Cricket 1890

i CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME. JAN. 27, 1880. CRICKET IN THE FAR NORTH­ WEST. B y M o n ed u la . Where e’er the Briton treads, some sort of sport is soon organised; and in any quarter of the globe where “ white men ” are to be found, or congregate in any numbers, cricket, in some shape or form, is played. The early settlers in Manitoba and the great North West soon found time and opportunity to pitch a wicket (I do not venture to assert what sort), and have a game, but until the Canadian Pacific Railway got to and made W inni­ peg, bringing in its first trains an influx of young Englishmen, few records o f the game can be discovered. W ith such formidable rivals as baseball and lacrosse, cricket cannot be expected to be so popular with Canadians as with “ old countrymen ” ; nevertheless we find in 1881, two matches under the in ­ teresting title of “ Old Country v. Canada,” at W innipeg. H ood was cap­ tain o f the Old Countrymen, and in the second match had the satisfaction of revenging a defeat in the first. Next Spring (1882), on the 24th of May, the deciding match took place, and the Englishmen won easily. H . B. Mitchell, a pupil of H . H . Stephenson, who played for Uppingham in its palmiest days, made 78 run out— going in when three wickets were down for 6. A little township on the Red River, named St. Andrew’s, was, up to this time, able to hold its own, and often to beat Winnipeg. The team was mostly composed o f “ half- breeds,” who played hard together, and had the reputation o f fielding splendidly. H . B. Mitchell tells an amusing story o f one of these matches. To quote his own words, “ An old half-breed was umpire and strong for his own side. W e (Winnipeg) were a good team, but got fluked out and beaten on the first innings, altho’ we eventually won by ten wickets. In the second innings I was back-stop (no wicket keeper), and we were all play­ ing hard to get them out and save the match. I noticed a man running out of his ground, and stole up and stumped him— both feet out o f his ground. The old half-breed most patriotically gave him 1not out,’ while the batsman stood there and watched me pull up the stumps and appeal three times, with every confi­ dence in the world.” H e adds, “ There was always great good-feeling between the teams, and I was deservedly reproved for grumbling at the decision.” The following details have been kindly supplied by the H on. Secretary o f the W innipeg Club, Mr. H . G. Nelson :— The W innipeg Club was formed in 1879, with 20 members ; in 1882 it had reached 150 members, and a team was sent to Eastern Canada, playing ten matches against all the strongest clubs—winning 9 and draw­ ing one. In ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86 only two matches were lost. In ’87 a tour West­ wards was organised— 11 matches played — 9 won— lost 2. During the same year a team went South to North Western States, played and won three matches, and then played the North Western Cricket Association (U.S.A.), winning in an innings, with 3 runs to ipare. In 1888 a cricket week was held, matches being played between North West Territories (Canada), North West States, Manitoba, and W innipeg C.C. O f four matches the W.C.C. played, they won three, with an innings to spare, and the fourth by nine wickets. In ’89 for the cricket week, teams from Pense, North West Territories, North Western Ontario, competing, W innipeg winning all its matches, and compiling against the N .W .T. the largest total yet made in the West— 344. The comparative strength o f the W in­ nipeg team may be estimated by the fact that while they averaged 20.4 per wicket, opponents only averaged 5.2. The Inter­ national match this year was a win by default for Winnipeg, the Southerners not being able to get up a team. In the last nine years the club has played 123 matches, won 103, lost 13, and drawn 7, truly a remarkable record. All Western men hope that the next team of English cricketers that invade these shores will come up W e s t; that the W innipeg team would render a good account of itself I cannot doubt, and that they would be received with enthusiasm is a certainty. The Winnipeg Club can now put four elevens in the field. Subjoined are the averages of the first X I. The bowling averages are well worth perusal, H . G. Wilson’s being especially noteworthy. BATTING AVERAGES. Times Most in Inns, not out Runs, an Inn. Aver. A. J. Tuckwell. . 24 ... 0 . . 519 . . 95 ... 21.62 H. Cameron . . 13 ... 0 . . 247 . . 92 .. 19 H. G. Wilson . . 17 ... 2 . . 257 .. 81 ... 17.13 W . Bain ... . . 