Cricket 1887

APRIL 14, 1887. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 67 A n o th e r genial and generous supporter of cricket has recently passed away. Those who have at any time taken an active part in the management of the Canterbury Week will sadlymiss one figure always con­ spicuous during the popular annual festival on the St. Lawrence Ground, that of the late Archdeacon Harrison. He had been for forty years Canon o f Canterbury, and his affection for everything connected with the city extended to the annual cricket week, of which he had become quite an institution. For years the Mid­ dlesex eleven have been his guests during their visits to Canterbury, and few cricketers who have played there, particu­ larly during the Week, but have retained the most pleasant recollections of the kindly and withal witty little cleric who dispensed such hospitality during the Canterbury Week. The Archdeacon, who was uncle of Mr. C. I. Thornton, the well-known Middlesex cricketer, was a regular attendant at the University match, and his quaint little figure on Lord Hoth- field’s drag will be vividly recalled by those who have been in the habit of frequenting Lord’s when Oxford has met Cambridge of late years. P a n n e l l , a professional who played for the Surrey Colts a year or two ago, and if I mistake not was engaged in America last season, is now, as I learn from the Sydney Mail, curator of the Associa­ tion ground at Sydney. According to the paper named, too, he seems to be giving great satisfaction in his new post. “ The weather,” says the cricket critic of the Sydney Mail, in its issue of March 5, “ for a considerable time has been against the production of lasting wickets, but as far as preparation was concerned they were as carefully finished as it was possible for wickets to be, and the Englishmen have given him every credit for his work.” I notice, too, that in the match between Shaw’s team and All Australia, finished on the Association ground on March 1, three innings were played on the one pitch, and as this was said to be in very fair condition after that test Pannell had good reason to be pleased with bis work. The Worshipful Charles James Burton, Chancellor of the Diocese of Carlisle, and Vicar of Lydd, in Kent, the oldest Chan­ cellor, who died last week in his ninety- sixth year, was, the Pall Mall Gazette states, in his early life a keen cricketer. “ He always,” that journal adds in a brief Bketch of his career, “ in addition took a great interest in those young people who took a pride and excelled in the game. He was, too, a frequent visitor at Lord’s, and not many years ago slapped on the back a well-known captain of the Eton and Cambridge elevens after that gentle­ man had made a century, exclaiming in loud tones, which shocked the con­ ventional ideas of the fashionables around him, ‘ Well done, Thornton, worthy chip of the old block! ’ ” The m iter of “ Cricket Notes” in the Sydney Mail in a number of that paper recently to hand gives publicity to a rumour which will be received with surprise by those who have the manage­ ment of Kentish cricket. This is the paragraph :—“ It has been rumoured lately,” says the Mail, “ that Charley Bannerman was going home to England under engagement to Lord Harris, but it is doubtful if our once brilliant batsman will see the Kentish grounds again as a paid professional.” An offer of an en­ gagement, as I know myself, was made during the visit of the First Australian team in 1878, to C. Bannerman, who was born at Woolwich, by Lord Harris on be­ half of the Kent County Club, and at that time a batsman like Bannermanwould have been a valuable acquisition to the Kent Eleven. No other negotiations, though, have taken place, and I am authorised to say that so far as the management of the Kent County Club is concerned there is no foundation for the report. The following letter from the Hon. Martin B. Hawke, Captain of the York­ shire County Eleven, has been sent for insertion :— Sir,—Will you kindly allow me, through your valuable paper, to inform the Players of England that m all probability two cricketing teams will go out to Australia next autumn— one a proposed mixed team, invited, I am told, by the Trustees of the New South Wales Cricket Ground, and the other a team of amateurs and professionals (seven amateurs having already promised to go) invited by the Melbourne Cricket Club. Briggs, Lohmann, Gunn, Sherwin, and Shrewsbury have thus early been engaged to go with the. New South Wales team, which, I understand, Shaw and Lillywhite are choosing, and my purpose in writing this letter is to advise renaming players not to sign without consideration the same kind of agreement which Shaw and Lillywhite used last year when engaging their men. They got fifteen or sixteen to sign, promising to go if wanted, and only during the last fortnight before they sailed did they inform those who would not be included in the team that they were not wanted, thus making the agreement altogether one-sided. The Melbourne team will require the services of four or five of the best players, so any desirous of being included should wait and not hurry to bind themselves to either one side or the other.