Cricket 1886

MAY 27, 1868. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 153 T h e ir reception, too, at the hands of the Earl of Sheffield at Sheffield Park this week was—that goes without saying— of the most hospitable character, and the Parsee community of India cannot fail to be pleased with the evident disposition shown here to provide amusement for their repre­ sentatives. Through the kindness of Lord Monson and Mr. C. Lewis, M.P., I understand that several members of the team will have an opportunity this week of being present during the debates in the two Houses of Parliament, and I have reason to believe that they will, in all probability, visit the House of Com­ mons to-morrow night under the care of Mr. Lewis. To-day they are to make their first appearance in London in oppo­ sition to a strongish eleven of the Maryle­ bone Club, andin the evening they are to be entertained by the Committee of the M.C.C. at dinner. The Parsees will, I should fancy, appreciate fully the pres­ ence of such representative cricketers as Lord Harris, Messrs. W . G. Grace and Hornby, in the team selected to oppose them to-day. They are hopeful, too, that His Boyal Highness the Prince of Wales will give them the countenance of his presence in one of their fixtures. The Australian Cricketers, finding that the management of the Grand Hotel had not kept their rooms for them as arranged, on their return from Nottingham, have been compelled to shift their quarters. They are now located at their old “ diggings ” at the Tavistock Hotel, a change which, I have reason to believe, will not be altogether distasteful to more than one prominent member of the team. I am informed by Major Wardill, the Secretary of the Melbourne Club, who, as everyone knows, is in charge of the Pifth Australian team, that two of the vacant dates in their programme have now been filled up, As I foreshadowed in my last budget o f1 ‘ Gossip,” the fixtures will only be for two instead of for three days. July 2 and 3 have been given to Chiswick Park, and the 16 and 17th of that month to the Liverpool Club, The one remaining date before the third England match, to be commenced at the Oval on August 12, will be left open for the present. I may add that the Australian team have received two invitations to dinner during their visit to Oxford, from the University as well as the Australian Club there, in addition to similar invitations from Derbyshire and the Australian Club at Cambridge. E very one who takes an interest in genuine cricket will be pleased, I venture to think, at the two brilliant successes of the Surrey eleven during the past week. To beat the Australians for the first time was an event, but even this victory sinks into comparative insignificance when compared with the excellent performance of Mr. J. Shuter and his merry men in beating Yorkshire, the county of many acres, as the cricket scribes so dearly love to designate it. T h e Surrey team, too, have no small reason to be gratified at their success of yesterday, for, unless I am much mistaken, the Yorkshiremen have only been twice defeated by their southern rivals in fourteen years. If my memory does not deceive me, the first of these tirumphs was at Sheffield in 1872, when the eleven were under the command of Mr. George Strachan. The finish was by no means dissimilar with that of yesterday, though the condition of the wickets was very much so. In the match referred to in 1872 Yorkshire had to go in to get 102 and were beaten by 18, whereas yesterday with 91 to win they were beaten with 27 runs to spare. Surrey also won at Sheffield in 1877 by 66 runs. The presence of the Prince of Wales at the Oval on Thursday last on the occasion of the match between the Australians and Surrey was only another instance of the readiness His Boyal Highness has always shown to identify himself with everything of current and public interest. The news of his reception of the Austra­ lian team will be received with unbounded enthusiasm in the Colonies, and will do much to tighten the bonds of union be­ tween the mother country and her children in Australasia, I t is very gratifying, too, to know that the Prince was pleased, not only with the warmth of his reception, but generallywith his visit to the Oval, the first, as I stated last week, to the ground, of which he is landlord. There was certainly no more interesting inoident in connection with his visit, than that furnished by the Australian team, as the Boyal owner of the Oval passed in front of the Pavilion. The picture as they turned round and gave three hearty cheers for their distinguished visitor, I should fancy, will be one of the most pleasing recollections of the Prince’s introduction to the Surrey Ground. He was accompanied by his son, Prince Albert Victor, and the Australian team, with Messrs. Shuter,Bead,and Boiler, of Surrey, and Major Wardill, the Australian manager, were duly presented to the Boyal pair. I s h o u ld be glad to know out of mere curiosity how many instances there are of matches, of any importance of course I mean, in which a ball was never bowled, as was the case in that between M.C.C. and Ground and the Australians, fixed to take place at Lord’s, on Monday and Tuesday last. I can remember one even more noteworthy occasion of a similar kind, about the year 1874, I think, at the Oval. It was in a fixture between Surrey and Middlesex, and if my memory does not err the wickets were not pitched at all, certainly no ball was bowled. This, though, was a three-days match, so that it was still more singular. In return for the disappointment of the Surrey execu­ tive the Middlesex Committee,very kindly undertook an extra match which was duly decided at the Oval later in the season. I u n d e r s t a n d that Messrs. W. G. Grace, W. W. Bead, A. N. Hornby, P. Townsend, W. Newham, W. H. Patterson, S. Christopherson, W. E. Boiler, and Vernon, have been already asked to represent the Gentlemen against the Australians at Lord’s on Thursday next. The wicket-keeper will, I should fancy, be either Mr. M. C. Kemp or Mr. P. T. Welman. The University elevens aro both playing on the same days, so that I presume none of their members if re­ quired would be spared. T h e Oxford Eleven to meet the Aus­ tralians at Oxford to-day, it is said, will be selected from the following twelve:— H. V. Page (capt.), J. H. Brain, E. H. Buckland, K. J. Key, L. I). Hildyard, H. O. Whitby, A. H. Cochrane, H. T. Arnall- Thompson, W. W . Bashleigh, A. B. Cobb, and B. G. Glennie or A. K. Watson. The cry is still they g o ! Still another addition to the by no means insignificant band of English cricketers, whose arrival in the Colonies I have had to record at one time or other during the winter. In the Australasian of April 10, I notice an announcement that Mr. F. Lipscomb, the fast bowler of Kent, had reached Mel­ bourne the week before in the “ Iberia.” Mr. Lipscomb, the Australasian states, intended to settle either in Melbourne or Sydney. I notice, while on the subject of Australian importations from this country, that Mr. B. Wood, the Lancashire amateur, playing for East Melbourne, last month, was responsible for 122 (not out) of 205 made for one wicket. A c o r r e s p o n d e n t , well known under his initials of “ P. G.,” has sent me the following letter on a matter of importance to cricketers, the question of obstruction. ANYTHING BEFORE WICKET. I am only an individual, but an individual who has stood up for fair play. I have maintained, and will maintain to my last breath, that many batsmen now deliberately play with a bat and a pad. It was an evil hour when the M.C.C. altered the law of l.b.w. by inserting the words “ in a straight line from it to the wicket,” thereby robbing tho bowler of his “ break,” and it is a more evil hour when batsmen deliberatelypoke theirpads forward to a head ball which would pass the wicket, in the hope of getting a leg-bye,—or get in front of the wickets to a ball which breaks a foot on or off, and try to divert its progress in a manner similar to an old cow pushing open a gate in a farmyard with her stern. It is not cricket, and the only way of stop­ ping it is for the captain to say gently to the offender, “ If you 1come them games ’ you hall not play again.” M esses . E. H awkins & Co., of 108, King's Hoad, Brighton, have been honoured by the command of the Earl of Sheffield to photo­ graph the Australian and also the Parsee Cricketers at Sheffield Park.