Cricket 1886

DEC. 30, 1886. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 481 In last month’s “ Gossip ” I gave Mr. W . W . Read’s scores in the chief matches of 1886. The following particulars of Mr. W . G-. Grace’s innings in tho principal fixtures will be perused with equal interest. 1st. 2nd. April 26—Gloucestershire v. Surrey ... 2 33 May 10—M.C.C. v. Kent .................... 80 — May 13—Lord Sheffield’s XI. v. Aus­ tralians ..............................18 — May 20—M.C.C. v. Sussex.................... G June 3—Gentlemen v. Australians ... 7 11 June 7—Gloucestershire v. Sussex ... 5i 67 .»une 10—(Gloucestershire v. Middlesex 17 10 June 13—South v. N orth.................... 32 21 June 17—Gentlemen of England v.Aus- tralians ........... , ... 148 24 June 21—M.C.C. v. Oxford University ... 104 — June 28—Gloucestershire v. Notts ... 92* — July 1—Gloucestershire v. Sussex ... 41 29 July 5—England v. Australia ........... 8 4 July 12^-Gentlemen v. Players........... 2 19 July 15—Gentlemen v. Players........... 65 50* July 19—England v. Australia .... ... 18 — July 22—Gloucestershire v. Lancashire 5 — July V6—Gloucestershire v. Yorkshire... 9 — July 29—Gloucestershire v. Notts ... 84 — Aug. 2—Gloucestershire v. Derbyshire 20 2 Aug. 5—Gloucestershire v. Australians 9 110 Aug. 9—Gloucestershire v. Middlesex... 4 32 Aug..12r-England v. Australia ........... 170 — Aug. 16—Gloucestershire v. Australians 5 30 Aug. 19-—Gloucestershire v. Yorkshire... 0 26 Aug. 23-Gloucestershire v. Surrey ... 13 4 Aug. 27—Gloucestershire v. Lancashire 23 4 Sept. 1—Gentlemen of England v I Zingari ... .....................15 28 Sept. 2-Lord Londesborough’s XI. v. Australians................... . ... 92 — Sept. 6—M.C.C. v. Yorkshire ........... 13 10 Sept.9- South of England v.Australians 31 38 Sept. 13—An England XI. v.Australians 74 4 Sept. 24—An England XI.v. Australians 11 — Innings played 55-Times not out 2- Total runs 1846—Average 34.83. T he Centenary of the Marylebone Club is not to pass, after all, without a visit of a Colonial cricket team. This time, though, it is Canada which is to furnish the party, and the Dominion has always been so hospitable in welcoming English players that I have no fear of a hearty^ reception for the Canadians in the Old Country. Cricket has made vast strides in Canada of late years, and the fact that the Canadians have.beaten the Americans, for the last three years in International matches encourages them, no doubt, to believe that they will do as well as the Philadelphians in 1884. M r . G . G o ld w in S m ith L in d se y , the Hon. Sec. of the Toronto Club, who has been the moving spirit in "the affair, will accompany and take charge of the team. He has secured as good, an eleven as could be picked from the cricketers of Canada, and, as tho following names will show, those coming will thoroughly repre­ sent Canadian cricket. I n addition to the eleven, as under— W. Henry, jun., Halifax, N,S. G. W. Jones, St. Johns, N.B. "VV. C. tittle, Ottawa, Ont. B. J. Bell, Montreal, Quebec. Mossom Boyd, Toronto, Ont. \Y. W. Vickers, Toronto, Ont, ; 25. y ? . Saunders, Toronto, Ont. Dr. E. R. Ogden, XJ.C. Coll., Toronto, Orit. A. G. Allen, Univ. andTrin. Coll., Toronto, Ont. W. W. Jones, Toronto, Ont. I1'. Harley, Guelpb, Ont. Mr. Lindsey will bring two others, he hopes, R. i ’errie and A. Gillespio, of Hamilton, the two bowlers who have mainly contributed to the victories of Canada over America the last two years. The te.am, it is expected, will arrive in Ireland about July 8, and their actual cricket will in all probability cover a period of about five weeks, commencing about July 15. M r. R. dk C ourtenay W e lch , the Hon. Sec. of the Nondescripts Club, requests me to say that an extraor­ dinary general meeting of the members of the Nondescripts Cricket Club will be held at the Great Western Hotel, Pad­ dington, on Friday, January 7, at 9 p.m., to decide what steps (if any) should be taken to revive the club. Should the opinion of the meeting be in favour of the dissolution of the club, a suggestion to sanction the adoption of the club colours by the Kensington Park Cricket Club will be considered. Should any members be unavoidably prevented from attending, Mr. Welch will be glad if they will kindly communicate to him at 6, Southwick Place, Hyde Park Square, W. in writing, their views on the questions above referred to, more particularly stating whether, if the club be revived, they will be prepared to assist the committee by taking part in the matches. L ohmann seems to have impressed the Melbourne critics very favourably on the occasion of his first appearance in that city. T. Horan, who writes the cricket Botes for the Australasian, comments on the young Surrey bowler thusly:— His delivery resembles that of C. T. Studd, who was here with the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s team. Lohmann, if the wieket