Cricket 1890

5 0 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. APRIL 17, 1890. 40 at Cheltenham. In the later fixtures, too, he bowled with some success, getting Shrews­ bury, Mr. Dixon, and Flowers at Nottingham for 33, and five wickets of Yorkshire at Halifax at a cost of 26 runs. In second-class matches Mr. Hadow has been very successful. The Marylebone Club, I Z., Free Foresters, and Esher have all profited by his all-round cricket during the last few years. In 1881, just after leaving Harrow, he scored 118 for Rickling Green against I Z., but his highest score has so far been for Esher in 1888,in which year he had an average of 51 for that club. At Scarborough he has been particularly for­ tunate, and both in 1888 and 1889 he did well, though his best record was his 34 and 75 for I Z ,against theGentlemen of England with Mr. Spofforth in 1888. Of late years, too, Mr. Hadow has done good service for the Harrow Wanderers in their annual tour both in bat­ ting and bowling. Last summer he was singularly successful, taking 64 wickets in eight matches besides having a batting average of 21.6 for ten innings. A good bat with considerable powers of hitting, and a very fair fast bowler, Middlesex is fortunate in having so useful an all-round cricketer in its eleven. Mr. Hadow’s record as a sports­ man, though, is not by any means confined to the cricket-field. As a racket player he has been in quite the front rank. With Mr. M. C. Kemp he won the Public Schools Chal­ lenge Cup for Harrow in 1880, and the fol­ lowing year with Mr. A. F. Kemp was again successful, winning the trophy outright for Harrow. He was a competitor for the Amateur Championship at Queen’s Club in the spring of 1888, but after beating Captain Cooper Key, Messrs. M. C. Kemp, and E. Ralli in the earlier ties, had to put up with defeat from Mr. C. D. Buxton in the final. Mr. Hadow was full back in the Harrow School Football Eleven of 1880, and subsequently did good service for the Old Harrovians, though for the last three years he has not played at all. Fond of shooting, and, indeed, of every kind of outdoor amusement, there are few keener sportsmen. Our portrait is from a photograph hy Sarony, of Scarborough. THE SEVENTH AUSTRALIAN TEAM. Since the exhaustive article we published in C r ic k e t of March 27 on the capacities of the various members of the team new on their way to England, there has been little in the way of reliable information to add. The Captain, Mr. W. L. Murdoch, who left Australia some weeks before the rest of the party, arrived in London on the 7th with his wife. He came in advance with a view to take a house in the neighbourhood of London for his family, who, in all probability, will remain in England for some months. From the reports which had appeared in some of the Australian papers, we were pre­ pared to find that he had increased consider­ ably in rotundity. He has, however, apparently not added very materially to liis weight since he was here six years ago, and, indeed, he looks thoroughly fit and in good fettle. Though he practically retired from active cricket for five years, he is of opinion that he has not lost any of bis batting powers. Indeed, in his practice in Australia, he found tbat his play was stronger than of old, and he is sure that he will give the English bowlers trouble this summer. What is more, he feels that he will have a very strong combination to support him in tlie field. He regrets, of course, that Giffen and Bannerman are not of the party, but, as far as we can judge, does not seem to be as much impressed as some of the Austra­ lian critics with Moses. We gathered, indeed, that the latter was, in his opinion, hardly likely to show to advantage on English cricket fields. Perhaps there may be some reason for this disbelief in that most of Moses’ best innings have been made on one ground, that at Sydney. According to Mr. Murdooh’s estimate, the team will be particularly strong in batting. Lyons, he thinks, has improved in a remarkable degree. Indeed, in his judg­ ment the South Australian is very nearly, if not quite, the best batsman in the Colonies. Lyons, as CnicKET-readers know, has scored consistently heavily this winter. His second innings of 64 for South Australia against New South Wales in the match at Sydney in the middle of February, according to Mr. Murdoch, was a very remarkable display of batting on a bowler’s wicket. His hitting has got more power, and Mr. Murdoch thinks he is a worthy rival of Charles Bannerman or H. H. Massie at their very best. S. P. Jones is in the best of health. Mr. Murdoch thinks he is in better form than ever. His innings of 100 against Victoria at Christmas, and 68 against South Australia, were both the result of brilliant cricket. The latter, in particular, was an exceptionally good one, as the bowling required a great deal of watching. Mr. Mur­ doch, who captained the team, declares the 240 made by New South Wales on that occasion as really a great performance. The wicket indeed was so bad that G. Giffen, though he won the toss, sent his opponents in, and the New South Wales skipper hardly expected that the total would be much over a hundred. Blackham has been batting in consistently good form, and as a wicket keeper Mr. Murdoch asserts he is as good as he ever was. H. Trott, at the present time one of the very best all-round cricketers in the Colonies, has scored heavily throughout the season. His latest performance was an innings of 162 for South Melbourne against St. Kilda. C. T. B. Turner, as an all-round cricketer, has not shown any falling off, and is sure to be as useful as in 1888. J. J. Ferris, who has not been in good health lately, has has not been quite up to the mark as a bowler this winter. Against the Fifteen of Queensland, however, in the last match of the season at Sydney, he was quite unplayable as the wicket was, and the trip is likely to do him good as the last did. So much for the old stagers. Mr. Murdoch has, too, a high opinion, formed on personal knowledge, of most of the new members. He expects great things in particular of P. C. Charlton. Over six feet high, Charlton makes the fullest use of his height, and varies his pace with great j udg- ment. He is very much on F. R. Spofforth’s model. As a