Cricket 1883

a p b i l 26, 1883. CRICKET ; A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 51 maidens were bowled before the score was in­ creased to 230 by Midwinter’s glancing Barnes to leg for a single, and driving Steel for 2 and 1, Eead coming to grass in attempting to stop the couplet. M’Shane achieved a single off Steel through Bligh at point making his first mistake in the innings, and another unit through the slips off Barnes. 0. T. Studdreplaced Steel at 235, commencing with a maiden, which Barnes repeated. M’Shane received another maiden from Studd, striving in vain to cut every ball, and Midwinter placed Barnes to leg for a single, following it up by driving Studd to long-on for 2. Single in the slips to M’Shane off Barnes, and another maiden from Studd to M’Shane, Barnes following suit to Midwinter, who was batting with extreme care, but punishing anything loose at every opportunity. Studd having bowled another maiden, Bates relieved Barnes, and Mid­ winter scored a single off his first ball through Steel’s failure to stop it—240 appeared. Another brace to Midwinter off Studd, followed by a single, both good forward drives, and four maidens followed before Midwinter snicked Bates for a unit, and M’Shane hit the next ball to leg for 3. Maiden from Studd, and Mid­ winter hit Bates to long on for a couple, M’Shane narrowly escaping being run out in attempting the second—250 up. Two leg byes were run in the same over, and Leslie went on vice Studd. M’Shane poked his second (a full pitch) to leg and three runs were well made. In attempting to hit Bates to leg, M’Shane made a miss h it,; the ball going up to short leg, Tylecote making a good but fruitless attempt to secure a catch. M’Shane, who had started, was, however, nearly run out. Midwinter then hit Leslie to long on for 3,and a bye was run. A double change was now tried, Barlow and Steel relieving Bates and Les­ lie, and each starting with a maiden. Another maiden to Steel, and M ’Shane drove Barlow for a single. An adjournment for lunch was then made, the total standing at 259, Midwinter (not out) 81 and M’Shane (not out) 14. On resuming, Steel bowled to M‘Shane, who drove the first ball to long-off for 3, and C. T. Studd went on at the railway end in place of Barlow, starting (as each of his predecessors had done) with a maiden. The batsmen were each watching the bowling very carefully, and no change occurred in the score until after the sixth consecutive maiden, when M‘Shane drove Studd past Barlow at mid-off for a couple. Another maiden to each bowler, and Midwinter let out at Steel; the ball striking the batsman’s foot went to short-leg, fielded by the wicket-keeper, who, seeing Midwinter out of his ground, had a shot at the wickets, and one for anoverthrow resulted. The next addition to the very slowly increasing score was a single to Midwinter, who placed Studd to short-leg, and drove Steel for two and °ne in succession. As 270 appeared M‘Shane played Steel to mid-on for one, andmade matters more lively by driving Studd to the off for another single. A clever run was next effected °ff a stroke of M'Shane’s, which travelled slowly to mid-off. Midwinter drove Steel for °ue, and M‘Shane hit a slow one from the same bowler to the grand stand fence for four. The Wcreased rapidity of the scoring brought Barnes °n at Studd’s end, and Bates relieved Steel, each opening with a maiden. Midwinter drove Barnes to long on for a single, and M‘Shane cut him also for one, well fielded by G. B. Studd. Mid­ winter followed this up by hitting Barnes splendidly to square leg for four, and 280 appeared. The first ball of Bates’s next over clean bowled M'Shane, who had played with ^xemplary care for his twenty-seven. . The “Oard showed 9—27—283 as the Victorian °aptain, Cooper, joined Midwinter, who had ®ade eighty-eight. The new comer played ®ates to forward cover, and a single was barely JJjo. Steel returning splendidly and threw down ‘be wicket as Cooper gained his crease without ar*inch to spare. Cooper’s life, however, was destined to be a short one, as in Barnes’s next next over he was given out 1b w. The innings closed for 284, Midwinter carrying his bat for a splendidly made ninety-two, his only approach to a chance being the barely possible one given on the previous day to G. B. Studd. The Englishmen started their first innings at a quarter past three, C. T. Studd and Tylecote going to the wickets. The former took the first ball from Cooper, who started from the pavilion end. The first over resulted in a single to Studd and tnree to Tylecote for a remarkably neat cut. Palmer bowled from the railway end, Tylecote putting his first ball past third man for a single. In Cooper’s next over Tylecote was clean bowled, amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the excited supporters of Victoria, 1—4—5 appearing on the board. The South Melbourne skipper was in his most curly humour, and completely baffled the English wicket-keeper. Bates joined Studd, who drove Palmer beautifully to long on for a couple, and to the off for one. The crack Victorian bowler.however, was speedily avenged, clean bowling Bates in the same over before the Yorkshireman had scored, and the board showed 2 —0— 8 to the delighted gaze of the spectators, who showed their pleasure by long and continued cheers. Leslie followed, but before the score was altered Palmer had the new comer leg before wicket, and 3—0— 8 appeared. Steel joined Studd, who cut Cooper fora single, and Steel hit a full pitch to leg for two, Horan, who in running to the ball overreached himself, stopped it cleverly with his foot,saving the four. Steel, who was evidently determined on knock­ ing off the dodgy Cooper, cut him hard, running three and one for an overthrow. Steel hit the next ball splendidly to the long leg for four and Studd drove Palmer’s next for another quartette, a beautiful stroke along the turf—20 up—and Steel again hit Cooper to leg for one. A maiden from Palmer, followed by a single to Studd off Cooper. Palmer another maiden, and Cooper bowled Steel clean round his legs, a terribly curly one, which the batsman attempted to hit to leg. 4—11—25. Steel had made his runs very quickly, but had evidently under estimated the danger of Cooper’s corkscrews. Three singles and a no-ball resulted from Cooper’s over on Eead joining Studd, and the Surrey amateur got Palmer cleverly to leg for two and one, follow­ ing it up by driving Cooper for a single. Palmer, who was bowling remarkably well, sent down another maiden to Eead, and Cooper ditto to Studd. Eead cut Palmer for one, which was well fielded by Bonnor, but in hitting Cooper to leg Eead failed to get the wood fairly on, and was well caught by Midwinter. 