Cricket 1888

AUG. 23, 188P. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 361 T h e Australian Manager, I believe, has not come to any definite resolution as to the route by which the team under his charge are to return to the Colonies. It is possible that they may visit the Cape on their homeward journey and play a few matches there before they make tracks for Australia. I t may be of interest, perhaps, if I give the remaining English fixtures of the tour, which will close with the third match against Surrey, to be commenced at the Oval on Thursday, Sept. 20. There is every intention, I believe, of a second match against Shrews­ bury’s team which visited Australia last winter, on the 13th of August in the North, but no ground has as yet been secured. Aug. 23—At Crystal Palace,v. An England Eleven. „ 27—At Portsmouth,v. Oxford and Cambridge Past and Present. „ 30—A t Manchester, v. England. Sept. 3—At Harrogate, v. An England Eleven. ,, 6—A t Scarborough.v.Lord Londesborough's England Eleven. „ 10—At Leeds, v. Shrewsbury’s Team. „ 13—At „ 17—A t Hastings, v. An E ngland Eleven. „ 20—A t Oval, v. Surrey. I f there is some uncertainty about a visit of the Australians to the Cape, there seems to be no doubt now that an E ng­ lish team, under the management of Major Warton, will have an opportunity of testing the merits of Cape cricketers before Christmas. Lohmann, Abel, Maurice Read, Briggs and Fothergill, I believe, have all promised, and there will be another professional, in addition to Messrs. C. A. Sm ith, M. P. Bowden, E. J . McMaster, Major Warton and three other amateurs. I t is intended that the party shall leave England in the Union Company’s steamer “ Spartan,” and matches will be played at Cape Town, Kimberley, Grahamstown, Port E liza­ beth, and probably Johannesberg. The team should be back, I understand, in about three months from the date of leaving London. T h e following are the principal batting averages of over 20 runs per innings in the eight principal County and other first- class fixtures up to Saturday last:— Completed Highest Inns. Runs. score. Aver. W . W. Read ... ... 30 . . 1210 ... 338 .. 40.10 W . G. Grace ... ... 45 . . 1545 ... 215 .. 34.15 A b e l................. ... 31 . . 1045 .. 160 .. 38.22 J. Shuter.......... ... 29 . . 797 ... 95 .. 27.14 C. J. F o x .......... ... 16 . . 441 ... 93 .. 27.9 W . Newham ... ... 21 . . 634 ... 118 .. 26.10 M. P. Bowden ... 18 . . 451 .. 189* .. 25.1 *S. M. J. Woods ... 17 . . 406 ... 79* .. 2315 Briggs .......... ... 31 .. 722 ... 126* .. 23.9 S . W . Scoct ... ... 13 . . 306 ... 121* .. 23.7 S ugg................. ... 22 .. 484 ... 102* .. 22 Painter .......... ... 26 .. 568 ... 150 .. 21.22 J. Eccles.......... ... 26 . . 660 ... 184 .. 21.14 J. A. Dixon ... ... 17 ... 366 ... 83 .. 21.9 M. B e a d .......... ... 24 .. 507 ... 74 .. 21.3 K. J. K ey.......... ... 28 .. 586 ... 84 .. 20.26 H a ll.................. ... 27 . . 563 .« 129* .. 20.23 J. G. W a lk er... ... 22 .. 461 ... 99* .. 20-21 F. H . Gresson ... 22 .. 440 ... 114 ... 20 * In English matches only. F a t h e b and Son, well-known London cricketers, were playing a match at a popular ground well w ithin the metro­ politan radius one day last week. The younger batsman, anxious to make his first notch, called his father for a run, but the latter refused. “ You forget, m y boy,” said the senior, in tones of admonition, “ that I am twenty-five years older.” “ Oh, no I don’t, Guv’nor,” was the reply, “ but if you had got six duck’s eggs in succession you would have wanted to run yourself.” ----- O ne of the earliest wicket-keepers on record— Cerberus. He kept the Styx! T h o s e who remember, as some C k ic k e t readers will, of course, the Kent eleven fifty years ago in the days of Wenman, Fuller Pilch and Tom Adams, will be in ­ terested to know that the last number of the Universal Review, a high-class maga­ zine, published by Messrs. Swan Son- nenschein & Co., contains among other woodcuts in illustration of a cricket article by Mr. F . Gale, a portrait of W illiam Dorrinton, who after acting as long-stop in the Kent eleven on the partial retirement of E . G. Wenman was promoted to the responsible position of wicket-keeper. Dorrinton was an excel­ lent specimen of the stalwart Englishmen who formed the Old Kent eleven, and was besides being a fine field a very good bat. That he was keen for County cricket was fully proved by his abandonment of his engagement with the Marylebone Club at Lord’s (then a very