Cricket 1883

m a y s , 1883. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 75 SCHOOL CR ICKET IN 1883. Amateur Cricket derives so much of its best material from the Public School teams that any thing affecting their prospects mustbe of interest. The majority of those who have represented the Gentlemen against the Players have learned their cricket at one or other of the Public Schools. Of late years the preponderance of influence en­ joyed by the more favoured institutions such as Eton and Harrow has perhaps been a little less marked, but School cricket may fairly be called the nursery for the Gentlemen of England, and the importance of its cultivation is not to be over-estimated. Last year, owing to the un­ favourable weather prevalent during the busiest part of the time allowed for practice, many of the School teams were not seen quite at their best. On the whole the cricket was hardly up to the highest standard, but the quality of the material is quite as good as ever it was, and with fine weather we may fairly expect a far better account of the Schools when the summaries are ready for publication. For the particulars appended we are indebted to the Captains in each case, H. W. Bainbridge, the Eton captain of 1882, is now up at Cambridge, and W. F. Cave, one of the three most successful batsmen of last season, is also down. The two bowlers, Hon. J. R. Brownlow and J. F. Jardine, are no longer available, but the other seven members of the eleven remain. E. J. Lucas is captain, and he will be assisted by J. Hargreaves, A. C. ltichards, Hon. C. M. K. Hugessen, E. H. Pemberton, A. H. Studd, and j. Marchmt. Iiiehards, a good allround cricketer, was not seen at his best last year, nor was the captain, but Hugessen, Marchant, Studd, Pemberton, and Hargreaves were all fairly successful at Lord’s, and the timely resistance of the last named had much to do with saving Eton from what seemed likely to be a defeat. The Eleven, in addition to the two school matches, playOriel and ChristChnrch Colleges, Oxford, Mr. 0. I. Thornton’s Eleven, the Free Foresters, Quidnuncs, Eihcr, M.C.C. & G., Eton Kamblers, aud I Zingari. The Harrow' programme is not yetcompletad, and so we are only able to give a list of the fixtures arranged up to date. The first game will be on the 12th inst., when the Twelve play the Twenty-two, and the foreign match will be the usual meeting between the School and Mr. Bowen’s Eleven four days later. Eight of last year’s team have left, and the old choices are represented by H. E. Crawley, Captaiu H. T. Hewett, and T. Greatorex. As all the .bowlers of 1882 are gone, the new players will have to furnish the material for the attack this season. There are some promising batsmen, a3 well as bowlers, and in all probability the Eleven will be up to the average. AtWinchester, A. E. Cobb, the wicket-keeper of 1882, will be captain. There are besides six old choices in G. W. Eicketts, B. E. Nicholls, F. M. Ingram, B. B. Hills, J. M. Swayne and P. Humphrey. The eleven are fortunate in again having Nicholls, the bowler who chiefly conduced to the decisive victory of the Wyke­ hamists against Eton last season, as well as the most successful batsman Cobb. The excel­ lent figures of Winchester in 1882 lead to the belief that,withmo3t of its then eleven remaining, the present season should be a very successful one. There are, too, several young players of promise. The best of these are F. T. Haviland, C. T. Budd, A. T. Walton and B. Talbot. The professionals engaged at Winchester are D. Pollard, of Yorkshire, S. J.Brooks andW. Elliott, of Notts. The Rugby eleven have had to find a new captain in succession to H. T. Arnall, who was playing for the Oxford Freshmen on Monday and Tuesday last. The charge of the eleven at the present time devolves on H. H. Castens, who kept wicket for the school in 1882. There are four other old choices, and as most of the best batsmen are left and Harrison and Gillson are both very good fast bowlers, there is at least the nucleus of a good eleven. In addition there are three very promising bats coming on from the twenty-two, as well as a slow left hand bowler in Barbour, who it is hoped will be of great service. As far as can be judged now Eugby bids favour to have a moderately, strong team, but in any case it is certain to be better represented than it was last year. T. Brown, of Notts, has sole charge of the tuition at the School. The Charterhouse eleven will suffer by the loss of W. N. Cobbold, E. P. Spurway, its most successful batsmen, and F. J. Barmby, its best all round player of 1882. It will retain, though, T. W . Blenkiron, and C. H. Vintcent, its last year’s bowlers, and two other old choices, E. Causton and R. Webber. Blenkiron and Vintcent have bowled with great effect and are again sure to be of service. Among the new players H. S, Ponsonby, we believo a son of the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby, is the most promising of the new players as a batsman, and he will in all likelihood obtain his colours. Only two of the four professionals usually em­ ployed have as yet been engaged. H. Scothern, of Notts, is head bowler, and H. Gray will be the third man. Westminster has five of its eleven of last season again available. F. T. Higginr, who was perhaps the best all round public school player of 1882, succeeds to the captaincy, and as he has already made two innings of over a hundred, there is little doubt that he will be among the most, if not the most, successful batsmen of the year in school cricket. C. B. Tritton, who with Higgins did most of the bowling last season, is