Cricket 1883

14 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. f e b . ie, leas. theless liave been taken. ‘Tylecote had then made 33, and; without adding to his score, he was bowled by a beautiful ball from Palmer. Vernon was last man and 55 runs still wanted to save the follow on; 21 only of these were obtained, and with the total at 177 Palmer bowled Barnes’s middle stump clean out of the ground with a ball, which the batsman declares broke a foot from the off. Three Australian trundlers were made use of during this innings, viz., Palmer, Spofforth, and Garrett. The former has seldom appeared to greater advantage, the rest he has enjoyed for some time past having evidently been beneficial. "His bowling was ex­ cellent, and the difficulty with which it was played, is made manifest by the fact that five out of the seven wickets he obtained were bowled, one being caught and one stumped. The fielding of the Australians taken all round, was good./ Bonnor, however, shows to more advantage in the out-field than in the slips, where he let several balls get past him. M‘Donnell was also somewhat weak in this department. The miss which gave Bates a life was a bad one, and might have proved most expensive. Of Spofforth it may be said that when it is his “ day out ’’-and the wicket at all difficult, the best of batsmen cajlJWb pl^y him, but he also goes to the other extreme, and bowls trash. January 1st, 18.83., was certainly not the “ demon’s “ day,out,” With 114 to the bad the English Ele^eh followed on, and at ten minutes to six o’clock Tylecote and Barlow went to the wickets, and when the stumps were drawn ten minutes later,'eleven runs had been put together without the loss of a wicket. . The game was resumed at twelve o’clock on Tuesday, January 2nd. The , attendance was again large, it being estimated that 16,000 spec­ tators were on the ground during the afternoon. Tylecote and Barlow resumed batting to the bowling of Spofforth and Palmer. The score mounted steadily, both batsmen playing with caution. When 54 had been reached, Giffen, who bowled for the first time during the match, relieved Palmer, who had been bowling from the commencement without a rest. With 67 on the board, Tylecote played on to Spofforth and re­ tired, having exhibited excellent cricket for his score of 38. C. T. Studd followed, and at 74 Giffen, not proving successful, gave place to Palmer. With but one run added, a ball from Spofforth cannoned off Barlow’s pads into the wickets, and two wickets were down for 75. A. G. Steel joined C. T. Studd, and, with 80 on the board, the latter, after scoring 10, was badly missed by Giffen in the slips off Spofforth, the ball going straight into his hands, 3ft. from the ground. An adjournment was then made for luncheon. The weather, which during the early morning, had rather a threatening appearance, had now entirely cleared up, and the afternoon tnrned out in every way suitable for cricket, the warm sun being tempered with a coul southerly breeze. The wicket also showed evident signs of improvement, as compared with the preceding day, and, although rather slower than is usually the case with Australian wickets, was never­ theless true, and played fairly well. Play was resumed at twenty minutes past two o'clock; and runs camo fast. It was hoped that the two batsmen would save the innings, but at 105C. T. Studd, with 21 to his credit, was clean bowled by Palmer. The Hon. Ivo Bligh, who followed, had contributed but 3 singles when Spofforth got one past, which bowled his wicket. W. W. Read, who took the vacancy, as in the first innings, in conjunction with A. G. Steel infused considerable life into the game, and the score was taken from 108 to 132. Gifftm again relieved Palmer, and off his first ball he obtained a leg-before-wicket decision against A. G. Steel. Five wickets were now down, with only 18 runs to the good. Leslie followed, and some fairly rapid scoring was shown. Read getting well on to Spofforth, played him twice to the on for 2 each, and then drove him straight for 4. 150 upwas the signalfor Palmer to change ends. Glffien took the end vacated by Palmer, and with his first ball clean bowled Leslie. Bates now joined Read, and the partnership was productive of 14 runs. At 164 Read went out for a hit at Giffen, and was bowled. Other disasters quickly followed, G, B. Studd, without scoring, hit one of Giffen’s hard to mid-on, which was held by Palmer. Off the first ball of Palmer’s next over Bates hit up in the long field, and was well taken by Massie; the seventh, eighth, and ninth wickets had therefore fallen, without any addition being made to the score. Vernon was last man, and with 5 runs added, was had “ 1b w ” to Palmer, the innings closing for 169, or only 56 in advance of the first innings of the Australins. A t a quarter past four o’clock Massie and Bannerman took their places, opposed to the bowling of C. T. Studd and Barnes, The former started with a maiden to Bannerman, and the last ball of Barnes’s first over Massie hit high in the air, between the wickets, and was caught by the bowler, one wicket down for no runs. Murdoch joined Bannerman, and as testifying to the excellence of the bowling and fielding, six consecutive maidens followed, and the first 10 appeared after half-an-hour’s play. A. G. Steel and Bates then relieved Barnes and C. T. Studd and runs came more rapidly, but no separation could be effected ; the number required was gradually reduced until it was reached: when Bannerman made the winning hit—a 4 to a square-leg off Bates, and the Australian Eleven had won the match by nine wickets and 2 runs.. A ustralia . st First Innings. Second Innisgs. Barlow, st Blackham, b Palmer...................................... 10 28 Hon. Ivo. Bligh, b Palmer.. 0 3 C. F. H. Leslie, c Garrett, b Palmer.................... .. 4 C. T. Studd, b Spofforth •.. 