Cricket 1889

JAN. 24, 1889. CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 11 CBICKET IN AUSTEALIA. (From our Sydney Correspondent). Nov. 15 th . If when last writing I was compelled to report a dearth of cricket news, full compen­ sation is forthcoming now. This is facile princeps the finest country in the world for employes. Every possible opportunity for a holiday is seized with avidity, and should a public holiday fall on a Friday, then per­ force Saturday must be gazetted as well. And our holidays are realities. All the offices are shut, and all but the very meanest shops in the poorest neighbour­ hoods follow suit; the streets are all thronged with holiday makers, and regattas, cricket matches and all places of amusement find crowds of pleasure-seekers. Nov. the 9th (Friday) was the anniversary of the birth­ day of the Prince of Wales, and therefore H.R.H. was duly honoured by both Friday and Saturday being observed as public festivals. The first day was devoted in chief— from a cricketer’s point of view—to a match between eleven from the Association (Seniors) against Eighteen from the Union (Juniors), the object being to discover any latent talent among the. colts. Unfortunately, no new player of great merit was discovered; Patrick, the top scorer of the' Colts, having played in first-class matches before. The Colts won the toss and occupied the wickets, sending in Patrick and Cowley, and, had the chances they gave been accepted, their careers would have been of the shortest. Patrick was missed at third man, and Cowley both in the slips and at point, before the former was splendidly caught at slip with the score at 41. Tom Garrett bowled with great judgment, and, with only mid-on on the leg side, proved the efficacy of the off theory against all but first-class batsmen. His average was 7 for 49, but what it would have been had all the chances been taken, I should hardly like to estimate. Patrick played vigorously for his score of 45, his runs being chiefly made by on-drives.^ The play was then uninteresting until Folkes aud Yuill made a stand, the former making 18 before he was yorked by Richardson, and the latter was at the wickets for nearly an hour for 8 runs. Meagher was missed by H. Hiddilstone at mid-off, and profiting by his escape he put on 28 runs, while Sweetnam and Young, two left- handed men, showed good form for 32 and 18. Beyond this, nothing took place worthy of note. In the morning, Wales kept wicket, and in the afternoon, Deane, of the Alberts, took his place. Both performed excellently, only five byes being recorded during the whole innings, which occupied a little over four hours. The eleven had only about two hours’ batting, but the wicket wore admirably, and the score was 136 for three wickets. Garrett lost his wicket by forcing the pace, a very dangerous experiment with a field of 18, but Davis an& C. Richardson showed good cricket for 46 and 47, though the former ought to have been run out. Of the Juniors Buckle bowled the best, though he did not succeed in capturing a wicket. S ydney v. U niversity . On the following day the new club, which has been denied admission to the Association, met the ’Varsity on the University Oval, when the youngsters, for the second time this season, gave their opponents a good day in the field, although two men were unavoidably absent. They were all out for 260, of which J. Searle made 112 and If. Robinson 51. Not one wicket was clean-bowled, three being run out and six others falling to Tom Garrett for 65. At the end of the day the University had made 28 for the loss of two wickets. B elvidere v. A lbert . On the same day a two-days’ match was com­ menced on the Association ground, the former club being without the services of Harry Moses, who had injured his hand in attempting a very bard catch on the previous day. How­ ever, a place was kept for him so that he will be able to play on Saturday. This was a distinct misfortune, for v' s has been bat­ ting this season in ev setter form than last year. W. Richardson lost his wicket by a smart catch behind the sticks, when within five of his century. Not a single bye was recorded throughout the innings. At the end of the day Albert had scored 113 for five wickets against a total of 269. O riental v. P arramatta . The Orientals, taking with them some of the Sydney team, journeyed to Parramatta to meet the local team, but met with an unmistak­ able defeat. Brodie, for the local club, made 123 before being thrown out. No fewer than six Oriental bowlers were tried, the best being Luland with two for 49, the worst McGraw with 62 runs for 66 balls. The Orientals scored 157, and Parramatta276 for six wickets. Among the second elevens of the senior teams there has been an abundance of high scor­ ing. On Nov. 7 the Warwicks fielded for three hours on the Association ground, whilst five Albert batsmen put on 332runs, of which J. Bev­ eridge made 174 not out, with only one difficult chance behind the wicket. On the holiday, the 9th, the same teams met on the Domain, when the Warwicks, having made 59, had to field for the rest of the day whilst the Alberts made 406, of which J. Weekes scored 113, and W. Hughes 59. To counterbalance this the Alberts were lately in the field for the whole day against the University, who, however, played some of their first team. The old boys of Newington College met the Manly team on Wednesday and scored 29 to 203 for 4 wickets made by “ The Village.” Of this score, Hunter Smith made 77 (not out) and W. Fraser 86. The latter also bowled 5 wickets for 9 runs, C. R . Smith taking the remaining five for 19. Among school cricket items may be mentioned a match between St. Joseph’s College and Callan Park, when