Cricket 1890

26 CRICKET: A WEEKLY KECORD OF THE GAME. FEB. 27, 1890. ment, and a farewell ball was to be given to him at the W anderers’ pavilion on M onday last. The members of the club are getting up a subscription to present h im with a m em ento of his stay at Johannesburg. “ H e surely will be m issed.” Mr. Smith’s return to England will be a source of gratification to his many friends at home. J ust after the last number of C r ic k e t had gone to press, came the sad news that John West had passed over to the majority. Born at Sheffield on October 16,1845, West, who was, by the way, left- handed, both in batting and bowling on occasions did good service for his native county of Yorkshire for several years. He was, though, best known, latterly at least, by reason of his long and honourable connection with the Marylebone Club. First engaged as a ground bowler at Lord’s in 1869, he remained there until the time of his death. During the twenty years of his employment with the Marylebone Club, by his willing service and straight­ forward conduct he won the esteem not only o f the members, but of all with whom he came in contact. Few of the staff at Lord’s, indeed, have been more generally respected, andhis place will not easily be filled. Of late years, he officiated as umpire in many of the most important matches at head-quarters, and his decisions were always accepted as those o f an honest and conscientious judge. The benefit match, North v. South, arranged for him last summer, it will be remembered, owing to continuous wet was never even begun, and to compen­ sate him for this disappointment another fixture was arranged for May 19, 1890, and two following days. He died at Sheffield, on Jan. 27, in his forty-fourth year. T o judge by the number of anxious en­ quiries I have received, it would appear as if the cricket world had been needlessly exercised over certain alarmist rumours which appeared a short time ago in more than one of the Sunday papers, and were circulated broadcast over the country, relative to some o f the principal Surrey players. I may, perhaps, allay the fears of those who place implicit credence in the accuracy of everything which sees the light of print, if I venture to offer an opinion that there is not the smallest ground for uneasiness about the composition o f the Surrey eleven for 1890. As far as I can hear all the members of last year’s team w ill be in arms and eager for the fray by the time the first bell rings on May 5, when the county is booked to commence its cam ­ paign. Nay, more, there will, in addition, be three good reserves at the disposal of the Committee in Mr. W . E . Boiler, and the two young professionals, Brockwell and C. Mills, who have been showing such excellent all-round cricket in South Africa this winter. I t is a matter of regret that the ex­ ecutive of the South Australian Cricket Association, instead of repudiating any­ thing hke sympathy or concurrence with the ill-advised action their Captain thought fit to take, in disobeying the ruling of the umpire in the recent match against Victoria, should have added insult to injury by an implication to the Victorian Association, of that official’s in­ competency. It would have been, I should fancy, more worthy the dignity of a society like the South Australian Asso­ ciation to have publicly disowned what was at the best a flagrant violation of the rules of the game, rather than by their silence to appear either to have approved the act or to have condoned the offence. The members of the Victorian Association at their monthly meeting held last month, though, spoke out in no un­ measured terms, as the following motion, which was carried, will show. Their sen­ timents, too, will find an echo in the minds o f every real well-wisher of the game. In order that there should be no recurrence of anything of the kind [the chairman said] it m ight be desirable on the part of the various associations to place it on record that in the event of any cricketer refusing to obey the rules, and to concede to the judgm ent of the umpire, he m ight be disqualified for a particular term , to be afterwards settled. The press of South Australia did not hesitate to condem n Mr. Giffen’s action. If the leaders of cricket showed such a bad example as he ventured to think Mr. Giffen showed on that occasion, it was calculated to injure the game seriously. T he V ictorian Asso­ ciation was thoroughly satisfied with the in­ tegrity and honour of Mr. Flynn, the umpire, and did not hesitate to express its confidence in his conduct. O n ly twelve months ago and the V ic­ torian press was bewailing, and in dole­ ful tones, the loss of public interest in the game. A turn of the wheel and every­ thing is changed. The fears of the pessimists have disappeared in a moment, and given way to a more hopeful spirit, which has been thoroughly justified by recent successes. So far, indeed, Victoria has taken part in three Inter-colonial matches against New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania, and in each of these fortune has declared herself on the side o f the Victorian players. What is more, too, there could hardly have been a more substantial proof of the revival of public interest than in the receipts of the recent match with New South Wales played at Melbourne. While only .£464 was taken in 1887, the money at the last fixture amounted to no less than £017. The whirligig o f time has speedily brought its revenges. T h e well-wishers o f the Essex Club, and they include everyone who is inter­ ested in the development of county cricket, will be gratified to hear that there is little or no chance, now, that the ground at Leyton will pa.-s out o f the hands of the Essex executive. Of the £ 3,800 required, I hear on good authority over .£3,400 has been promised, and there should be no real difficulty to obtain the small balance required to complete the fund. I learn, too, that the members have replied in a very satisfactory way to the suggestion of a voluntary addition to the annual subscription for this year, and that quite one third have acceded to the proposal. Among the latest con ­ tributions, the Secretary of the Essex County C.C. informs me, are a hundred guineas from the Corporation o f the City of London, twenty guineas from the Mer­ chant Taylors’ Co., and twenty pounds from Sir Reginald Hanson, Bart. T h e victory of the Farsees over Mr. Vernon’s team at the end of last month at Bombay cannot fail to give a fresh impetus to the practice of the game among the followers of that great com ­ munity. The members of the team which visited England in 1888, too, played a very important part in this Farsee success, and indeed the all-round cricket of Mr. F. E. Pavri, who it will be re­ membered bowled so consistently well over here two years ago, was the chief factor in a very creditable win. The result of the match, it is superfluous to say to those who have had any personal knowledge of the keenness they infuse into cricket mat­ ters, was received with great enthusiasm by the Parsee fraternity. In fact, it seems to have fired them with a new desire to test the improvement in the quality of their all-round play by contact with English cricketers, and some o f the Bombay papers, in commenting on the match against Mr. Vernon’s team, men­ tion the probability of a visit of the third Parsee team to England next year. S ome extraordinary scoring was re­ corded in a match, commenced on the first day of the year and extending over the three days following, in Natal, if the score which has been forwarded to me by a correspondent in that Colony, and pub­ lished in a local paper on the authority of a player who actually took part in the game, is correct. The match was between Harrismith and District and Newcastle and District, and was played on the ground of the former. Altogether in the four days 1,783 runs were scored with only twenty-two wickets, giving an average of just over eighty-one runs. According to the score, which appears in another part of this paper, Harrismith in its first innings made 858 runs, and S. Fraser carried his bat through for 234. In the match there was one individual score of over two hundred, and, in addi­ tion, three of over one and under two hundred. I give the particulars, as I have already said, just as they were sent to me. I hope, though, to be able shortly to be in a position to give more definite information on the subject of this score. L ord H ar ris leaves London to-day in the P. and O. steamer “ Thames ” to undertake the Governorship o f Bombay. The special train carrying passengers for the “ Thames’’ will leave Liverpool NEXT ISSUE, MARCH 27.