Cricket 1886

AUG. 26,1886. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE' GAME. 873 A f r i e n d of mine, a keen cricketer, who signs himself “ One of the Surrey Crowd,” has sent me tho following with the hope that I will forgive him for wasting my time on his fooling :— One Saturday night after work was over it occurred to me to make out teams of the different letters of the alphabet. B’s used to play the world and would nearly do so now, vids Messrs. Bainbridge, Blackham, Braon and Bonnor, with Barlow, Bates, Barnes, Briggs, Beaumont and Bowley, who would be a nasty bowling side on a rough wicket. Bean and Messrs. Bo*den and Bruce are fair re­ serves. S fails in bowling, but Messrs. A. G. and H. B. Steel, H. and S. W. Scott and Spof­ forth, with Shrewsbury, Scotton, Shaw, Sugg and Sherwin, and either Mr. Shuter or Selby would defeat most village teams. Shacklock might play vice Sugg or the chosen eleventh to increase the bowling. H is a strong letter with Lord Harris, Messrs. A. N. ana E. C. Hornby and Hawke, three Hearnes, two Hides, Hall and Humphreys, but scarcely equal to the two last. P ranks well, including Messrs. Palmer, Patterson and Page, Peate, Peel, Phil­ lips, Pilling, Painter, Preston and Pougher, with the universal substitute, Mr. Pope, if need be. B, too, would play strong with Messrs. Bock, Bashleigh, W. W. Bead, Radcliffe, Boiler and Botherham and M. Bead and Bob­ inson and another, possibly C. T. Boiler. The G’s begin well with the Graces, Messrs. Giffen and Garrett and Gunn, but their tail would be execrable. I came to the conclusion after all that the busy B’s would “ pot the lot.” But this might form an interesting discussion during the winter months, when cricket “ on paper ” produces certainties which do not al­ ways come off on the “ green sward,” as the poet has it. T h e Australians begin their thirty-first match to-day at Brighton, where they are to meet the strength of Sussex. On Monday they have to oppose an eleven representing the South of England, at Gravesend, and from thence to hurry away to Scarborough to face a strong England side, the same, indeed, as did duty at Lord’s and the Oval, except for the absence of Mr. W. W. Bead and Loh­ mann, who will be representing Surrey v. Hampshire at Southampton on the same days (Sept. 2, 3, and 4). They are due at Bradford on the following Monday to oppose an England eleven, and at Brighton at the end of the week, when a good Southern team will be placed in opposition to them. As at present arranged their other fixtures are at Lord’s on Sept. 13, 14, and 15, and at Hastings on the two succeeding days. T h e return match between Surrey and Leicestershire, to be commenced at the Oval to day, should be particularly inter­ esting for a double reason, first, that it is the last fixture of any importance to be decided on the Surrey ground this season, and secondly, on account of the defeat experienced by the Surrey eleven in the previous engagement at Leicester. The appearance of the redoubtable Pougher— by tli3 way, I may add for the information of numbers of C rick e t readers, who have puzzlad over the question, that Puffer is the correct pronunciation of his name—to whom Surrey mainly had to ascribe that reverse, I fancy will be awaited with some speculation by the habitues of the Oval. I h e a r that J. T. Bawlin, who was a member of the Yorkshire County Eleven a few years ago, has accepted an engage­ ment at Lord’s for next season. Bawlin, who has been professional to the Lincoln Lindum Club for the last two or three years, has been remarkably successful as a bowler since he went to Lincoln, and his consistently good bowling against the strong batting sides the Lindum team usually meet, will thoroughly account for his selection to strengthen the ground staff of the Marylebone Club. The Shef­ field Daily Telegraph states that this year, for the Lincoln Lindum, he has taken over a hundred wickets at an average of not more than four runs. M r. Punch does not seem to be an admirer of the waiting game in batting to judge by the following lines to Scotton in his paper of last week THE WAIL OF THE WEABY. [In the Australia v. England Match at the Oval on August I2th, the Notts cricketer, Scotton, was at the wickets for sixty-seven minutes without scoring a single run.] Blook, block, block At the foot of thy wicket, 0 Scotton! And I would that my tongue could utter My boredom. You won’t put the pot on 1 Oh, nice for the bowler, my boy, That each ball, like a barn-door, you play; Oh, nice for yourself, I suppose, That you stick at the wickets all day. And the clock’s slow hands go on, And you still keep up your sticks ; But oh, for the lift of a smiting hand, And the sound of a swipe for six 1 Block, block, block At the foot of thy wickets, ah, d o ! But one hour of Grace or Walter Bead Were worth a week of you. Punch of last week, I see, also makes merry on the subject of Lord Harris’s new appointment. I give the paragraph in its entirety. K i . okeat E tona !