Cricket 1889

FEB. 21, 1889. CRICKET: A WEEKLY BECORI) OF THE GAME. 27 (Continued from page 23.) as level as a skating rink, and the ladies found it hard work to get along, having now to drop four or five feet, now to climb a like height, and in places it was dangerously slippery. At length we came to a hall, in the side of the wall of which was a small hole some twenty feet above the ground, through which we had to clamber, and crawl along some ten yards on our hands and knees, only a few of us being allowed to go. Our trouble was fully re­ warded by the sight of a most beautiful series of chambers, which have only been discovered a month or two, and which were a mass of clear crystal stalactites falling like great drops of dew from the roof. In one chamber was an exact counterpart of a thione, surrounded by a canopy of stalactites like drapery, falling almost to the ground on each side, and form­ ing a fringe about in front. I was informed we had come close upon two miles from the mouth. It was certainly a very long distance, and, some­ what tired, we retraced our steps and reached a mouth, having spent some two and a half hours wondering and gazing at the marvellous sights. One of our party, who had seen caverns in other parts of the globe, compared these favour­ ably as regards beauty witn them all. It is impossible to judge of their extent, as they are not as yet nearly explored, there being many places and depths into which our lights failed to peuetrate, and which from the formation of the ground we were unable to explore. Once out of the darkness, a rush was made for a bathe in a stream hard by, and then followed a pleasant picnic lunch, after which we bade adieu to our friends, and started on our way over the Zwartberg Pass, which gave us far finer scenery than before. The Pass is a wonderful pieco of engineering—the road, which is very good, being kept in constant repair by convicts. Nearing the top we got a magnificent view of some distant mountains— distant, we were told, 100 miles—but which through the clear atmosphere we guessed to be thirty or forty miles away. This clear air is very striking, and I am told new comers, when shooting, will fire at an object sixty yards off under the belief it is but half that distance. On the north side of the mountains we had another fine sight—the zigzag road, which we saw traversing to and fro, to a great depth, almost sheer below us. As our coach and six horses swerved round the sharp turns there was a general tendency to sit tight and hold on to anything—many preferred pedestrian exercise for the greater part of the way down. When at the bottom we passed through a huge cleft, and on each side of us rose walls of rock formidable and gaunt above us to the height of some 1,000 feet. At last Prince Albert was reached, where the leading inhabitants received us at a light repast. Somewhat wearily we sought our rooms and put in four or five hours’ sleep. The rest, though sweet, was short, and 4.30 on Friday morning paw us in space, and set off along tne most dismal road it has ever been my fate to travel on, some thirty miles of bleak desert; small salt bushes and mimosa shruts alone relieved the monotony of s*nd and stones; and such a road, six hours of jolt, jolt, jolt at a miserable pace, for our horses were done up, three going very lame. These Cape horses are wonderfully wiry, the pair carrying the Major and M’Master in a Cape cart, having come to meet us at Mussel Bay and having to return to Oudtshoorn, will have done 360 miles on baddish roads in eight days and a h i If. Fortunately horses are cheap, and their owners don’t seem to mind working the poor brutes to death. With what joy we hailed the sight of Prince Albert Hoad Station, aDd found ourselves shortly seated in a comfortable saloon carriage due at Kimberley in sixteen hours. With intervals of sleep, we contrived to get through the railway journey over this never ending Karoo desert. What terrible travelling it must have been in the early days of the Diamond Fields before the railroad was made. At Orange River about midnight we were met by several men from Kimberley, who had come down to give us supper at Orange River, and escort us on the rest of our journey. At length the Diamond City was reached at 4.30 on Saturday morning, and more dead than alive we rolled out on to the platform, where wre found the Mayors of Kimberley and Beaconsfield awaiting us. Saturday and Sunday were spent in good solid rest, but the weather was terribly hot, and we were anything but fresh when starting our match on Monday morning, F IFTH M ATCH— v. E IGHTEEN OF KIMBERLEY. “ W e ll! w ell! ” said Johnny Briggs, as we entered the ground, “ have we got to play cricket on that ? ” —and, indeed, it was a strange thing in a cricket ground—red, deep brick red, patched with white sand here and there, which the wind had probably swept over it, and the surface rolled until it was as hard as asphalte, and as level as a billiard table. I wonder if frequenters of Lord’s and the Oval can picture cricket on a ground per­ fectly innocent of a blade of grass, and the exact colour of a cricket ball with the fresh­ ness knocked off. Such is, and are, the cricket grounds of the Diamond Fields, for they are all alike, and there are three or four of them—and you may easily imagine the picture caused some uneasiness in our minds. A short practice showed us that the ball came faster and some six inches higher than we Britishers are accustomed to, and when once set rolling seemed as if it never would stop. The English skipper won the toss, and sent in the Surrey men, Read and Abel, to face the bowling of Yintcent and Finlason. The former is a left-handed trundler, and, deliver­ ing from a considerable height, makes the ball rise awkwardly, and occasionally gets a lot of spin on, very often to the detriment of his good length, Finlason is a right-hander, with a curious delivery,commencing with a flourish of the wrist somewhere down behind his heels. His ordinary ball is fast, but generally once an over he sends a slow one up towards the skies, which if not