Cricket 1887

JOLT 28, 1887. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 297 we may add that neither batsman gave a chance until the end came, when the last comer was magnificently caught just on the boundary. I may state that the largest number of runs made for the last wicket in England is credited to W . H. Edgar and J. M. Swayne, who added 194 for the Perambulators against the Etcet­ eras, at Oxford, on June 1, 1883. The best record, though, belongs to two Canadians, A. G. Brown and G. N. Mor­ rison, who put on 198 for the last wicket of the Toronto Club against the Past and Present Pupils of Trinity College, Port Hope in 1882. circumstances, The Clapton Club, of which Mr. Batty was an old member, is raising a fund to make a provision of some kind for those he has left, and as there will be hundreds of C r ic k e t readers who played at some time or other against him, and can testify, as I can myself, that he was a thoroughly hard - working cricketer, and a keen lover of the game, I hope that there will be many ready and willing to contribute to the best o f their ability. Mr. C. M. Tebbut, the old M id­ dlesex cricketer, and one of the oldest members of the Clapton Club, is Trea­ surer, and will be glad to acknowledge any sums sent to 19, Belsize Road, N .W . The performances o f the Old Stagers, to take place in the theatre on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, will include the late H. J. Byron’s drama, “ Daisy Farm,” Sydney Grundy’s comedy “ The Glass of Fashion,” the farce by Maddison Morton, who, by the way, is a regular frequenter o f Lord’s and the Oval on important matches, “ A Regular Fix,” and a new one-act play, “ My Friend Jarlet.” One of the most pleasing in­ cidents o f the week will be the presenta­ tion of a testimonial to Mr. W . de Chair Baker, who has had the management of the Canterbury week for many years now. C o n v e r s a t io n overheard recently at a fashionable match.— Jones to Smith : “ And how did Blank get put ? ” Smith : “ Oh 1 the ball broke a foot.” Elderly lady (in great concern): “ Dear m e ! how sad, poor fellow! which fo o t?” I am not a politician myself, at least no very much o f one. Most CRicXET-readers though, I fancy, are, and some of them may perhaps enjoy the following, taken from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of Saturday last. Overheard at Lord's, July 8th. Small Eton boy, looking contemptuously at an Harrovian friend, “ You are a pretty lot! Why, you can’t even get a head-master without coming to E ton! ” The little Harrow boy wag silenced for a few moments, aud pondered hard to hit on some retort that might find its way between the joints of the Etonian’s harness. An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he effectually routed his foe with, “ Yah ! At any rate Mr. Gladstone wasn’t at Harrow! ” Complete collapse of Eton boy, who did not recover till he had demolished three large platefuls of strawberries and cream. T h e Gentlemen of Canada showed to much better advantage against the Gentle­ men o f Durham at Sunderland this week, and as at the finish the Englishmen had to get 185 to win with only nine wickets to fall, the draw was certainly not in their favour. The captain, E. 11. Ogden, a left-handed batsman, and W , A. Henry, who is an old Merchistonian, were re­ sponsible for 175 out of 251 from the bat in the Canadians’ second innings, and their hitting seems to have been very clean and hard. To-day, on the completion of their match against the Gentlemen of Derby­ shire, they have a long journey to Brighton, where they are to meet the Gentlemen of Sussex. They are to spend the first few days o f next week in London, and it will be of interest, no doubt, to many cricketers to know that their headquarters will bo at the Victoria Hotel, in Northumberland Avenue. They are to be the guests of the Marylebone Club at a dinner on Monday night, and the same courtesy is to be shown them by the Surrey Club when they visit the Oval on August 8 to meet the Gentle­ men o f Surrey. Now that they are settling down apparently, everyone will wish them good luck on the cricket field. T h e return match between Surrey and Notts, to be commenced on Bank Holiday at Kennington Oval, i3 causing the greatest excitement among all classes of cricketers, and under ordinarily favour­ able conditions the game should be full I s e e it stated, though I am not