Cricket 1884

A PR IL 24,1884. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 73 T h e following tables, which show the batting and bowling averages respectively of the fourth Australian Eleven up to and including the match with the Victorian Fifteen, will give an idea of the form of the various members of the team just reaching England, during the preliminary tour in the Colonies :— BATTING AVERAGES. Batsman. No. of Innings. 1 No. of Runs. Highest in an Innings. Highest in a Match. Times Not Out. Avge. W. L. Murdoch 8 477 279 279 1 68*14 H. F. Boyle .. 9 157 44* 60* 4 81 4 P. S. M'Donnell 1 1 848 1 1 1 111 0 31-1 G. J. Bonnor .. 10 291 74 74 1 29*1 W. Midwinter.. 10 280 58 74 0 28 A.C. Bannerman 9 189 81 82 2 27 G, Giffen 11 251 58 79 0 22-81 G. Alexander .. 5 103 50 50 0 20-6 J. M. Blackham 10 135 45 45 3 19-2 H. E. Scott .. 4 46 29 29 1 15 33 G. E. Palmer .. 10 102 24 80 8 145 W. H. Cooper.. 8 56 88 83 2 95 * Signifies not out. BOWLING AVERAGES. Bowler. Balls Runs. Mds.+ Wkts. Avge. Boyle 703 223 69 84 6-05 Palmer 2,090 576 240 80 7-02 Giffen 646 320 59 86 8-88 Midwinter 1,093 808 m 80 10*01 Cooper 628 232 43 17 136 Bonnor 72 37 9 2 18 5 Alexander .. 52 19 1 1 — + The number of maiden overs bowled in the second innings of Newcastle has not been obtainable. I t will be a source of satisfaction to hundreds of cricketers, many of whom, especially considering the laxity that has prevailed in the measurement of the blades, find the regulation width of 4£ inches ‘for a bat quite narrow enough, to learn that Mr. C. E. Boyle's proposal to reduce the limit to 8} is still infuturo. I was in­ structed that Mr. Boyle meant to persevere in his suggestion, if only to ventilate the question, but unfor­ tunately he was unable to be present at the special General Meeting of the Marylebone Club, at Lord’s, on Mon­ day last, when the new code was dis­ cussed, and in his absence the pro­ posal fell to the ground. As one who has consistently, as Well as persistently, advocated strin­ gent measures for the repression of dubious bowling, I was specially gratified to find that the amendment proposed by Lord Harris to authorise umpires to no-ball any bowler about the fairness of whose delivery they had a doubt, was carried, and by such a decisive majority. I must say that I was agreeably surprised at the result of the discussion on this point, because, in the face of the opinion of the Committee expressed only after mature deliberation, I was hardly of opinion that the amendment would have a sufficient following to ensure its success. T he urgency of using the severest measures in discouragement of the throwing school, has been so strenu­ ously advocated in these columns, that anything tending to check an abuse, which is now seriously damaging the game, can not fail to be gratifying. If, after the strong expression of public opinion everywhere of late, and in the face of the vote of a large majority of the members of the Marylebone Club, on Monday, um­ pires have not the courage to enforce the full rigour of the law where they have a doubt of the absolute fairness of the delivery of any bowler—I say if, after the weight of opinion they have felt recently, they do not do their duty, the responsibility will rest wholly and solely on them, and they will have to be prepared to accept the full consequences of their irresolution. I t cannot be urged now that they are at all uncertain as to the general feeling on the matter. The Aus­ tralian team feel very strongly on the prevalence of these dubious deliveries over here, and they administer at home such summary justice on the slightest semblance of an unfair action, that it will hardly be wondered at if they make exception to some of the bowling in vogue with us. The regulation on this subject proposed by Lord Harris, and carried I may add, by 41 votes to 11, is as under: — “ If the umpire at the bowler’s end be not satisfied of the absolute fairness of the delivery of any ball he shall call ‘ no ball; ’ ” I v e n t u r e d rashly to predict that Mr. I. D. Walker’s two proposals would probably be carried, but only one was passed, and that I consider the less important in the sense of strict cricket; To rule that one day matches should be decided on the first innings is only to legalise general custom, but I was certainly surprised to find that the proposition to prevent the employment of substitutes except for players incapacitated during the match by illness or injury was lost, though only by the bare majority of two votes. The indiscriminate em­ ployment of substitutes, and often for no other purpose than to suit the whim of dilettanti cricketers, is foreign to the true spirit of the game, and should be forbidden. As the general custom now is, a substitute is often without valid reason asked for and allowed by courtesy. It may be, and often happens, too, that he is really a much better field than the player whose place he takes, and as Mr. Walker forcibly put it, he might, though the contingency is not very likely, turn the whole issue of a match. The laxity in this respect is not only improper, but often unfair in particular cases, and a substitute ought distinctly not to be allowed un­ less a batsman is disabled in the match itself. A n o t e w o r t h y bowling feat has reached me from Australia. Playing for Byaduk against the Banks and Law, at Hamilton in Victoria on March 8, G. Clarkson secured six wickets for twelve runs in the first innings, and in the second took the whole ten wickets for five runs. The latter is aperformance so exceptional, as tomerit a special record in C r ic k e t . T he report that Mr. George Vernon was likely to settle in Aus­ tralia seems, to say the least of it, to have been a little premature. At least, I learn from a good source that he is already on his way to England, and it is stated on good authority that he is likely to be here within the next month. He does not seem to have given his attention to cricket at all in the Colonies. Indeed, I have not noticed his name at all actively asso­ ciated with the game out there. T he giant of the Australian team, G. J. Bonnor, has come out in the new light of a bowler, and I am assured that he is by no means a despicable performer in this line. He certainly seems to have been of occasional service as a change of late in the Colonies. He bowls, I understand, veryfast, and, I believe, the great anxiety of the managers of the team is to get his arm higher ! He seems, during this last Australian season, to have been more than usually successful with the