Cricket 1885

MAR. 26.1885. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. I s h o u l d like to ask if it is a fact that no intimation has been expressed by the executive of the Notts County Club of a desire to revive the popular fixtures between that County and Lancashire. I gathered from a report of the annual meeting, held at Notting­ ham, that the members of the Notts Club expressed their opinion strongly in favour of a renewal of these old engagements. Yet, as far as I know, no attempt has been made by the Notts executive to replace in their programme the matches, which, it will be remembered, were withdrawn by their action. This is the more to be regretted as I believe tho Lancashire authorities would have been, and I presume would now be, willing to meet Notts again. E v ery - one interested in County cricket will be glad to hear that the retirement of Mr. Hornby from the Captaincy of tlie Lancashire eleven, announced in these columns some time ago on the very best authority, has been deferred for a time. It gives me the greatest pleasure now to be able to state that Mr. Hornby, though he asserts that this will be his last year, willagain “ boss ” the Lancashire team during the coming summer. County Cricket can not afford to lose such enthusiastic supporters and genuine sportsmen as the Old Harrovian who has so materially helped during the last few years, by his energy and influence, to bring Lancashire to the front, and all real well-wishers of the game will hope that his withdrawal from first-class cricket will not be an event of the near future. T h e English Cricketers now in Australia seem on the whole to have had every reason to be gratified with the reception they have met, especially in some of what I may call their out­ lying matches. To judge by a report of the welcome given to them at Bris­ bane, their trip to Queensland must have been particularly pleasant in this way. I learn from a copy of the Brisbane Courier, which has kindly been sent to me by an unknown friend, that their arrival at that town was the signal for an ovation—I think that is the recognised phrase on such occasions. Over a thousand persons assembled at the wharf to await the approach of the steamer “ Currayong,” which conveyed the team from New South Wales, and they were escorted by a numerous body of local cricketers to their head-quarters, the Metro­ politan Hotel, where a reception ceremony took place. Mr. D. W. Gregory,the Captain of the First Aus­ tralian team which visited England, acted as the representative of Mr. John Conway, the Australian agent of the English team, during their visit to Queensland. O n Saturday last, Mr. Homewood Crawford, one of the Under Sheriffs of London selected for the present Mayoralty, was sworn in at the Guildhall as the City Solicitor in suc­ cession to the late Sir Thomas Nelson. I do not know whether the new legal adviser of the Corporation has ever had any connection with the game, indeed I only mention his election on account of my notice in last month’s “ Gossip” of the candidature of Mr. W. Hayes, the Hon. Sec. of the Law Club, for the office. It appears, though, that I was a little premature in my announcement. I am glad to think that the City fathers had not the bad taste to choose anyone in preference to the active and intelligent officer who conducts the affairs of the Law C.C., for the simple reason that he was not a candidate. T hough the year is still very young, I have already had occasion to notice the marriage of more than one well- known cricketer, A fortnight ago another, an amateur well-known at Eugby and Oxford, and subsequently in connection with Yorkshire, joined the noble army of mar------ 1 mean, Benedicts. Here is the announce­ ment from a daily paper of last week. “ Hirst—Pollock.—On the 12th inst., at St. Mark’s Church, Leeds, Edward Theodore, son of W . E . Hirst, J.P., of Lascelles Hall, Huddersfield, to Emily Norton, daughter of the late Captain Pollock, of Leeds.” T he Bryn-y-Neuadd Club, which has for its President and Patron Mr' Sydney Platt, and F. Steele, the whilom Middlesex professional, for its Secretary, has arranged a lengthy and interesting programme for 1885. In all, between May 20 and Aug.10, forty- three fixtures are down for decision. Among these are engagements with M.C.C. and Ground, Incogniti, North of Ireland, Western, Broughton, Werneth, Oswestry, Trentham Park, Oswestry and Vale of Clwydd Clubs, in addition to matches against the Llanfairfechan, Llandudno, and Beaumaris Visitors. A Manchester tour is arranged from June 1 to 6, and the week commencing June 15 will be spent in London, playing Kensington Park, Hampstead, Blackheath Morden, Clapton, Ne’er-do-Weels and Windsor Home Park Chib in turn. No more pleasant outing in cricket can be devised than a visit to North Wales, and cricketers no-where find a warmer reception than while they are under Mr. Platt’s hospitable care. A f in e old English Cricketer! one of the olden time, passed away three weeks ago, unnoticed except by a few who knew the good he had in his time done to the game. Mr. W. D. Baker, who died at Kennington Green on the 11th of this month, at the ripe old age of 79, had substantial claim to be well remembered of cricketers. It was he, indeed, who, forty years ago, origin­ ated the idea of converting Kennington Oval from a market garden into a cricket ground, and it was in his name that the requisite agreement for the transfer from the Duchy of Cornwall was drawn up, though subsequently handed over to the Surrey Club. Mr. B aker was a member of the old Montpelier Club, and in the earlier days of Surrey was of great use to the County as a batsman. In a match at Lord’s against Marylebone Club and Ground, in 1847, if my memory does not deceive me, Mr. Baker, with the great Felix, was batting against Hillyer and Lillywhite for twenty-eight overs without a run. Mr. Baker was one of the best batsmen of his time, and never lost his ardent love of the game. Though close on four score he was passionately fond of cricket until the last, as I myself have good reason to know, and even of late years there was no more regular attendant at the Oval on the occasion of a match of any importance. But for him Surrey would never, perhaps, have enjoyed possession of the historic soil on which for the last four decades some of the very best cricket ever played has been witnessed. This alone should keep his memory fresh in the minds of Surrey cricketers. “ M id - on , ” the cricket contributor of the Melbourne Leader, in commenting on the extraordinary bowling perfor­ mances of the little Yorkshireman, Peel, in the Queensland tour of the English team now in Australia, is of Next issue of Cricket April 16-