Cricket 1883

424 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. o c t . 25, i883. T he arrival of the last mail from Aus­ tralia shows that the clubs were then making preparations for the commence­ ment of another season. On Saturday, August 25, the nomination of officers for both the Melbourne and East Melbourne Clubs closed. Among the nominees for the Committee of East Melbourne, were three cricketers well known to English­ men, Messrs. C. G. Allee, H. F. Boyle, and T. Horan. Sir W . J. Ciarko, whose hospitality to the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team in Australia was unbounded, was again nominated as President of the Melbourne Club, and among the nominees for the Committee were Messrs. A. F. Robinson and G . Alexander, the latter of whom in the event of the visit of an Australian team to England next summer will in all probability act as its manager. . T he value of that inimitable record, “ Scores and Biographies,” the fruit of years of laborious research, in concep­ tion and fulfilment thework of Mr.Arthur Haygarth, has been greatly discounted, as cricketers will admit, by the want of a suitable reference. With the view of making the thirteen volumes which have alreadyappeared of more general interest, a complete Index has been prepared, and with the permission of the compiler and the Committee of the Marylebone Club, this will be published in C kicket . The first instalment will be given in the next number— to appear on Nov. 29, and the remainder as the exigencies of space will allow until completed. The Editor fondly hopes that the publication of the Index will be a real boon to hundreds of cricketers. T he election of officers of the Cam­ bridge University Club is to take place on Monday next. Mr. C. T. Studd will no longer be available, and the captaincy will devolve on his brother, J. E .K . The authorities at Cambridge are, it is pleas­ ant to know, not unmindful of the ser­ vices rendered to the University, and three presentations were made in com­ memoration of the victory of the Cantabs last summer. A silver claret jug was presented to C. T. Studd, with the following inscription thereon : “ Presented by the ‘ Cambridge University Cricket Club’ to C. T. Studd (captain 1883) in grateful remembrance of his many and valued services—1880-1-2-3. Arthur It. Ward, M.A., President.” A silver medal was presented to C. W . Wright, with the following inscription : “ Presented by the ‘ Cambridge University Cricket Club ’ to C. W. Wright for his servics iu the ‘ Oxford and Cambridge ’ Match, 1883, in which he scored 102 and (not out) 29. Cambridge won by seven wicket. Arthur E. Ward, M.A., President.” A new ball and stand were presented to C. Aubrey-Smith. On the ball was the following inscription:— “ This ball is presented by the ‘ Cambridge University Cricket Club ’ to C. Aubrey Smith for his services in the 1 Oxford and Cam- ridge ’ Match, 1883, in which he obtained nine wickets and caught four men out. Cambridge won by seven wicketj. Arthur E. Ward, M .A., President.” I a m pleased to be able to announce that the Oxford University eleven will meet Surrey at the Oval next season. In all probability the fixture will be arranged for the three first days of the week, preceding the Inter-University match. THE PERFORMANCES OF THE FIRST- CLASS COUNTIES. A good deal of discussion, more or less acri­ monious in tone, has arisen at the close of the season, on the respective claims of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire to the First-class County Championship. The ancient practice of placing foremost the county which has sustained the fewest defeats is clearly faulty in principle, since, rigidly car­ ried out, it might result in allotting the Cham­ pionship to a county which had simply played and drawn one match with the weakest of all the competitors. I have, therefore, devised a method of com­ parison, which is based on the principle of supposing each county to play a match against an eleven representing the average strength of the whole of the other counties, and then tabu­ lating the results. The probable innings of each county against the ideal antagonists is arrived at by dividing the total number of runs made by the number of wickets lost, and multi­ plying by ten. The extras come from the differ­ ence between this total number of runs and the runs made by the batsmen, reduced to a per­ centage. The probable innings of the antagonist is arrived at hy dividing the total number of runs made against the county by the number of wickets taken, and multiplying by ten. The extras come from the difference between this total number of runs, and the runs made off the bowlers, reduced to a percentage. The final result is reached as follows—to give an example— Surrey’s antagonist goes in first, and makes 200 runs—Surrey follows, making 226 runs. The antagonist again makes 200 runs, and Sur­ rey has to get 175 runs to wiu ; this, at the rate of 22.6 runs per wicket, costs 7.7 wickets. Sub­ tracting 7.7 from 10, Surrey wins by 2.3 wickets. The results are given in wickets, because the value of runs varies greatly according to the county engaged. Thus a run, made in a match where Lancashire is engaged, is worth nearly a run and a half in a match played by Middlesex, on account of the superiority in bowling in one case, and in batting in the other. The proportion of runs out has not been dealt with this year, but will fall readily into the method adopted. There are several advan­ tages connected with this method of comparing the merits of the counties. Firstly, its justness, for surely there can be no fairer way of esti­ mating the goodness of an eleven than by cal­ culating its chances of beating a given repre­ sentative eleven. Secondly, the weakness and the strength of each county is better shown by this method than by any other. Thirdly, if this method of awarding the Championship be adopted, fresh life will be infused into the play, even under the depressing influences of certain draws, and hopeless fights. E. Maitland. a S3 o - . O ° 0) P 05rCJ• a a T £j fcD H P O • H S3 CD O) pH s go ' § 8 i 3 00 p- (M h > C ‘0 05 co »o CO (N co co co t>> oo 0.9 1 3 0 j* 'O 0 CO O CO CO IN CO CO h* CO CO o i r-I Percentage of extras jfor average antagonist (fl O CO 10 O Ol CO CT CO CO i(j 0 ^ Probable innings of average antagonist g o o o o o o i c o o o j o s ^ 1 0 ^ 0 0 1 0 1 0 ^ 0 H h H O IIM IN IM W IN g x 0 g % 41 *M 0 n 0 »o* 16 CO co" CO Probable innings against average antagonistj o o c s c o c o c o » o c o o 5 r - O C <ll>N TtH t>COCOl> < N W H N ( N H H H H C ounty , Yorkshire ................................ Nottinghamshire .| Lancashire . . . . Surrey.................................................... Middlesex ................................................ Kent ............................................................ Sussex................................................................ Derbyshire............................................................ Gloucestershire .. TH E P R IN C IP A L C R IC K E T E R S O F 1883 . H erew ith we give the batting and bowling averages of the chief cricketers of the past season, compiled solely from first-class matches. The generally hard wickets enabled batsmen as a rule to show up well, and as many as nine were able to obtain aggregates of over a thousand runs. As has been the case of late years, the Amateurs preponderate in the batting tables, though beyond a doubt professional batting has recently shown a marked improvement. Ulyett has the highest aggregate of the year with 1562 for 49 completed innings, and con­ sidering the amount of cricket he played his figures are very fine. Hall’s advance in batting was one of the most noticeable features of the season, and his average is the best of any pro­ fessional of the year. Barnes opened badly, but finished the season in brilliant style, and Shrewsbury’s batting was consistently good throughout. Flowers and Bates are the other batsmen who got over 1,000 runs, and the hit­ ting of both was at timeB brilliant. Lockwood and Barlow were neither of them quite in their best forui, nor was Maurice Read. On the other hand Gunn and Hearne both showed themselves improved batsmen, and Abel made a marked advance. Messrs. C. T. Studd, W. W. Read, and W .G . Grace were the only amateurs to get into four figures. Mr. Studd played brilliant cricket throughout, and his average in strictly first-class matches is better than that of Mr. Read, though the latter could hardly be said to