsequently actively identified with the Free Foresters. Another amateur well - known round London died suddenly last week—A. R. Fellowes; who had for some time past been actively identified with cricket in the neighbourhood of Weybridge. His splendid physique did not prevent him succumbing with awful suddenness to an attack of typhoid fever. N ot a few very noteworthy perform­ ances during the week. On Friday last, in winning the Gloucestershire match for Surrey, Mr. "VV. W . Eead and his namesake Maurice scored 141 runs in 65 minutes, the last 80 of them in less than 35 minutes. For Kent against Lancashire at Manchester, on Monday, Lord Harris aud Mr. R. S. Jones madel66 runs while they were together. An extra­ ordinary feat in the way of run-gettingwas the scoring of Mr. W . H. Fowler and O’ Siiauglinessy, in the match between Marylebone Club and Ground and Sherborne School, at Sherborne on Friday. In 55 minutes these two bats­ men put on 161 runs for no wicket, and with nearly all the hits run out. In a match between the Stygians and Wim­ bledon School, at Wimbledon, yesterday week, Mr. E . J. Diver, who played for Surrey against Hampshire, scored 79, while his partner, Keely, was making two. Q u i t e a Church Congress in the match between Norfolk and Suffolk at Norwich on Thursday and Friday last. On the Suffolk side there was only one clergy­ man, the old Oxonian, Rev. A. G. Lee, but Norfolk had no less than six parsons. Revs. A .C . Davies, A. G. Blytli, C. C. Kennaway, W. B. Weighell, H. Turner and A. P. Wickham. No wonder that the latter were triumphant. T h e following authoritative statement on the subject of Mr. A. P. Lucas, the famous Cambridge batsman, not playing for Surrrey, appeared in some of the daily papers of yesterday :— Mr. Lucas was quite prepared to play for his old county tliis year, had he been asked, but as the Surrey Executive did not offer him a place in any of the first four matches played by the county, and as Middlesex were ready to accept his services on the understanding that he played for them whenever other engagements permitted, he chose to play for the county of his birth. Mr. Lucas thought that otherwise he might not have had any county cricket at all, I am able to state also autlioritavely, that Mr. Lucas was not asked by the Committee of the Surrey County Club to play this season for good and substantial reasons. The personal respect in which Mr. Lucas has been, and is still, held by every class of Surrey cricketers, makes his absence from the eleven the more to be regretted. But I take it that the matter, after all, is simply one of cricket expediency. T h e other day I came across the following remarkable statement in a provincial paper, anent the match between Sheffield and Birmingham. Betts, says the reporter, was then b nvled by Downey, xchosefast shooters had repeatedly struck him on the hands. As a rule the Society papers are not very correct in their views of Cricket. The following remarks, though, in thfc World, are so unexpectedly practical, that I venture to reproduce them in full:— One thing in connection with the Gloucester­ shire Eleven is indisputably brought to light whenever it plays, and that is the still growing popularity of the Graces with the general public. During the course of the season we are fre­ quently treated to disparaging remarks about these gentlemen, which, if worthy the trouble of the search, would, on investigation, be found to emanate from someone afflicted with personal spite, or else with a desire to attract notice by fair means or foul. At Lord’s last week, even amongst such fine bats as the Middlesex Eleven possessed, \V, G. Grace stood out quite alone. Directly he comes to the wickets a new life seems to be infused into the game. Who does not remember (for every one was there) the brilliant beginning of that fatal second innings of England v. Australia last year, when W. G. and Hornby stole runs as merrily as though they were playing “ tip and run ” at school. And (this to slow music) who does not remember the funereal change which came over the scene, and how men walked to the wickets like boys about to be whipped ? When the Grace family are on the scene the public are sure to see cricket played with all the energy that can be put into it. This the public gratefully recognises. * W e have been obliged to hold over several scores owing to insufficiency of space. We shall issue an extra sheet for the future as occasion requires.