able of m y own knowledge to testify to the correctness of the information, that Mr. II. Philipson, the Oxford wicket­ keeper, will accompany the team Mr. G. F. Yernon, acting on behalf of the Melbourne Club, will take to Aus­ tralia in September. Mr. K. J. Key, another Oxonian, it was expected would join the party, but he does not see his way to accept the invitation, and, as I am informed, has been obliged to decline. I understand Beaumont will probably take the place which Bowley has felt bound to vacate, and if he decides to go he w ill make the fourth professional engaged, the others being Attewell, Peel, and. Bates. Pougher has signed, as I learn, an agreement with the promoters of the other team, and, as I take it, is therefore not available. I understand that Mr. Yernon has already taken berths for himself and his mates. I stated on June 30 that they would, in all probability, leave in the Orient steamer “ Iberia ” on September 15, and I have reason to believe that the passages have been engaged for that line. T h e following lines are from last week’s Punch P h ilo s o p h y a t t h e P o p p in g C r e a s e . “ The glorious uncertainty ?” why, to be sure That it must be the slowest should see at a glance, For Cricket, as long as the sport shall endure, Must be in its nature a mere game of chance. “ ’Tis all pitch and toss;” one can show it is so;— ’Tisn’t science or strength rules its losses or winnings, Half depends on the “ pitch ”—of the wickets, you know, The rest on the “ toss ”— for first innings. T h e following are the results o f the various matches played between the nine leading counties this season up to Satur­ day la s t: Played. Won. Lost. Drawn Surrey .................. ti 5 l 0 N otts.............. 4 i 1 Lancashire 8 6 2 0 Middlesex ........... 6 3 ‘2 1 Yorkshire ........... 8 4 ‘2 2 oloucestershire.. b 0 3 3 Sussex ......... ........ 6 2 4 0 D erbyshire........... 4 0 4 0 K ent ............. 1 6 1 I am much grieved, as, indeed, will be all his friends, to learn that the late Mr. W . Batty, whes3 tragic death it was my painful duty to have to record last week, has left his wife and family in destitute M e s s r s . J oh nson and Sheppard, play­ ing for Upper Clapton against Clapton on Saturday last, had an experience which I should say has not fallen to many cricketers. The former made a fine drive, and the batsmen had the satisfac­ tion of feeling that they had obtained five runs for the hit. I can well imagine their consternation, though, when it was found that the umpire had called as many as three short. T h e Bev. G. Townsend Oldham, whose name was mentioned a fortnight ago in “ Gossip,” in a letter written with the object o f discountenancing a shorter pitch for boys of a certain age, has requested me to publish the following note from Mr. W . G. Grace on this subject. The following is Mr. Grace’s reply presumably to an enquiry from Mr. Oldham:— D ear S ib ,— I entirely agree with you about young boys not bowling the full distance, etc., ctc.—Yours truly, (Signed) W. G. G race . Mr. Grace's opinion on this particular question is not new to me. In his article on “ Bowling,” contributed some years ago to the Boys' Own Paper, and repro­ duced recently in Mr. W . Methven Brownlee’s interesting Biography of the G.O.M., he writes as follow s:— The young beginner—and here, as through­ out, I make no distinction between right and left-hand bowlers—should, above all things, guard against bowling too fast, as if he does, he is sure to sacrifice pitch and straightness. Let him begin by bowling at eighteen yards instead of two-and-twenty, and as he grows older and stronger, he can easily work back to the proper distance. . . . I w o u l d point out that the “ Old Cricketer," who originated the discussion, took exception to the shorter pitch chiefiy for older boys (astat 15), as a reference, to his letter will prove, and I do not even now see that his precise objection has been thoroughly met. T h e Canterbury week of 1887, which as every oiie knows is to be opened on Monday next, bids fair to be as great a success as usual. Lord Harris, I believe, will positively represent Kent, and if, as is stated, he will be assisted in the first match against Yorkshire by Messrs. Pat­ terson, Kemp, Marchant, Rashleigh, and Stanley Christopherson, G. G. Hearne, F. Hearne, A. Hearne, Wootton and Martin, there should be some excellent cricket.