Cricket 1884

26 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. feb. as, vm. cricketers here as well as at the antipodes will heartily wish Mr. Bligh and his wife long life and happiness. They are to arrive in England, I believe, in time for, if not before the commencement of the English cricket season. T he following clipping is from “ Nat Lee’s ” “ Cricket Notes,” in the Tas­ manian Mail of 22nd December On looking through some newspaper cut­ tings a few days ago, I came across a very amusing description of a great leg-hit, made in a match some time back. As I think it may interest you to hear the particulars of the occurrence, I copy it verbatim:—The match was between the Gentlemen of Devon and the Gentlemen of Dorset. It was played on the summit of a ridge, in the down country of the latter shire. The batsman who immor­ talised himself was J. F. Scobell, of Marl­ borough and Oxford fame, and the time was some 16 or 18 years ago. The wickets being pitched on the very backbone,of the ridge of the downs, the ground sloped away rapidly on either side, so that long-leg had an excel­ lent view of the figure of the batsman clearly cut against the sky. but point was “ hulldown / to him, and cover point completely out of sight. A big leg hit by Scobell sent the ball rolling down the hill and across the tiny valley at its foot to so great a distance that the entire body of fieldsmen, bowler included, had to “ pull foot ” down the slope to help in throwing the ball up. It failed to reach the wicket keeper by a few yards—the batsmen were half way between the wickets; he ran to meet the ball, and, utterly regardless of the circumstances and consequences alike, threw at the wicket. Horror of horrors! the ball flew wide of the mark, and disappeared down the opposite slope. He faced about; his ten colleagues were to be discerned at different altitudes making the ascent to the wickets with a certain amount of deliberation whi ch betokened shortness of breath. By means of frantic gesticulations he succeeded in im­ parting to them, as they toiled upwards, a sense of the dire nature of the catastrophe. One by one they struggled back to the sum­ mit, and disappeared down the opposite slope in pursuit of the errant leather, leaving be­ hind them a long trail of curious words which it is as wellnotto reproduce here. Suffice it to say, that by the time the ball had been once more returned to the wicket-keeper Scobell had registered 87 runs as the produce of his big leg-hit. E v e r y o n e will be glad to hear that the Hon. Kobert Grimston, the pre­ sident of the Marylebone Club, who has been seriously ill, is considerably better. He is now able to take a short drive daily, and there is every reason for expecting his speedy restoration to health. The announce­ ment of Mr. Grimston’s complete re­ covery will be welcome news to cricketers everywhere. A t the annual general meeting of the Lancashire Club,held last month, it was decided that one of the home matches of the county should be played at Liverpool. The secretary of the Liverpool Club informs me that in all probability it will be the Surrey eleven who will appear on that ground. I n the last number of C ricket I pointed out that the application by the author of the article on “ English and Australian Cricket ” in the Jan­ uary number of Baily, of the old say­ ing ‘ ‘ a stale horse never comes again,” to cricket, was not at all a happy one. In the special case of Murdoch, for which it was used, it has proved indeed curiously incorrect. In my last notes I called attention to his scores of 90 out of 131) and 140 of 195 for Cootamundra, in a Cup match, to show that he was not altogether out of form. Since then he has been credited with 158 and 22 for New South Wales, and 279 (not out) for the Fourth Australian team against a combined eleven of the Colonies, so that he has “ come again,” it must be admitted, with a vengeance. A r e p o r t has been in circulation that Flowers and Peate would, in all probability, go to America in April to coach the Philadelphian cricketers in view of their tour in England during the summer. An application I know for certain was made to Peate for his terms for a short engagement in America, but, I believe, nothing has as yet been definitely