Cricket 1890

444 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME; OCT, 80, 1890. THE BOMBAY CRICKET SEASON. W ith the recent victory over Poona, the Bom bay Gymkhana has brought the first half o f its cricket season to a very successful ter­ m ination, eight matches, besides the Civil and M ilitary, having been played, of which but one was lost and one drawn, and, of the six wins, the B om bay team can claim tw o single­ innings victories. M atches are arranged up to the last week in September, and, as this half of the season includes the two great m atches of the year, namely against the Parsees, as well as the return fixture w ith Poona, the latter half of the programm e card m ay oertainly be said to be the m ost interest­ ing. Taken all round, the B om bay team is an unusually strong one this year, and has come, w ith the one exception of the collapse against the Y .M .C .A ,, quite up to the expectations form ed of it at the comm encem ent of the season. Of the prom inent players last year, Messrs. A . D . W ilkins, A . B . Sangster, and Captain C. J . Jervois, R .A ., are the only absentees ; the first named, after heading the B om bay batting averages for several years past, is now playing for Ahm ednugger, and Mr. Sangster, who returns from furlough in October,will be too late for this cricket season, as his regim ent, the 4th Rifles, is named in the R eliefs to m ove to Quetta in February. H e will consequently be lost to Bom bay cricket, and Captain Jervois, now serving in Burma, is not likely to appear again, so all three of these first-rate players will be permanently lost to the Gymkhana. B ut, in their stead, it has gained one of the best bowlers w e have seen for some tim e in the person of Mr. E. B . Raikes, of H aileybury, O xford, and the N orfolk County Eleven, and Mr. F . A. Prevost is once more back in B om bay and doing excellent service, as he has always done, to his Gymkhana. Messrs. R . J. Bentinck, C. G. Carnegy, and H . Pogson are the m ost prom ising of the new blood drafted into this year’s team, and m any of last year’s players have “ com e on.” So lovers of cricket are likely to see the Eleven give a very good account of themselves during the com ing seven weeks’ play still left of the 1890 season, and patrons of the Gym khana m ay depend on their representa­ tive team against their old rivals, the Parsees, being as strong a one as has ever done battle for them . T he four days’ cricket played here by Poona the week before last m ay not have shown up the Poona team in very bright colours, but it at any rate produced some very fine batting and bow ling performances by both the Parsee and Bom bay teams. A nd critics, w ho are fond of com paring relative m erit in the game, w ill have some difficulty in deciding, from the cricket shown b y each of those two teams against Poona, which will carry off the victory in the first of the annual matches between themselves which w ill take place during next week. T he Parsees, as a race, m ay fairly be said to have taken up cricket in a way that no other nation has ever done before, and their steady perseverance and ex­ ceptional keenness during the past few years was first crowned with success last year by their double victory over the Gymkhana, and again by their still more praiseworthy defeat of Mr. G .F. V ernon’ s English team in January last. But their comes a point in cricket, as well as in anything else, when that very keen­ ness on the game is liable to beget a danger­ ously high tension of excitem ent and feeling. Parsee cricket has now reached this stage, and when the strain of feeling reaches to this pitch those who have the interests of Parsee cncket at heart should stop and ask themselves if it is not possible that their education in the gam e is progressing a little too fast, and if it w ould not be wiser to relax the strain and take the game of cricket a little m ore quietly. E vidence of this is now being furnished in the undoubted fact that thev are including in their team tw o bowlers whose delivery is not only open to question by the Europeans they have played, but by their own fraternity as well. E nough has been written