also left, as are F. G. Thorne, A. E. Bedford and E. Bethune. The bowling of the eleven should be fairly good; though it is a little too much of the same kind. There is some fair promise of batting among the new players, but there is a' great want of a wicket-keeper, and in this respect the Westminster eleven will be very weak. Mantle, who is now in his twenty-first season at the school, has been engaged, with Pooley coaching up to the present time, but the latter’s place will be taken now that he will be required for Surrey, by Webb, of Kent. The Easter vacation at Marlborough only came to an end on Tuesday night, and, at present, them is little information to be had respecting the prospects there ; on Whit Mon­ day, the eleven play the Liverpool Club and Ground, and there will be much the same fix­ tures as last year. The Cheltenham match will be played at Marlborough this season, and Rugby will of course be again met at Lord’s. Six of last year’s team remain. These are J. E. Eowe, the captain, E. II. Buckland, one of the bowlers of 1832. W. A. BoPe, G. V. Harding, F. W. D. Quinton, and F. G. Padwick. The losses from last year are, 0. H. Leaf (left slow), the bowler of the eleven, G. E. Garnett (slow right), K. H. Marley (fast round), F. H. Fox and 0. Wynne. As far as can be judged, at present, the most promising candidates for the vacant places in the team are, C. W. Horsbrugh, II. T. Keeling, R. C. M. Harding, T. B. Sale, and F. A. Templer. Potter, of Surrey, is the head professional, and he will be assisted by Morton. Clifton College will be left with five old choices three of whom, .J. H. Brain, K. J. Key, and H. B. Powell, were in the Eleven of 1881, and the other two,M.Hartnell and Schmitz, of lasty^ars’ election. Brain, the capt., and Key, who played twice for Surrey last year, are far the best bats­ men in the team ; whilst nearly the whole of the bowling department will devolve on Powell andKey, both of whom were the responsible bowlers of the Eleven in 1881 and 1882. Schmitz will take the gloves. There is every prospect of producing at Clifton two good medium-pace round-aim trundlers, in Fowler and Pilcher, whilst Harland seems the most likely batsman. The Cheltenham Match will be played on their ground this year, and as they have lost their best batsman and bowler in Greenway and Page, besides several others of the Eleven, Clifton certainly have some chance of winning that match, as they used to do in years gone by. The strength of the team ought to rest in the bowling line, as besides the two old Eleven bowler3 there will be some very good changes, R. Humphrey, of Surrey, has been engaged to look after the tuition of the team, and Petty, of Yorkshire, will help. Wellington College retains six of its old choices. These are M. H. Milner, the captain, and F. A. Browning, now on their third year in the eleven, G. H. Spiller, C. E. F. Bun- burv, P. N. Salmond, D. N, Pollook (second year) W. R. Hawkins, and A. W. Medley. The most successful batsman and bowler of 1882 have left, but there is a promising supply of youngsters, and it is hoped that the eleven will be better than that of last year. The profes­ sionals engaged are J. Eelf, of Sussex, and F. Johnson, of Surrey. Repton is fortunate enough to retain among its four old choices those who obtained both the best batting and bowling averages of last year. E. F. Kearsey, who performed so successfully both with bat and ball in 1882, will be captain, and there will be at his service A.H. J. Cochrane, the fast bowler of last year, L. G. B. J. Ford, a slow round arm bowler after the manner of the family, and C. A. Kempson, a brilliant field. Kearsey, who is medium pace, and Cochrane both bowl left hand, and in all proba­ bility there will be a third trundler of the same style from among the new players. According to appearances, Repton will have an eleven up to the average this season. Maurice Read, of Surrey, has been engaged for a short spell of coaching before commencing with his county. Tonbridge has seven of its eleven of 1882 back at School, but there seems reason to believe that the team will be deficient in bowl­ ing. H. L. Colebrook is captain. The-Ton­ bridge professional is W. Draper, who has played on some few occasiona for Kent. Of the old choices at Bradfield College, there . remain W. Gellebrand, G. C. Hare and G. P. C. Shrewsbury, who have their colours; in addition toE .J . Bidwell and F. Humphrey. Gellibrand is captain for the season, and Hare honorary secretary. It is somewhat early to form a very correct judgment about the new players who are likely to fill the vacancies, but, as far aS can be seen at present, Climenson, Menzies, and possibly A. Humphrey display some promise as batsmen Travers and Menzies, both of them new comers,’ show signs of making bowlers. The School pro­ fessional is Eawlinson. ETON COLLEGE. May 19, at Eton, v. Oriel Coll. Oxford „ 24, at Eton, v. Mr. C. I. Thornton’s XI. „ 81, at Eton, v. ChristChurch Oxford June 7, at Eton, v. Quidnuncs „ 11, at Eton, V. Esher ,, 16, at Eton, v. Free Foresters „ 20, at Eton, v. M.C.C. & G. „ 23, at Eton, v. Eton Ramblers „ 28, at Eton, v. Winchester Coll. July 7, at Eton, v. I. Zingari „ 13, at L ords , v . H arrow S ohooi ,. HARROW SCHOOL. May 12, Harrow, Eleven v. Twenty-two Harrow Schc „ 16, Harrow, School y. E. E. Bowen’s Eleven, June 2, Harrow, School v. Harrow Town „ 9, Harrow, School v. Quidnrnncs „ 1G, Harrow, School v. M.C.C. & G. ,, 21, Harrow, School r. Harlequins 30, Harrow, School v. I Zingari July 7, Harrow, School v. Old Harrovians ,, 13 and 14, L ord ’ s , H arrow v , E ton ^