Cricket 1889

AfRIL 25, 1869. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME; 9 73 know that the International match be­ tween America and Canada will this year probably not be played till quite the end of the season. The Americans would, I hear, prefer to have the fixture in June, but this is too early to suit the Canadians, and as the Gentlemen of Philadelphia will be away during July and August, and it will be of course impossible for the match to take place in their absence, there is every reason to believe that the Inter­ national will not be decided until Sep­ tember. T h e institution of an Intercolonia match between New South Wales and Queensland cannot fail to be beneficial to the best interests of Australian cricket. These contests, by the general excitemen they create, [do much to develop the* game, while, at the same time, and as a natural consequence, they bring players, who might otherwise never attain more than local reputation, prominently before those who have in their hands the man­ agement of Australian Cricket. There is every chance that in the near future, if not at the present time, Queensland may contribute some likely talent towards the formation of an Australian team, and if so, the match which was to be played at Brisbane, on the 16th, 18th and 19th of last month, will not have been without its uses. Some of the Australian papers describe this as the first Inter-Colonial match between New South Wales and Queens­ land, but Mr. D. W. Gregory, the captain of the First Australian team which visited England, in 1878, writes to the Sydney Mail that some twenty-five years ago a team, representing New South Wales, went to Brisbane and won the match. Coming home, according to Mr. Gregory, his partyhad a very pleasant time. They were in the steamer “ Telegraph,” and she had a fearful passage. The sea ran several mountains high, and at length the coal in the bunkers gave out. By andby, the spare timber hadto be usedup for fuel; and at last, when all the deck fittings and other adornments—such as the escritoire, the armoire, and the comptoir—had been cremated, the steamer was obliged to heave to or heave up—he forgets which— and the players walked back from Broken Bay to Sydney. S. P. Jones was in the New South Wales teamwhichleft Sydney on March 12 to meet the Queenslanders. It may be news to some C r ic k e t readers, as, I must confess, it is to me, to know that the present ChiefMagistrate of the City of London, Alderman the Bight Honourable James Whitehead, was in his youth an active and withal a successful administrator of cricket affairs. It is with no small sense of my shortcomings that I have to own my obligation to a Colonial newspaper — the Melbourne Leader —for information which ought to have come under my notice three months ago. The incident which gaye rise to “ Mid-on’s ” note in the Leader occurred during the state visit of the Lord Mayor to his native town, Kendal, on Jan. 10th last, and is referred to in that paper as follows: Numerous addresses of congratulation and welcome were presented to him by local muni­ cipalities and other institutions, foremost amongst these being the Kendal Cricket Club. The addrets expressed sentiments which did infinite credit to the members of the club, and after referring to the faot that the committee had still in their possession the minute book which the Lord Mayor had used 35 years be­ fore when he was secretaryto the club, it went on to say—“ We feel that the healthy vigor of our national game is typical of the Bteady per­ severance and indomitable pluck which have enabled your lordship to play, with such con­ spicuous success, the innings of life.” The address was signed by the officers of the club, and by Messrs. W . Willison (Alderman of Kendal), James Allen, W. B. Armstrong, James Dixon and Titus Wilson, who had been contemporary players with the Lord Mayor. In acknowledging this address the Lord Mayor expressed the unbounded pleasure it gave him to receive it, and especially to notice the names of those who had played with him. He had had the honour of being one of the club’s first eleven, when Mr. Alderman Wil- lison was captain of the team. His Lordship also said that he recollected with satisfaction that when he took the secretaryship of the olub it was in debt, but with the assistance of his contemporaries of the committee the debt had been paid oft while he held the position of secretary. During that time also he re­ membered that the club had given a ball—a kind of “ cricket ” ball—in the very room in which the address of that day had been pre­ sented to him, and had realised a handsome sum to be devoted to the fund for purchasing necessaries and comforts for troops then en­ gaged in the Crimea. C r ic k e t e r s , too, will be interested to know that the late Mr. John Bright was also in his day an active player. In a short biography of that eminent states­ man which appeared in a recent number of the Pall Mall Budget, it is stated that he had the fourth average for the Boch- dale Club one year. T h e world - renowned Australian cricketer, Mr. W. L. Murdoch, was un­ fortunate enough not many weeks since while shooting at Hurlingham, in Victoria, to have a touch of sunstroke which compelled him to lay up for some time in rather a bad state in Melbourne. It is satisfactory to be able, though, to state that, according to the Australa­ sian newspaper of March 16th, he was then a great deal better, in fact almost himself again. I t is very gratifying to learn as one does from all sides that the recent visit of the English cricketers has given avery great impetus to the game in South Africa. According to Major Warton, the various clubs in the districts where the Englishmen had played had profited very largely by the gates, and as a consequence a great addition would be able to be made in the future to the expenditure for im­ proving the grounds. In the course of a lengthy interview with the Plymouth Mercury on his arrival last week, Major Warton expressed the opinion that another English team would probably visit South Africa next year, but the Colonists would not be prepared to send a team to England until the following season. The next team which goes to South Africa ought, he thinks, to be stronger in point of batting and to play the Colonists on more even terms. Some of the Colonists are exceedingly good cricketers, bnt the teams as a whole could only be classed as second-rate county teams. M r . D a v id S c o t t , of the well-known firm of Boyle and Scott, of Melbourne, is, as I have good reason to know, one of the keenest and most painstaking students of cricket lore. Mr. Scott has taken con­ siderable trouble to obtain verification of an extraordinary throw of a cricket ball by an aboriginal some sixteen years ago. The throw was duly recorded at the time in a journal called the Peaks Down Tele­ gram, and an application by Mr. Scott elicited the following reply from the editor of that paper some eight weeks since:— Although over sixteen yeara have elapsed there are several gentlemen still resident in Clermont who were present when the throw was made, and saw it measured. The extra* ordinary length of the throw was such, that one or two ex-English ’Varsity cricketers who were on the ground insisted on having it measured. Mr. C. J. Graham, then M .L.A. for Clermont, and editor of this journal at the time, measured the distance and made it 142J yards, and, making ample allowance for deviation, it leaves it 140 yards. Mr. Graham was an old Cambridge cricketer and oarsman, and was afterwards Minister for Lands in the Palmer Ministry. He was particularly proud of Billy's accomplishment, and wrote the paragraph quoted above. Seeing that this feat is vouohed for by two such witnesses as Mr. Graham and Mr. Donald Wallace, not to mind the other gentlemen who were present, there ought to be no doubt about accepting it as an authentic record. At the time, Mr. Gra­ ham mentioned that Billy’s throw excelled George Brown’s celebrated throw of 136 yards made on Walterton Common, England, in 1819, We have been unable to ascertain what became of Billy. He was known as “ Thorne’s Blackboy,” being in the employ of Jack Thorne, who then kept the Clermont Hotel, and who played in the same match. Thorne was a noted horseman as well as a splendid cricketer, and was last heard of at Townsville some years ago. Billy was a thin, tall, mus­ cular, wiry, athletic looking personage, and it is said by those who saw him play at crioket that he was the finest fielder they had ever seen. His quickness with the ball was said to be astounding, and his strength of arm was something astonishing, considering his build. T h e Albert C lu b of Sydneyhas recently had occasion to own the proof of the quotation that “ misfortunes come not singly but in battalions.” The last number of C r i c k e t contained the par­ ticulars of a match of theirs against the Sydney University, in which they had to field the whole of two afternoons, while their opponents amassed the tall score of 635. Their next performance was not of