Cricket 1888

20 -^U m )^ a 4|UtWu) ||J* iKj, CEICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. FEB, 23, 1888. 3’s and twenty 2’s. U ntil he had got 31 Mr. O’Brien did not make a single, but had a 5, four 4’s, two 3’s, and two 2’s to his name. S econd D a y —M o nday , D ecem ber 26. There was a little rain on Sunday morning, and a strong sun on the top of that, with a high wind blowing, made the wicket crumble, so that on Monday it was by no means perfect. Messrs. Read and O’Brien continued batting at twenty-five minutes past eleven, Giffen and Noel bowling. The Surrey crack had only added 3 when Lyons at mid-off missed an eas> chance off Giffen’s bowling. Mr. O’Brien was not long in knocking up 10 more. Then his partner drove a ball hard to mid-on and Musgrove returned it like lightning to the wicket, which Mr. O’Brien had left, anticipat­ ing an easy run. Mr. Vernon came in, and began freely though uppishly. A t 325, he lost his partner, who was splendidly caught off a terrifically hard drive by Musgrove at mid-on. It was a fitting end to a grand innings. Mr. Read played splendidly, although he gave three chances on Saturday, and the one on Monday. His consummate judgment in placing the ball was very much admired. His long score included twenty 4’s, six 3’s, and twenty-two 2’s. Mr. Bowden joined Mr. Vernon, who was bowled at 338 in trying to pull a leg break from Giffen. Rawlin came to the assistance of the young amateur, and both made runs freely. Lyons was tried instead of Noel, and at length induced the pro to hit into the deep field, where Waldron easily caught him. (Eight, 14, 368). Attewell made 5 runs before he too lifted one from Lyons, and Waldron, judging the flight of the ball splendidly, made an excellent catch. A one-handed catch by Lyons disposed of Mr. Bowden,who had shaped nicely, and the innings ended for 382j ust on the luncheon hour. George Giffen and Jarvis were South Australia’s first representatives, Peel and Beaumont having charge of the bowling. The score was not long in being taken to a dozen. Peel then beat Giffen and Lyons in successive overs with­ out any alteration in the total. Walter Giffen partnered Jarvis, and a good stand was made. Giffen adopted defensive tactics, but Jarvis was particularly vigorous, hitting all-round in fine style. He lost Giffen, Godfrey, and Noel in quick succession, and half the wickets were down for 83. Blinman played carefully and was 35 minutes making his first single. Meanwhile Jarvis continued to h it until he had made 75 out of 114, when he drove a ball from Beaumont hard and low to mid-off. Mr. Vernon got the ball into his hands and tossed it up like lightning, and the umpire gave .Tarvis out. There were in his score six 4’s, the same number of threes, and seven 2 ’s. Craigie and Blinman batted carefully, but without vigour, thirteen maidens being sent down in succession by Beau­ mont and Attewell, who between them disposed of Blinman and the three last men. The total was only 143. The fielding of the Englishmen was perfect, Mr. Read at point being especially brilliant. Being 239 in arrears the South Australians followed their innings, Godfrey and Craigie b a ttin g . The former scored 8 , which, with three bye3, made the total 11, when stumps ware drawn. T h ir d D ay — T uesday , D ecem b er 27. During Monday night some one had tam ­ pered with the wicket. The Adelaide Oval lies in a rather unfrequented spot about a quarter of a mile from the city. It is in the centre of a park, and is belted inside and out­ side with well grown trees. No one is left in charge, and, consequently, all that the offenders did was to scale the fence and water the pitch. Having put on the water, they got out the heavy iron roller, passed it over the whole length of the wicket, and then decamped. When the caretaker arrived in the morning he saw what was amiss, and immediately went to the club and aroused Mr. Vernon. The latter went to the ground, and was of the opinion that the wicket was ruined. The roller had pulled up some of the top crust, and had even left a ridge in the centre of the pitch. At eleven o’clock Giffen came down, and although things seemed against South Aus­ tralia, decided to play on. A stone roller was applied, and palpably improved the wicket, the turf being just of that consistency to roll down beautifully hard. A reward of £25 was offered by the South Australian Association for the discovery and conviction ofthe persons who had tampered with the ground. The pitch seemed uneven, and the Englishmen, or at any rate the Amateurs, thought they had a soft thing on. Play was resumed at about twenty-five minutes to twelve, Attewell and Beaumont bowling. The batsmen, after watching for a bit, were surprised to find the wicket playing splendidly, and they became more confident. Craigie, especially, who was so cramped on the preceding day, batted vigorously, and Peel relieved Beaumont. Still runs came, and first Rawlin and then Mr. Stoddart were tried instead of Attewell. The last change took effect, Craigie being caught at point with the score at 65. George Giffen came in, and soon made a tremendous lift off Peel. Mr. Bowden was stationed deep out, but could only just touch the ball. Then ensued! monotonous cricket. Change after change was ineffectual, and Mr. Read’s underhand lobs were tried as a last desperate resort. The first Godfrey sent back to the famous amateur, who chagrined his comrades by allowing it to fall to the ground. The score was then only 121. After that none of the bowlers could make the slightest impression, Rawlin being the only man who kept runs down consistently. At last Godfrey reached the century, and not long afterwards proceedings terminated for the day. The total was 249 for one wicket, Godfrey having 113, and Giffen 89. The weather was fearfully warm, but the Englishmen stuck to their work admirably, the fielding being first class. F ourth D ay —W ednesday , D ecem b er 28. This was the anniversary of the Colony’s foundation, and owing to the National gala at Holdfast Bay, the attendance on the Oval was not