the school won by ten wickets. Of the boys, Gleeson and Freeney bowled best, the former taking four wickets for 5 and the latter 10 for 9. In my last I mentioned the fact that Victoria no longer wishes to play twro Inter­ colonial matches each year with N.S.W . A letter from Melbourne by a distinguished cricketer plainly shows that this arises from the terrible dearth of good bowling in the sister colony. The writer points out that they cannot secure rising bowlers in Victoria, whilst we in Sydney always manage, just in the nick of time, to raise up a Turner and a Ferris to do battle for us. This recalls to my mind the time when Sam Cosstick said N.S.W. should never win a match whilst he had strength in his right arm. He counted with­ out his host. Next year Spofforth and Evans came out in all their glory, and as the Victorian wrickets fell, the veteran excused their failure by saying, “ What can we do with a cannon at one end and a corkscrew at the other.” Cos­ stick is now ground man at Maitland in N.S.W., and his son is training on into a good cricketer. The Australian eleven will shortly arrive at Adelaide, and will probably play a match in Sydney against the next best eleven of Australia. Efforts are now being made to arrange such a fixture. They will also play a match against S. Australia. A Queensland paper, commenting upon English cricket, says : “ Abel is a young cricketer with a complexion like a Tasmanian girl.” This is cot very complimentary to the beauties of the southern isle, or else it is intended to be highly so to the Surrey player. The comparison would never have suggested itself to me last season when Abel was in Sydney. On Saturday, Nov. 10, Melbourne cricket revived somewhat. S outh M elbourne v. M .C.C. These two clubs continued their match, in which M.C.C. had made 188 and South Mel­ bourne 17 without the loss of a wicket. Th kindly spirit in which this match was played, especially by M.C.C., may be judged from the fact that South Melbourne had to field with nine men, M.C.C. refusing to allow substitutes, and because Cotter, one of the not out men of the previous Saturday, was absent at the call of play, M.C.C. intimated that he would not be allowed to go in later in the day. This was no doubt strict but just, since it was Cotter’s business to be in time, though it was not very good form to refuse to allow substi­ tutes in the field. However, only eight South Melbourne wickets fell for 148, and so the match was a draw. Purser played a very creditable innings for 33 not out. E ast M elbourne v . U niversity . University found East Melbourne a very hard nut to crack, notwithstanding that Horan did not go iu until late. Palmer played a splendid innings for 85, and only six wickets fell for 238 against a total of 120 by the Univ- versity. North Melbourne made 202 against 27 for seven wickets of Williamstown. For the victors Stuckey scored 91, going in first and losing his wicket when the last man was batting. Among second elevens M.C.C. played a Mel­ bourne team on two following Saturdays. M C.C. made 169 (Omerod 81 not out) and Melbourne 228 for seven wickets, Chapman scoring 148 not out. I cannot close this letter without referring to the excellent wickets which areeveiywhere the rule. In Melbourne, batsmen’s wickets and high scores have prevailed, and centuries in N .S.W . are becoming as plentiful as flies in August. Ned Gregory has the Association ground in perfect condition, and many teams in consequence have had afternoons in the country. Nov. 22 nd . The dispute between the Cricket Associations of this colony and Victoria has advanced a step. At the meeting which I reported last week, we in New South Wales refused to agree to the proposed alterations, which would give us only one match each yea** with Victoria. To this Mr. Heather, the secretary of the V ic­ torian Association, has replied by telegram that his committee will stand by their proposition. Asacounterblasttothisour Association passed the tw’O following resolutions. “ That each colony should arrange its inter-colonial matches with other colonies without consulting any colonynot interested in the particularmatches.” (2) “ That this association decide that upon further consideration this association cannot depart from their previous resolution, viz., that the twro inter-colonial matches between New South Wales and Victoria should be continued as hitherto this season.” The effect of these resolutions is this. The V ic­ torian Association must either give in to us, which means a continuance of the old arrange­ ments, or they must break with us, in which case the Melbourne Club will propose a match with this colony, and though it will not be really inter-colonial it will prove interesting and remunerative. Even at the risk of placing Senior cricket in the background, I must give th3 place of honour to a Junior club. I mentioned last week that Spears, of a suburban club, had made a brilliant score of 113 ; but I hardly anticipated that on the following Saturday the score would be increased very materially. How’ever, Calver contributed 111, Donnan 88, and Byrnes 47 to the total of 459 for six wickets, the last two being not out. I may add that every run was run out, and there were no boundaries. It is possible that the Albert (Parramatta) will resign their claim to the contest, which is one pf a Cup tournament, but if not, it will be interesting to observe the final total, for the match has to be played out. S ydney v . U niversity . The Sydneys, who had on November 10 made 268 in their first hands and had taken two wickets for 28, on the following Saturday made very short work of the remainder of the team, who were all out for NEXT ISSUE, FEBRUARY 21,