smothered full pitch has a big spin on. Read seemed comfortable from the start, but with 10 on the board he let a straight one from Vintcent get by. Abel was joined by Wood, who at once commenced the merry cricket he has shown all through, and did not retire till 64 showed on the board, when he had compiled a dashing though somewhat lucky 30. bix runs later Hearne played a ball on. (Three for 70.) Bowden was the new comer, and some good cricket was shown. At 92, however, Abel put a short ball from Grimmer into Vintcent’s hands at short-leg, a stroke which has caused the down­ fall of an exceedingly large percentage of our wickets during the tour. Briggs came and started merrily, but at 125 lost the companion­ ship of Bowden, who fell another victim at short-leg. Half-a-dozen runs later Briggs came some way down the wicket to one of Finlason’s skiers, and was stumped. (Six for 131.) The interval at four o’clock for ten minutes followed. On resuming Smith was “ yorked” by Finlason, but M’Master and Grieve made a useful stand, adding 40 runs before the former was well held at point for a steady 17. A like number and a similar dis­ missal were in store for Grieve 2 runs later (eight for 175), the venture closing shortly afterwards for 177—a total which, in the ordi­ nary course of events, should have been some­ what larger, but Abel and Bowden lost their wickets unfortunately, and Briggs gave his away foolishly. Vintcent secured half the wickets at a cost of 58 runs, Grimmer and Finlason two apiece for 49 and 34 runs respec­ tively. Ten minutes remained for play, and that sufficed for one wicket and a snick for 4. Tuesday opened with beautiful weather, but a scorching not sun beat down, again throwing up an insupportable glare from the matting. The locals were not very successful over their commencement, losing Howe, Tancred, and Smith, three good wickets, for 18 between them, but Vintcent’s arrival was the signal for some lively cricket, and he, after getting two excellent chances, settled down, and spanked all bowlers alike. In the meantime Finlason had been at the wickets some time when he was cleverly stumped by Bowden. No one save Grimmer kept Vintcent company for any length of time, Briggs and Fothergill getting wickets at steady intervals, the score mean­ while rising steadily till 162 was reached, when Fothergill appealed successfully against Vintcent, who retired l b w for a very finely- played 87, the use of which is very palpable on paper, as it will be seen no other batsman reached 20. After Vintcent’s departure a pro­ cession ensued, due chiefly to Briggs, and four more wickets fell at the same total, 162. Fourteen wickets were now down, and it looked as if the local score would not reach that of the Englishmen. This idea was, how­ ever, soon refuted by a stand made by Perring and Fuller, who passed the English total before Perring succumbed to Briggs. Hill joined Fuller, and hit right merrily, and the 200 was raised, amid enthusiastic applause. At 208 Hill was very sharply run out by Briggs. Bennitte was the last comer, and 225 was reached before the last-named was run out, Fuller carrying out his bat for an exceed­ ingly steady 18. The local team were thus 48 runs in advance,due to Vintcent’s dashing 87,for which I cannot find too much praise. The English fielding had been excellent through­ out the day, in spite of the intense heat, until the interval at four o’clock, when fourteen wickets were down for 162. On resuming, they seemed to fall to pieces, both in fielding and bowling, and the last three wickets were able to put together 63 runs in a very short time. The Englishmen made a sorry start, losing Abel when but 10 runs were chronicled, he being caught in the slips off a bumpy ball from Vintcent, and 4 runs later Hearne put a full pitch from the same bowler into mid- on’s hands. Briggs and Read played out time, when the board showed 24—2—4. Wednesday saw a change in the weather, the wind bringing clouds of dust over the ground, which rendered batting and fielding more difficult than pleasant. From the com­ mencement of play things went wrong with the visitors. Before a run was scored Maurice Read got a rap on the fingers, and was caught next ball in the deep field, and Wood was well caught at cover 2 runs later. Bowden and Briggs made a decent stand, which threatened to prove dangerous to the locals, when it was cut short by a piece of ill-fortune which befell Briggs. Hitting a trifle too soon at a lofty full pitch from Finlason on the leg side, the ball went into the wicket off his elbow. (Five for 51.) Smith was clean bowled first ball. M’Master joined Bowden, and the score was raised to 72, when a good catch at cover-point dismissed Bowden, who was signalled top- scorer v*ith a useful 27. No one else made any resistance, Fuller securing two good catches at point, which got rid of M’Master and Grieve, and the fall of the last wicket showed the pitiably small total of 81—the smallest score yet made by the Englishmen. This was brought off by the really excellent field­ ing of the local Eighteen. W ith only 34 to make to win, the result was a certain victory for Kimberley, and so it proved, but not before the Englishmen had given some more proof of their capability of playing a plucky up-hill game. Vintcent and Tancred faced the bowling of Briggs and Smith. With 6 runs chronicled, Smith found his way into Vintcent’s wicket, and followed this up by a similar result with Klinck. The next ball saw Abel bring off a splendid catch in the slips, dismissing F. Smith (three wickets for 6 runs). Three runs later Briggs lowered Grimmer’s off stump (four for 9). At 13 Tan­ cred was magnificently run out by little Johnny, and the excitement became intense when a similar end was found for Finlason (six down for 13), and when two runs later Abel secured Fuller off the fast bowler, the local men had lost their seven best wickets for 15 runs, or net half the runs required. The four o’clock interval followed, which on the previous day had caused a cessation of the panic which Briggs looked like causing. It NEXT ISSUE, MARCH 21.