Cricket 1890

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron . No. 234. VOL. IX. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1890. PRICE 2d. THE SEVENTH AUSTRALIAN TEAM. A l l being well, the “ Liguria,” which was not able to complete the voyage home without an accident, slight as it was, should be at Plymouth to-morrow night, or in the small hours of Saturday morn­ ing. The Orient liner is bringing, as everyone knows by this time, the team of Australian cricketers—that is, with one important exception—who are to com­ mence their tour at Sheffield Park on the 8th of next month. The exception is, of course, the Captain, Mr. W. L. Murdoch, who left Australia some time before the main body with his wife, with the object of looking round and securing a suitable residence for his mother and family before the arrival of the rest of the party. Some little difficulty arose even at the time o f departure from Australia with regard to the thirteenth place in the team. McLeod, of Yictoria, a good all-round cricketer, was even at the last looked upon as a certainty, but, as is now known, the two latest vacancies were filled up by S. E. Gregory, of New South Wales, and K. E. Burn, of Tasmania. Deane, of Sydney, who is, we believe, a cousin of the Captain, was warmly supported throughout by the New South Wales contingent for the position of reserve wicket-keeper, and so near was he to inclusion in the team that he was actually taken in the “ Liguria ” from Sydney to Melbourne. On arrival there, however, he was discarded in favour of K. Burn of Tasmania, who is said to be a brilliant batsman of the punishing order, though not, we believe, a wicket­ keeper. As finally constituted, the team consists of W. L. Murdoch, C. T. B. Turner, S. P. Jones, J. J. Ferris, P. C. Charlton and S. E. Gregory, of New South Wales, J. M’C. Blackham, Dr. J. E. Barrett, H. Trott, E. H. Walters, Hugh Trumble, of Victoria, J. J. Lyons, of South Australia, and K. E. Burn, of -Tasmania, with the evergreen H . E. Boyle, of Victoria, as manager, or four­ teen in all. Leaving Melbourne on March 14, the “ Liguria ” reached Naples on Thursday last, and after landing mails resumed her voyage, which has London as the ultimate stage, the same night. So far, the trip had been com­ paratively uneventful with the exception of a slight injury to Lyons, who, in falling from a trapeze, strained a muscle near the hip-joint, from which, however, he recovered in the course of a few days. Until “ G ib” was reached, there had been in fact nothing to disturb the even tenour of the team. There, however, occurred an incident which might have had serious results. While coming to anchor, on Monday last, the “ Liguria ” somehow got into collision with the British steamer “ Acuba ” and the French steamer “ St. Dominique.” While the latter got off with little injury, the “ Acuba” had her stern damaged and plate broken. Fortunately, however, though she sustained damage to two plates on the port side, the “ Liguria ” got off comparatively well, so much so, indeed, as to leave in fairly good time so as to be able to reach Plymouth, according to the calculations of the managers of the Orient line, as already stated, to-morrow night or Saturday morning. Mr. Boyle and his comrades, too, were not allowed to leave Melbourne without a hearty send off by Melbourne cricketets. Their hosts were the Melbourne Cricket Club, and there was a large attendance in the pavilion on the Melbourne ground to speed Messrs. Blackham, Jones, Turner, Trumble, Gregory, and Charlton on their long journey. In the absence from illness of Mr. F. Grey Smith, the President, the chair was taken by Mr. W . H. Hull, one of the Vice-Presidents. In proposing the toast of the “ Australian Team,” which was received with great enthu­ siasm, the Chairman said he would not enter into the question of the choice of the men. Australia never yet had sent its best team home, and never would be able to do so, as two or three of the leading players were always unable to get away. But in all respects the present team was a good representative one, and would probably be as successful in its tour as any other team that could be selected, and he had no misgivings as to their success when pitted against their British opponents. Some of [the team were chosen because they were veterans and would stiok to the last; others because of their brilliant records during the past two or three seasons. With respect to the polioy of sending new men home, much might be said on both sides of the question. There was this to be borne in mind, that if they would be puzzled by the players they would meet in England, the English players would also experience the same difficulty when they had to face them. In wishing success to the team, he would only say that he hoped that the new men would prove as good cricketers as those who had preceded them, and that those who had been home before would be in as good trim as they had been hitherto. Mr. Boyle, the manager of the team, in responding, Baid that they had a much better team than most people imagined. Some people said that So-and-so should not be in the team, because he had not made a big score, or two or three big scores. But what was wanted was a man who could not only make a good score on the billiard-table grounds of the colonies, but also on the stioky wickets in England. They also wanted men who could catoh or run other men out, and so, perhaps, save their side forty or fifty runs in a match. It had been stated in some quarters that they were going home as money-grubbers. That was a slander. The team was going home simply to play the game, and represent Australia as well as they could, and to do that the promoters had selected the very best men that could be obtained. If they reoouped their expenses, so much the better. As to the constitution of the team, it mattered little which colony the players belonged to. If the best men were all from West Australia, he would accept them as the Australian repre­ sentatives. (Applause.) As the Chairman had said, it would always be impossible to get the very best team together. This time they had had promises after promises from men" they would like to take. The programme they would have to go through was very heavy, not so much from the number of matches to be played as from the calibre of the cricketers they would have to meet. In the very first match the opposing team would be practically an All-England eleven, bar one man. That, however, did not frighten them. They had played the same men before, and the Austra­ lian representatives would give a very good account of themselves. He had been rather amused to read in one of the local papers that the team consisted of too many played-out veterans and too many young men. Before it had always been said that there was not enough new blood. This time the team had