Cricket 1888

42 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. MAE. 29, 1688. for a run, and Garrett, putting out his hand, caused the ball to swerve on to the wicket, one of the stumps being knocked out of the ground. As Garrett had touched the ball and the bails were dislodged while Mr. Smith was out of his ground, there was an appeal to the umpire, and the reply naturally was “ out.” A c c o r d in g to “ Felix,” the critic of the Australasian newspaper, Percy McDon- nell has made up his mind, as soon as the tour of the Australian team now on their way to England is completed, to give up active participation in first-class cricket. It will be a pity, indeed, if so brilliant a batsman does really carry out his inten­ tion, and is no longer seen in the more important Australian fixtures. His bat­ ting, too, is of a style that can ill be spared on Colonial grounds just now, to judge from the despairing tone which marks the comments of some of the chief Australian cricket writers. T h e Sydney Mail, of Feb. 18, gives Lohmann the distinction of a special paragraph in recognition of his singularly effective bowling for the English combi­ nation against All Australia, at Sydney. In the first innings he took five wickets for 17, and in the second four for 35 runs. His average, the writer of the cricket notes in the Mail adds, this season in Australia, in eleven-a-side matches, is 10.24 per wicket, while Turner’s is 12.23, and Attewell’s 13.24. E n g l is h C r ic k e t readers will hear with pleasure, I am sure, of a single wicket match, which took place some weeks ago at Brighton—not London-by-the-Sea—but the Victorian place of the same name, in which G. E. Palmer, the well-known Aus­ tralian bowler, and a near relation of the great Australian wicket-keeper, were the actors. I may say, to save time, that is merely my playful way of referring to the recent marriage of Mr. George Eugene Palmer to Miss Lucinda Blackham, sister of J. McCarthy of that ilk. The happy pair will have, I need hardly add, the congratulations of English cricketers. I would humbly suggest as a suitable motto Mrs. George _ Eugene, Palmer-m qui meruit ferat. T h e Parsee cricketers, I am able to state on the very best authority, will leave Bombay, on the 7th of May, in the Austro- Hungarian steamer “ Poseidon ” for Trieste. This should enable them to reach London by the 28th of the same month, and, as they expect to return in the steamer departing from Trieste on the 18th of September, their stay in England will extend over about fourteen weeks. As their first match will be against the Gentlemen of Essex, at Leyton, on the 7th of June, they will thus have some ten days to prepare for the opening fixture. In all probability their practice will be taken at Chiswick Park, or on the ground of the Richmond Athletic Association in the Old Deer Park. T h o u g h it is thirteen years since he practically retired from first-class matches, there are hundreds of C r ic k e t readers who will hear with regret of the death of the once celebrated left-handed bowler of Notts, J. C . Shaw. For a period of ten years, to wit, in the decade extending from 1865 to 1875, he occupied a place quite in the fore-front of bowlers, and for several seasons was quite the best trundler of his particular class. If my memory does not deceive me he was in his prime as a bowler about 1871, and, if I am not mistaken, it was in this year that he got Mr. W . G. Grace out twice with the first ball of the match. The first was at the Oval for the North against the South, on the occasion ol H . H. Stephenson’s benefit, when the champion was out lbw; the second, a fortnight later, at Brighton, in the extra match between Gentlemen and Players, for the benefit of the late John Lillywhite, when Shaw clean bowled W . G. It is fair, though, to say that in each of these cases the Grand Old Man had full revenge in the second innings. It was my fortune to spend the evening following his dismissal at the Oval in his company, and I can re­ member him saying “ Leg Before, indeed, I ’ll give them some leg before next inn­ ings.” And he did, for he scored 142 of the first 189 runs, and altogether 268 of the South’s total of 436 At Brighton, too, he was recompensed fairly for his previous failure, contributing 217, and G. F. 98, to the aggregate of 496 made by the Gentlemen. A n original in his way, Jemmy Shaw was by no means unamusing company, and many a hearty laugh has he given me with his quaint expressions given in the vernacular of the district in which he lived, Sutton-in-Ashfield. Though he was highly elated at his generally good fortune in getting rid of Mr. W. G. Grace, he had the greatest veneration for the skill of the great master of the batting art. “ Oi puts’em where Oiloikes, but dommed if he don’t put ’em where he loikes,” was one of his characteristic ways of testifying to Mr. Grace’s superiority. Another story in connection with Shaw which appeared in C r ic k e t a long time ago will perhaps bear reproduction. Never a very great bat, he was once asked to explain how he was bowled. This was how it happened according to J. C . j“ The ball coom back a bit, and mar bat warn’t levvil." He died on the 7th inst., in his 49th year. I m p r e s s e d no doubt by the cogency of the axiom that it is better to face the ills we have than to fly to others that we wot not of, the Committee of the Marylebone Club have, after careful consideration come to the decision that “ they are not at present prepared to suggest any alteration in law 24 of Cricket.” This means, Ijneed hardly add, that the rule, relating to 1b w remains in statu quo. And the County Council to the contrary notwithstanding, I am confident that the verdict of the powers that be is not an un­ wise one. I have myself during the last few weeks had the opportunity of getting at the feelings of a number of the chief amateur cricketers of the day on the subject of Mr. Ellison's proposal, and I may say that a large majority— the ex­ ceptions are indeed very few—are all stronglyJopposed to any alteration in that F IN E YOTJNG MEN FOE THE IE AGE. New Chum Cricketer: “ Beg pardon, but coud you tell me if there’s a Junior Cricket Eleven about ? I believe we’ve got a match on with ’em.” Elderly P arty : “ Of course ; we're the Juniors.” New Churn Cricketer : “ Shade of Methuselah ! Then what are your Senior Players like ?”— From the Melbourne Punch. NEXT ISSUE, APRIL 12.