Cricket 1885

42 CRICKET; A ■WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. m a r . 26,1885. opinion that liis feat at Moss Yale, when he took eighteen wickets (four­ teen bowled) at a cost of only seven runs, is, considering the number of wickets, without precedent as a record of a single innings. Several corres­ pondents, I may add, have written to me enquiring whether I can recall a bowling achievement of equal merit. I certainly can not bring to mind anything which will fairly challenge comparison. I shall be glad, though, if any C r ic k e t reader can instance a similar record. L o o k in g through the early volumes of “ Scores and Biographies,” I came across an entry in the score ofa match between Eton and the Oldfield Club, at Eton, in July, 1793, which will sound very btrange to cricketers of the present day. In the second innings of Eton the fashion of Gandy’s dismissal is recorded as '* nipt out.” In the oldest published code of rules, in a paragraph headed “ Ye Laws for ye strikers or those that are in,” is the following clause— “ A stroke or nip over or under his Batt or upon his hands (but not arms), if ye ball be held before she touches ye ground, though she be hugged to the body, it’ s out,” In a later code there is the pro­ vision, “ If a striker nipps up a ball j list before him he may fall before his wicket or pop down his bat before she comes to it to save it.” This last enactment would seem to suggest that tho word refers to a ball, after being hit, rolling into the wicket. Is it possible, though, that “ nipt out ” was the quaint phrase of our forefathers to represent a batsman whose wicket, through over anxiety in backing up, was put down by the bowler. There is another curious entry in the first volume of “ Scores and Biographies.” In a match between Moulsey Hurst and Hornchurch, played at Moulsey Hurst on July 3 and 4, Mr. G. Talbot, one of the former, is described in the score as “ P.H.O. 5.” Mr. Haygartk, in his note on the match in “ Scores and Biographies,” says that this term (P.H.O.) lias not been explained. I have a theory of my own on the subject, but perhaps someone can throw light on the matter. L ast month I gave the names of several cricketers serving their country in the Soudan, to which list I may add those o f Lieut.-Col. H, C. Rowley,who, if I mistake not, was with the Camel Corps during the flying visit t o ' Metemneh, and of J. F. Prinsep, the Old Carthusian cricketer and footballer. I casually noticed, too, a well-known cricketer discharging im­ portant military duties in another quarter of the globe where British in­ terests are likely to be imperilled. I refer to the Hon. M. G. Talbot, of the Boyal Engineers, who did good work in Afghanistan during the late war, and is at present one of the Survey Department of the Afghan Boundary Commission appointed by England, and commanded by Sir Peter Lumsden. A mong the candidates at the next General Election, so far as I can see at present there will be several cricketers wTho have, as far as I know, not been in Parliament before. Mr. Herbert Knatchbull - Hugessen, the President of the Kent County Club of 1883, has consented to contest the proposed new Faversham and Sitting- bourne division of Kent. Mr. J. T, D. Llewellyn, who has done so much for the game in Wales, is also goiug in for a seat in the Lower House, and I hear that Mr. W. S. Shirley, who was invited by the Radicals of Preston to stand for that borough, has decided to take liis chance at Doncaster, where he has considerable interest. I have not heard yet, though, any verifi­ cation of the rumours of Mr. A . N. Hornby’s intention to seek the suff­ rages of a Lancashire constituency, at least for the present. Considering his boundless popularity, perhaps it will be well for those already in the field if the reports remain unconfirmed. C r i c k e t e r s of tho old school will hear with deep regret of the death of Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, the brilliant scholar who only recently resigned the see of Lincoln from ill- health. The late Bishop, as I have mentionedmore than once in “ Gossip,’ ’ was in the Winchester Eleven of 1825, the same year in which his brother, the present Bishop of St. Andrews, was a member of the Harrow team. He never lost his love for the game and was only too pleased to help anyone desirous of obtaining informa­ tion respecting the cricketers of his own time. He died last Saturday morning in his seventy-seventh year. T he list of cricketers enjoying Episcopal honours, though, has not been reduced, as last week another keen supporter of our national game, the Rev. W. T . Webber, received pre­ ferment in the shape of an appoint­ ment to the Colonial Bishopric of Brisbane. The new Bishop, some years ago, while curate at Chiswick, was a prominent and active member of the local club, and there is not a more enthusiastic lover of the sport, as ^ know from personal experience. A n o t h e r name has been added since I wrote last to the already very heavy death-roll of cricketers since last summer. On the 1st of this month Arthur Stanley Teape passed over to the majority. Some twenty years ago Mr. Teape was well-known on the cricket- field. He was in the Eton eleven of ,1862, the first to beat Harrow for twelve years, and in the three succeeding seasons was in the victorious Oxford elevens,for whom his fast round-arm bowling was very useful. Of late, through ill-health, he had rarely participated in the game. He was in his forty-third year at the time of his death. T he following are the batting aver­ ages of the English Eleven up to and inclusive of the match against Twenty- two of Maryborough, the bowling averages up to the match against the Queensland twenty - two at Bris­ bane :— B atting A verages . Times In as, Run?. not out. Aver. .. 28 . . 935 .. 4 .. 41.13 .. 23 . . 752 2 2fc24 .. 27 . . 684 !! i 25.14 J. Briggs .. .. .. 28 . . 613 .. 3 .. 21.13 A. Shrewsbury .. .. 34 . . 612 .. 4 .. 20.12 W. Scotton.. .. 32 . . 60S .. 2 .. 20.8 W. Attewell .. 27 . . 338 .. 4 .. 11.16 .. 27 . . 354 .. 2 .. 14.4 W. Flowers .. 23 . . 35) .. 0 .. 12.11 R. Peel .. .. . 197 .. 8 .. 11.10 . 137 ,.. 6 .. 9.2 8 . 18 . . 4 .. 4.2 B owling A verages , Balls, Runs. Mdns. Wkts. Aver. W. Scotton .. .. 23 ,.. 8 . . 4 . . 3 .. 2.2 A. Shrewsbury .. 28 .. 13 . . 2 . . 3 .. 4.1 .. 1lf>2 ,.. 602 .,.215 .. 5.77 W. Bates .. .. 1151 .. 277 . . 147 . . 43 .. 6.19 W. A'tewell .. 2)67 .,. 5-5.) . . 455 . . 81 .. 72 W. Fiowers .. .. 1792 .. 471 . 223 . . 66 .. 7.9 W. Barnes .. .. 10 59 . . 299 . . 153 . . 28 .. 10.19 G. Ulyett .. 725 . . 232 . . 82 . . 20 .. 11.12 J. Briggs GJ .. 59 .. 23 ... 4 .., 14.3 A R e u t e r ’ s telegram, under date of Tuesday, says that the English team commenced a match at Melbourne on that day against a representative Australian eleven, giving the scores—• Australians, 164 and 105 for seven wickets; English team, 386. It seems to me there must be a mistake some­ where. According to this statement, Next issue of Cricket April 16-