5—7—34. Barlow joined Studd only to see the latter clean bowled by the irresistible Cooper, and the scor­ ing board showed 6—11—34. Studd’s runs had been compiled in his own elegant style, and his disposal was a great blow to the Englishmen, his lengthened possession of the wicket appear­ ing highly probable when Cooper broke through his defence. Barnes joined Barlow, and after a leg-bye, cut Palmer beautifully for a triplet, and hit Cooper to long-leg for one which Barlow repeated. Barnes followed this up by another in exactly the same spot, and drove Palmer well along the ground for one. The single brought Barnes opposite to Cooper, whom he drove finely for four, and hit the next ball (which was nicely timed) to leg for one, well fielded by Ealmer. In Palmer’s next over Barnes played a ball to short mid-on, and Boyle failing to pick it up cleanly at the first attempt, both batsmen started for a run, but Barlow signalled Barnes back, and returned to his crease seeing Boyle in possession of the hall. Barnes, however, had run too far, and Boyle throwing in the ball the Nottingham man was unfortunately run out when he was shaping capitally. 7—-11—47. The rain which had previously necessitated two short adjournments now came down in earnest, and at twenty minutes past four play was dis­ continued ; dark banks of clouds rolled up from the south-west, and discharging their watery contents, soon rendered the ground a complete morass. Hoping against hope the spectators waited patiently for a considerable time, but at a quarter past five the ground was cleared. Both teams remained in the pavilion ready to resume play if opportunity offered, and at half­ past five their appeared a possibility of another half hour’s play being got through, but another sharp downpour soon settled the question, and it was decided that further play would be impossible. The match was continued on Monday, March 12, in unfavourable weather, the play being several times stopped by rain. The attendance, although numbering only a few hundreds at the start, increased rapidly during the afternoon, and at three o’clock there were about 5,COO people present, a fairly large gathering for a non- holiday. After the manner in which the turf was drenched by rain on the two preceding days a good wicket was not to be expected. On Sunday night the ground was almost covered with water, and the turf in the morning was strewn with a deposit of rubbish. As there was no arrangement about rolling the wicket, the best that could be done was to sweep off the surface litter. Vernon was sent in as companion batsman to Barlow, who was not out on Saturday evening when the rain put a stop to the play. Cooper, however, no longer troubled the batsmen with his puzzling slows, the wet wicket not being favourable to his big break. The Victorian captain had, however, won his spurs on Saturday afternoon, and found a very capable substitute in the person of Boyle, whose destroying power with the ball on a damaged wicket has long since passed into a cricketer’s proverb. It was thought that Vernon might possibly make a stand, as all his best batting feats in England had been achieved under similar circumstances, but the calculation was immediately upset. After the batsman had started with apparent confidence, and scored 3 by a good hit, Boyle clean bowled him. The ball, which was well pitched and very fast, never rose an inch from the ground, and such a shooter was quite enough to destroy the aspirations of the finest batsman in England. Eight down for 50 was the state of the game as G. B. Studd came through the Pavilion gate to Barlow’s assistance. After a modest contribution of 2 runs to the total, ho too retired, Palmer bowling the centre stump right out of the ground. Bligh was the last man in, and the first ball he received from Ealmer had the double effect of scattering the English captain’s wicket badly, and closing the innings. Barlow carried out his bat with 4 runs only, and the moderate total of 55 runs was all that the board showed as the result of the combined efforts of 11 good English batsmen. As far as the close of the innings was concerned, a failure was the only possible outcome, and no one blamed the last three batsmen for their inability to score. With the others it was an entirely different matter, and the only excuse offered for their weak display was the novelty and merit of Cooper’s bowling. With a balance against them of 229, Barlow and Studd started the second innings, the task before them being an almost impossible one. Palmer and Boyle, oi course, continued operations with the b all, but after a couple of over3 were bowled the rain again came down smartly, and the players retired to the Pavilion for shelter. On resuming the Victorians could do very little with the ball, but even with bcwling of the plainest kind, the position of the batsman was unpleasant. The fieldsmen were also hampered in their movements by the Blippery turf, and anything like dash or brilliancy in stopping a difficult hit was entirely out of the question. The start made by the English batsmen was not