Cricket 1883

54 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. a p r i l 26 , isss. ago in the Pavilion to welcome the English cricketers to Australia. At that time very pleasurable anticipations were formed of the then approaching cricket season, and every one must now confess that they had all been a great deal more than realised. (Applause). He felt justified in saying that the performances of the visitors on the cricket field had never been sur­ passed, if indeed they had been equalled by any English eleven that had ever preceded them in Australia. (Applause). They had not only shown grand aUround cricket, but they had also exhibited a very conspicuous equanimity under defeat—(applause)—-and moderation in victory. (Loud cheers). When he came to speak of them as gentlemen he felt a little non-plussed, because he did not like to say to their faces what he knew everyone present would like him to say in their favour. They were the pleasantest of pleasant men. (Applause). Their genial cordiality had been a theme of admiration where- ever they had been, and he felt unequal to the task of expressing how grateful the Melbourne Club were for their visit to Australia. (Loud applause). The committee especially felt under the deepest obligations to Mr. Bligh for the alacrity with which he had adopted all their plans, and for the immense assistance which he had rendered throughout their difficult, and it might be said, now that it was drawing to a close, successful enterprise. (Applause). He asked all present to join him in congratulating Mr. Bligh on achieving his highest ambition in Australia, namely, the recovery of what had humorously been termed the “ revered ashes of English cricket.” (Applause). It was his sincere conviction, and he was not afraid to express it, that their visitors having wrested those sacred relics from their previous possessors, they could only be regained in the old country, and if Australia wanted them she would have to go to the old country for them. (“ No,” and “ Hear, hear”). Perhaps in a few years, or possibly sooner, Australia might repeat her recent great efforts in the cricket fields of Eng­ land. If so, he hoped the result would be the return of their present guests, fired with the laudable ambition with which they were inspired during the recent contests. If such was the case they would receive, at any rate from the Melbourne Club, the heartiest welcome which it was possible to give them. (Loud applause). Their guests had in a most pleasant and graceful way accepted the compliment paid to them a little while ago, when they became honorary life members of the Melbourne Club. (Ap­ plause). The committee had also presented them with the little badge of life membership, and it was hoped that when contemplating those little souvenirs in future they might be reminded of the cricket season now about to close, and in which they had played so con­ spicuous a part. Wherever they had been in Australia they had left a host of admirers, but the members of the Melbourne Club were among the heartiest of their friends and most fervent of their well-wishers. (Loud and continuous applause). Mr. B l ig h , onrising to respond, was received with cheers. He and the other members of the team felt deeply the very hearty reception which the toast had been accorded. He remem­ bered exceedingly well the last occasion on which he had to make a speech in that avilion, and that for two reasons—first because e could not forget the slight feeling of awe which they all felt at being in the presence of an assemblage of members of the far-famed Melbourne Club, and second because he also remembered distinctly that the meal then par­ taken of was the fourth of four plentiful ones the English team had partaken of in two hours (laughter). He said at that time that the team was an unlucky one, but he did not then know how unlucky they were to be. They had actually been going through the whole of their tour with a man who had a broken rib without its being known. That was an extraordinary piece of bad luck, and all would agree with him in saying how much the team regretted such an accident to that best of bowlers, Morley—(applause)—and how much they admired his pluck, which they had only just begun to appreciate, in going through the whole tour with such a wouud as he had received (loud applause). He (Mr. Bligh) also had the audacity to say on one occasion that the team had come to beard the kangaroo in his den. Now that four months had passed, he was afraid that the kangaroo hopped as jauntily as ever (laughter). He was afraid that it must be confessed, also, with regard to those11ashes ” referred to by the chairman, that the team could not take them back to England The best thing to do with them would be for their respected friend Mac to bury them in some corner of the ground (loud laughter and applause). There was only one thing he had to request, and that was that all present would see to it that none of Murdoch’s eleven touched them, because they really had no right to them (laughter and applause). The English team had not much to say about the last match (laughter). Now that the tour was over, he was happy to say that the team could look back upon it as having been a happy time: It was hardly possible to play a long succession of matches without some little unpleasantnesses but if there had been any during the recent season they were not worth mention­ ing. The English team would look back upon the trip with unmixed feelings of pleasure. The matches had been among the hardest they had ever played or would play, and there was only one thing that the team was badly treated in, and that was that after coming 16,030 miles to meet Spofforth on a dry wicket they