Cricket 1887

MAY 10, 1887, CEICEET: A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. 187 B arlow , Richard Gorton the blocker of that ilk, has been interviewed by a representative of the Athletic News on the subject of his recent visit to Aus­ tralia. B . G.’s opinions on some at least of the coming cricketers of Australia, are, it will be seen from the following, of a very favourable character. They have some good young ones coming up [says Barlow]. Ferris andTurner, who did such damage against us at Sydney, are fit for any team. Turner is a right-hand bowler, with a nice delivery, and on a stioky wioket I don’t think he has his equal in the world. He told me he was pretty certain to visit England with the next Australian team, and as he is a fair bat I think he will do very well. Ferris is a left-hand medium pace bowler, but, unlike my delivery, the ball comes back from the pitch. It was amusing to see how awkwardly we shaped at Ferris on one or two of the bad wickets. The balls pitohed on the leg of the middle wioket, and broke right back to short slip almost. We could never get n»ar them. Moses is a grand left-hand batsman—one of the finest I have seen; and Allen, a right-hand player, is a tremendously hard hitter. Houston is a fine bat, and a very safe catch ; whilst Lyons is good all round. M'Clinchy, of Newcastle, was one ofthe mostpromising novices I came across. Bruce has improved wonderfully since his visit to England, but Spofforth seems to have gone off. On the other hand, Boyle is not the worn out oricketer a good many people made him out to be. He not only bowled well, but he bats finely, and that 115 of his at Sand­ hurst was a capital piece of batting. B a rlow ’s comments on the play of the English Team, too, will be read with interest:— It turned out wonderfully well, and the Australians were not far wrong when they said it was by a long way the strongest English eleven that had visited Australia. “We were good all round, and if one batsman failed to come off there was always another equal to the emergency, and so it was also with the bowling. In the latter department Briggs was a great success, and was scarcely ever found off colour. He got plenty of Work, and although his batting naturally suffered from the overdose of bowling, his fielding was always brilliant, and he was a great favourite everywhere with the spectators. Shrewsbury was in rare batting form, and Barnes played well, but Scotton was not up to the mark. Gann did well all round, and was particularly smart and safe on the field. Bates and Maurice Bead were as brilliant as ever at odd times with the bat, and Lohmann on his day could not have been improved upon. Sherwin, as a wicket-keeper, was not very consistent, but he came out and batted very well, often enough just when runs were most wanted. Of course he amused the Australians with his well-known playful antics. Y o rk sh ire cricket has recently lost an enthusiastic follower, as well as popular representative, in the death of Mr. L. W. Wallgate. Born at Norton, near Malton, “ Lamp ” Wallgate has for many years been very prominently identified throughout with the cricket of the East Biding, in which he has for many years played a leading part. Some ten summers ago, when perhaps at his best, a Sheffield paper wrote of him as follows :— Mr. Wallgate, of Hull, is as fine an all-round cricketer as any in Yorkshire. His form, as shown on Friday and Saturday, in the match between Hull and Pitsmoor, was something immense. He bats magnificently: and there is a splendid length about his bowling. Nearly every ball he sends drops upon that particular aversion of all batsmen, the blind spot, and, in my opinion, he will get wickets anywhere. He has great paoe, a dean, sharppick up, and a low, fast, arrow-like throw, which reminds one of Daft in his best day. Mr. Wallgate has been asked to play for the county, and he will certainly prove an acquisition. I understand he has a difficulty in getting away from his business, but he will probably be seen at Bramall Lane before the season ends. He played on some few occasions for Yorkshire—howmany I am not able to say of my own knowledge, though I know he did represent the county—but business prevented him, as a rule, from going very far, and most of his cricket was played within range of his home, lie had acted as Captain of the Hull Town Club for many years, but was actively identified with many others, including the Yorkshire Gentlemen, Scarborough, Malton, and Goole Town, who have all benefited greatly by his excellent all-round play. “ Lamp” Wallgate was, as keen cricketers