Cricket 1883

apeil 2(5, less. CBICKET ; A W EEKLY RECOBD OP THE GAME. 53 THE TOUR OF THE ENGL ISH CRICKETERS. From the Melbourne Argus. Wun the match finished on the Melbourne ground on Monday last, the Australian tour of the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team of English cricketers has been brought to a close, and in a few days our guests will have left these shores on their return to the mother country. Mr. Bligh’s excellent combination of amateur and pro­ fessional talent is the third team of its kind that has visited these shores, if we except the inclusion of Dr. E. M. Grace in Parr’s pro­ fessional team which visited the Colonies in 1863-64. Mr. W. G. Grace, the champion bats­ man of England, came later, but in his eleven the professional element predominated, the leading amateurs being Grace himself, his brother G. F. Grace, who a few seasons back met with an untimely death, Gilbert, a member of the same cricketing family, who has since met the Australians so frequently in England; and A. J. Bush, then the crack amateur wicket-keeper of the day. A few seasons later, a visit from a professional team having intervened, Lord Harris, of Kentish cricketing celebrity, came to the colonies with an eleven in which only two professionals—those old identities, Emmett and Ulyett—were numbered. This invasion was a rather courageous one, as for the first time an English team was visiting the colonies prepared for possible defeat on even terms. Prior to the visit of James Lillywhite’s professional eleven, English cricketers looked upon their trips here as a pleasant excursion, during which they were certain to win any number of matches against heavy odds, and compile satisfactory bowling and batting averages. During that tour, how­ ever, a memorable event in the history of colonial cricket occurred. An English team was beaten by an Australian one on even terms, and henceforward English cricketers knew that the game abroad had been elevated to the British standard, and that in their periodicial visits to the Southern hemisphere they must be pre­ pared to encounter men as skilful, earnest, and able as themselves. Under these circumstances, and having before them a brilliant record of performances just completed by an Australian team in England, the visit of Lord Hanis with a team admittedly weak in bowling especially, was regarded as a plucky venture. The honours of the tour were pretty equally divided, but in the only representative match played the Australian Eleven (just returned from their English tour) scored a decided win by ten wickets. Unfortunately, the harmony of this visit was marred by .one or two unpleasant incidents, and for a time the relations between English and Australian cricketers were in con­ sequence slightly strained. An idea went abroad in the colonies that a mixed team was not a perfect institution, and until the present eleven came and destroyed this impression, the theory as to the inadvisability of mixing the two classes °f players was generally accepted. From that evening when the Hon. Ivo Bligh and his com­ rades were first welcomed by Victorian cricketers in the M.C.C. pavilion, and the English captain in quaint, happy terms announced his mission, everymemberof the team established himself as a primefavourite,andEnglish gentleman cricketers were elevated to a new standard in the opinion of Australian people. The first favourable im­ pressions were fully maintained, and right up to the instant when the Victorian cricketing Public accorded them a hearty consolatory cheer after their defeat of Monday last, the sole verdict concerning our guests is that they have proved themselves able enthusiastic cricketers, and courteous, unassuming English gentlemen. It is natural to assume that as nothing but inter­ national cricket will suit the iuclinations of patrons of the game, other English elevens similarly composed will, in the near future, follow in the footsteps of the present team. If so our departing guests have set up a high standard of merit for their successors, both socially and as capable exponents of the game. As regards the result of the tour io a purely cricketing sense, the honours are once more fairly divided. The avowed object of the visit was to wrest, if possible, from Murdoch’s vic­ torious Australian team th6 title of supremacy in the cricket-field which on Kennington Oval the;? had just won from a representative eleven of England. A series of matches with Murdoch’s team was made the primal condition of the tour, and as far as this ruling object is concerned, the Hon. Ivo Bligh and his companions can in the future look back with a feeling of pride on this particular portion of their expedition. Three matches were played. In all of them the verdict was unmistakeable, and at the end the balance of power rested with the English team. But a more unfortunate series of matches as regards conditions has, we believe, never taken place either in England or Australia. In the more humid climate of Great Britain it would not provoke surprise to find three matches all de­ cided by the vagaries of the weather rather than superior merit on the part of one of the contend­ ing elevens, but during the boasted long bright days of our Australian midsummer fine weather is the rule rather than the exception ; and it is admitted on all sides that this mild fickle summer season has been an unfortunate one for both English and Australian cricketers. Many ardent colonial patrons of the game would like to go further, and say that in the division of this distasteful factor, bad luck, fate accorded the Australians more than their fair share of misfortune; but at best it is a doubtful form of consolation, and it would be more generous to our guests of the