0 21 A. G. Steel, b Palmer' .. 27 I b w, b Giffen .. . 29 W . W . Read, b Palmer.. . 19 29 Bates, c Bannerman, b Garrett...................................... 28 c Massie, b Palmer . 11 E. F. S. Tylecotc, b Palmer.. 38 b Spofforth.. .. . 38 G .B . Studd,run out .. 7 c Palmer, b Giffbn . 0 Barnes,' b Palm er.................... lit. 2 G. F. Vernon, not out .. 11 1 b w, b Palmer.. . 8 Total............................. 177 Total .. . .169 A. C/'Cannerman, Tyl'ecote, b Leslio .. 80 . H. H. Massie, c and b C. T. Studd ., .. .. 4 W . L.Murdoch, b Leslie 48 T. Horan, c Barlow, b LesHty .. 0 P. S. M‘Donnell, b Bates 48 G. Giffen, st Tylecote, b Steel .............................36 G. J. Bonnor, c Barlow, b Barnes . . . . - .. 85 In the second innings Bannerrnan scored (not out) 25, Massie (c and b Barnes). 0, Murdoch (not out) 38—Total (one wicket down), 58. E ngland . J. M. Blackham, c Tyle- _ cote, b C. T. Studd.. 25 V. Ri Spofforth, c Steel, b Barnes ....................9 T. Garrett, c C.T. Studd b Steel .'..........................0 G. E. Palmer,•■hot out.. 0 B 4, l-b 2, w 2; n b 3 11 Total. .291 First Innings. BOWLING ANALYSIS. A ustralia . (J.T. Studd Barnes Steel.. Barlow .. Bates.. .. Read.. .. Leslie B. 184 120 132 80 84 32 44 R.W. 35 2 51 2 68 2 37 0 31 1 27 0 31 Second Innings. B. M. R.W. 56 52 36 16 58 Read bowled 8 no-balls, Barlow 1 wide, and Bates 1 wide. E ngland . Spofforth.. Palmer .. Garrett .. First Innings. B. M. R.W. 112 11 56 1 210 25 65 7 108 C 44 1 Second Innings. Giffen Palmer bowled 8 no-balls. B. 164 145 8 80 R.W. 65 3 61 3 4 0 38 4 On Jan. 2 a complimentary banquet was given to the two Elevens, in Melbourne, under the presidency of Sir W. J. Clarke. In respond­ ing to the toast of “ The English Team,” the Hon. Ivo Bligh expressed the pleasure he felt at the members of the team being accorded such a hearty welcome. They bore their woes as well as they could under trying circumstances, and those circumstances might be described as dis­ appointing. Some might be inclined to say he was a big duffer responding for a lot of big duffers. (Cries of “ No, no,” and laughter.) The last time be made a speech in Melbourne he said the team came out with the hope of bearding the lion or kangaroo in his den; but he was afraid, looking at the result of the last match, that it must be confessed that the kangaroo had hopped a considerable distance in front. (Laughter.) But they did not despair. They hoped to have two other shots at the kangaroo, and their late defeat would onlymake them strain every nerve tc turn the tide of victory. He referred to the warm feeling of friendship existing between the two teams, and bore testimony to the impartiality and to the spirit of fair play exhibited by the Australian public during the progress of the matches. “ Infelix” in the jtafraZasianmakesthefollow- ing comments on the match:—Yet strange to say, it was in this decidedly strong point of their play (batting) that our visitors were unsuccess­ ful. On the first day they got rid of seven of our men for 258, by no means a large score on the magnificent wicket prepared by M'Alpine. On the second day, when, owing to the slight rain, the bowlers made the ball ' ‘ d o ” some­ thing, the last three wickets fell rapidly, and the innings closed for 291, The first two wickets of the Englishmen fell before lunch, and they had bad luck in having to bat when the wicket favoured the bowlers, but even after luncheon, when very little, if any, fault could be found with the wicket, the Britishers were altogether nonplussed by Palmer’s superb bowling, and their friends were quite rueful and long-visaged when batsman after batsman fell before the beautiful break-backs of the South Melbourne cracli, until at length the innings closed for a total of 177. There are those who maintain that the wicket was not a good one, even after luncheon, and in this way seek to account for the comparative failure of the Englishmen. It is clear, however, to me that the wicket must have been much above the average, for if it had been an inferior wicket Spofforth would scarcely have come out with the poor figures of one wicket for 56 runs, and he, it is admitted, bowled to the end which is alleged to have been most defective. I do not for one moment wish to write a word in depreciation of the batting of the Englishmen, but I wish, to the best of my ability, to give honour to whom honour is due, and therefore I say that after luncheon on Monday it must have been Palmer’s really first- class bowling on a capital wicket, that played such havoc with the English batsmen, and that it is treating Palmer very unfairly to put forward the false plea that it was a very bad wicket, and not Palmer’s bowling, which caused the unex­ pected downfall of the English batsmen. And as if to substantiate this statement that it was the bowling and not the wicket that sent the batsmen to the rightabout, we have the second innings of the Englishmen, when they themselves and all their friends admitted that the wicket was A l. In this innings they actually scored less than in the first innings, so that it would seem they are quite as effective on a bad wicket as on a first-class one. The credit of lowering the English wickets so rapidly and of gaining so brilliant a victory for Australia is due to the grand bowling of Palmer, Giffen, Garrett, and Spofforth, and especially Palmer, who during his career never bowled as well as he did in the first innings of this match, when he came out with the splendid figures of seven wickets for 65, and when he bowled with a precision of pitch and variety of pace and break such as caused more than one of the Englishmen to say that they had never seen anything to surpass the bowling of the young South Melbournite. The bowling of the Englishmen to my mind is much inferior to that of the Australians, and herein rests the superiority of our men.