Cricket 1887

NOV. 14 1887. C E IC K E T : A W E E K L Y EE COED OP T IIE GA1IU . 457 ____ i T he executive of the Derbyshire County C lub seem to have found a friend in need in the person of Mr. Bagg, who has come to the rescue just at a time when the for­ tunes of the County were at a low ebb. The gentleman in question has stepped in most opportunely, and his liberal offer to move and enlarge the pavilion, so as to utilise it for the double purpose of cricket and football, as w ell. as to re-turf the ground, has, it is needless for me to say, been highly appreciated by the sport- loving folk of Derbyshire. Mr. Ragg, I learn from good authority, has taken and is taking the mo3t active interest in the work he has generously undertaken, and is to be seen daily, early and late, super­ vising its progress. The entire cost of the alterations and improvements for which Mr. Ragg has made himself responsible, I understand, will amount at the least to fifteen hundred pounds, and when the whole scheme is complete it is confidently hoped that the Derbyshire County Club will have a ground second to none in England, either for cricket or football. In the face of difficulties of various kinds the Derbyshire Committee have never lost sight of the interests of County cricket, and I hope that at last after a series of reverses a new era of prosperity is opening for them. As I stated a month ago another party of Parsee cricketers is to visit England next summer. The ill success of the team commanded by Dr. Patell in 1886, as was only to be expected, caused considerable disappointment among the Parsee com­ munity, and there is a natural desire to convince the English public that the form shown here last summer was not a true representation of the capabilities of Parsee cricketers. I am informed on the best authority that the team which will leave India next summer will be stronger at every point than its predecessor. In any case the members will, I am sure, have no reason to complain of their reception here, which should lose none of its warmth from the excellent impression created by Dr. Patell and his comrades on the occasion of the first visit of an Indian native cricket team to England. As at present arranged the first appear­ ance of the coming team will be on June 8, and as their programme it is expected will not include more than two engage­ ments for each week, their stay here acoording to appearances will be by no means a short one. I may add that the Secretary of the Surrey County Cricket Club, who is as before arranging their matches, has already made fixtures for them at Lord’s, the Oval, and Leyton, among other places. S ussex cricket has recently suffered another heavy blow in the loss of Mr. F. M. Lucas, the news of whose death in India a fortnight ago caused a severe Bhock to his many friends. Mr. Lucas, I need hardly add, was amember of a family of cricketers, and two of his brothers, M. P. and C. J. also did good service for Sussex. At one time, too, the match between eleven Lucases and the local club was one of the most popular fixtures on that most run-getting of pitches, the Horsham Ground. The cricketers of Warnham Court, the family seat, indeed as a rule revelled in the Horsham wickets, and I remember one occasion, in 1880 I believe, when Warnham Court kept the Horsham eleven out in the field while they scored 585, to which F. M. Lucas contributed 141 not out, M. P. Lucas 137, and A. P. Lucas, the well known Surrey and Middlesex Amateur, 115. M r . F. M. L ucas was first brought into rea notice by his exceptionally brilliant score of 215 not out for Sussex against Glouces­ tershire, at Brighton in 1885. Though those who did not witness the match were inclined to regard this as something of a fluke, he proved the correctness of the form soon afterwards by the remarkably good cricket he showed for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord’s, where on by no means a rungetting wicket he made 89 and 31. His record in first-class matches in 1885 was altogether a phenomenal one, and as many will still remember he had the extraordinary average of 139 for five innings, including two not outs. T hough most generally known as a cricketer—he was certainly the best left-handed batsman we have seen for many years—he was an adept at other sports. In 1882 he represented Cambridge against Oxford at Bacquets, and, unless we are mistaken, he had lately taken to golf, at which not a few cricketers of position have made their mark, and with no small success. He was on a trip to India when he was taken ill of cholera, and died of that disease at Surat, in the early part of this month. In last month’s C ricket I incidentally alluded to the probability of the continua­ tion of that most valuable work “ Scores and Biographies,” published first by the late Fred Lillywhite, and subsequently by the Marylebone Club, who brought the records on from 1856 to 1876 inclusive. Originally compiled and kept up throughout by Mr. Arthur Haygarth, who has, without exaggeration, devoted years to the progress and continuation of the work, the thirteen volumes represent an extraordinary collec­ tion of matter amounting to, I believe, over 8,000 pages, a remarkable evidence of patient research, as well as of unselfish interest in the game. U p to the present time the publication has not extended beyond the year 1876, but I am glad to be able to be in a position to state that arrangements have been practically completed to continue Mr. Haygarth’s records in their entirety with a view to bringing “ Scores and Bio­ graphies ” up to date. The preparation of the fourteenth volume, which will dea with the years 1877, ’78 and ’79, has been commenced, and no time will be lost, though there is a good deal of information still wanting to complete the contents in its production. “ M id - on ," the cricket'contributor to the Melbourne Leader, confirms the rumour to which I gave publicity last month of tho probable re-appearanco of the great Aus­ tralian batsman, Mr. W. L. Murdoch. According to “ Mid-on,” he is in all likeli­ hood to don the blue and white of the East Melbourne Club, although, true to the determination he had previously expressed, he does not intend to represent Victoria, wherein he has been settled for some time, in the Inter-Colonial match against New South Wales, where he learned the game, and as a representative of which he gained his world-wide fame. S ir W illiam M c A rthur , whose sudden death on the Under-groundBail way a fort­ night ago excited such universal regret in London, took, it may not be generally known, more than an ordinary interest in cricket. The McArthurs have been prominently identified with the game in Australia, and Donald of that name was one of the fifteen members proposed for election at the first meeting of the Mel­ bourne Club in 1839. The late Sir William, who for some years represented Lambeth in the House of Commons, had been for a long time a member of the Surrey County Club, in whose welfare he always showed great concern. T he preliminaries for the visit of another— the sixth—team of Australian cricketers to England having been duly settled, the necessary preparations on this side are now in progress to ensure the trip being a successful one. The arrange­ ment of the programme has been again entrusted to the Secretary of the Surrey County Club, and I understand he has already received a very large number of applications for fixtures in all parts of the country, in Scotland and Ireland as well as in England. T he Committee of the Marylebone Club having granted the use of their ground, three matches will be played at Lord’s under the auspices of M.C.C., the same as on the occasion of the last tour, to wit, against M.C.C. and Ground, the Gentlemen, and England. In addition, the Australians will also meet the Gentle­ men and England at the Oval, while the third fixture with a picked team of England will be deeided, it is expected, as heretofore, at Manchester. The North of England will, in all probability, again oppose the Australians at Manchester, and it is contemplated to arrange, if possible, a meeting with the Players or a represen­ tative eleven of some kind on a northern ground, most probably in Yorkshire. It is proposed that the Australians shall meet Notts twice, Yorkshire at Sheffield and N E X T ISSUE , DECEMBER 29.