Cricket 1889

OCT. 81, 1889. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 447 The Parsees, CRiCKET-readers will be glad to learn, seemto be slowlybut surely provingthebenefits ofthepractical lessons they learned from their contact with English cricketers, and the advantages of watching the best styles of play,jduring their two visits to England. Their second defeat of the Bombay Gymkhana lately shows that their all-round cricket is steadily developing, and as there are no keener followers of the game intheworld, they have every incentive to even greater efforts. In commenting on this match, the Bombay Gazette adds:— The Bombay Gymkhana has proved success­ ful over all otter opponents thig season; but aa they have been defeated, and twice, by the Parsis only, the Parsi team may fairly claim, as the Bombay Gazette has observed in the oourse of its very impartial account of the match, to be the strongest eleven in the Presidency. An amateur cricketer, who played an important part in county cricket somefew years since, passed away at the Cedars, Lee, on the 18thinst.runwept andunsung by the majority of the sporting papers. And yet Alfred Penn, ten summers back, was a prominent figure in the Kent Eleven. He played for seven or eight years forhis county, andwasvery success­ ful for a time as a slow left-hand bowler, doing good service for Kent when it was not as strong or so fortunate in the quantity or quality of its bowling as it is just now. He was a younger brother of JohnandFrankPenn,bothgoodcricketers, particularly the latter, who, until his healthgaveway, was quiteintheforefront, one of the best batsmen, either amateur or professional, of the day. Alfred Penn, at the time of his death, was only in his thirty-fourth year. I w o u ld caution C r ic k e t readers generally against placing credence inany of the statements which have been re­ produced incertain of the sporting papers from some Colonial journals, throwing doubts on the satisfactory conclusion of arrangements for the completion of the Australian Team to visit England next year. Of my ownknowledge, I am able to state that several of quite the best all­ round cricketers have already promised to make the trip, and, as the last places are not likely to be filled up until it is known in what form the pther players are, there will be really nothing more to be announcedfor somelittle time. I have every reason to believe that the draft programme of matches has already been received fromMr. Boyle, the manager of thecomingteam. Further, I amauthorised to say that theAustralians propose to play a match the whole proceeds of which are to go to the Cricketers’ Fund. I fancy I shall not be far wrong in thinking that the proposed programme will include three England matches, one with the Gentlemen, at Lord’s, one with the Players, at Oval, one with North of England, at Manchester, onewith M.C.C, and Ground, at Lord’s, one at Stoke, one with Oxford and Cambridge, at Ports­ mouth, one with Past and Present of Cambridge, at Leyton, one with Lord Londesborough’s Eleven, at Scarborough, and fixtures with Notts, Lancashire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, War­ wickshire, Leicestershire, and Oxford and Cambridge Universities. T h is morning, at eleven o’clock, the majority of the English amateurs who are going to India, mainly with the object of a cricket tour, are to leave Liverpool Street Station for Til­ bury, to embark on the P. andO. steamer “ Bengal,” lying off Gravesend. Lord Hawke left some little time ago to have some preliminary shooting, and Messrs. E. B. De Little and F. L. Shand will join the team in Colombo. Mr. C. I. Thornton, who leaves London a fortnight hence, will also be able to play in a fewmatches at Madras or Calcutta. Those leaving to­ day are]the captain (Mr. G. F. Yernon), Messrs. J. G. Walker, E. M. Lawson- Smith, J. H. J. Hornsby, A. E. Gibson, T. K. Tapling, M.P., G. H. Goldney, and H. Philipson. M r . A ld e r m a n J. W. H o b b s, who has held the mayoralty of Croydon for the last two years, was presented on Monday night with a full-length portrait of him­ self, painted by Mr. Jacomb Hood, to be hung in the Council Chamber as a memento of his term of office. The Mayoress was at the same time the re­ cipient of a valuable diamond spray. In presenting the picture a suitable mention was made of the interest taken by the Mayor in athletic sports generally, but particularly in cricket. In this connec­ tion a reminder was given of the visit of the last Australian team to Norbury Park, as an illustration of the attractions the Mayor had been in the habit of pre­ senting for the amusement of the in­ habitants of Croydon and surrounding the districts. From a report of the special meeting held by the Essex County Cricket Club, to be found in another part of the paper, it will be seen that the retention of one of the very best enclosures in the neighbour­ hood of London for recreative purposes depends on the result of the appeal the Committee arenowmaking to the cricket public. It cannot be too clearly pointed out that the deficit of .