Cricket 1889

MAY 9, 1889. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 105 addition batted in very promising style. I am informed that the Surrey eleven to oppose Hampshire in the first match of the county season, to commence at the Oval on Monday, will be selected from the following twelve: Mr. J. Shuter, Mr. W . W. Read, Mr. K. J. Key, Read, Loh- mann, Wood, Abel, Beaumont, Bowley, Sharpe, Lockwood, and Henderson. Mr. Shuter, I hear, will probably be absent, and in this case the others will form the team. As will be seen by a score in another part of the paper, several of the Parsee team which visited England last year were very much in evidence in the match between the Parsee Club and the Bombay Garrison, played on March 4th. The soldiers had to put up with a decisive defeat by an innings and 5 runs, a result chiefly due to the good batting of M. D. Kanga, the younger of the two brothers, and M. E. Dubash, who both came here, and the effective bowling of D. C. Pandole, the slow bowler of the Parsees in 1888, who was responsible for the dismissal of fourteen of the nineteen Garrison wickets which fell to the bowler. By the way, two members of th» Parsee team, Messrs. D. S. Mehta and K. D. Cooper, are still in England. The latter, who is pursuing his medical studies, has just returned to London after some weeks’ stay in Glasgow. He intends to play cricket, I believe, after this month, and in all probability will assist the Surrey County C.C. in some of its Club matches. I u n d e r s t a n d that the Surrey Com­ mittee have expressed to the Committee of the Derbyshire Club their regret that they cannot admit Mr. Spofforth’s quali­ fication to represent the latter county, and, as a consequence, agree to that gentleman playing against them in the matches to be decided between Surrey and Derbyshire this summer. One newspaper critic, anticipating this refusal, charges by impli­ cation the Surrey authorities with a lack of courtesy in coming to such a decision, and also seems to suggest by his remarks that Mr. Spofforth's personal merits and fear of his ability as a cricketer have had some effect in determining the reply of the authorities at the Oval. Such a line of argument, to my mind, is hardly worthy of a journal professing to lead or, at least, to influence public opinion. I n the face of the verdict of the County Council at Lord’s, I repeat that it was hardly fair for the Derbyshire executive to ask their opponents to sanction an evasion of the rules by which county cricket is governed. It is a question of principle entirely, and I cannot for the life of me see how it can be construed into an act of discourtesy for a county, occupying the position Surrey does, to ask that the rules under which all matches are played should be fully and honourably carried out. I hope, too, that the executive of the Surrey County Club will be able to endure with Christian resignation the reflection that dread of even the formidable right arm of the Demon has weighed in their deliberations for a moment. T he statement I made in “ Gossip” last week, on the authority of one of the English team just returned from South Africa, that Major Warton, the promoter of that tour, had not in consequence of unexpected contingencies been able to make the receipts equal the expenditure, I find to be correct. I can only repeat the conviction I expressed befroe, that the leaders of South African cricket are not likely to be so unmindful of the debt of gratitude they owe to the Major, par­ ticularly remembering the great assist­ ance the English team rendered in increasing the funds of the chief clubs on whose grounds they played, as to allow the moving spirit of the tour to be actually out of pocket in his efforts to develop the game in their midst. I n a recent interview with the Major, in mentioning the general excellence of the wickets on which the Englishmen had to perform, he gave an instance of the pace of the Kimberley ground, one of the most rungetting pitches in South Africa. In bowling, Briggs hit the leg stump so hard that it went to the boundary for four. The ball, it is need­ less to add, of course only grazed the wicket. Curiously enough, in the same match Briggs delivered another ball which actually knocked the off stump askew and the bail did not come off. The bails, which were rather too small, were subsequently changed. W h ile on this latter subject a pecu­ liar occurrence of the same kind oc­ curred at Addiscombe on Saturday last, in a match between the Addis­ combe and Old Millhillians Club. A. Taylor, a lob bowler, went on to bowl for the latter when six wickets of Addis­ combe had fallen, and the first ball of his second over hit the sticks hard without re­ moving the bails. The next ball clean bowled the batsman, but being a no-ball the latter still had another chance. The third ball, however, clean bowled him and there being no impediment this time, he had to retire. It does not often happen that one has to chronicle such a record of three successive balls. I ncidental reference was made in last week’s “ Gossip ” to Mr. C. T. Studd, whose figure seems to have become familiar in far Cathay to the writer of a recently published work of travel, “ To Pekin over­ land via Calais.” The Times of Satur­ day last contains another announcement, which will be of interest to the many friends of the old Eton and Cambridge and Middlesex cricketer— “ On the 13th February, at Lungan, North China, the wife of C. T. Studd, of a daughter.” I t will interest Gloucestershire cricketers and the G.O.M. in particular to know that Mr. W. W. F. Pullen has opened the season in promising style. He has been playing so far for the Cen­ tral Institution (City Guilds) C.C., South Kensington, and as will be seen from the following figures, for which I am indebted to the secretary of the club named, has scored 169 runs for three times out. Walham Green v. Southampton Clubs 30 — Central Institution v. St. Austin’s Coll. 25 59* ,, Yarra .. . . 5 5 — His average up to the present time there­ fore is 56—3. A n Old Harrovian has succeeded an Old Harrovian in the position of Amateur Racquet Champion, by the victory of Mr. E. M. Butler over Mr. C. D. Buxton, both of whom, too, are Cambridge men, at the Queens’ Club, on Saturday last. Mr. Butler, who is, I need hardly add, a son of the Rev. Dr. Butler, for many years head master of Harrow School, and now master of Trinity College, Cam­ bridge, has always had a high reputation for nerve at a crisis, a quality of which he has given practical proof in more than one exciting struggle on the cricket field, as well as in the racquet court. O ne of the earliest illustrations of his pluck and coolness when these qualities were urgently required, was in the Eton andHarrow match, at Lord’s, in 1885. He was captain of the Harrow eleven that year, and many will remember as well as I can the excitement consequent on that memorable finish. When J. T. Sander­ son joined his captain, Harrow had 61 runs to get to win, in fifty-three minutes, and the Eton bowlers, Bromley- Maftin, Brand and Foster, played up so well that the game became still more open, Harrow having only three wickets to fall, with 20 runs still wanting to win. At this point, it was in fact any­ body’s game, but fortunately Butler, who eventually carried out his bat for 48 of Harrow’s total of 96 for seven wickets, found a congenial spirit in W. A. B. Young—who was on Mr. Butler’s side in the Seniors’ match, finished at Cambridge on Tuesday—and the Harrovians won on the post, amidst extraordinary excitement, two minutes before time. T h e new rule making it legitimate for a Captain to declare his innings at an end at any period of the last day whenever he may deem it expedient, has already (it may be of use to those fond of statistics to know) been brought into operation on several occasions. Darlington utilised it on Saturday, in a match against Barnard Castle, and on the same afternoon it was also put into force by Garston against New Brighton, Bedminster against Hor- fieldGarrison,ShepstedagainstCharnwood Forest, as well as in all probability in other matches which have not come under my notice. I hope, though, I am right in saying that the first occasion of its use in London was on Tuesday at Kennington Oval, when Mr. T . P. Harvey, the Captain of the Mitcham Club, with the praise­ worthy idea of giving the Surrey Colts an