Cricket 1891

FEB. 26, 1891 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 28 VICTORIA v. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. M r. D a vid S cott sends us the following account of thia match, begun on the Mel­ bourne Club Ground, on New Year’s D ay:— After our splendid win over New South Wales, it was not expected that South Aus­ tralia would make Victoria bite the dust, personally, I thought there was very little to choose between the two teams, especially taking into account that they have three such brilliant batsmen in G. Giffen, J. Lyons, and A. L. Jarvis, with other good men such as Blinman, Noel, and F. Jarvis. South Australia winning the toss, went in to bat on a splendid wicket on New Year’s Day, Lyons and Jarvis opening for them. Lyons was not long in getting to work, and by beautiful cricket made 63 in 45 minutes. His hitting was very clean and effective, two fivers in particu­ lar being much admired. It was quite a treat to the large number of people who were present at the difference between his play and Banner­ man, who on the previous week had been over five hours in making 45. G. Giffen, who took Lyons’ place, at once set to work, and by splendid cricket put on runs rapidly till 119 was reached,when Jarvis, who had not played in his best form, retired for 29. J. E. Goodin, who followed, is one of the old brigade, and played in Melbourne first about twenty years ago. He has been in good form this season, and twice exceeded the century. He did, how­ ever, not remain long on this occasion, as after making 1 he retired. J. Reedman, a dashing young cricketer, joined the cham­ pion, and after making 7, left with the score at 162, Giffen in the meantime having been playing in beautiful style. Harry Blinman, one of the nattiest batsmen in South Australia, joined Giffen and a long stand was made, both playing splendid cricket. Change after change was made in the bowling but still they piled on the runs. When Giffen had made 65 he gave an easy ohance in the long field to Houston, which was missed. This was hard luck for Trumble, the bowler, who had been trying to get him to hit in this particular spot for a long time. This was thought by Victorian supporters to be a serious matter, and so it proved. There was a strange coincidence connected with it, as it was Houston who missed Percy McDonnell when he made 30 in the match New South Wales v. Victoria, in 1886. McDonnell never gave another chance till he had got 239, and New South Wales won the match easily in consequence. Blinman, after making 50 by neat cricket, made room for Hiscock, who with Giffen played out time, Giffen 119, Hiscock 10. " There was a large attendance of spectators, who thoroughly en­ joyed the play, 275 runs having been scored for the loss of 5 wickets, much faster than in the previous matohes between Victoria and New South Wales. The game was resumed next morning in the presence of a large at­ tendance for an off-day, not being a holiday. Hiscocks was soon disposed of, but on Noel joining Giffen another long stand was made, 319 being added before Noel was bowled by Morris for 50. Giffen waB at this time 194, and he played exceeding carefully till he reached his 200, when he received an ovation from the crowd. He then scored much faster and piled up the runs at a great pace, making among several good hits a beautiful stroke for 5 off Trumble, which went sailing far out of the playing ground. His score was rapidly approaching McDonnell’ s, and when only two short of it Blackham, who had put Houston at the wickets and placed himself at mid-off, oaught the champion off a hard drive off Phillips for a superb innings of 237, with only the one chance afore-mentioned at 65. He went in firstwicket down and was out ninth, having been at the wickets about 8 hours and 30 minutes. Both players and specta­ tors cheered him to the echo. The score was 64 when he went in to bat, and 471 when he came out, so that he was in while 407 runs were made, of which his share was 237. The innings closed for 1 more, or 472 in all, which was a mammoth score for Victoria to face with the chance of the weather breaking, with half an hour left to play Victoria sent in Bruce and Houston, who had put up 48 runs when time was called. Phillips again bowled splendidly, sending down 334 balls for 91 runs and six wickets. Taking into consideration the length of the innings, I consider this bowling was quite equal to what he did against New South Wales, when he took seven wickets for 20 runs. There is no mistake about Phillips, he is bowling better just now than ever he did, and uses his head to advantage. A scorching hot day greeted the South Aus­ tralians when they took the field on January 3, and runs came fast, Bruce and Houston bring­ ing the total up to 96, when the former retired for 58, not made in his best style. This was a good start, but it was not continued, Morris retiring for 3 and Trott 0,making three wickets down for 108 runs when luncheon was par­ taken of. A large attendance thronged the ground after lunch, and there must have been considerably over 11,000 spectators present at 4 o’clock. Houston and McLeod took their places at the wickets at 2.15, and the slowest cricket of the match followed. The two bats­ men were together for an hour and a half, dnring which time only 36 runs were scored. This, I consider, lost any chance Victoria had of winning, as their game was to score fast while the wicket was good, and I reckon they lost 100 runs in the time- It was quite a relief