Cricket 1886

J u l y i , 1886. CRICKET A WL^KLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 241 T he Leathcrhead Club had a day’s leather-hunting at Streatham on Satur­ day at the hands of the Streatham Club. I reached the ground a few minutes after six o’clock to find the game over and the visiting team already on their homeward journey. Between 11.30 and 6 p.m. Streatham had totalled 537with only seven wickets down, so that the scoring must have been kept up at a merry rate through­ out, the actual duration of play I believe being 5 hours and three-quarters. Mr. W. S. Trollope made his hundred in an hour and twenty minutes. It is noteworthy that Mr. W. Bird, who has been playing for many years, had never before got into three figures. In addition to the big innings enu­ merated last week I am able to add a few more of recent occurrence. June 14. Buckhurst Hill v. ChelseaUnited 631 June 25, 26. Free Foresters v. Shoebury- ness Garrison....... . ..............603 June 25, 26. Clifton v. Lansdown.............618 The last is particularly noteworthy for two reasons. In the first place it is a record, being the highest score ever made on Durdham Downs. The Lansdown eleven, too, were dismissed for 95 and 62, so that Clifton won by an inn­ ings and 461 runs. A victory of so decisive a character is, I need hardly say, of very rare occurrence, though the Foresters on the same days won by an innings and 419 runs. S ome months since, at the close of the election, I gave a long list of cricketers who had duly qualified for the Par­ liamentary team. The majority of them are just now once more hard at work with a view to retain their places, though some have thought it expedient to seek fresh fields, among them Mr. E. N. Buxton, the father of the well-known Cambridge cricketer, who has given up the Walthamstow division, for which he sat in the late Parliament, to contest the North-West Division of Suffolk as a supporter of the Grand Old Man against the Conservative candidate, Mr. E. Greene. T he Lancashire constituencies seem to present a certain amount of attraction to cricketers, for I notice in addition to Sir Henry James (a keen supporter of the game), Messrs. A. B. Rowley, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Lancashire County Club, J. F. Leese, another old Lancashire player, whose ground at Send Holm, near Woking, is very popular with amateur cricketers, and E. D. Gosling, well-known in the cricket circles of Surrey, all con­ testing divisions in the Palatinate. A mong those whose names figure as candidates for the coming election, a list of whom has been kindly sent me by the Manager of the Press Association, I notice the following cricketers or supporters of the game in addition to those already mentioned; M. H. Beaufoy, J. S. Balfour, Hon. H. B. Brand, R. K. Causton, Hon. S. Herbert, H. J. Gladstone, W. H. Gren­ fell, F. Lockwood, Q.C., T. K. Tapling, Lord George Hamilton, B. T. Gurdon, A. E. Fellowes, A. H. Grey, Viscount Anson, Hamar Bass, Hon. W. St. J. Brodrick, H. P. Cobb, W. H. Long, W. S. Shirley, R. T. Beid, Sir Bobert Peel, J. T. D. Llewellyn, Lord E. Hamilton, A. B. Win- terbotham, T. L. Bristowe, Lord Lewis­ ham, Col. Kenyon Slaney, Sir W. Hart- Dyke, A. Akers Douglas, and E. Baggallay. Bennett Hudson, professional to the Longsight Club, who made such a promis­ ing first appearance for Lancashire against Sussex at Manchester last Thursday, is —like Robinson, another of the hitting fraternity, who has in his time done good service in the Lancashire team - a York- shireman. Unless I am mistaken, Hudson (who hailed from Sheffield), made his debut in county cricket six years ago, appearing in the Yorkshire Eleven for the first time against Derbyshire at Derby, on Aug. 2, 1880. He was not a success, for in the three matches in which he represented Yorkshire in that year, he only made thirteen runs m four innings. So far for Lancashire, his hitting has proved very effective. He has batted twice for an aggregate of 183 runs. A correspondent calls my attention to the fact that the score of the innings at Sydney in which five batsmen scored three figures in addition to “ extras,” to which I referred last week, is given in Volume 13 of “ Scores and Biographies,” page 397. According to that it was the Ulster Club that made the huge total of 1,238 for nine wickets—the match, which took place during the season of 1874-75, so runs the account, being played on four successive Saturdays. Mr. Arthur Hay- garth, the compiler of “ Scores and Bio­ graphies,” than whom no more capable or painstaking enquirer, adds that though Sydney Cohen’s “ New South Wales Cricketers’ Guide and Annual ” states the match did take place, “ The Australian Guide ” of 1877, issued by John Conway, as reliable an authority as could well be had on such a subject, expressed doubts of its authenticity. I may add that the match is generally regarded as apocry­ phal. T he first important match under the auspices of the Chiswick Park Club is to be decided on the pretty and tastefully arranged ground contiguous to the Chis­ wick Station on the London and South Western line, to-morrow and following day. The Australian cricketers will make their first appearance on the Chiswick Park ground as a team, though the mem­ bers all know the pitch well, having taken thfir preliminary practice there. The opposition, which has been selected by Mr. C. I. Thornton, will be captained by that gentleman, and it is announced will include Messrs. A. J. Webbe, E. F. S. Tylecote, S. Christopherson, T.C.O’Brien, M. C. Kemp, and Messrs. Bainbridge, Kemp, and Turner, of the Cambridge eleven. Play will begin at 11.30 each day. A n incident, which has given rise to considerable discussion, took place during the course of the second innings of Surrey in the match with Middlesex at Lord’s early last week. Diver hit a ball towards the boundary for which four had been run and a fifth commenced. Mr. O’Brien, who was fielding, kicked the ball into the boundary, but the umpire ruled, despite this act of the fieldsman, that only four should be counted for the hit. The ques­ tion arose as to whether the batsman should not have had four runs in addition to those scored in the ordinary way, in fact, whether a penalty should not have been attached for this act of the fields­ man. Myself, I am strongly of opinicn that there should be such a penalty. T he Inter-University match to be commenced at Lord’s on Monday next is, I may state, the fifty-second of the series. So far Cambridge has been victorious twenty-six times, Oxford twenty-three, and the two remaining contests have been undecided. At one time the Cambridge eleven were very warm favourites for next week’s struggle, and considering the plucky way in which they played up after having all the worst of the game in so many of the home matches, the con­ fidence in their abilities was fully justified. I n common with many others I was not impressed with the general form shown at the Oval, and though on paper they are decidedly the better side, Oxford have several dangerous batsmen, one and all of whom might give the Cambridge bowlers serious trouble. Mr. Bock is far and away the best bowler in the two elevens, and in this respect Cambridge has clearly an advantage which ought to stand it in good stead. On the whole I think an impartial judge can hardly come to any other conclusion than that the Cantabs have considerably the best of the outlook for next week’s engage­ ment. The Cambridge Eleven I understand will be Messrs. H. W. Bainbridge (Captain), J. A. Turner, F. Marchant, C. W. Bock, C. Toppin, C. D. Buxton, G. M. Kemp, A. W. Dorman, F. Thomas, Hon. C. M. Knatchbull - Hugessen, and L. Orford. The Oxford team will not be finally selected till after the match with M.C.C. & G. to be begun to-day. B y the way, it may interest University men to know that the July number of “ Fore’s Sporting Notes and Sketches” contains some verses on the subject of “ The Varsity Match” by •‘Leatherhunter.’’ There is a lively ring about tlie lines