Cricket 1886

JULY 22, 1886.’ CRICKET: A w e ek l y R ecord of th 6 game . 293 out till just on three o ’clock the following afternoon. Altogether he 'was batting six hours and fifty-five minutes, and with the exception of a difficult chance of stumping on the leg side when he had made 35, and another very difficult catch to short slip just after he had come in, there was nothing like a fault to be found with his batting. His score,it may be interesting to remark, was made up ot the following hits :— 16 8 1G44 4 3 2 1 D uring the last month Shrewsbury, I may add, has been credited with, in addi­ tion to his extraordinary score of 227 not out (through the innings) for Notts v. Gloucestershire, two others of more than a hundred in representative matches. During the last week he has had only two innings, his 127 for the Players against the Gentlemen at the Oval, and his 164 at Lord’s. Last year I may state, as a curious coincidence, I had to record between July 9 and 25 one score of over 200, in which he also carried his bat through the innings, and two others of over a hundred in impor­ tant engagements, all from Shrewsbury’s bat. M r . W . A. M c A rthur , one of a family long identified with cricket, who has been for some years a member of the Sur­ rey County Club, was the winner of a very interesting single wicket match recently. The stake was the right to represent the Buckrose Division of Yorkshire, and after an exciting finish, to quote the favourite expression of the cricket scribe, Mr. McArthur won by one vote. I have seen it stated that his opponent, Mr. Sykes, in a weak moment forgot to record his vote for himself, and that had the result been a tie, as it would have been in such a case, the casting vote would have been against Mr. McArthur. This is about the best finish I have heard o f for some time. A correspondent calls m y attention to an important omission in my list o f new members who have distinguished them­ selves more or less on the cricket-field. He refers to Mr. H. S. King, the Conser­ vative member for Central Hull. Mr. King was the crack bat of the Charter­ house Eleven of 1870, and as I can well remember scored two exeellent innings of 21 and 30 for his School against Westmin­ ster at Lord’s that year. He was also a good Association footballer, forming one of the Oxford University eleven of 1871. L ord H arris , who has succeeded the late Mr. Edmond Wilder as President of the Cricketers’ Fund Friendly Society, has recently, in conjunction with Mr. V. E. Walker, one of the trustees, issued a stirring appeal for additional support on behalf of that most deserving institution. At the annual meeting of the Society held recently, the members were very reluct­ antly compelled to make a reduction in the amount of the grant to sick members, a necessity which everyone, I think, wi 1 admit o -ight never to have arisen. P ro: fessional cricketers have, as a rule, borne themselves in a way to reflect thorough credit on themselves, as well as to deserve the respect of those who have been fortu­ nate enough to be able to follow the sport for amusement alone. At the best a cricketer’s career is an uncertain one, and I know o f no Society which so thoroughly deserves support at the hands of all who realise the value, from every point of view, of British sports. Amateur cricketers are earnestly invited to add their names to the list of honorary members, and to forward subscriptions either to Lord Harris, Mr. V. E. Walker, or to the Secretary, Tom Hearne, at Lord’s. T he Grand Old Man of Cricket cele­ brated his thirty - eighth birthday last Sunday. He completed his thirty-eighth year in right royal style, making 115 for once out for the Gentlemen against the Players, and cricketers everywhere will wish his Grace many years of good cricket. It is twenty-one summers since Mr. W. G. Grace, then a boy of sixteen, made his first appearance for the Gentlemen against the Players at the Oval, and, unless I am mistaken, in all the matches during this long period he has only once failed to score. With the exception of the matches at the Oval in 1867 and 1883, he has never been an absentee in any one o f the meetings between the picked elevens of amateurs and professionals during this long period of twenty-one years. A n oth er veteran cricketer, one who has the advantage, or disadvantage per­ haps it would be considered, in seniority of Mr. W . G. Grace by twelve years, was recently credited with a performance truly remarkable in its way. I refer to Mr. Richard Daft’s second score of 222 for Mr. W . Wright’s Eleven against the North Biding, in the match played at Scar­ borough on Wednesday and Thursday last. At the time Mr. Daft, who, after playing for the Gentlemen against the Players subsequently did brilliant service for the latter in the same match for many years, was engaged in this long innings, history was repeating itself in the person of one o f his sons, Mr. H. B. Daft, who, like his father, made his d e b u t for the Gentlemen on the Surrey Ground. When I say that Mr. Daft, the best batsman in point of style of his or perhaps any other time, was born on Nov. 2, 1836, and is consequently now approaching his fiftieth birthday, the merit of his long innings will be the better appreciated. T he Services were identified with the only two innings o f over five hundred runs during the past week, or at least the only two which have come under notice. While the Cambridge Quidnuncs were engaged the whole of Friday in punishing the weak bowling of the Royal Artillery, at Woolwich, the Parsees were having another long outing at Portsmouth, at the hands of the United Services. In the latter the total was 577, but it was in one respect less noteworthy than the 530 o f the “ Quids,” which contained three scores of a hundred, a very rare occurence. The three “ centuries ” were those Of Messrs. E. M. Butler, the Harrow captain of 1885(111), G. B. Studd (107), and E. A. J. Maynard, the Derbyshire captain (102). T he match at Portsmouth was product­ ive of another record, this time by the Parsees. Though Mr. Dustoor, who has the best average, and the Captain, Dr. D. H . Patell, were both absent, the Parsees made 212 before the tenth wicket fell, a very creditable total under the circum­ stances. Mr. A. C. Major just failed to get into three figures by three runs. His 97 is the highest individual score of the Parsees so far. I am indebted to a correspondent for the following acrostic W onder and pride of England's hardy race, I mmortal thou hast made the name of Grace. L o ! unto thee, the wide-spread nations raise L oud, thund’rous cheers of far re-echoing praise, I n lands of burning sun, or frozen snow, A mid the winter’s blast, or summer’s glow, M jriads on thee the victor’s wreath bestow. G reat in thy matchless and amazing skill, I n spite of years, without an equal still. L ong life, and many a mighty pcore, B e thine, famed batsman, on this hither shore E xcelling still, and gaining laurels new, B ecalling all and more, thy youth did do, T he pride of cricket, yea, its idol too! G o on in might! nor with the bat alone: K ightnobly with the ball thou hold’st thine own, A nd in the field thy skill is also known. C hampion, indeed, thy fame shall truly be E ndless as time, far-reaching as the sea! M r . H . A. E r le b a c h , of Forest House School, Woodford, writes me as follows :— Will you allow me to supplement your in­ teresting notice of Mr. G. Kemp, and in so doing to claim a share of the honour of his cricket for Mill Hill School ? In the year 1881, in the second XI. of that school, he had an average of 31, and 011 three or four occasions played as substitute in the first X I.; indeed, I think his first appearance on a Cambridge ground was for M.H.S. v. Leys School, when his innings of 12 showed some of the neat cutting which is a feature of his play to-day. You will readily agree that this early career helps to explain his selection for the Shrews­ bury team in his first season at that School; and this iswhy Millhillians as well as Salopians are proud of his successes, and wish more power to his wrist. I have received several other letters to the same effect. A m ore curious case of small scoring in a match of the class has rarely come under my notice than that of tho Derbyshire Friars at Hereford, on Friday last, in their first innings against Here­ fordshire. Messrs. G. 13. Barrington,who has played several times for Derbyshire, and H. H . Clay made 34 for the first wicket, and 65 was up before the second fell. The Friars had only ten men and as the remaining batsmen only got one run among them, ti e innings closed for GO. The wickets fell thusly :— 1 2 3 4 5 C 7 8 9 31 65 65 65 03 65 05 66 66