Cricket 1890

MAT 29, 1890, CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 158 December, to make an official classifica­ tion of Counties, will meet at the Oval on the first day of the matoh between the Australians and the South of England, June 16th to wit. The Committee, I may add, consists of the President of the County Cricket Council, and one representative from each of the following shires : Surrey, Gloucestershire, Lanca­ shire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Somersetshire. As Lancashire is playing Middlesex on the same day at Lord’s, the date would seem to have been well chosen. R. T. writes:— T h e In co g n iti have been on tour w ith a spring v is it to Sherborne, C lifto n , C helten­ h am , and U ppingham , w here 11 E . T .” had the pleasure of w atching the team s connected w ith these cricket-cram m ing depots— for ’tis very ce rtain th a t, although seats of learn ing , it is from the public schools th at the L y tte l­ tons, th e W alke rs, A . P . L u c a s, A . G . Steel, A . N . H o rn b y, A . J . WebDe, etc., have been coached up and sent fo rth to dem onstrate and uphold our n ation al gam e. Seeing th at the an n u al contests between these cricket centres w ill soon be in fu ll sw ing, he w ill not in h is official cap acity reckon up or m ake com parisons of th e ir q u alities, the score book w ill ere long do t h a t; b ut he w ill at once state th a t he had a surprise at Cheltenham , by seeing th at rara avia a w icket-keeper in fu ll view , in fact, one of the best youthful m appers he has seen for m any a long day. C r ic k e t w ill, in due course, give the results of these m atches, but he m ay prem ise th a t the “ Incogs ” had a good w orking team , and that the O xford U n iv e rsity tru n d le r of 1859, E . Cassan, poured forth h is w ell-know n “ mes- m erizers ” w ith deadly in flu en ce; and th at the gentle tapper, W . J . F o rd , kept up h is reputation fo r h e avy spanking, not on ly at one of h is old happy h unting grounds, C lifto n , w here he moved the leather as far as b ricks and m o rtar w ould let it go, but also brought off at Cheltenham a “ whopper ” in the form of a straig h t on-drive, w h ich w as found to be, w hen m easured by cricke t ch ain , a distance of 132 yard s 2 feet from the popping crease, w hence the b all w as hit to where it pitched. T h e Tap p er has th us set a go in the spring th a t w ill take a lot of beating d uring the season. I t will interest a number of C r ic k e t readers, particularly Incogs, and the members of the M.C.C. to most of whom he was well known, to learn that Mr. J. S. Udal, whose appointment to a high official position at the Fiji Islands I noted at the tjne, is interesting himself actively in the revival of the Suva Cricket Club, the only one in Fiji. The ground, which is said to possess a fine pavilion, one worthy of some of the best grounds in England, had been allowed to fall into decay, but at a public meeting held under the presidency of the Governor, early in March, a subscription list was opened to put it thoroughly in order, and as far as one can judge there is every reason to hope for a permanent revival of the game in the most distant of our Colonies. As far as one can gather from the report in the local paper, the F iji Times, whioh Mr. Udal has been good enough to send me, there is every reason to believe that under the influence of his energy the game will take a new lease of life. He hopes, indeed, to have the ground ready in time for the visit of the new Admiral, Lord Charles Scott, a brother of that keen supporter of cricket, the Duke of Buc- cleuch, President of M.C.C. in 1888, and it is confidently expected that this will give a great stimulus to the game in Fiji. T h e Armed Native Constabulary there have a few players amongst them, I under­ stand, the relics of Wallington’s time, and it is to be hoped their spirit will spread throughout the colony. They are according to accounts a fine muscular race, and ought to be as good cricketers, some day, as the Aboriginals who came over here from Australia many years ago. The constabulary, Mr. Udal writes, do not drill at all badly, and the way they dress their hair gives them the appearance of wearing a natural bear­ skin, which looks very effective. Mr. Udal saw them go through the “ manual” and bayonet exercises in a style that would have done credit to many a volunteer corps in England, and from this he augurs well for their cricket capacity, some day, provided they are encouraged and kept up to it. Every cricketer will wish him success in a very interesting experiment. T h e excellent wicket provided by the