Cricket 1887

102 CRI a JEET : A WEEKLY BECOIil) OF THE GAME, MAY ,1887 scores as 340,1*21, 88, 72, 52, 44,44, and 36, and he is first on the list with an average of 33.15. He bowled on several occasions, being most successful at Adelaide. His fielding was well- nigh perfection at long-slip and long-on—his usual position in the field. Barlow is fourth with 24.13, and he played his usual stubborn, defensive game through­ out. His highest score was 104 in a country match, and 86 against Victoria was his best effort. He also contributed several other use­ ful scores, ranging from 30 to 60. In bowling he was not so destructive as usual—more par­ ticularly the latter part of the tour. His fielding at slip was sometimes smart, but in the outfield he was not a success, being out of his element and a poor thrower. Bates, with 24.1, is a good fifth. As usual, almost all his scores were very rapidly made. His performance at Sydney, when he made 46 without any of his comrades scoring, being most remarkable, the board on that occasion showing Shrewsbury, Read, Scotton, and Bar- low all out for eggs, the total being 54; 8 extra. Eighty-six against Victoria was the Yorkshire- man’s best innings in eleven a-side games, and 82 against odds. In bowling he was fairly suc­ cessful, and took a fair share, but in fielding I think he must have surprised himself, as he did not drop more than a couple of catches during the whole season, catching many bril­ liant ones. Gunn is next on the list with 20.7. He did fairly well, but, like the rest, failed at Sydney. At Melbourne, however, he played well—47 against Viccoria, 48 and 61 not out against the Australian Eleven, and 150 in the Smokers v. Non-Smokers match. In the country cricket he also played some good innings. He is pro­ nounced by Colonial critics as the best out­ field yet seen in Australia, and he oertainly proved himself a wonder, many catches going to him of great difficulty which were safely held. Briggs is seventh with an average of 19.5. He did not shine much in the best matches, but afine innings of 69 against the Australian Eleven at Sydney, with 86 and 54 in the Smokers’ match, were specimens of dashing play. Against odds he was muoh more suc­ cessful, playing very well on many occasions. He has the honour of taking most wickets during the tour, 177 falling to his prowess for a little over 8 runs per wicket. As usual, he worked like a Trojan in the field, and did some very smart things. Lohmann, with an average of 17, did fairly well, and at times played brilliantly. His century against the East Melbourne Club was a very dashing performance, and on several occasions he did great service by staying the latter part of the innings, when runs were much wanted. In bowling he was sometimes disappointing, but several times proved very destructive, and his fifty-nine wickets for an average of a little more than 15 runs per wicket is very good, although not to be com­ pared with the analysis of their opponent (Turner). With Briggs he bowled consider­ ably over 5,000 balls, and comes next to him with 154 wickets. He fielded magnificently at all parts of the field, making some brilliant catohes at slip. Flowers (13.21) is ninth. After the first month he was out of all form, and could not get a start for many weeks, but the latter part of the trip he improved greatly. Fifty-two against Victoria, and 69 in the Smokers’ match were his best efforts. He bowled con­ sistently well throughout, and seldom made a mistake in the field. Scotton comes tenth with an average of 12.1. Somehow he could never get into form, and altogether played far too tame a game on some of the false wickets, when more dash was required. His 43 not out at Sydney, and 39 at Melbourne were his best innings in eleven a-side matches. Against odds, 71 against East Melbourne was his best. In fielding, like the rest of the team, he was very good. Sherwin comes last with 8.3, but in eleven a-side matches he actually beats Briggs and Scotton, and on more than one occasion he proved that he was far from being a dummy batsman, as on three different occasions he made a most valuable stand, and probably twice was the means of averting defeat for his side. He kept wicket in capital form through­ out, and was a great favourite with the public, who were greatly amused at some of his lively antics, ana his great activity for so massive a man. Shaw and Lillywhite need not bementioned as they never attempted to get into form. The following comments on the tour of Shaw and Shrewsbury are from the pen of the well-known Australian cricket critic “ Felix,” in the Australasian news­ paper :— B y the “ Massilia ” on Saturday night our friends the Englishmen left Adelaide for the old country. I am sure we ail wish them a fair wind and a clear sky, a good time on board, and a pleasant summer and lots of runs during the season which will have commenced by the time they get home. They sojourned amongst us from the end of October to the 26th March, and during that time they played 29 matches, of which they won 12, and lost only 2. There were 15 drawn games, which would in nearly every instance have been won by our visitors if time had permitted. That they are a great team everyone will admit. In my judgment they are the finest all-round team that ever visited Australia. As a fielding team they are simply perfect, the best we have ever seen in these parts. Briggs and Shrewsbury showed perfect form at cover and at point, and Sherwin kept wicket exceedingly well. Lohmann, Gunn, and Maurice Read also appeared to great advantage, no