and still m ore has been said, of Mr. M ody’s “ throw ­ ing,” which reached such a clim ax during the Poona match, a short tim e ago, that he had to be no-balled. W hether he is or is not a “ throw er ” is not a point we care to discuss here, and, from the correspondence that has appeared about it, it seems that he has as m any advooates as opponents. But we must adm it that we noticed that his advocates were all of his own nation and that his opponents were all Europeans. This is perhaps only natural. A t the same tim e it should be rem embered that it was found difficult enough in E ngland to decide the vexed question of unfair bowling, where the combatants on each side were E nglishm en; it will be utterly impos­ sible in B om bay to decide the point between Parsees and Englishm en, unless the real spirit of the game is entered into, and party feeling entirely abolished. Mr. M ody’s E henom enal success in clean bowling the first ve wickets for eighteen runs in the m atch against Poona is conclusive proof enough that if he is allowed to bowl at his own pace and in his own style, the Parsee E leven is good enough to defeat any team in India. B ut all India knows that Mr. M ody’ s delivery has been frequently questioned,* and that, while he bowls in the way that has been objected to, a large discount will be taken, by those who question his bowling, off any further success the Parsee cricketers may obtain. They have already w on the respect and admiration of all cricketing Englishm en who have ever seen them play, and they will win still m ore if they agree to henceforth play only bowlers about whom there is absolutely no question at all, and all the more credit will then be given to their future successes. There is no disgrace in being fairly beaten by fair means and fair play on either side, and,"after all, it is not the one sole object of a cricket eleven to be able to obtain, at any cost, an unbeaten record at the end of each season. L ord Harris, as everyone expected, declined to give an opinion on the debated point of unfair bowling, and, in his excellent spcech at Poona some little tim e ago, left the question to umpires to decide. This of course is true, but easier said than done, as few umpires care to take the responsibility; but his E xcellency’ s remarks were significant when he called attention to the words “ absolute fairness,” and that umpires “ with that law behind them should give the doubt against the bow ler.” But there would be no necessity for the unpleasantness of having the umpire, in this case, to act in the matter at all, if the motive and real spirit of the game were acted up to, and the players , as well as the umpires, were satisfied with the “ absolute fairness” of all their bowlers before the match began. [*We have reason to believe that Mr. Mody has recently altered his action, and his delivery is now above suspicion.— E d .] B U R L IN G TO N W AN D E R E R S CLUB. M atches played, 21—won 11, lost 4, drawn 6 . RESULTS OP MATCHES. May 3—v. Eltham, at Eltham. Won by 24 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 88; Eltham, 64. May 10—v. Beddington, at Beddington. Lost by 2 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 53; Bed­ dington, 55. May 17—v. Pallingswick, at East Acton. Won by 164 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 207; Pallingswick, 43. May 21—v. Addiscombe, at Addiscombe. Won by 167 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 2T“ Addiscombe, 53. May 81—v. Carshalton, at Carshalton. Won by 30 runs and 8 wickets. Burlington Wanderers,159for2 wickets; Carshalton, 129. June 7—v. Mitcham, at Mitcham. Won by 34 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 88; Mitcham, 54. June 14—v. Addiscombe, at Addiscombe. Won by 8 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 134; Addiscombe, 126. June 21—v. Charlton Park, at Charlton. Won by 6 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 105; Charlton Park, 99. June 25—v. Ewell, at Ewell, W on by 57 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 179; Ewell, 182. June 28—v. Erith, at Erith. Drawn. Erith, 126; Burlington Wanderers, 70 for 2 wickets. June 8—v, Dorking, at