generally are, very popular, and he will be greatly missed on the cricket fields of the East Biding. He died at Harrogate on May 9, in his thirty-ninth year. M r . W alter R ead , the well-known Surrey cricketer, is to take the chair at the smoking concert of the Forest Hill Club, to be held at the Bridge House Hotel to-morrow evening. The pro­ gramme will include a flute solo by M r. C. Spencer West, the hon. sec. of the Club, and a flautist very much above the average of amateurs, as well as a banjo solo by Professor Joe Daniels, who has often contributed to the amusement of crick­ eters on occasions of a similar kind. E astbo urne cricketers, I am glad to hear from a correspondent on the spot and well capable of giving a reliable opinion, seem likely to have a very busy time of it this summer. In the hands of the new secretary, Mr. G. H. Wood, who has been prominently identified with the Marylebone Club for some years, and was in fact on the Committee some few seasons back, the Eastbourne Club bids fair to increase its member-roll consider­ ably, and, indeed, I hear that there has been already a large accession of new members, among them several useful cricketers, to wit, Messrs. G. B. Burge, H. M. Studd, A. W. Watts, A. N. Buxton, T. S. Whitfeld and others. T he season opened most auspiciously with the two trial matches on April 30 and May 7, and it is a good sign that the applications to play in these two games were so numerous as to compel the Sec­ retary to arrange twelve a-side in the first and twelve and eighteen in the second. Both grounds of the Club, Devonshire Park and the Saffrons, are in excellent condition, and everything augurs well for a successful season. The number of visitors to Eastbourne during the Beason is legion, and it will be useful to cricketers who intend to make a stay there to know that they can join the Club either as season or short-term members on most advantageous terms. I may add that the Secretary, Mr. G. H. Wood, whose address is the Cavendish Hotel, Eastbourne, will be glad to furnish all particulars. T h e new ground of the Bromley Club is to be opened to-morrow with a match between a strong second eleven of Kent, under the Captaincy of Mr. Philip Hilton, and an eleven of Bromley and District, Captained by Mr. M. P. Betts. While on the subject of Kent cricket, I may add that the match between Kent and Essex, to be played at Leyton, has been definitely fixed to take place on Aug. 15 and two following days. T h e following are announced as tho elevens to take part in the match between Kent and Gloucestershire, to be begun at Blackheath on Thursday next. It is tho first time the Counties have met, and as, too, it is the first occasion on which Dr. W. G. Grace has played in the Blackheath district, the fixture ought to evoke con­ siderable interest. I hear that there is some uncertainty about Lord Harris and Mr. Patterson, and it they are unable to play, Mr. B. S. Jones and Martin may probably fill their places :—- Gloucestershire—Messrs. E. M. Grace, W. G. Grace, 0. G. Radcliffe, G. Francis, A. Newn- ham, J. A. Bush, F. Cole, A. C. M. Croome, W. Wreford-Brown, and G. Bloar, and Painter. Kent—Lord Harris, Messrs. W. H. Patterson, S. Christopherson, J. N. Tonge, and A. J. Thornton, with W. Hearne, G. G. Heame, F. Hearne, A Heame, Wootton, Pentecost. Mr. E. G. W ynyard , who played such excellent cricket for Hampshire against Surrey at the Oval on Monday last, is, it is perhaps hardly necessary for me to say, the Old Carthusian who won high honours at the Association game of football some few years ago. He has just returned home on sick leave from India, where he has been for some time in pursuit of his military duties. His regiment, the Eighth (King’s), is fortunate in possessing another batsman very much above the average of military cricketers in Mr. J. Dunn, one of the most successful run-getters in the Army, who, if I remember rightly, was credited with no less than fourteen in­ nings of over a hundred during last season. M r . W ynyard , if I mistake not, is a cousin of another once prominent player, M r. Frank Wynyard Wright, who, after being at Bossall and Oxford, did good service for Lancashire, and will be familiar to old cricketers as “ Wright of Bossall.” I am sorry to hear M r. Wynyard leaves London this week for a tour on the continent to recruit his health, and Hampshire will thus lose, for a time at least, the services of a really good bat, who would have been of the greatest service in forthcoming matches. Mr. Wynyard hopes, I believe, to be back w ith u s in J u ly , a n d if, as I h ear, th er e is