Cricket 1889

APRIL 18, 1889. CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME 51 THE ENGLISH TEAM IN SOUTH AFRICA. Reprinted from the Sporting L ife by permission. ( Continued from Page 47.) , 1889. G rahamstown , M arch 2 The inhabitants of Durban contrived, though our stay was short with them, to get in a fair amount of festivity and gaiety. In fact, from the moment of our arrival, when the train ran over a long row of fog signals, which heralded our approach in an alarmingly forcible manner, till the moment of our departure in the Drum­ mond Castle, we were kept pretty lively. Worthy Mr.Hillier, the Mayor, was foremost in creating entertainment for us, holding a big reception, followed by a ball in the Town Hall, which, by the way, is by far the finest in the Colony, and even as a building is only sur. passed by the Houses of Parliament at Cape Town. That most excellent of bands, the 64th North Staffordshire, had been brought down from Pietermaritzburg, and assisted at all festivities. A dinner at the club, and a large banquet, at which some 150 sat down, filled up the two last evenings of our stay. Nor was the steamy heat of Durban calculated to enable us to throw off the effect of these dissipations, and this may, perhaps,account for our failing to make the Durbanites follow on, as we ourselves and all expected after the score we had made. Sunday, February 15, saw us on board the Drummond Castle, bound for East London and Kingwilliamstown, to play the Cape Mounted Rifles at the latter place. Fortu. nately a light north-west wind prevailed, and an excellent and easy trip of twenty hours brought us to East London, much refreshed by the breath of sea air. The following morning, viz., February 20, we commenced our TW ELFTH MATCH—v. TWENTY-TWO CAPE MOUNTED RIFLES. To our delight we found a turf cricket ground, but the wicket was not good enough to play without matting, which was stretched over the grass. The Englishmen won the toss, and went in, but the scoring was so slow that four and a half-hours’ batting only produced 148 runs. The bowling of the soldiers was fairly straight but simple, and the score was kept down by the slowness of the wicket and length of the surrounding grass. Wood was top scorer with a freely-played 34, in his usual dashing style. Smith and Hearne played steadily for 30 and 27 respectively, Uylett’s 21 being the only other double figure. The C.M.R. expressed pleasure at getting rid of the Englishmen for the apparently small score of 148, but had not realised the difficulties of the wicket, which now showed themselves more vividly—for it was now that the fun commenced—Briggs being very much on the job. The first four wickets of the C.M.R. fell to him before a run was scored, and the hour’s play which remained g<vve a procession of victims to and from the tent, and at six o’clock, when stumps were drawn for the day, fifteen wickets had fallen for 30 runs. Nor did the remaining six wickets improve matters the next morning, when the light was a trifle better. The innings closed for 39 runs, the smallest total made against Warton’s team during the tour. Briggs’ analysis was mar- j vellous, fifteen wickets for 4 runs. On the loose matting he could get on plenty of work and the soldiers could do nothing with him. Following on, tliey improved but little in the second innings; in vain the captain, Lieut. Stewart, endeavoured to stay the rot, playing a plucky good innings of 17. Briggs was too much for the military, securing during their second effort twelve wickets for 19 runs, making twenty-seven wickets during the match at a cost of only 23 runs, probably an unbeaten record. Fothergill got eleven wickets in the two innings for only 42 runs, but this was of course thrown into the shade by Briggs’ performance. At the close the board showed 54 runs, leaving the Englishmen winners in one innings and 55 runs to spare, this being their seventh victory. Score and analysis:— E nglish JE leven . Mr. M. P. Bowden, b Grant ............... 3 Mr. C. A. Smith, c Stewart, b Hopkins 30 G. Ulyett, c Barnard, b Jennings .........21 M. Read, c Hopkins, b Thompson......... 3 H. Wood, b Eyre ... 34 F. Hearne, c Kear- slake, b Hopkins ... 27 J. Briggs, b Jennings 0 Mr. E. McMaster, b Thompson ......... Mr. B. A. F. Grieve, not out ............... Hon C. J. Coventry, c Kearslake.bEyre A. F. Fothergill, 1b w, b Eyre B ...................... Total ...148 C.M.R. T wenty -T wo . First Innings. Serg. Kearslake, b Smith Corp. Campbell, c Hearne, b Briggs ...................... Serg. Cosgrove, b Briggs Capt. Blaine, st Bowden, b Briggs ...................... Priv. Edwards, b Briggs Lieut. Vizard, c Bowden, b Briggs ...................... Serg. Jones, c Coventry, b Briggs ...................... Priv. Geeve, b Briggs ... Serg. Thompson, c Smith, bBriggs ... ..... . ... Lieut, otewart, b Fother­ gill ............... .... •• Priv. Robertson, st Bow­ den, b Briggs ............... Priv. Neave, b Briggs Serg. Cumming, c Read, b Briggs............................ Serg. Hopkins, b Fother­ gill ......... •• ........... Capt. Dalgety, b Briggs ... Priv. Barnard, run out ... Serg. Eyre, b Fothergill ... Rev. Porter, c and b Briggs............................ Priv. Jennings, c Briggs, b Fothergill ............... Priv. Storan, st Bowden, b Briggs ...................... Priv. Grant, not out Priv. Webster, b Briggs ... Extras ... ................ Second Innings, c Ulyett. b Fothergill ... 0 b Briggs ... , 0 b Briggs ... , 0 runout ... . 0 c Hearne. Fothergill . 7 bBriggs ... . 0 c Grieve, Briggs ... . 7 1b w, b Briggs . 0 b Fothergill . 8 1b w, b Briggs17 0 c Ulyett, b Briggs .......... 0 0 cMcMaster, b Briggs .......... 1 0 b Briggs not out b Fothergill b Briggs ... b Briggs ... c Coventry, Briggs ... c Smith, Fothergill b Fothergill b Fothergill Extras... Total Total ... 54 BOWLING ANALYSIS. C.M.R. T wbnty -T wo . Briggs ... Fothergill Smith ... First Innings. O. M. R. W. 29.218 4 15 .. 13 6 12 4 .. 9 2 19 1 Second Innings. O M. R. W. ... 27 17 19 12 ... 26.2 15 30 7 Having got through the first match with the C.M.R. in two days, the Englishmen had a day off—a pleasure they have not had too frequently during the tour. The day was filled up with a match between the C.M.R. and the Town and District of King Williamstown, between whom considerable rivalry exists— playing twenty-two a-side. The latter, going in first, scored 50, which the soldiers topped with a score of 86 . TH IRTEENTH MATCH—v. TWENTY. TWO CAPE MOUNTED RIFLES (RETURN). Saturday, February 23, saw the start made for this match. Again Smith won the toss, and sent in M’ Master and Wood, both of whom were got rid of for 11 runs, M’Master being bowled for a single, and Wood caught off a miss-hit for 10. Ulyett and Read were now together at the wickets, and there they stopped till a quarter to six in the evening, both playing superb and faultless cricket. Rain had fallen in the morning, and rendered foothold for the bowlers difficult, and fielding slippery for a time, and during that time, as George himself put it, both batsmen “ took root,” and no efforts of the C.M.R. could re­ move them till close on time, when Ulyett was well caught in the deep field for a mag­ nificent innings of 103, without a chance, including three 6 ’s and seven 4’s. His depar­ ture was shortly followed by that of Read, who was dismissed by an easy catoh at cover. He had put together 82 by perfect cricket, without the semblance of a chance. Briggs knocked up a rapid 15, and at his departure matters closed for the day, standing at 218 for five wickets. The stand made by Ulyett and Read realised 177 runs. Sunday intervened, and afforded a chance of a picnic in the afternoon to the “ dam,” some four miles away, a very pretty spot, the river being very thickly wooded—and, indeed, reminding one very much of the upper reaches of the Thames—where our boys distinguished themselves as cooks. Resuming play on Monday, the English play did not come up to the show given on Saturday. Hearne played a steady innings of 32 and Grieve a pretty but slow 19 not out, but only 60 runs were added, the board at the fall of the tenth wicket giving £77, leaving a somewhat hopeless task in store for the C.M.R. The soldiers com­ menced their batting in a most unpromising manner, three wickets falling before the first run was scored. Lieut. Stewart, however, again played good cricket for 14 runs, Ser­ geants Jones and Cumming obtaining like scores, while the most brilliant style was shown by Private Nash, who, through an injured finger, had been unable to play in the first match. He, though only getting 10 runs, made several very pretty strokes on the off side. The total, however, showed but little improvement on the scores of the first match, the board showing 79 as the first effort of the C.M.R, Smith and Briggs divided the bowling honours, Smith obtaining eleven wickets for 44 runs, and Briggs ten wickets for 30 runs. On the soldiers commencing their second effort on the morning of the third day, Grieve and Fothergill began the trundling, the former obtaining six wickets for 30, and Fothergill getting three for 24. A somewhat better start was made by the military, Stewart again playing good cricket for 15, backed up by a very steady 18 from Private Robertson, and 32 was on the board at the fall of the fifth wicket. At lunch the score stood at 60 for ten wickets. After the interval Briggs and Smith returned to the trundling, and the remaining wickets added 43 runs, so that the coveted century was at length reached, the total standing at 103 at the close of the innings, leaving the Englishmen victors again in one innings, and this time with 95 runs to spare. E nolish T eam . Wood, c Stewart, b Stovan .................. 10 Mr. E. McMaster, b Grant....................... 1 M. Read, c Stewart, b Jennings.................. 82 G. Ulyett, c Grant, b Thompson ..........103 J. Briggs, c Cosgrove, b Jennings ............15 Eearne, b Hopkins ... 32 Mr. M. P. Bowden, c Nash, b Grant ... 1 Mr. C. A, Smith, c Thompson,bGrant Mr. B. A. F. Grieve, not o u t ............... Fothergill, c Cum­ ming, b Hopkins... Mr. A. C. Skinner, b Grant ............... Extras............... 19 Total ..277