is at all broken, gets work from either leg or off, and very often sends down a hanging ball, which is apt to cause forward players to come to grief. Loh­ mann is only 21 years of age, and if he develops according to promise, his future reputation as an all round man will stand remarkably high. He varies his pace well, and occasionally sends down a very deceptive yorker. In the second innings he had a large share of good luck in obtaining his wickets. “ M i d - o n , ” i n ’the Melbourne Leader , who English cricketers will remember accompanied TheFourth Australian Team during their visit to England in 1884, is even less stinted in his praise, as tho following remarks on the subject of the match between the Englishmen v. Vic­ toria, begun on Nov. 9, from his pen, will show. Losing the toss, it fell to the lot of the English bowlers to oppose a good batting team ih magnificent weather and on a jvicket which was simply perfect. Under these circum­ stances,'nobody who knew anything about the game anticipated any sensational, bowling, records, as M'Alpine’s preparations put all bowlers comparatively on a level. On one of them have we not seen an almost unknown colt make his three figures against' Palmer and Spofforth, admittedly two of the best bowlers that the world has produced; another member of the same team, more seasoned, it is true, but not a really firstnight batsman, also achieving the distinction in the same innings. Repeatedly I heard the remark, “ I don’t think so much of their bowling,” made on Saturday at a time when I knew such a conclusion to be absurdly premature. I have seen enough of Lehmann during the last few days to satisfy me that he is a great bowler, and not one whit overrated. Of course he wants a wicket to assist him in doing anything sensational, and which of them does not? I object (unless in a long series of matches) to judge a bowler’s capacity by his record of so many wickets for so many runs, and I will even go further and allow that Lohmann was fortunate in the Victorians’ first innings to have such a wonder­ ful point as Shrewsbury to assist him in the capture of his wickets. But the longer I watched the Surrey bowler the more satisfied was I that he was a “ Clinker.” . He bowls at an average pace, about the same as Palmer’s, and has, like him, a natural off break. He can get work on from the leg also, with less evident display of his intention to do so than any bowler I have seen, although, of course, every­ body knows that it cannot be completely disguised, and his intended change of pace is admirably concealed in his delivery. Bowling I should take to be hard work to him, as in the act he goes through a considerable amount of exertion, but his physique justifies the supposi­ tion that he is a stayer. His performance under the circumstances in the first innings was a good one, but in the second when the wicket began to offer assistance, he secured the grand record of eight wickets for 80 runs, and I congratulate this estimable young cricketer upon his most successful first appearance in Melbourne. A S u rrey cricketer who performed, and with success, on the Oval when that historic groimd had not long been trans­ formed from its previous condition of a market ground to be a stage for cricketers, was laid to his rest on the 15th o f last month in Melbourne. Mr. W . J. Ham- mersley made his first appearance at Lord’s on June 10, 1847, for the Under­ graduates of Cambridge against the Marylebone Club, and on more than one occasion did good service for the Univer­ sity against the best bowlers of the day, including Alfred Mynn, Felix, Wisden, and the veteran W. Lillywhite. A fte r leaving Cambridge he played occasionally for both the Marylebone and Surrey Clubs, and in one match for the former did a good bowling performance, getting in the first innings of the Surrey Club, three fine batsmen, Messrs. Felix, Reeves, and Coltsofi, with successive balls. Emigrating to Australia about the year 185G his ability was at once recognised, and he represented Victoria in the second and four following International matches against New South Wales, making his last appearance in Sydney in January, 1861. On his, retirement from active cricket he joined the staff of Hell's Life in Victoria and subsequently of the Australasian, the sporting editorship of which he held until 1882. H e was one of the earliest members of the Melbourne C lu b, and a sketch of its early history, under the title of “ The Marylebone C lu b of Australia, ” written b y him for the Sydney Mail', was repro­ duced in C r ic k e t o f Feb. 28, 1884. A c- cordingto theAustralasian he was “ a good leg-hitter, with great driving power, an erect and graceful attitude at thewicket,and a neat wristy action in cutting: a batsman whose style was a model. He was re­ garded as, an effective bowler, with a singular but pretty delivery. In addition, Next Issue January 27