arranged. The announcement of the proposal for Flowers and Peate to coach the Phil­ adelphians sounds a little strange, as no mention of any idea of the kind is to be found in the last number of the American Cricketer, which has pub­ lished all the official notices relative to the trip. I t is stated, and on what seems to be reliable authority, that Ulyett, Bates, Flowers, Barnes, and Maurice Bead have already signed engage­ ments to accompany Shaw, Shrews­ bury, and Lillywhite to Australia in the autumn. The Melbourne Argus has the following telegram from Sydney in its issue of Jan. 11:— By the English mail Mr. John Conway has received a letter from James Lillywhite, giving some particulars of the projected visit of an English eleven to Australia next season. The team will consist of three gentlemen players and nine professionals. The following players have already been secured:—Ulyett, Bates, Maurice Bead, Flowers, Barnes, Pilling, Shaw, Shrews­ bury, and probably Barlow. Mr. W. W. Read, who played so well as a member of the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team, will be one of the amateur players. —Mr. Bead, I may state, has given no authority for the use of his name in connection with tho trip. AN OLD SCORE. Mr. F. G. Spybey, of Nottingham, an in­ defatigable student of cricket lore, has kindly sent us the following printed score of a match between Nottingham and Sheffield, in 1SOO. The following is an exact repro­ duction of th& original A C oerect S tatement of the G eand C R I C K E T M A T C H For Two Hundred Guineas, which was played at Mansfield on Monday, September 29, 1800, between Eleven Gentlemen of Nottingham and Eleven Gentlemen of Shef­ field, which was won very easy by the former. N ottingham F irst I nnings . Thomas Neap .. .. 6 bowled out by Rutter William Chapman .. 6 bowled out by Sykes Richard Warsop .. 8 catohed out by Thompson William Britain .. 4 catclied out by Gascoine William Streets .. 8 bowled out by Rutter Joseph Dennis .. .. 16 catclied out by Barker Thomas Warsop .. 2 bowled out by Rutter R. S m it h ...............3 bowled out by Rutter James Weston .. .. 8 notout William Jefferies .. 1 bowled out by Rutter Leonard Elliott .. 9 bowled out by Rutter Byes . . . . 1 67 N ottingham S econd I nnings . Joseph Dennis .. .. 20 catched out by Shaw Thomas Warsop .. 5 catched out by Gascoine James Weston .. .. 4 run out William Streets ,. 9 bowled out by Sykes Richard Warsop .. 12 catched out by Booth William Jefferies .. 1 bowled out by Gascoine Leonard Elliott .. 4 catched oat by Thomson William Britain .. 2 catched out by Gascoine William Chapman .. 7 bowled out by Gascoine R. S m it h .............. 23 not out Thomas Neap .. .. 4 bowled out by Gascoine Byes.................2 102 S heffield F irst I nnings . T. B o o t h .................. 7 catched out by Dennis F. Sykes .................0 bowled out by T. Warsop J. F is h e r ................0 run out G. F is h e r ...............5 bowled out by T. Warsop J. Shaw ................. 2 bowled out by T. Warsop — Thomson .. .. 2 stumpt out by Dennis J. Osborne.................0 bowled out by Chapman R. B a rk e r................. 6 stumpt out by Dennis —- Gascoine .. .. 2 bowled out by T. Warsop J. U n w in .................0 catched out by Dennis A. R u t t e r .................0 not out Byes................. 0 24 S heffield S econd I nnings . J. Shaw .................5 bowled out by T. Warsop O. F is h e r .................0 stumpt out by Dennis F. Sykes .................4 bowled out by T. WarBop J. F is h e r .................0 catched out by Elliott J. Booth ..................3 . catched out by Britain A. R u tt e r .................0 etumpt out by Dennis R. Barker....................0 bowled out by Chapman — Gaseoine............... 6 catched out by R. Warsop J. Unwin .. .. .. 0 stumpt out by Dennis — Thomson .. .. 2 not out T. Osborne.................0 atumpt out by Dennis Byes.................. 2 22 Majority in favour of Nottingham, 123. Total of both the innings of Nottingham, 169; total of both the innings of Sheffield, 46. G kound W anted , as close to Kensington as possible. Particulars to G . H. Butter­ field, Admiralty, Spring Gardens, S.W.— Advt. Next Issue of CRICKET will be published Thursday, March 27.