had failed to get one. As dry wickets as were got in Australia could be got even in England, but he supposed the seasons might improve. On looking back at the tour, he felt compelled to thank the press for its treatment of the team. On tne whole it had been fair and impartial (applause). Of course pressmen were mortal, like other people, and of course one always imagined that the shower falling on the wicket of his side was heavier than that which fell on the wicket of the adversary. But these little things could not be helped (laughter). He had also to thank the people for their kind reception of the team. They had always been most im­ partial—as impartial as similar assemblages were in England; and it showed at any rate that the principle of a fair field and no favour held sway here (applause). He did not know how soon another Australian team might be seen in England again. A great deal was said about these cricket tours being overdone, but he was of opinion that as long as truly representative teams could be got together there would be no danger of “ overdoing” the sport. He hoped that when the next Australian team went home that it would play more than one representative match (applause). The present English team had beenrash enough to offer to play five matches against Australian teams; but in his opinion, the proper number to he played was three. He must express his most heartfelt thanks to the members of the club for the kindness which they had invariably shown towards the English Eleven. They had been so kiud to them as to make them feel perfectly at home in the pavilion—he might say for himself that though he felt not at all at home in the middle of the ground, he felt quite so in that building. (Laughter.) Where so many members of committee had discharged their onerous duties so well, it would be invidious to make distinc­ tions, but he felt that the thanks of the team were due to their manager, whose well-known suavity of manner did so much to smooth over many little difficulties. He alluded to Mr. Alexander. (Applause.) He joined with the chairman iu regrotting the absence of Sir W. Clarke, whose judicious and generous use of his power and position had made him one of the most popular men in Victoria. (Applause.) Sir VV. Clarke had in many ways endeared him­ self to the English team. Of course there was a certain pang in having to say “ good- bye,” but one or two members of the team, including him­ self, would remain a little after the others had departed. (Loud cheers.) In the hope that they might meet again he would say not “ fare­ well,” but “ au revoir.” The pretty badges which the team had received would always serve to remind them of the kindness of the club, whose public spiritedness had enabled them to make the present trip. He could only conclude by proposing the toast of the “ Melbourne Club.” The C hairm an, in responding, said that the club’s number was reached on Saturday last, when the 1,500th member joined its ranks. He desiredto refer to the small gold lockets which had been given to the English professionals as a souvenir of their trip. Their behaviour was faultless throughout the tour, and their conduct had been most manly. (Cheers.) The accident which deprived Mr. Bligh of one of his most efficient bowlers was deplored by everybody, but they hoped that Morley would arrive iu England as full of health and strength as when he first left her shores. (Applause.) Mr. B a r lo w returned the thanks of the professionals for the lockets which they had re­ ceived. The trip had been a most pleasant one to them. They had always done their best. Of course they had lost a few matches, but that was not their fault. (Loud laughter.) If they came again to Australia, they hoped to do better than they did this time. It would he a pleasing task for them to tell their English friends of the kindness exhibited by the Austra­ lian people. Mr. B lig h proposed the health of the “ Vic­ torious Victorian Eleven,” remarking, as he did so, that he would couple with it the name of that most insidious bowler, Mr. Cooper. (Laughter and applause.) Mr. W. H. C oopek, who responded, said that the Victorian team were very proud of their late victory, although they thought from the first that they would make a very good show. He certainly felt proud of having picked the eleven, and being selected its captain. The day altogether would be marked with a red letter in Victorian cricket annals. (Applause.) It would be ridiculous to say thht the match repre­ sented the strength of the two teams. (Applause) In his opinion, if Victoria played her best team against England in a long series of matches the results would be very evenly balanced, though Victoria might have one match to the good in the long run. If he might be permitted to say it, he thought that on the true wickets of the colonies, and in the varied bowling to suit them, would be found the slight advantage which Victoria would have. (Applause.) The proceedings then terminated. T h e Australian tour of the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team of English cricketers having been brought to a conclusion with their match against the Victorian Eleven, on the Melbourne ground, we (the Argus) append a list of the matches played in the Colonies with the results. In the four International matches played the honours were fairly divided, but the teams representing the separate colonies weakened by the absence of the Australia1 Eleven players, were each easily vanquished by the visitors in the early part of the season. Only’one match was played against the foil strength of either colony on even terms, and this contest resuited in a decided victory for the Victorian team. In such of the matches again st