Cricket 1889

MAT 23,1889. CBICKE11: ' A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 197 next day our real experience with cricket began. Eleven picked cricketers played against twenty of us. Perhaps you may not all have heard the details. There were many amusing incidents through our ignorance of the rules. For instance, Long John Healy made a tremendous swipe and hit the ball to the fence, but unfortunately, in drawing back his bat he had knocked the bails half as far in the opposite direction. Another, Fred Carroll, made a hit good for several runs, but instead of carrying his bat, with the habit of the base­ ball player he threw it from him to run, and rebounding it hit the wickets and he was out. Another, Tom Burns, who was making a good stand, got half way across the pitch after a hit and there had an argument with the other batsman as to the advisability of trying for another run, and while the discussion was going on the bails went off. We managed to make some runs and then the Australians went in. It was to be a one-day match, and by nightfall we had retired six of them. The other five are not out yet. Well, this con­ vinced us that we knew less of oricket than we imagined. T he instances of an eleven dismissed without a run are of such very rare occur­ rence that any record of the kind is worthy of special prominence. The South Wood­ ford Club is the latest claimant for the distinction of one of the most difficult of cricket feats. Playing on their own ground against the Amethyst C.C., of Stoke Newington, on Saturday last, South Woodford after scoring 130 succeeded in dismissing their opponents for nothing. The eleventh man lost his wicket in attempting an almost impossible rim. A. Linders and G. Wiggins were the bowlers who shared in the summary dis­ missal of the Amethyst team. Each had four overs, and the former took five wickets, all clean bowled, and three with succes­ sive balls, the latter four wickets, two clean bowled and the others caught. T he performance of Lohmann and Sharpe at the Oval, on Monday, in put­ ting on 149 for Surrey’s last wicket is not, it will be useful to know, the best per­ formance of the kind in Inter-County matches, at least, in the matter of the runs added. In the actual record Surrey was a participator, though, in that in­ stance, the sufferer, as Briggs and Pilling were able to increase the Lancashire total against Surrey bowling, in July, 1885, at Liverpool, by 173 runs for the tenth wicket. In one respect Lohmann’s achievement was, however, I should say, unique. Going in fifth wicket down he only had, I believe, three balls to play before Sharpe, the eleventh batsman, came in, and he got every run in his score o f 105 after the ninth wicket had fallen. I question whether there is another instance in important matches of one of the last two batsmen on a side adding 100 after commencingthe partner­ ship without a run to his credit. A n o th er injustice to Ireland 1 The last number o f Sport contains an account of a match between Blackrock and the second eleven of Leinster, played on Wednesday, the 15th, and certainly remarkable for one of the most amusing incidents which have come under my notice for a long time. Arriving late on the ground it occurred to the reporter of Sport that the wicket was considerably over the prescribed length, and on a measurement being taken it was found that it was twenty-six yards, only a trifling matter of four yards too long. The importance of the mistake was em­ phasised by the advanced state of the game, for the Blackrock bowlers had, by the time of the discovery, been pretty well tired out, and Leinster had scored 95 for the loss of four wickets. N oe did the difficulties of the situation end there. One of the four Leinster bats­ men who had come and gone, with a full sense ofthe ridiculous, urged, with no small force, that “ he would not have been run out only that he had to go so far,” and his plea that but for the additional four yards he might still have been batting, was by no means unreasonable. The re­ port does not say, though, that he was allowed to go back. Moral to clubs— Have your creases properly measured. In this case, if the home team had em­ ployed a tape, or even a rule, it would have saved much trouble. It might well be cited, indeed, as an instance in which a Home Buie would have been a real boon. A constant contributor for whom personally I have the highest respect— none other than the—well, perhaps in view of future contributions it might be prejudicial to the interests of the paper if I revealed his identity—has sent me the following:— A coincidence in the Surrey and Essex match whioh seems to have been oveilooked by the sporting papers. Two wicket-keepers of the same name. Clearly so, for each side had its Little wood. Surrey, though, had the best of the comparison, for it had in addition a Lookwood. This last, I. take it, is one of “ the fresh woods and pastures new ” of the poet. I think it right to add that I feel some little diffidence in finding a place in the ordinarily serious columns of “ Pavilion Gossip” for such jesting. It must, though, be taken as the exception which proves the rule. “ But hold, we are ob­ served ! we must dissemble.” I t will be gratifying to all C ricket readers, more particularly those whose lines are cast in the South, to know that the future ofthe Hastings and St. Leonards Cricket Week is by this time assured. The balance sheet for last year, kindly sent me by the Hon. Sec., Mr. W . Carless, shows that upwards of twelve thousand persons visited the ground during the two fixtures last September, _ proof sufficient of itself that good cricket is sure of public support. The total receipts of the Week of 1888 amounted to .£680 10s. 9d., an increase of nearly three hundred pounds on those of its immediate predecessor, so that those who have been entrusted with the management can fairly claim that their efforts have not only been successful, but have contributed greatly to the enjoyment of the cricket lovers on the South Coast. T h ey have reason, too, to congratulate themselves on the fact that the guarantors have not been called upon to contribute, and, had it not been for the large sum handed to the Australian team, the profit of .£30 19s. Id. on the week o f1888 would have been considerably increased. This season, the Committee have done wisely in arranging two really first-class fixtures, and with such attractive matches as the following, September 12,13, 14, North v. South. „ 16,17,18, Gentlemen v. Players, those who visit Hastings on cricket thoughts intent, will have every reason to be satisfied with the quality of the fare provided for their entertainment. I may add that the balance sheet of the last week would have been issued many months since, but as there was an exten­ sive guarantee fund opened in connection with the present local Health Exhibition, the committee deemed it advisable to defer the application for renewal of the guarantees to their fund in order not to interfere with the other. Mr. F. L. S h an d , the fast left-handed bowler, who did such good service for Harrow against Eton, at Lord’s in 1872, has not forgotten how to send the ball down, to judge by the success which attended his bowling for the Gentlemen of England against Oxford University at Oxford this week. Mr. Shand has been in Ceylon for some years, and I hear on the best authority that he has undertaken to arrange two fixtures in that colony for the team of English amateurs who are to visit India next winter, under the joint direction of Lord Hawke and Mr. G. F Yernon. I t will be of interest to many C ric k e t . readers to know that the managers of the Lyric Club have arranged an attractive little programme of matches to take place in their charming grounds at St. Anne’s, Barnes. The first fixture is against Hounslow Garrison on June 1, and this is to be followed by others with the Incogniti, Oxford Harlequins, Shorn- cliffe Camp, Mr. C. I. Thornton’s Eleven, M.C.C. and Ground, and I Z., in addition to one against the Household Brigade, which last, however, is not yet definitely arranged. The match regulations, which are framed on those in force at Lord’s, show that there is to be no mere playing at cricket, but the genuine game, and as the committee of the cricket club attached to the Lyric consists of Mr. W. G. Grace, Lord Hawke, and Messrs. A. G. Steel, F. Scott Sanders, J. G. Walker, and R. D. Walker, with the Earl ot Londesborough as president, it is certain that everything will be carried out in a liberal and sportsmanlike spirit.