Cricket 1884

“ Together joined in cricket’s man ly toil.”— Byron. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1884. p r i c e 2d. R O B E R T P E E L . T hotioh his performances, up to the present time, have hardly been sufficiently brilliant to warrant his inclusion in a representative team of English professionals, it is certain that the sturdy little left-hander, who has done such good service to Yorkshire during the last three summers, will not be the least useful member of the thir­ teen Players who are to tour in Austra­ lia this winter. Robert Peel was born at Charwell, in Yorkshire, on the 12th of February, 1857. His cricket was either late in developing, or he had less opportunities than most of his fellows, for he did not come promi­ nently into notice until he was in his twenty-sixth year. His first appear­ ance in a fixture of any importance was in the Colts’ Match, at Sheffield, on May 15,1882, when he formed one of the Twenty-two Colts selected to oppose the Yorkshire Eleven. His trial was by no means unsuccessful, for he took four wickets—and one of them that of Hall, who was, as was also Rawlin, clean bowled—for twenty runs. The presence of another left-handed bowler, and one so effective as Peate, in the County Eleven, interfered considerably, no doubt, with his promotion, and it was not until the middle of the season of 1882 that he got his first chance. A sprained ankle prevented Peate assist­ ing Yorkshire against Surrey, at Shef­ field, on July 10 of that year, and, mindful of Peel’s good bowling for the Twenty-two, the executive of the County Club very wisely deemed this a fitting opportunity to give him his first trial in the Eleven. His success was at once assured ; and, as Bates also broke down on the first night of the match, the bulk of the Yorkshire bowling de­ volved on Peel. In each innings he had the satisfaction of bowling Maurice Read, who was just about that time in run-getting form, and, altogether, he was credited with nine Surrey wickets at a cost of one hundred and thirty-two runs. That this opening perform­ ance was in no way a fluke, he showed at the innings of Gloucestershire, at Sheffield, and the same week also found him in form at Man­ chester, where he was credited with five wickets, in Lancashire’s first innings, at .a cost of forty- one runs. He did not figure in the last four matches in the Yorkshire programme.of 1882, and his final appearance of that season was against Derbyshire, at Derby, where he made his best score of the year, 35 not out, a very useful one, as it proved, helping to save the Yorkshire- men from what seemed certain to be a follow-on. Though his services were not utilised in the later fixtures of 1882 it is evident that the Yorkshire execu­ tive had been thoroughly impressed ty the excellence of his all-round play, and he received a regular retainer for the following season. He opened the year satisfactorily at Lord’s, against M.C.C. and G., and, though hardly so successful with the ball, on the whole his cricket was of very great service to the County throughout. His best performance with the bat was his 74 against Gloucestershire, at Bradford, and the stand he made with Peate, when the two put on 126 runs, will net be forgotten. His thirty-one wickets, in 1883, were obtained at a rather expen­ sive average of 17.4 runs, and his best figures were for Yorkshire and Notts v. England (seven wickets for fifty-nine runs) and for Emmett’s Eleven v. Bar­ low’s Eleven, at the end of the season, when he was credited with four wickets in the first innings of the latter for thirty-five runs. Throughout the sea­ son just completed Peel was in vory creditable form. His batting average for twenty four innings for Yorkshire was a very creditable one of 16.6, and on several occasions—notably against Cambridge University, at Cambridge (57), and against Middlesex, at Shef­ field, where he was credited with an excellent tecond innings of fifty—his batting was very effective. Early in the season he only had few opportunities with the ball, but later on he proved of great service, and in the first match against Gloucestershire,at Bradford,when, owing to Peate’s absence, he was again brought end of the same week against the Australians, at Dewsbury, and on this occasion his bowling was very much out of the common. At one time he kept up his end for twenty-five minutes without a run being scored off him, and in the only innings of the Australians he delivered forty-six overs for forty-one runs and six wickets, a very fine record against such a batting side as the Australian Team of 1882, despite that rain caused the ground to be all in favour of the bowlers. Four wickets for twenty-two runs formed the summary of his bowling in the first Next issue o f Cricket Nov- 27-