present and our possible hosts of the future to let this view of the matter drop quietly out of existence. No absolute and final settlement of the question of supremacy as be­ tween the best teams of England and Australia was involved in the contest, for the solution of this interesting problem will no doubt be fre­ quently attempted both on English and Austra­ lian cricket grounds within the next decade. In the opening matches with elevens of Victoria and New South Wales our men led a forlorn hope from the outset, and in the absence of so many of their chief players, a decided victory for the Englishmen in each case was the natural outcome. Indeed, no Australian basing his belief in the survival of the fittest could have wished for any other result, and it was merely hoped that our second-rate elevens should make a good fight with the Englishmen, and that the matches might develope some new light of the colonial cricketing world to serve in the more important engagements of the future. When the combined strength of the colonies was opposed to the English team, the combatants were for the first time favoured with fine weather from start to finish, and with the ordinary luck of the game fairly divided, our representatives scored just such a victory as was expected from them. Very few doubted that the finest eleven Australia could produce was just a trifle too strong for the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team, but the difference was so very slight that proving the superiority turned out to be—as most people expected it would—an exciting undertaking. In the matches against odds our visitors did just what they wished with their numerous opponents, Ballarat and Sandhurst being theonlytwo provincial teams who teemed likely to make a closefinish had the matches been completed. At Hobart the South­ ern Tasmanians made a hard fight, but in the remaining cases it seemed that the more numerous the players the less difficult was the task of vanquishing them. The most important and exciting contest of the tour, as far as Victorians alone are con­ cerned, was the engagement in which our team so signally proved their prowess on Monday last. At one time it was proposed to substitute another international match for this one, and the dates for play were altered with this end in view. The Victorians, however, having every confidence in their own ability after their splen­ did victory against New South Wales and the fine display made by several of their men in the combined match, persistently adhered to the original engagement. They held firmly to the belief that in their then superior form they were just as likely to come out victorious against the Englishmen as any combined team, and the result showed that the calculations were sound. The Victorian Eleven was the strongest that the colony has ever mustered, and after they had proved their prowess in batting by an innings of nearly 300 runs, the combination of novelty and merit in their bowling proved too much for the English batsmen. On the evening before the match, when it was known that Cooper had never before worked himself into such fine bowl­ ing form, the prospects of the Victorians looked very bright, and with Palmer in his most dangerous mood on the day—and none better than Englishmen know what that meant—the colonists were quite a match for their formidable opponents. The poor display of the visitors on the opening day leads to the conviction that if the match was repeated, with the players in the same form, but the ordinary advantages more evenly distributed, the main result, if not so emphatic, would remain as at present. The Melbourne Cricket Club must be specially complimented, not only for its energy and spirit in inducing the English team to visit Australia, but for the tact shown in the choice of the members of that team, and, above all, of their leader. When the project was first mooted, the executive powers of kindred clubs publicly con­ demned the movement, on the ground that the repeated visits of English cricketing teams were proving injurious to club cricket in the colonies. These gentlemen probably have since recognised what was even then a plain if somewhat un­ pleasant fact, viz., that club cricket, having served its purpose, has fallen from its high estate, and cannot be restored. The patrons of the game in Australia are now content with nothing but high-class cricket, and if they are denied this they will not accept mild club con­ tests as a substitute. It is to be hoped that in the future petty club jealousies will not interfere with the right of the M.C.C. as the leading club in Australia, to undertake the duty of inducing English elevens of repute to pay us an occasional visit. FAREWELL DINNER TO THE ENGLISH CRICKETERS. A farewell dinner was given to the Hon. Ivo Bligh and the English cricketing eleven by the Melbourne Cricket Club, at the Pavilion. Mr. F. G. Smith, Vice-President of the Club, sat at the head of the tables, Sir W. J. Clarke, the President, being unavoidably absent; and on either side of him were Messrs. Ivo Bligh, E. F. S. Tylecote, F. Call, P.M., E. Lmgton, C. W. Beal, and W. H. Cooper. About eighty gentlemen were present. The dining room of the Pavilion was beautifully decorated with flag3 and mottoes, “ A uR evoir” being conspicuous among the latter. The toasts of “ The Queen,” “ the Prince of Wales,” and “ the Governor” having been pro­ posed and honoured, The C h aikm an proposed the health of “ Our Guests,” amidst loud applause. He first alluded with regret to the absence of Sir William Clarke, who took so much interest in all the proceedings connected with the club. (Applause). Those present would easily recall a similar gathering to the present one which took place four months