Cricket 1883

DEC. 27, 1883. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. T h e y order things much better in certain wavs., perhaps, in Australia,.in the matter of cricket than we do. iu the .old Country. Some of their usages, though, have their inconveniences. Looking over the Sijdmy: Herald of Oct. 23, I came across a report of a match between the Orientals and Surrey United Clubs, for the Stedman Imperial Cup. In this case, as in many matches in Australia, the game is con­ tinued from Saturday ta Saturday-. Tho report in question contains the-following remarks:— uoifabaffol ieeidgileI jayQ Owing to the good stand made by the Qrir entals, the game remains yet unfinished. Allow­ ing for the difference—26—between,the Surreys and the Orientals in the first innings, the! latter have 93 runs to the good, which, considering the long grass in the field, may be considered a good performance for eight wickets. After the_ con­ clusion of the first innings of each club on Sat­ urday week, the manager, it appears, tried to arrange for the mowing of the field, but the Sur­ rey captain declining to accede to the arrange­ ment, the match will go on to the end without this. . I . _ As the game had already been in pro­ gress for two Saturdays, the reporter of the Herald was quite within the range' of probabilities when he predicted that a greater obstacle would exist against run-getting on the following Saturday when the grass would be even longer. The Australian system has, it will be seen serious disadvantages. T he vocabulary of our national gaine is apparently inexhaustible. The slang of the cricket field is constantly receiving new and important additions. I had thought that a long experience h a i given me a fairly good knowledge of cricket phrases. I find, though, that after all I am sadly wanting. At least a term applied by a well-known Australian writer to Mr. H. H. Budd, the indefati­ gable Hon. Sec. of the East Melbourne Club, has completely settled me. I Iearn from the Leader that, in securing the services of Percy Lewis, the well-known Ballarat player, Mr. Budd, “ that: prince of fossicking Secretaries, ha* struck a patch.” Striking a pateh is much the same as striking ile, I take it.. I should say, too, that:Spofforth, when-he digs that furrow of his for the bowler1at the other end, strikes a patch—-very much so. But what is a “ fossicking Secre­ tary ? It is a pity that the meaning of such a euphonious expression should bo lost to English cricketers. Perhaps some Australian philologist will kindly explain. E v e r y English Cricketer who has visited Australia will hear with deep re­ gret of the death of George Coulthard. He was a very conspicuous figure both on the Cricket and Football fields of Aus­ tralia, and in both sports was a really good all-round man. Be represented Victoria--at cricket, both in Intercolonial and; other- important matches, -and at football had hardly a superior in the Colonies, He was engaged as a ground bowler to. the Melbourne Cricket Club, aud was...a great favourite with the mem­ bers, of that. society. He officiated, as many of the readers of C iuckkt will re- inen$er, for Lord Harris’ team during theirAustralian lour, and thoroughly won the confidence of the Kentish Captain and hia comrades. He was acting as umpire when the notorious row took place, at Sydney, but to quote the words of • .Mid-On ” in the Melbourne Leader, “ Coult.lmrd was in no way to blame for it, and those who knew him best never for one moment, doubted the honesty or correctness of the decision which led to a scene .of disgraceful ruffianism.’’ A couple of years ago he began to show symptoms of consumption, and after many months of suffering succumbed at last. He died on Oct. 22, at the early 1-JiiJo 9 i ll flO ' iooa a' don bad 89 -mfinrr sal teli LaMini I t positively almost makes one jealous to road of the good fortune of Australian players just at a time when over here a. policy of masterlyinactivity, or, if any­ one prefers tlie expression, of benevolent neutrality, is enforced on our cricketers. Of a truth, batsmen under the Southern cross have set the ball rolling to a merry tune to judge by the long scores recorded during the first few weeks of the Colo­ nial season now in progress. Though business only practically commenced on October 18, a fortnight later the Austra­ lasian had registered as many as eight batsmen with innings of a hundred or more. The figures, though, will perhaps best speak for themselves :—• P. Lewis, East Melbourne v. Fitzroy. Oct. 13, 20, 27. -237. /■' ' C. G. Allee, East Melbourne (2) v. Fitzroy (2), October 13, 20, 27. - 209' P, S, McDonnell, Melbourne v. Kew, October 13 and ?0. 162* li. Little, East Melbourne (2) v. Fitzroy (2),- Oetober 20 and 27. 159 F.Walters, South .Melbourne v. Kilda, October 13 and 20. 125. TV S, McDonnell, Melbourne v. Ballarat, Oct. 27- 118* A. W. Barnard, Kew v. Hawthorn, October 27. 117* W. H. Figgis,'Ballarat v. Melbourne, October 2 7 . u s . ' ; ; E. Turner, Richmond v. Holtham, October 13 and 20. 100. R. Little,. East Melbourne v. St. Kilda, Sep­ tember 8 . loft*}.-,, >^1 *-,}!•>, ■ Of the players mentioned, Percy McDonnell and Allee are both well known on English cricket fields. The former was a member of the Australian teams which visited England in 1880 and 1882, and Allee, if I remember right, spent the summer of 1880 here, and played a lot of cricket about London, chiefly identifying himself with the City Bamblers. McDonnell, for his big score above, went in first and carried his bat through the innings of 801, scoring 162 out of 290 from the bat. “ Mid-on,” in the Leader, describes his innings thusly, “ a thoroughly characteristic one from start to finish, by which I mean to convey the terribly offensive defence—■ a somewhat paradoxical phrase perhaps, but fairly descriptive of this dashing batsman’s style, for when in really good form his defence is by no means impaired by his extraordinary rate of scoring.” He gave the first distinct chance when he had made about half his runs, while a couple of others were too hot for the fieldsmen to hold. H istory repeats itself in cricket as well as in more important matters. It is a pleasure to think that oversized bats are not strictly a device of the present generation. In reading the Rev. J. Pycroft’s capital littlework,“ Cricketana,’’ the other day, I came across the follow­ ing remarks in the chapter devoted to a history of Surrey cricket:—• Robinson was one of the best hitters of his day—left-handed and a very hard off-hitter. He was a cricketer under difficulties, for he could only catch with his left hand, the fingers of his right hand having been burnt off when a child. He was called “ Long Robin,” being six feet one inch high ; and by some, “ Three­ fingered Jack.” Some curious things are remembered of Robinson. He once had the legitimacy of his bat called in question, and shaved down to the proper measure while he stood angry by. Barker remembered a man’s bat being served in the same way at Lord’s. They had evidently a forcible method of applying remedial measures in those days. There was at least none of the false delicacy of the present generation about the enforcement of the rules. Robinson was evidently of an ingenious turn of mind. It was to him that the invention of spikes is attributed. F ew who followed at all closely the tour of the Australian team in England last year but will remember the causes which led to the selection at the last moment of the Cambridge slow bowler, R. C. Ramsay, to represent the Gentle­ men of England at the Oval. His effec­ tive bowling had in a great measure con­ duced to the brilliant victory achieved by the University eleven over the Colonials at Cambridge only a few weeks before; but at the Oval he was not in anyway a success; I was the first to point out that he was an Australian, and ‘‘ Censor ’’ in the last number of the Sydney Mail states that he is nowlocated in the Bourke District, and points to him as one of the new players worthy of a trial on the Australian ground. “ Censor,” though, Next Number of CRICKET will be published Thursday, January 31.