£3850, w h ich will have to be paid by the 31st of December next, if the ground is to be retained in its present condition, is the accumulation of arrears, the greater part of which is practically a debt of some fewyears back. Recent experience has Bhown that free from obligations ofold standing, the Club is w ith in measureable distance of com­ parative prosperity, and has fair reason to anticipate a profit on the annual working. It will be therefore in every sense a public calamity, particularly for the residents of the East End of London, if one of the few remaining open spaces should fall into the hands of the builders. The appeal of the Essex Club is one which in the public interest should be liberally supported, and I feel sure that the managements of the leading clubs, as well as cricketers of all kinds, will co­ operate heartily toprevent one of the best appointed grounds in tho country being lost to sport. ESSEX COUNTY CLUB. A Special General Meeting of tho members of this club was held on October 17 at the Great Eastern Hotel, Liverpool Street, totake into consideration the present financial difficulties and to adopt measures for their removal. Mr. B . N. Buxton, who was in the chair, said they had met to consider the financial position of the club, and that the business was of a most urgent nature. They stood face to face with a deficit, estimated up to March 81, 1890, of no less a sum than £3,85113s. 4d. The deficit had accrued over a series of years. The worst year, he noticed in a statement before him, was 1887, when a loss on the working expenses of £ 1,200 had been entailed, but in that account there wero certain sums left over from previous years. In 1888 the loss on working expenses had been £800, and this year the loss on actual working expenses was £680, but out of that sum £355 had been expended on building a grand stand, which the committee believed would be a good speculation: and certain sheds hadto be bought of Messrs. Taplow at a cost of £65, forming an additional loss on the year. The Chairman further said that they must look the thing boldly in the face, and find a speedy remedy. They owed a debt of gratitude to Mr. C. E. Green for all he had done, but although he had been extremely generous in the past they could not reasonably expect him to do everything. There had been a very serious reminder from the bankers, and the amount had to be met by the 31st of December. Could they do this? He feared they had got to the point, and there was no alternative between raising the money and winding up the club and selling the ground. This would be a great loss to the locality and the county, especially after thelarge sums that had been spent inmaking aground anderecting a pavilion. A perusal of the. balance-sheet showed a nett loss on county matches of £230, and on the two athletic meetings held this year a loss of £119. After due discussion a proposition was made that an appeal be made to the members and those interested in Essex County cricket to make donations towards the amount required, an amendment being moved to the effect that debentures be issued to the amount of £5,000, bearing interest at the rate of 4 per cent. In the resultthe resolution was carried amid applause. The subscription list was immediately opened, and a sum of £550 promised in the room:—Messrs. E. N. Buxton £100, C. E. Green £100, G. Buxton 50 guineas, C. I). Buxton 20 guineas, E. Vincent 25 guineas, J. S. Bead 20 guineas, E. Chaterain 15 guineas, D. Womersley 15 guineas, H. Horncastle 10 guineas, J. Guy 10 guineas, J. M. Bishop 5 guineas, AY. S. Horner 5 guineas, E. Horner 5 guineas, L. Horner 3 guineas, A. P. Lucas 5 guineas, Ward 5 guineas, and smaller accounts. The Chadbom and Coldwell Manu­ facturing Company, of 223, Upper Thames Street, have been awarded the First Prize Silver Medal at the Paris Exhibition for their patent ‘‘Excelsior-’ Mower. C o rre ctio n . —In the report of Sydenham and District v. An Eleven of the South, in our last issue, by a printer’s error we credited Messrs. A, E. Chadwick and A. J. Edwards with “ 0 ” and “ 9 ” respectively; the figures should have been reversed, NEXT ISSUE, NOVEMBER 28,