Cricket 1886

JUNE 24,1886 CBICKET: A W l "ELY EECOED OF THE GAME. 223 “ extras” also were responsible for 100. No date is given, though, and indeed the particulars published do not show which side batted. It is difficult, therefore, to accept this as a record. T h e Daily News of Tuesday last con­ tains the announcement of the death at Upper Norwood on the 10th inst., of Mr. William Lane Hitchcock, eldest son of Rev. Canon Hitchcock, of Romford, assis­ tant master at Eton College. The de­ ceased, who, if I remember rightly, was an old Etonian, was well known to Cam­ bridge men as a cricketer and footballer. He was in his twenty-seventh year. T h r e e cheers for W. G .! I little thought that my paragraph of last Thursday would have had such an immediate and inspirit­ ing effect on the G.O.M. of Cricket. His record during the week has been an extraordinary one, the more extraordinary when it is considered that he made his d eb u t in first class cricket as long ago as 1805. W. G. is indeed a national institu­ tion, and cricketers have good reason to be proud of sueli a wonderful exponent of the national game. T h o s e who witnessed his masterly display of batting at the Oval for the Gentlemen on Thursday last, wouldhardly believe that it is twenty-one years since he first made his appearance in an important match. Truly it may be said of him that none but himself can be his parallel. After the first few overs he played with all the judgment and accuracy of his younger days, and the only disap­ pointment was that he did not beat the best record against the Australians, his own 152 for England at the Oval in 1882. Since I wrote last, his scores have been as follows: Gentlemen v. Australians, 148 and 24, M.C.C. & G.v. Oxford University, 104—or an aggregate of 270 for three innings. In addition, at Oxford he took all the ten wickets in the second innings of the University at a cost of only 49 runs. This latter is a feat of the rarest in important matches. M r . C. F. B o n e , the Hon. Sec. of Park House School Club, sends me the follow­ ing letter in reply to a letter signed “ Etiquette,” to which I gave publicity on June 10. From our List of Engagements for this season (a copy of which I enolose), you will observe that no match has been arranged between Park House School and the Sidcup C. C., and if the name of our Club appears among the fixtures of the S. C. C., it is doubt­ less owing to a mistake on the part of their secretary. The very fact of our team not arriving on the date referred to, and no com­ munication being received to explain its absence, ought at onee to have suggested that some misunderstanding had occurred. It would certainly have been more in conformity with the rules of etiquette, if your corre­ spondent instead of charging me with intentional discourtesy, had written for an explanation rather than rushing into print “ to ventilate a grievance” which never occurred. I s h a ll be glad if any correspondent can send me any information on the subject of the following letter:— D ear Sib, —This is the jubilee of the series of Oxford and Cambridge matches. Of the Cambridge Eleven six are certainly dead. Of the other five, save Lord Bessborough and Mr. Broughton, I am doubtful. Of Mr. Thompson, Mr. F. Long, and Mr. Booth, I should be obliged by any information. Of the Oxford Eleven five survive—Bishop Byle, Eev. J. Pycroft, Canon Rawlinson, Charles Duke Yonge, and Rev. S. Bathurst. I speak of the annual matches of which the first was in 18i(l. One match had been played at Lord’s in 1823, and one at Oxford iu 1831.—Yours. &c., A .h. C o n v e r s a tio n overheard at a recent dinner given to the Parsee cricketers.— Polite English Amateur to one of the guests : “ I suppose you are not able to play very much in India owing to the heat.” Parsee : “ Oh, yes, we play a good deal, but mostly in the Monsoon.” P .E .A .: “ Oh ! in the Monsoon. Where's that, close to Bombay ? ” F act! A n o t h e r conversation, or, at least, part of one, which I myself heard in the covered stand at the Oval during the course of the match between the Gentle­ men and the Australians last week. A gentleman, “ who thoroughly understood the game,” was explaining some of itsmany technicalities to two ladies, who were satis­ fied that dear old W. G. is an Australian “ because he is so dark.” The ladies, eager for information, were asking their guide to explain the periodical change in the positions of the field. “ That is,” says the gentleman well acquainted with the game, “ when it’s over. I am not quite certain, though, how many balls they bowl to the over at the Oval, three or six." A som ew h a t curious incident took place in a match played at Addiscombe on Saturday, the 12th inst. A bowler sent down a very fast shooter, which hit the stump right at the bottom, and recoiled with sufficient force to reach the wicket at the other end and remove the bail. Am on g many instances of rapid scoring of recent occurrence, few I think can beat what was recorded in a match on Saturday last between the Old Brucians and the Hundred of Hoo, at Upnor. After getting the latter out for 159, the Brucians made 240 runs in less than two hours for the loss of one wicket, C. Robson contributing no less than 177 (not out) of the number. In the first hour 145 runs (101 to Robson) were made, and it is worthy of remark that A. Eiloart only got 18 of the last 158 runs. C. Robson’s 177 (not out) included four 6’s, one 5, and twenty-four 4’s. T h e match between the Australians and Lord March’s eleven, to be played on the picturesque ground of the Priory Park Club at Chichester on the first three days of next week, is for the benefit of C. Howard, a professional well known in Sussex cricket. Howard some few years ago did good service for his county, and in 1879 was at the top of the batting averages. Business, though, prevented him sticking to county cricket, and latterly he has been mostly identified with the Priory Park Club, of which he has been one of the most useful members for some years. He has taken an active part in everything con­ nected with athletics in the neighbourhood of Chichester, and is exceedingly popular with all classes there. A respectable, civil little fellow, and a thoroughly keen and hard-working cricketer to boot, C r ic k e t readers generally will wish him the best of weather and a well-contested match. Lord March, who, it is said, will entertain the amateurs at GoodwoodPark,announces the following as his eleven:— Messrs. F. M. Lucas, W. H. Patterson, M. C. Kemp, G. F. Vernon and G. G. Walker, with Bean, Humphreys, Wootton, J. Hide, Chatterton, and Cropper. M. B u r r o w s (who played for Yorkshire in 1880), in a match played recently between the Merchiston and Gala Clubs at Edinburgh, took eight Merchiston wickets in seven overs and three balls for no runs. Burrows was recommended to the Gala Club by Beaumont, the Surrey professional, who was engaged for a short time in 1884 by the Abbotsford Club. Cricket, my correspondent, who writes from Galashiels, adds, is very well supported and patronised in this district. Two bazaars, held lately at the towns of Galashiels and Selkirk, for the purpose of building pavilions and improving grounds, realised the sums of i ‘700 and .i’000 respectively. T h e truth of the axiom that history repeats itself has been proved in matters cricketical many a time and oft. Another singular illustration has been furnished in the performance of Barlow and Flowers this week, in the match between the Australians and the Players, at Notting­ ham. In 1884, the last time in which the pair opposed an Australian team, at Trent Bridge, while they were together they added 158 runs for the sixth wicket. This was for the North, on Sept. 1, 1884, and then Barlow made 101 and Flowers 90. On Monday and Tuesday for ti e Players the same batsmen did even a more remarkable performance, putting on as many as 172 for the ninth wicket. This time, as the score will show, Barlow secured 113, and Flowers 93. Those of the Australian team who figured in these two matches, will have reason to remem­ ber the double performance of Barlow aJc; Flowers on the two last occasions in which they have opposed Australian bowling on the Trent Bridge Ground. H is t o r y has repeated itself, too, oddly in the remai-kable success which has attended Mr. G. Kemp, of the Cambridge Eleven, on the last three occasion on