difficult appointment to obtain), because he could not get away to help his County in all their matches. S h o u ld everything have gone well, the New Zealand steamer “ Tanui,” which carries Mr. W . E. Boiler, the well-known Surrey amateur, who is going to hyber- nate in the Colonies with a view to the restoration of his health, ought to be due just about this time at Hobart, the last port of call of the vessel before reaching New Zealand. Mr. Boiler’s absence from the cricket-field cannot fail to be a source of universal regret among all those, and it is gratifying to think that their number is legion, who take an interest in the best form of our national game, as well as appreciate a thoroughly keen player. Everyone will hope that the trip w ill be of permanent benefit, and that Mr. Boiler will return next year to England thoroughly well and fit to resume the prominent position he so long and worthily held in County cricket. I t is a long time since anyone has seen cleaner or harder hitting than the specta­ tors witnessed at the Oval on Tuesday last in the match between the Surrey Club and Ground and the Thespian Club. A. Smith, who has played and with con­ siderable success for Worcestershire during the last two or three years, went in eighth wicket down for the Surrey Club, and was last out, having made 101 of the last 143 runs. He sent the ball twice out of the ground for six, and in addition landed it on the very top of the pavilion, one of the finest hits, I should fancy, ever made on the ground. H is figures will show how he punished the Thespian bowling, for his 101 was made up of one 8 (four for an overthrow), two 6’s, four 4’s, thirteen 8’s, eleven 2’s, and only four singles. From one over he scored twenty-three runs. S in c e he played for England against Australia at the Oval the Grand Old Bat has silenced the superficial critics who are always ready to predict permanent loss of form directly he makes a few small scores, by some of the finest cricket even he, unapproachable as he has been in batting for just on a quarter of a cen­ tury, has ever shown. In his last three innings he has an aggregate of 393 runs, and his double score of 148 and 153 at the end of last week will be a sufficient answer to those who vainly try to find his superior even now, after twenty-four summers of pre-eminence on the cricket- field. Unless I am mistaken Mr. W . G. Grace has made this season 1,654 runs in important matches for forty-six completed innings, and considering that among his best achievements are to be numbered such innings as his 215 for Gloucestershire against Sussex at Brighton, 165 for the Gentlemen of England against the Australians &t Lord’s, and his two scores of over a hundred to which reference has already been made for his County against Yorkshire at Clifton last week, it is not easy to see how anyone can be accounted his superior this year. M r . G r a c e ’s performance of scoring two innings of over a hundred in the same match, it can not be too often repeated, is unique, at least in important fixtures for the last sixty years. W illiam Lambert, the old Surrey player, who was given with Mr. G . Osbaldeston to help Sussex against Epsom in the five days’ match begun on July 2, 1817, the first case on record in which over a thousand runs were made in a match, it w ill be remembered scored 107 and 157. No one else though but Mr. W . G . Grace, who has got thejdouble century no less than three times, has been able to claim the distinc­ tion in first-class matches. As far as I know, too, it has only been accomplished in m inor fixtures three times, by W . Townshend lor Bossall School v; Old Rossallians in 1867, by D. G. Spiro (117 and 106) for Cambridge Athenaeum against the Bullingdon Club on May 30, 1884, and by F. W . Maude, (146 and 143) for M.C.C. and Ground v. Wiltshire at Lord’s on August 25, 1886. T h e following w ill show the results of the matches played between the eight principal Counties up to date. Lanca­ shire and Notts commence their last engagement to-day, the six other Counties on Monday. Last Played W on Lost Drawn fixture Surrey ... «. ... 13 ... 12 ... 1 ... 0 A ug.27 Kent ................. 13 ^ 7 ... 4 ... 2 „ 23 Yorkshire ... r.. 12 ... 4 ... 4 ... 4 „ 27 Gloucestershire 12 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 „ |27 Lancashire..........13 ... 4 ... 5 ... 4 „ 23 Nottinghamshire 12 ... 3 ... 6 ... 3 , , 2 7 Middlesex ..........10 ... 3 ... 7 ... 0 „ 27 Sussex..................11 .« 1 ... 8 ... 2 „ 27