Cricket 1889

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. BegUt«e2a°for TrZSm isfflbroaa. THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1889. PRICE 2d M R . L E S L I E M E L V I L L E B A L F O U R . A m o n g s t the many distinguished athletes whom Scotland has produced, no one, perhaps, has gained such enviable distinction in so many branches of sport as Mr. Leslie Melville Balfour. In a word, he has attained the highest summit of a Scottish amateur’s ambition in cricket, football, golf, and lawn-tennis. It is as a cricketer, however, that Mr. Balfour is more widely known, and his career, from the time he entered the Edinburgh Academy in 1864, to the present year, is, indeed, a remarkable one. At that date he was ten years old, and, seven years later, when he was captain of the Academy, he made his debut in a representative ceam against an All England Eleven. His batting on that occasion held out much pro­ mise, and such hopes were realised in the following summer, when he may be said to have stepped into the very front rank of Scottish cricketers by scoring 150 in the inter-city match against Glasgow. Four seasons then elapsed before he again came prominently before the public, and since that year—1876— ne has achieved those wonderful successes which have fairly earned for him the proud title of Scottish champion. Though the Grange Club has had many noted members, whose careers, though shorter, were comparatively as brilliant, whose doings, while their star was in the ascendant so to speak, were the talk of the day, it has had none whose devotion has been rewarded with such a well-meiited continuance of prosperity and popularity a 3 Mr. L. M. Balfour. He has been the central figure in the club during recent years ; his counsel has guided it in all the enterprising work through which it has earned the name of the M.C.C. of Scotland, and in the task—unhappily not too successful—of advancing Scottish cricket he has on every occasion lent a willing hand. When the Aus­ tralians visited Edinburgh in 1882, Mr. Balfour was honoured with the captaincy of the Scottish team, and in both innings the highest score on the side was the reward of his good batting. He has also captained the teams in international and other matches since that date! Nor is his attachment to the cause of cricket restricted to a participation in matches arranged by the Grange. Two seasons ago, when the West of Scotland Club played a match with an England team, Mr. Balfour was one of the leading members of the Scotch eleven. His successes as a batsman, since leaving the Academy, are worthy of note. During the summer of 1876, he scored 132 at Hawick against Roxburgh—a now defunct cricket county—and in the following year he made 113 against Lasswade, Three scores above 50 were his principal totals during 1878, but in the following year he put on 171 at Raeburn Place against Birkenhead Park, and this total he has never been able to exceed. On May 29,1880, he scored 146 (not out) against the West of Scotland, and, playing for Edin­ burgh Academicals in the following season, he scored 128 against the Garrison In 1882 he had an aggregate of 481 in six matches, including 106 against the Clydesdale. The following summer was one of the two most successful in Mr. Balfour’s career. Early in the month of May he again scored a century against Clydesdale, and following up this by securing 110 against Edinburgh University, a fort­ night later was credited with 128 against the former pupils of the Royal High School. During 1884, ’85, and ’86 he did not succeed in getting any innings of three figures, but in all he had eleven scores above 50, including 93 against Glasgow, 82 against Dublin Univer­ sity, 62 against Oxford Satellites, and 94 against Drumpellier. The season of 1887 was one of excep­ tionally good fortune. He had four scores above a hundred, 107, 132, 103, 113, and smaller totals of 54 (not out), 87, 75, 54, 56, 50, making an aggregate of 851, and giving an average per innings of 58.6. Last season Mr. Balfour played eight completed innings, and had an average of 58.1. His best score was 159 on July 9 against the Bruns­ wick, and it is worthy of note that it included no fewer than twenty- seven fours. Such is the summary of Mr. Balfour’s career, and though at least two present cricketers in Scotland—Mr. J. S. Carrick, of the West of Scotland, and Dr. J. M. Cotterill, of the Grange and Sussex, can claim to have scored more heavily in a single innings, no one, we should think, could place such an array of figures before C b i c k e t readers as these before-mentioned. Scotland has no more rapid scorer than Mr. Balfour, indeed, so in­ variably lively is the cricket during his stay at the wickets, that the extent of the attendance of spec­ tators may almost be said to depend on whether he has been announced to play. His master­ strokes are cuts—especially late cuts—and square-leg hits, though whether or not his golfing practice is attributable to the spooning which often characterises his driving, it is a fact that nearly four times out of six failure in taking such strokes accounts for his dismissal. His cricket fame, however, is not confined to bat­ ting. As a wicket-keeper he has few, if indeed any, rivals in Scotland, and, as an outfielder,