more than 1,500. The sun blazed even more fiercely than on the preceding day. God­ frey and Giffen continued batting at twenty-five minutes after the appointed time. One end of the wicket was as perfect as on the first day, but the other had worn, and one spot was rather dangerous. Peel bowled for this end, and a bumpy ball touched the edge of Godfrey’s bat on its passage to the wicket-keeper’s hands. (2—119—257.) Godfrey was batting for five hours and forty minutes, and his score included no less than 66 singles. Jarvis came and went very quickly. He was missed by Mr. Read at point, and then caught and bowled in the same over. Lyons joined Giffen, who had been batting carefully. At 95 the crack Australian opened his shoulders, and after driving Peel for a quartette, sent a ball like lightning through Beaumont’s hands at mid-off. The Surrey bowler was unequal to the task of holding it. Soon afterwards Giffen obtained his 100. Lyons began freely, while Giffen set himself the task of topping Read’s 183. The younger batsman scored somewhat freely, hitting well all round the wicket. Attewell and Rawlin were called on, and the fast bowler brought about the downfall of Lyons, who was caught at slip, Abel with his left hand effecting awonarously good catch. (4—33—345.) Walter Giffen joined his brother, and another long stand was made. All sorts of changes were tried without effect, and at last at four o’clock there was an adjournment for half an hour. On resuming, Mr. Bowden relieved Mr. Newton at the wickets. G. Giffen brought the fourth century in sight by cracking a no-ball' from Beaumont to the chains. His own score was 180 when he jumped out to meet Peel He missed the ball, but got back wonderfully smartly. Mr. Bowden standing rather far behind, took a moment to whip off the bails, and in that moment Phillips, the Englishmen’s umpire, considered that Giffen had got back, F c V NEXT ISSUE, MARCH 29. though the fieldsmen thought otherwise. A full toss from Peel enabled Giffen to pass Mr. Read’sbig score, and he was not long in topping his second century. Then Attewell went on, and quickly finding a spot at the bad end, in his second over knocked off Giffen’s off stump with a ball that beat the batsman altogether, Giffen just touching it. (5—203—445.) Giffen made 203 out of 380 while he was in. His innings lasted eight hours and fifty minutes (actual batting), and during that time he only gave the three hard chances mentioned, viz., at 2, 95, and 180. His is the highest score ever made against an English eleven in Australia, and, as far as we know, only three larger scores have ever been made by Australians’against English teams. The three other occasions were Murdoch’s 286 not out against Sussex, and Massie’s 206 against Oxford in 1882, and Murdoch’s 211 against England in 1884. He had also helped to establish another record, as the previous highest total score against an English team in Australia was the 408 made by N .S.W . against Mr. Vernon’steam four weeks back. Before that 316 by Eighteen of Bendigo against Shaw’steam last March was the record. Giffen’s score was composed of fourteen 4’s, ten 3’s, thirty-one 2’s, and fifty-five singles. After his departure Attewell got three wickets, finishing up with ten overs, nine maidens, one run, and four wickets in half an hour. The total when play ceased for the day was 450. F ift h D a y — T hu rsday , D e c e m b er 29. One of the local players was unavoidably absent on the resumption. The two last men, however, added 43 runs by plucky batting and smart running, so that the grand total was 493, or 85 in advance of Sydney’s score. Atte­ well came out with the .best average, but Rawlin deserves great praise. He bowled 489 balls, about 400 of which were at the perfect end of the pitch, and yet only 87 runs were scored off him. Peel also bowled a lot, but he was expensive. Altogether 1,645 balls were bowled, and there were 209 maidens. Mr. Bowden and Abel went in for the Englishmen who had a balance of 254 against them. In forty minutes they knocked up 59, and then stumps were drawn. The Englishmen had to play against Combined Australia in Melbourne on Saturday, and resolved to catch the express train at 3.30 for that city, though the Ade­ laide people had a written agreement with Major Wardill that the match should be played out. M r . V ernon ’ s T ea m , First Innings. Mr. W . W . Read, c Musgrove, b Giffen 183 Mr. A. E. Stoddart, b Giffen ................. 38 R . Abel, c. Musgrove, b Giffen ................................................................... 4 R. Peel, c Godfrey, b Lyons ......................................................................31 Mr. A. E. Newton, c and b G iffen............................................................ 5 Mr. T.C. O’Brien, run out .............................................................................43 Mr. G. F. Vernon, b Giffen............................................................................27 In the Second Innings Mr. Bowden scored foot out) 35, Abel (not nut) 23; lb 1.—Total, 59. S outh A ustralia . Mr. M. P. Bowden, c and b L y o n s ........21 J. T. R aw lin, c W al­ dron, b Lyons ... 1J W . Attewell, c W al­ dron, b Lyons .. 5 W. Beaumont, not out 5 B 3, lb 3 .......... g Total ....... 382 First Innings. G. Giffen, b Peel................ A. H. Jarvis, c Vernon, B eaum ont.........................75 G. L. Lyons, b P e e l.......... 0 W . Giffen, b Attewell ... 21 W . Godfrey, b Attewell ... 4 ^ o e l, b Raw lin .................. 0 B linm an, c Attewell, b B eaum ont.........................12 Craigie, not o u t ..................12 G. Waldron, b Beaum ont 2 P hillips, b A tte w e ll.......... 4 J, Musgrove, b Attewell ... 3 B 2,lb ' nb 1 .......... 4 l “ a l ..................143 Second Innings, b Attewell.........2 3 c and b Peel ... 12 c Abel, b Raw lin 33 b Attewell..........20 c Newton,b Peel 119 st Bowden, b A ttew ell..........10 c and b Attewell 9 c Read, b Stod­ dart ................. 30 absent................. 0 b R a w lin ..........14 not out ..........29 B6,lb2,w2,nb4 14 Total ...493