—Etonians are pleased at Lord Harris having been made Under-Secre­ tary of State for War. As a boy he was brought up in the House of Warre. His lord­ ship is ready to defend his country’s wickets, and his motto is, “ Pro Harris et focis ! ” T h e following table gives the result of the matches between the nine Chief Counties this season up to date:— Notts Won. 7 Lost. 0 Drawn 5 Surrey 12 3 1 Lancashire .. 5 4 4 Middlesex .. 3 4 3 Yorkshire 3 5 7 Gloucestershire 2 6 3 Kent .. .. 4 7 2 Sussex 4 6 2 Derbyshire 0 7 1 I NOTICE in a recent number of the Sydney Mail that a tender had been accepted by the management of the Asso­ ciation Cricket Ground in that city for the erection of a new pavilion at a cost of six thousand pounds, The demolition of the old building had already been commenced and the new structure which, it is said, will include all the conveniences to be found in the pavilion of the Melbourne Club, was to be completed within six months’ time. Other improvements in the shape of embankments for sightseers are also in progress. They seem to order these things better in Australia than on English cricket grounds. So far, I am given to understand, the only additional fixtures made for the Australian team are the two matches at Lord’s on Sept. 18 and following days (arranged as a testimonial for Mr. J. A. Murdoch, the Assistant-Secretary of the Marylebone Club) and at Hastings on Thursday and Friday of the same week. There is every probability that some few others may be arranged, though I regret to learn that it has not been found prac­ ticable to accept the offer of the Surrey County Club to grant the use of the Oval giving its share to the Cricketers’ Fund. Everyone will be glad to see the Australian team recovering their form after a some­ what severe turn of ill-luck, and English cricketers will heartily congratulate them on their recent performances. T h e following are the batting averages of the Australians up to Saturday, Aug. 21. Times Mostin Inns not out anlnns. Buns Aver. G. Giffen ......... 47 ... 7 ... 78 ... 1,031 ... 25.3, S. P. Jones ......... 50 ... 1 ..,. 151 ... 1,084 .,.. 22.J H. J. H. Scott ... 51 ... 3 ... 123 ... 1,029 ... 21.2? J. W. Trumble ... 40 ... 6 ... 56*... 571 ..•16.21 G. J. Bonnor 31 ... 2 ... 49 ... 476 ... 10.1' J McC. Blackham 38 . 4 .,.. 71 ... 530 .. • 15 ?f< G. E. Palmer 42 .... 3 .. 94 ... 605 .. W. Bruce ......... 35 ... 2 .,,. 106 ... 500 ... 15» A. H. Jarvis......... 37 ... 5 ... 96*.., 472 .. • T. W. Garrett ... 38 ... 4 ,. 49*... 444 ... 13. E. Evans ......... 32 ... 12 .,.. 29 ... 214 ... 10.12 J. Mcllwraith ... 37 ... 4 ... 41 ... 237 ... 10.4 B. J. Pope ......... 8 ... 4 ... 12 ... 31 ... 7.7 F. R. Spofforth ... 25 ... 7 ... 37*... 123 ... 6.13 T h e following are the batting averages of the principal batsmen who have played not less than six innings or got an average of ten and over against the Australians, up to Saturday, August 21. Runs. Inns. Highest Score. Times notout. Aver. Lohmann ... 128 ... 6 ... 43* ... 4 ... 64.0 W. G. Grace... 562 ... 13 ... 170 ... 0 ... 433 Shrewsbury... 431 ... 14 ... 164 ... 2 ... 35.11 Bates............ 158 ... 6 ... 57 ... 1 ... 31.3 W. W. Read... 338 ... 12 ... 94 . .. 1 ... . : l 1 Flowers......... 171 ... 7 ... 93 ... 1 ..,. 28.3 Barlow ... 233 ... 11 ... 113 ... 2 .... 25.8 J. H. Brain ... 153 ... 6 ... 70 ... 0 ... 25.3 W.H.Patterson 124 ... 6 ... 44 ... 1 ... . 21.4 Scotton......... 209 ... 10 ... 45 ... 0 ... . 209 Barnes ......... 143 .,.. 7 ... 58 ... 0 ... 20.3 G. F. Vernon 114 ... 6 ... 37 ... 0 ... . 190 C. W. Rock ... 151 .. 8 ... 38 ... 0 . 18.7 E.F.S.Tylecote 93 .,. 6 ... 33 ... 1 ... . 18.3 w.E. Roller... 102 .... 6 ... 63 ... 0 ..,. 17.0 H. V. Page ... 93 ... 6 ... 66 . ... 0 ... . 15.3 Ulyett ......... 161 ..,. 11 ... 31 ... 0 ... 14.7 G. B. Studd ... 89 .,. 6 ... 29 ... 0 ..,, 14.5 M.C. Kemp... 88 ... 9 ... 21 ,... 3 ..., 144 Briggs ... ... 96 ... 10 ... 53 ... 2 . 12.0 The Australians have made 67 “ duck’s eggs up to the 21 st inst. (including not outs) as follows : Jarvis 8, Trumble 8, Spofforth 7, Klackham 6, Evans 6, Garratt C, Bruce 5, Palmer fi. Scott 4, Pope 4, Bonnor 3, Jones 2, Mcllwraith 2, and Ginen only 1. The “ centuries” scored by the Australians have been as follows: Jones 151, against Gentlemen of England; Scott 123, against Middlesex; aid Bruce 106, against C. I. Thornton’s XI. Tli.me against them have been W. G. Grace 170for Eng­ land at the Oval, 148 for Gentlemen of England at the Oval, and 110 for Gloucester ; Abel 144 for Surrey; Barlow 113 ior Players; M. Bead 186 for Surrey; and Shrewsbury 1G4for England at Lord's. Seventy-four “ duck's eggs” have been obtained so far against the Australians.