Dorking. Lost by 12 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 146; Dorking, 158. July 12—v. Ewell, at Ewell. Won by 16 runs, Burlington Wanderers, 97 ; Ewell, 81. July 19—v. Northbrook, at Lee. Won by 33 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 82; Northbrook, 49. July 26—v. Epsom, at Epsom. Lost by 23 runs. Burlington Wanderers (played 2 short), 57; Epsom, 80. July 28—v. Croydon, at Croydon. Drawn. Bur­ lington Wanderers, 247; Croydon, 189 for 9 wickets. August 2—v. Eltham, at Eltham. Drawn. Bur­ lington Wanderers, 116 for 5 wickets ; Eltham, 128 for 7 wickets (innings declared finished). August 9—v. Hampton Wick, at Bushey Park. Won by 66 runs and 6 wickets. Burling­ ton Wanderers, 154 for 4 wickets; Hamp­ ton Wick, 88. August 16—v, Spencer, at Wandsworth. Drawn. Burlington Wanderers, 80 for 4 wickets ; Spencer, 194. August 23—v. Croydon, at Croydon. Drawn. Burlington Wanderers, 93 for 5 wickets; Croydon, 129. August 30—v. Charlton Park, at Charlton. Drawn. Burlington Wanderers, 83 for 7 wickets ; Charlton Park, 88. September 6—v. Northbrook, at Lee. Lost by 29 runs. Burlington Wanderers, 64; North­ brook, 93. BATTING AVERAGES. Times Most in Inns, not out. Runs, an Inns. Aver. S. Cook .......... 15 ... 3 ... 318 ... 97 ... 26.5 E. C. Lindup... 17 ... 2 ... 343 ... 49 ... 22.86 F. W. Freeman 18 ... 3 ... 836 ... 73* ... 22.1 E. Williamson 13 ... 2... 246 ... 54 ... 22.36 G. H. Wells ... 3 ... 2 ... 21 ... 12* ... 21.0 E. B. W arren... 17 ... 1 ... 272 ... 58 ... 17.0 J. N. Cooper ... 5 ... 1 ... 64 ... 34 ... 16.0 F. S. Lunnon... 3 ... 0 ... 48 ... 31 ... 16.0 F. W. Ledger... 11 ... 0 ... 167 ... 49 ... 15.18 R.D . Green ... 2 ... 1 ... 13... 13* ... 13.0 F. B. Godrich.., 5 ... 0 ... 63 ... 20 ... 12.6 E. A. Green ... 3 ... 1 ... 25 ... 18 ... 12.5 A. E. Gent.......... 14 ... 1 ... 162 ... 57 ...12 46 H. T. Bull......... 14 ... 2 ... 117 ... 24 ... 9.75 H. E. Hockley 8 ... 2 ... 50 ... 26* ... 8.33 A. L. Pattison... 7 ... 1 ... 33 ... 20 ... 6,33 W . H. Lunnon 8 ... 1 ... 43 ... 14* ... 6.14 J. P. Baxter ... 3 ... 1 ... 11 ... 6* ... 5.5 J. Messenger ... 3 ... 0 ... 15 ... 10 ... 5.0 W . J. Jeffries... 5 ... 3 ... 9 ... 3* ... 4.5 M. J. Wells ... 5 ... 1 ... 13 ... 5* ... 3.25 D. M. Bowie ... 3 ... 0 ... 9 ... 6 ... 3.0 J. 8. Walker ... 1 ... 0 ... 2 ... 2 ... 2.0 V. W. Blair ... 4 ... 0 ... 5 ... 4 ... 1.25 G. E. Collins ... 4 ... 0 ... 1 ... 1 ... 0.25 BOWLING AVERAGES. Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. F. S. Lunnon ... 7 ... 3 ... 9 ... 3 ... 3.0 J. P. Baxter.......... 22 ... 4 ... 37 ... 7 ... 5.28 E. Williamson ...265.4... 98 ... 459 ... 58 ... 7.91 H. T. Bull ............. 307.3 ...100 ... 635 ... 61 ... 10 41 F. W. Freeman ...289.2... 67 ... 626 ... 46 ... 13.6 F. W. Ledger ... 41 ... 11 ... 117 ... 7 ... 16.71 F. B. Godrich ... 30.3... 2 ... 70 ... 4 ... 17.5 H. E. Hockley ... 32 ... 10 ... 69 ... 3 ... 23.0 W. H. Lunnon ... 40 ... 11 ... 70 ... 3 ... 23.33 R. D. G reen.......... 18 ... 0 ... 69 ... 2 ... 34.5 STOICS v. W ELLIN G BO RO .- Played at W ellingboro’ on A ugust 2. S to ics. J. S. Haycraft, Bead, b Brown ... 9 C.E.S.Cockburn, lbw, b B row n ................. 0 H. J. Rogers, b Burkett .................12 H. C. Potter, b Burkett ................. 0 G. W. T. Daniel, b Burkett ................. 1 A. W. Platt, c Curtis, b B row n.................11 F. W . Potter, b Brown ................. 0 W ellin g b o r o ’. W. J. Burt, b Burkett ................. 4 L. C. Paget, b Brown ................. 0 E. C. Spencer-Stan- hope.not out ... 17 F. C. Paetow, c Brown, b Burkett 6 B 4, lb 2 .......... 6 T otal... , 66 R. C. Dalton, Burt............................31 A. F. Newman, b B u rt........................ 5 W. Brown, lbw, b B u rt........................ 3 W. W. Robinson, b B u rt.......................... 78 J. Coombe, c Paetow, b D aniel................. 9 F. Knight, c Potter, b Daniel ................. 5 A. Watson, b Daniel A. Burkett, c Hay­ craft, b Daniel ... 23 H. Read, c sub., b Cockbum ..........67 T. Curtis, c Cock­ burn, b Haycraft 1 W . E.Audland, not out ........................11 B ........................ 6 Total... ...241 NEXT ISSUE, NOVEMBER 27.