Cricket 1883

APEIL 19, 1883. CRICKET ; A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 4 1 -M cp /w m i0N >G 0 ^ iP ^ The abstract and brief chro ilcle of the time.— Hamlet. T h e Society papers as a rule do not think sport of sufficient importance to ensure accuracy in tlieir information on sporting matters. Their ways, like those of the heathen Chinee, are peculiar. Among many eccentricities of the kind, though, I do not remember to have come across one more amusing than that which I quote verbatim el litteratim from a Society journal of April 7th. The para- graphist would certainly appear to have got a little mixed. Ho has evidently mis-read the announcement of the division between the Australian Team under Murdoch’s command:— There appears to be an unnecessary fuss about the Hon. Ivo Blyth’s (sic) cricketers, after all, for it is not a bad holiday trip, taking into considera­ tion the fact that all their expenses are paid, and each man receives £700 when he returns home, to recoup him for any loss he may have sustained during his absence from business. T he revision of the laws of the game is after all to be deferred for another year. It was originally arranged that the new code as amended by the sub­ committee, who, as I mentioned in the last budget of Gossip, have been very busy for some time past over the work of revision, should be submitted to the approval of the annual general meeting of the Marylebone Club on May 2. So many newpoints, though, suggested them­ selves, that it has been felt advisable by the authorities to take public opinion on the new code during the coming season, and its publication has consequently been delayed. The only alteration, there­ fore, which will come before the general meeting at Lord’s on the 2nd proximo, will be that suggested by Yorkshire and unanimously accepted at the last meet­ ing of county secretaries. The new rule enacts that the side going in shall have the option of rolling the wicket for ten minutes before the commencement of play on the second and third days of a match. The proposal will to some ex­ tent reduce the luck of the ground often too conspicuous as the Buies now stand, and itwill also avoid the finessingwhich has sometimes taken place when an innings has been completed within a quarter-of- an-hour of time. T h e Hon. Robert Grimston, I am in­ formed on the best authority, is the nominee of the committee of the Maryle - bone Club, for the election to the presidency on May 2, in succe-sion to LordBelper. H arrovians will be specially gratified to note that the highest position of the cricket world has been assigned for two successive years to alumni of the old School. The intelligence of Mr. Grimston’s appointment will be welcomed with satisfaction by cricketers every­ where. He was “ next ou t” for the Harrow Eleven in 1834, and generations of Harrovians have been proud to receive a part of their cricket education under his direct guidance. In his day one of the best players, always one of the keenest judges as well as one of the most liberal supporters of the game, no one more thoroughly deserves the honour of the Presidency of the first cricket club in the world. M r. A. L. Smith has been appointed the new judge in place of Mr. Justice Fry, recently elevated to the Court of Appeal. He was sworn in on Thursday in the Lord Chancellor’ s Private Boom. Mr. Justice Smith has been long and prominently identified with cricket. Some years ago he usel to play occa­ sionally for the Marylebone Club, and for a long time he lias been a member of the M.C.C. and SurreyClubs. In ‘ ‘ Scores and Biographies ” his description is pecu­ liar— he bats steadily and bowls fast underhand with a curious windmill delivery. A c o r r e s p o n d e n t of the Melbourne Leader is responsible for the following, which is by no means bad in its way :— In Sydney last Saturday I was shown by a friend a challenge received by his son, a youth of about twelve summers, who is secretary to a juvenile cricket club, from the leading members of a rival institution. It is too good to either suppress or comment upon, and literally tran­ scribed reads thus:— “ Where the undersigned members of the---------Cricket Club, to chalange you a game of cricket on More Park en Saturday, 16th February, for the sum of sixpence per bat.” Here follow the signatures of the defiant eleven. The answer was— “ Our chaps are not allowed to gamble, so we will play you for a ball if you are on.” T h e last Mail from Australia brought details of the first day’s play in the closing engagement of the Englishmen. As far as we can judge, Mr. Bligh was most anxious to substitute a return match with United Australia for the return with Victoria, and the Melbourne Club actually arranged with the English Captain for such a contest at Melbourne on 9tli, 10th, 12tli, and 18tli March. Murdoch’s own challenge on the comple­ tion of the match at Sydney, to play a return, must have justified the Melbourne authorities in believing that no obstacle would be placed in the way of such a fixture by the Australians. At present the details received hardly enable anyone to form a reliable conclusion on the case, but some of the Australians seem to have disapproved of the arrangement, and Bannerman, according to the A ustralasian, positively refused to leave Sydney to take part in the match. All we know for certain, at present, is that the game, which did take place on March 9th and following days, was against Eleven of Victoria, and in this the English team suffered a decisive reverse. T h e annual meeting and dinner of the Surrey County Club are announced to take place at the Oval on Thursday, May 3rd. The proceeds of the Australian matches in 1882 have enabled the com­ mittee to make several improvements on the ground, for the benefit of the public, and in the Pavilion for the comfort of the members. It may be interesting to know that as many as 164,263 persons paid for admission to the Oval during the summer, and during the past twelve months it is computed that more than 192,500 entered the ground by payment. T h e bowling of Boyle and Palmer in the last Inter-Colonial match is well worthy of mention, more especially as the victory of the Victorians by an innings and 166 runs in the Sydney contest in February is the most decisive success recorded in the thirty matches now played. Boyle in all bowled 180 balls for forty-six runs and eight wickets, Palmer 177 balls for sixty-one runs and nine wickets. The pair bowled without a change in either innings, and this, it may be remarked, is a feat which has not been accomplished in any previous Inter-Colonial contest. “ Mid-on,” the "cricket analyst of the Melbourne Leader, metliinks, was perhaps justified in say­ ing that the “ foolish policy which induced the Australian Eleven Match Committee to discard Boyle thrice, in favour of members of the team whom it was well known were less useful,was alone responsible for Mr. Bligh having achieved his high ambition to the discomfiture of the misguided Australians.” T h e Sydney Bulletin, of Jan 20, gives the last three performances of a bowler of the Heatlicote Club, named Hipgrave, which are a little extraordinary. They were ten wickets for no runs, nine wickets for one, and five wickets for six runs. This makes a total of twenty-four wickets for eleven runs, not a bad average.