matter what position in the field they filled. In batting there was not a weak man. Sherwin, who was set down as by no means a strong batsman, came time after time just when he was wanted. A special feature of the tour was the magnificent uphill fight against and victory over the first com­ bined team in Sydney. The combined men thought they would have it all their own way, but the Englishmen played up in grand style, and won in a manner that reflected con­ spicuous credit upon them. A very regrettable circumstance in connec­ tion with the tour is that the visitors have de­ parted without once encountering the full strength of Australia. At the New Year a representative Australian eleven would have met the Englishmen but for the M.C.C. Aus­ tralian eleven. This team, which, with its fullstrength,failed so signallytime aftertime in England, could not expect to do much when two or three of the best men were absent. They played three matches against the Englishmen, and lost two, and would have lost the third had it been played out. If the Englishmen had met a strong representative Australian eleven at the New Year consider­ able interest would have been felt in the con­ test. But nobody cared much to see the M.C.C. Australian eleven play, for the good reason that, as a team, they were apronounced failure. If, instead of meeting the M.C.C. team, the Englishmen had met the full strength of Australia at the New Year, the Victorian portion of their tour would not have been the financial frost it turned out to be. In Sydney the public rolled up very well indeed, as many as 12,000 or 14,000 persons having been present on each of four or five Saturdays. And in the country towns the Englishmen were liberally treated in the matter of terms. But for all that the visitors have not made much money. According to their own aocount they have done little more than elear expenses. They thoroughly en­ joyed themselves during the tour. Sherwin said:—“ I came out to enjoy myself, and I have done so. I like the climate—Victoria especially, and I like the free-and-easy style of the colonists. In the country towns we had a particularly pleasant time. In the evenings we would sit in verandah or balcony and sing our favourite songs and glees, ana quite a crowd would gather round to listen. On one occasion after singing at a concert each of us was presented with a gold medal as a memento. Everywhere we went we were treated most hospitably, and during our travels we saw some very beautiful scenery. But the rain! I shall never forget it. It seemed to rain in every town we visited. The rain followed us round. That is what the people said, at any rate, and they thanked ua- for breaking up the drought, and asked us to come again when another drought ocours. At Bowral we were above our ankles in water in our tent, and cricket bags and boots were floating about in a manner that was quite novel to us. One diverting incident was when a country umpire gave Shrewsbury out instead of Maurice Read, who was actually out. Maurice was walking away, but the umpire brought him back and told Shrewsbury that he was out, not Read. The reason was that Shrewsbury’s play was too slow to suit the umpire. He preferred Read’ s dash. We were surprised at the poor attendances in Melbourne, and it seemed to some of us that Victorians do not attend a sport in large numbers unless the sport is associated with betting and gambling. We think Turner the finest bowler in the world on a sticky wioket. He would be a great success in England, and so would young Ferris. In our minds it is a toss-up whether Spofforth in his best day was as good on a sticky wicket as Turner. Shrewsbury cannot play Turner on a stioky wieket: he breaks back too fast. Turner and Ferris on a bad wicket are a bit ahead of any bowlers we know. The Sydney men well deserved their two victories over us, but on a good fast wioket they would not be a match for us. I like Australia and Australians so well that I shall come out again if I can.” Gunn is not so favourably impressed with the climate. He says :— You have four seasons sometimes in one day. I have been scorched in the morning, and stone-cold in the after­ noon. It is not like this at home. You get splendid sunny days, but I prefer Nottingham and the banks of Trent.” Altogether the team displayed excellent all-round form. A glance at the averages shows that Shrewsbury heads the batting list in eleven-a-side matches with 34 64 for 18 innings, and in all matches with 83’65 for 36 innings. In matches against odds, Read is top with 3371 for 21 innings. In bowling Barnes is first in eleven-a-side matches with 13‘32 runs per wicket, and against odds and in all matches Briggs heads the list. Only in two instances has a hundred been scored against the visitors, namely, by Horan—117 not out, and Boyle—115. Special attention is invited to the magnificent bowling figures of Turner in the list of Australian bowling averages against the Englishmen. The following are the batting and bowling averages of the Englishmen for all matches of the tour:— B A T T I N G A V E R A G E S . ELBYBN-A-SIDB M ATCHE8. A. 8hrewBbury... W . B a rn es........... W . Bates ........... W . Gunn ........... R . G. Barlow ... W. Flowers M. Read ........... G. Lohm ann ... M. Sherwin.......... J. Briggs ........... W , Seetten Inns. ,. 18 .. 12 .. 17 . 16 ,. 18 . 15 ,. 16 . 15 .. 16 .. 15 16 Tim es not out. Runs. ... 4 ... 1 ... 0 ... 1 ... 3 ... 2 ... 0 ... 2 ... 8 ... 0 485 319 379 323 310 192 236 191 108 179 163 Aver. 34.64 21.53 20.66 14.76 14.75 14.69 13.50 11.93 10.86