caretaker of the Athletic Association ground at Richmond on Saturday last gave Mr. W. W. F. Pullen, the well- known Gloucestershire amateur, another opportunity of proving his exceptional powers as a fast run-getter. Playing for the Grasshoppers against Richmond Town, he commenced batting with Mr. G. Marshall, and to such purpose that 214 runs were scored before the latter was out. Mr. Pullen, however, continued to hit merrily until he had reached 223, when he had to retire. He was at the wickets less than three hours, so that he scored at the rate of over seventy runs an hour. On the previous Wednesday Mr. Pullen made 76 for the Grasshoppers against St. Dunstan’s College. The Grasshoppers, I may state, are a team of Kensington students, and Mr. Pullen is their Captain. A c o r r e sp o n d e n t points out as some­ thing of a curiosity, that in each of three matches begun on Monday between first- class Counties, the side going in second should, in trying to play out time, have lost one wicket, and for such very similar totals. A reference will show that Surrey, on Monday night, had made 13, with Abel out, at Nottingham ; Gloucestershire exactly the same number at the cost of Mr. O. G. Radcliffe’s wicket, at Brighton; while Lancashire, at Old Trafford, had got rid of one batsman (Mr. L. A. Hamilton) of Kent, for 10. The simi­ larity of results in the case of three in-going sides was certainly very peculiar. A r t h u r S h r e w s b u r y ’ s brilliant per­ formance for Notts against Sussex at Trent Bridge a fortnight ago represents the sixth occasion on which he has scored over 200 in an innings in first-class Inter- County matches. The particulars of these six scores, which, I may add, have been kindly furnished me by Mr. F. G. Spybey, of Nottingham, are as follows 1882. —Notts v. Surrey, Oval, Aug. 7 207 b 1884. —Notts v. Sussex, Brighton, June 26 .............................................. 209 ro 1885. —Notts v. Middlesex, Lord’s, July 16 .............................................. 224* 1886.— Notts v. Gloucestershire, Moreton-in-Marsh, June 28 227* 1887. —Notts v. Middlesex, Notting­ ham, Aug. 15 ......................... 2676 1890, —Notts v. Sussex, Nottingham, May 15 .............................................. 267c It will be seen that the scores have been on the crescendo scale, and it is singular that the two last should have been precisely the same. It is worthy of remark that Shrewsbury in each instance went in first. In the match of 1884 he was third batsman out, and in those of 1885 and 1886 he carried his bat through the innings. In addition to the above it is hardly necessary to recal his share in the extraordinary innings between the Smokers and Non-Smokers on the ground of the East Melbourne Club on March 17, 1887. The Non-Smokers’ total of 803, as I had occasion to remind C r ic k e t -readers a few weeks ago, is the highest as yet recorded in a first-class match. Shrewsbury's individual contri­ bution to that high score was, as many will remember, 236. Mr. W. D. L l e w e l y n , who has been fortunate enough to get his “ blue ” at Oxford thus early in the season, is a son of one of the keenest and most liberal supporters modern cricket has known. An enthusiastic player himself, Sir J. T. Llewelyn was in his day one of the lead­ ing cricketers in SouthWales, and, indeed, the club bearing that name found in him not only one of its regular represent­ atives, but one of its best all round players. For many summers, indeed, he played a very prominent part in its matches, and it is only recently, after captaining the team for several years, that the abandon­ ment of the annual visit of the South Wales team to London broke his long connection with metropolitan cricket. His son was one of the most consistent run-getters in the Eton Eleven of 1887, and many C r ic k e t readers will no doubt remember, as I can, his two fine innings of 124 and 41 notout againstWinchester that year. Though he went up to Oxford with a high Public School reputation, he did not come off in the trial matches of 1888, and has had to wait till his third year for his colours. P E IN C IP A L E V E N T S F O E N E X T W E E K . T hursday , M ay 29,—Lord’s, Middlesex v. Notts j The Oval, Surrey v. Gloucestershire; Cam­ bridge, Cambridge University v. Yorksh ire; Oxford, Oxford University v. M.C.C. & G .; M anchester, Lancashire v. Australians; Town­ ley Park, Surrey C. & G. v. Townley Park. F riday , M ay B0.—Birm ingham , M.C.C. & G. v. Warwickshire. M onday , J une 2.—L ord’s, M.C.C. & G. v. Austra­ lians ; Derby, Derbyshire v. Surrey ; Bradford, Yorkshire v. Sussex; Oxford, Oxford Univer­ sity v. Lancashire.