13 ... 2 . . 150 . . 31 .. 13.63 A. W. Law... . . 17 ... 2 . . 170 . . 37 .. 11.33 F. W. Sprado . . 10 ... 1 . . 96 . . 39 .. 10.66 B. Young ... . . 11 ... 1 . . 107 . . 41 .. 10 07 C. P. Wilson .. 18 ... 0 . . 180 . . 87 .. 10 A. F. Bandall . . 14 ... 0 . . 131 . . 30 .. 9.37 A. C. McDonnell 10 ... 0 . . 92 . . 29 .. 9.2 P. Butherford .. 32 ... 1 .. 66 . . 25 .. 6 G. H. Walker .. 11 ... 0 .. 60 . . 12 .. 5.45 D. J. Smith .. 9 ... 1 . . 85 . . 44* .. 10.62 A. E. Ferrie .. 8 ... 0 .. 67 . . 20 .. 8.37 E. Davison .. 8 ... 1 .. 53 . . 16 .. 7.57 H. A. Tudor .. 7 ... 1 .. 135 .. 49 .. 22.5 S. E. Smalley .. 7 ... 0 . . 83 . . 30 .. 11.71 BOWLING AVERAGES. Balls. Mdns. Buns. Wkts. Aver. H. Cameron ... 996 ... 69 .. 287 .. 57 . . 5.03 A. J. Tuckwell 1058 ... 61 .. 367 .. &fi .. 5.06 W. B a in .......... 267 ... 9 .. 112 .. 21 ... 5.83 C. P. Wilson... 769 ... 55 .. 238 .. 39 . . 6.10 H. G. Wilson 254 ... 98 .. 384 .. 55 . . 6.7 H. A. T udor... 270 ... 16 .. 108 .. 10 . . 10.8 A. E. Ferrie ... 130 ... 5 .. 62 .. 4 . . 15.5 A. E. W ilkes... 180 ... 15 .. 176 .. 22 . . 8 A. W. Law ... 190 ... 17 .. 181 .. 22 . . 8.23 O f course in a country like this, where the majority o f us depend on farming for a living, much time cannot be given up during the summer. “ Seeding ” con­ tinues till the middle of May, and “ hay­ in g ” begins in Ju ly; but once a week, generally on Saturday afternoons, though it may mean a drive of thirty miles, enthusiasts will be found practising on the prairie, somewhere near their towns. Need I say, in most of our matches up West there are no boundaries, and a greater than Bonner would be required to knock the ball out of sight, unless “ she ” rolled down a badger hole. H ow ­ ever, Regina, the capital of Assiniboia, and Qu’appelle Station both boast an enclosed ground, though the wickets, as yet, are very much of the prairie order. It is difficult to describe the sensation of standing up to a fast bowler for the first time on a North West W icket. As samples of likely ones— a short one on the off breaking in onto your head, next a dead shooter; and it has been a great problem to m y mind what style of play to adopt. One o f the first things, however, I know I did, was to concentrate all m y atten­ tion to dodging m y head from the balls, and then I was lucky enough to read Mr. Grace's advice re bad grounds in the Badminton Library Series, but I was very much inclined to run out at every ball. W e do what we can for the “ crease,” as the wicket is called in this country, but it is not much at present— generally con­ sisting of a couple o f loads o f water dumped on the day before the match, but an ordinary roller has not very muoh effect on the tremendously hard ground. The “ thinness” o f the grass is in July often a source of trouble. In this respect W innipeg is “ way up, ’ having an almost perfect ground ; in fact better pitches would be hard to find at home, and it is indeed a treat to get a day’s cricket there. Winnipeg has enjoyed the reputation o f being the strongest club in the Dominion, and judging from what I saw oi the Canadians in 1887 in England, I should say they would now hold their own against Eastern teams. They have three or four strong bats, and decidedly better bowling than most amateur clubs in the old country; the Rev. H . A. Tudor, an old Shirburnian, and not very far out of the Oxford team about ’77, is a very reliable bat and a good judge of the game. A. T. Tuckwell nearly always gets runs and plays in sound form. H. Cameron (a Canadian) is per­ haps their best all-round man, hard hitting bat, and a nasty bowler, delivering the ball with one step behind the wicket only. C. P. W ilson (Canadian), a steady bat and difficult bowler. JD. G. Sprado (Canadian), a pretty bat and first-rate field. H . G. W ilson (Canadian), the fast bowler of the team and very destructive, a punisher of loose bow ling; while change bowlers are found in (Rutherford (slow right), Tuckwell (slow right), and A. W . Lawe, an old Cheltonian, medium right. They have a really good wicket-keeper in H .Bain (Canadian). One o f the best bats in Manitoba is Prest, of Plum Creek, who was in the Marlborough X I, a few years ago. Play­ ing for J. A. Kirkoffer’s team against Winnipeg, he scored consistently well. In Assiniboia, Regina, the North-West Mounted Police,Pense,Qu’appelle Station, Fort Qu’appelle, Moosomin, Indian Head, Cannington Manor, and Grenfell are the chief clu bs: and of these Regina and Grenfell hold for this year an unbeaten record. Regina has a good bat in E. M Marshall (Repton), and a difficult bowler SEX? ISSUE. FEBRUARY 27.