—Yours truly, M artin B. H aw ke . It is settled beyond all doubt that the team as invited by the Melbourne Club will visit Australia next winter. It will consist, as I have already said, chiefly of amateurs, and Mr. G. F. Vernon, the well-known Middlesex cricketer, who is acting on this side on behalf of the Mel­ bourne Club, has got actual promises from several of the leading English amateurs. Mr. W. G. Grace will not be able to go, but I hear on the best authority that Messrs. W. W. Bead, W. E. Boiler, T. C. O’Brien, A. E. Stoddart, and F. T. Welman have, in addition to Mr. Hawke, already undertaken to accompany Mr. Vernon. Mr. J. G. Walker, too, may join the party, but at present he is doubtful. It is stated, too, that the two Oxonians, Messrs. J. H. Brain and K. J. Key, have both been asked, and I have every reason to believe the statement to be correct. The delegates of the Victorian and South Australian Associations, at a meet­ ing held in Melbourne on the occasion of the Inter-colonial match, decided that in the matches to be played by their Colonies the overs shall for the future consist of six instead of four balls. The New South Wales Association, which declined to send a representative to the meeting, has been asked by the Victorian Association, which has deferred action pending a reply, to express its approval or otherwise of the alteration. T he change seems to be viewed with mixed feelings by the critics as well as by the leading cricketers of Australia. The Sydney Mail is a little oracular in its utterances on the subject, as will be gathered from the following;— The game promises to be longer or shorter under the new rule. Steady batting will make cricket more monotonous than it often is at present, which is saying much; while, on the other hand, if a good bowler is set there is every promise of the innings being cut short. The Melbourne Sportsman some little time ago published the views of some of the principal players in Victoria and New South Wales on the subjectof the proposed reform. Their opinions in brief will be of interest. T. W. G arrett : “ I think the proposal to alter the *leg before ’ rule would leave too much in the hands of the umpire altogether. I would prefer the rule to remain as it is. As to having six balls to the over, I think it would be too hard on the bowlers. Bowlers have quite enough to do with four balls to the over in Three-day matches, and six balls would put too great a strain on a man. I do not think you will find any first-class bowler in favour of it.” P ercy M c D onnell : “ As to the number of balls to the over, I certainly consider there ought to be either five or six. I think this change would tend to shorten the duration of matches. Six balls to the over would not be too trying to the bowler, as he would have a sufficiently long rest while the other bowler was at his over,” J. M’C. B lac kh am : “ Six balls to the over would make very little difference. If they make this alteration, no great advantage will result, in my opinion. No ; I cannot see any objection to the proposals, especially as I have no doubt it would tend to shorten the duration of matches.” F. E. S pofforth : As to increasing the over to six balls, he really could not see any obstacle in the way. It would not place any undue strain on the bowler. If anything, it would give him a slight advantage in varying the balls sent down to the batsmen. Person­ ally, he did not see there would te much dif­ ference with six balls to the over instead of four. The change would, doubtless, save some thirty minutes to fifty minutes per day from the time occupied in changing positions in the field. He estimated that a change in the field occupied on the average about forty seconds. M ajor W ardill (Sec., Melbourne Club): As a compromise to the bowlers, some of whom might complain that the length of the over would tire them, he would suggest that the over should consist of five balls. G. E. P alm er : He was in favour of an in­ crease in the number of balls in the over to six, but, as this might be objected to in some quarters, he thought five balls to the over would suit splendidly. He did not think that six balls to the over would necessarily tire the bowler. The extra work a bowler had to do in the field with four balls to the over would more than compensate for any extra exertion im­ posed by a larger number of balls to the over. S. P. J ones : He thought the proposed altera­ tion in the law bearing upon the six balls to the over question was altogether unnecessary.