to the spectators when Houston was run out for 64. He played a good defensive innings, but fearfully slow, and lost many opportunities of scoring. C. Ross joined McLeod and the runs came faster, Ross laying on to Giffen in good style, though he soon lost McLeod, who was clean bowled by Giffen for a pokey innings of 24. Blackham came and went, being clean bowled by Jarvis for 0. Worrall joined Ross, and some good hitting took place, Worrall especially scoring but just when the game was again looking up for Victoria he was splendidly caught in the long field by Sorymour for 20. H. Trumble joined Ross and hit the bowling all over the field. He was, however, too reckless, and eventually ran out at Giffen, missed, and was clean bowled. Sid Dinchoo, the Colt, who joined Ross and was run out for a duck, and Phillips only stayed long enough for Ross to make 3, when he played a ball up from Giffen to short-leg and Scrymour effected a difficult oatch. The Victorian innings closed for the meagre total, on a perfect wicket, for 220 runs, Ross carrying his bat for 29. Giffen took 5 wickets for 89 runs. Victoria, of course, followed on and had mad3 15 for the loss of no wickets, when stumps wrere drawn for the day. It was thought there was still a chance for Victoria if the wicket kept good, and they made a good score in the second innings. Sunday was the hottest day of the season, in fact the hottest for two years. Monday opened warm but soon changed to rain and it came down heavily for two hours, completely spoiling the Victorians’ chance of victory. The match could not be resumed till 2.15, and when the game was recommenced the wicket was in a verv bad state. Five wickets fell for 25, and then Trott, who made 81. Trumble 48, Phillips 17 not out, and McLeod 14, hit out, and brought the score up to 190. Giffen took 7 wickets for 103 runs, and South Australia had beaten Victoria by an innings and 62 runs. I make no excuse for the defeat, but there is no doubt that winning the toss was an important factor in the result. Had Giffen been taken when he made 65 it would have made all the difference. As it happened he was not, and it was no doubt due to him that South Australia has recorded such a brilliant victory. It will do cricket in South Australia a deal of good, as it has fallen off in public esteem lately. It will benefit cricket in Victoria also, and if only some of our players emulate the brilliant hitting of Lyons, and the scientific and brilliant cricket of Giffon, the grand old game in Victoria will once more hold its own as it used to do. The match was played in the most friendly spirit throughout, aud there was not a single hitch the whole time it lasted. S outh A u s t r a l ia . J. J. Lyons,bMcLeod 53 A,H-Jarvis,cHouston, b Phillips ..........29 G.Giffen. cBlackham, b Phillips.................237 J.E.Gooden,cMcLeod, b Phillips................. 1 J.Reedman,bTrumble 7 H.Blinman,cMcLeod, b Phillips.................50, E. J.Hiscock.c Trum­ ble, b Phillips ... 11 V icto ria . First Innings. R. Houston, run out ... 54 W. Bruce, c and bGiffen... 58 H.Trott,cBlinman,bLyons 0 S. Morris, lbw,b Giffen ... 3 R. McLeod, b Giffen ... 24 C. Ross, not out.................29 J. McC.Blackham, b F. Jarvis............................... 0 J. Worrall, c Scrymgour,b F. Jarvis ........................20 H. Tromble, b Giffen ... 20 S. Donahoo. run out... ... 0 J. Phillips, c Scrymgour, b Giffen............................... 0 Extras ... .................12 Total .. “ ...“ ...220 J. Noel, b Morris ... 49 L. Evan, o Morris, b Trott ................. 3 F.Jarvis, cBlackham, b Phillips................. 9 E.Scrymgour, not out 0 Extras.................23 Total ...472 Second Innings, c Evan, b Giflen 8 b Giffen ..........13 cGooden,bGiffen 81 b F. Jarvis ... 0 st A. H. Jarvis, b Giffen ..........14 c Scrymgour, b Ginen .......... 6 cHisoock,bGiffen 0 run out .......... 1 stA. H. Jarvis, b Reedman ... 48 st A. H. Jarvis, b Giffen .......... 0 not out ..........17 Extras.......... 2 Total ...190 BOWLING ANALYSIS. S ou x h H A u stra d ia. Trumble Phillips McLeod Trott B. M. R. W. 234 13 104 1 334 20 91 6 156 7 66 1 60 2 38 1 B. M. R. W . Bruce ... 162 9 58 0 Ross ... 42 1 18 1 Morris... 72 4 89 0 Worrall 144 5 35 0 Trumble^ bowled l,}Bruce 8, Ross 2, and Worrall 1 wide. V icto r ia . First Innings. Second Innings. B. M. R. W. B. M. R. W. Giffen .......... 308 21 895 ............ 1505 103 7 F. Jarvis ... 180 10 742 ............ 108 2 54 1 Lyons .......... 188 10 421 ............ 36 0 25 0 Reedman ... 6 0 30 ... ... 9 6 6 1 OLD CARTHUSIANS. F ix tu r e s f o r 1891. May 18—v. Eastbourne May 30—v. Wellington College June 4—v. Oriel College, Oxford ’ June 13—v. Surbiton June 27—v. Westminster July 3—v. Broadwater July 4—v. Evelyns July 18—v. Esher T h e T our . July 31 & Aug. 1—v. Old Brightonians (College Ground) Aug. 8 & 4—v. W . G. MichelTs XI. (Rugby) Aug. 5 & 6—v. Wellesboume Aug. 7 & 8—v. Old Wykehamists {Charterhouse) Aug. 10 & 11—v. Horsham Aug. 12 & 13—v. Shorncliffe Camp Aug. 14 & 15—v. Brighton (County Ground) J.J.L yons got 51 runs for SouthAustralia v. Victoria in 32 minutes. C. T. B . T u rn er , in his first match at Goul- bourn (N.S.W.), scored 116 runs. S. P. J ones arrived in Melbourne, in the “ Sobraon,” on December 29th. T he death is announced of Mr. Thomas Moore, an old colonial cricket enthusiast well known in Sydney. He had resided there since 1840, and was seventy years of age. C r ic k e ter s .— B est < C G B « G oods bear this M ark .— A dvt. NEXT ISSUE, MARCH 26.