batsman, too, he shows good style, and his off strokes are not unlikely to recal a past English master, Mr. C. T. Studd. Charlton is also a good field. He is in the Civil Service of New South Wales. Another bowler of whom the Captain thinks much is Hugh Trumble. Like Charlton, he exceeds six feet in height, and bowls well over. He breaks from the off and gets up quickly. In addition he uses his head well, and re­ quires a lot of watching at all times. He is in theNationalBankof Australasiajat Melbourne. Dr. Barrett is the Bannerman of the team. He is a left-handed batsman, with great defence, and has done several good performances in Intercolonial matches this winter. Mr. Mur­ doch thinks well, too, of F. H. Walters, who is another batsman on the tall side. He has great power, and is also a fine out-field. The captain has, we believe, not seen K. Burn, the Tasmanian. Boyle and Blackham, though, have both a great belief in his powers. Be­ sides being a good bat, he can also bowl fast, and is also a very fine field in the country. Sid. Gregory, the junior member of the team, has already impressed Mr. Murdoch very favourably. The latter asserts he has never seen a better field, so that expectation will be busy to see him perform. Though only nineteen, he has been very successful in Intercolonial cricket in this his first season. He has, indeed, scored consistently well, and his latest performance—46 for New South Wales against Fifteen of Queensland—was an excellent display of cricket. As a rule, too, the Australian critics write very hopefully of the prospects ofj the team. The Sydney Mail is, perhaps, a notable ex­ ception, but otherwise the opinions are dis­ tinctly favourable. “ Mid-on,” the critic of the Melbourne leader , who knows English cricketers and English grounds, analyses the team in the following way:— Blackham can keep wickets as well as ever, therefore that most difficult of all positions in the field could not be more efficiently filled if we had the world to choose from. Australian victories in England have been generally gained by superiority in bowling, in which department the present team will certainly be wonderfully strong in quantity, quality and variety. Turner and Ferris need not be worked half so hard as they were in 1888, and I brave thorough confidence in both Charlton and Trumble. There already is a rare quartet of bowlers, with Jones for a fast change, Lyons vastly improved, Trott’s leg breaks for further variety, to say nothing ofBarrett and Walters, who can both bowl, but will probably be seldom required. If at times the team get a real “ glue-pot,” then Boyle can give somebody a spell, for he has not lost his precision. Now about batting. What I like about the batting in this team is that it is of the right class, generally, for an English tour. There aro no potterers, for though Barrett is slow, he is con­ sistently so, and is quite justified in depending upon such a wonderfully strong defence as he possesses. Nobody will deny Alick Bannerman’s value as a batsman in an Australian Eleven in England, and a better substitute to stonewall than Barrett could not have been chosen. In Murdoch, Jones, Trott, Lyons, Turner, Charlton, Walters and Blackham we have a tremendously strong combination of batting, all free players, who will not wait in the crease to be inevitably beaten ultimately by the unerring precision of bowlers like Attewell for instance. Many people distrust Murdoch after five years’ absence from the wickets, but he recently showed in practice form equal to his best day, and his cut and character­ istic off stroke could be recognised half a mile away. Jones has never been better than he is now, Trott and Lyons never so good, and surely that is saying a great deal. We know how Turner can hit, Charlton is a brilliant bats­ man of whose success I am very sanguine, and Walters will, I am sure, impress the British public by the number of his strokes and the way in which he can play them. Blackham can hit any sort of bowling, the best for choice, and though he may do it in a style of his own, he does it, and once the figures are in the book you know, it matters little how they got there. I am pleased to see Walters included, and am gratified with the refaction that I first suggested his inclusion. I know what he can do with the bat, and were I asked to name fair odds about his English record I should take 5 to 1 that he comes out on top, 3 to 1 he is either first; or second, and even money for a place. Allowing the comparative weakness of Ferris and Trumble, the batting strength of the team cannot, 1 think, be found fault with. Giffen, M‘Donne 1, Bannerman, Moses and Bruce would, of course, strengthen it im ­ mensely, but the exigencies of business will always prevent the absolutely strongest team in Australia going to England. Respecting the fieldsmen I may as well deal first with the weakest. These are Trumble, Barrett and Murdoch, for whom places will have to be found near the wickets. Walters though slow on his feet can catch splendidly, and the other nine are irreproachable; quick, accurate and untiring being general characteristics of such as Jones, Bonnor, Blackham, Trott, Turner, Charlton, Ferris and Lyons. T h r ie D ozen O r d e r o p G oing - in C a r d s with latest improvements, together with Wooden Case for hanging up in Pavilion or tent, sent on receipt of 2 9, by the Manager of this P aper, 41 St. A ndrew ’s Hill, Doctors’ Commons, E.C. " I n t e r -U n iv e r sit y R e c o r d s .” — Full particu­ lars of all Competitions in Athletics, Bicycling, Bil­ liards, Chess, Cricket, Cross Country, Lawn Tennis, Polo, Racquets, R ifle Contests, Rowing, and Tennis, between Oxford and Cambridge, from 1827 to 1887. Most valuable as a reference. Sent post-free on receipt of l/2in stamps, by Wright & Co., 41, St. Andrew’s Hill, Doctors’Commons.E.C. S p l e n d id P ortraits of D r . W. G. G r a c e , Mr. W. W. R e a d (the Surrey amateur), and M r . A. N. S o rn by (the Lancashire Captam), Price 6d. each. Size 9in. by 6in. Also fac simile of Signatures. Sent securely packed on receipt of Seven Stamps. The Three for Is., post free. Wright and Co., 41, St. Andrew’s Hill, Doctors Commons, E.C. Speciai photograph of G. G, Hearne, carte size, 3d., cabinet, 6d.