Cricket 1891

444 CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME; SEPT. 24, 1891 T h e following lines are from Punch of yesterday:— T o th e G rand O ld C r icketer . Dear Dr. Grace, the season through You’ve straggled on and struggled gamely. Your leg, for all you’ve tried to do, Has made your record come out lamely. Your County suffers too with you, Your failures very dear have cost her, But better luck in ninety-two To you, old friend, and good old Gloucester! SOU TH O F E N G L AN D v. E IG H T E EN OF NELSON . P layed at Nelson on Friday and Saturday last. Some fine batting was shown by Peel and Sowden. The m atch was drawn. N elson and D istrict . First InniDgs. Second Innings. Cartman, b Hearno..........10b Davidson ... 3 Sowden, c Wood-Sims, li Brockwell........................67 c Wood-Sims, b Davidson ... 1 Richards, b Davidson ... 13 Sellars, b Davidson......21 Peel, not out .................59 c Richards, b Davidson ... 4 Bower, c Hearne, b David­ son ............................. 5 b Hearne ........ 4 Wright, b Brockwell........ 1 Redfern, b Davidson ... 1 b Hearne ........ 0 Kiley, c sub., b Brockwell 4 c Brockwell, b H earne.......21 Diiver, b Brockwell........ 2 b Hearne ........ 0 Hulme, b Hearne .......... 2 c Brockwell, b Davidson ... 2 Crabtree, c Bowley, b Brockwell........................ 7 c Richards, b Hearne .......10 Hanson, b Hearne ........ 7 b Davidson ... 0 Robinson, run out ....... 3 c Emmett, b Davidson ... 0 Mercer, b Hearne .......... 0 o Wood- Sims, b Dayidson ... 4 Higson, lbw, b Hearne ... 9 b Davidson ... 0 Bartley, c Davidson, b Hearne ........................ 0 c Brockwell, b Davidson ... 7 Bunkum, b Hearne........ 0 not out ........ 1 Extras.................... 13 Extras........... 7 Total Total ... 61 S outh of E ngland . West, b Peel .......... 2 Marlow, b Hulme ... 7 Brockwell,c Cartman, b Peel .................26 Davidson, b Peel ... 1 J. T. Hearne, b Peel 18 Harris, b Hulme ... 22 Emmett, b Cartman 0 Bichards, sub., b Hulme .................14 Bowley, c Cartman, b Peel ................. 0 Wood-Sims,,not out 1 Sellars, sub., c and b P eel........................10 E xtras................. 8 Total ..104 DE. BABBETT’S IMPBESSIONS. [From the Melbourne Daily Telegraph.'] A m o n g st the arrivals by the Orient liner “ Austral” yesterday (Aug. 14) was Dr. J. E. Barrett, the well-known Australian cricketer, who returned to tho land of his birth after seventeen months’ sojourn in the old country. Dr. Barrett, it will be remembered, was amember of the seventh Australian Eleven, which played in Eng­ land during the season 1890. Instead of returning with the team, he put in nine months' attendance at the King’s College Hospital, London—an institution cele­ brated for the facilities it gives young medicos for the study of their profession. To a representative of this journal Dr. Barrett (who, by-the-bye, has put on flesh and looks in the best of health) readily related his impressions of the old country. He entered the College Hospital at a very interesting time, as he was shortly enabled to witness the experi­ ments conducted by Dr. Watson-Cheyne with the Koch lymph, the first of tireir kind conducted in London. Since the departure of the eleven he gave most of his time to his profession, but, neverthe­ less, found time to play in a fewmatches during the season just closed in England. He played two or three games with Mr. Thornton's and Mr.Webbe’s teams,against Dr. W. G. Grace’s elevens, also with the M.C.C. Eleven in Newport and Swansea, and altogether obtained a batting average of about thirty runs per innings. Concerning the performances of the last Australian Eleven in England, Dr, Barrett says :—“ Our great weakness lay in our batting. In bowling and fielding we were as good as most of our pre­ decessors. Our failure was chiefly due to Sam Jones’s illness, and one or two members not coming up to expectations. For a youngster I think Gregory batted extremely well, and I think he has a great future as a cricketer. In the field he never flagged. Another thing which went against us was the new conditions under whichwe played. When acricketer first goes to England, the change of light is so complete, and the cricket is played so keenly, that he is likely to make mistakes if the weather is bad, and if he makes a few small scores he is apt to grow disheartened. It requires aman to be at his best to play in England, as he never meets a weak team, and every run has to .be earned. The bowlers are uniformly good, and there are many pro­ fessional bowlers engaged, who do their utmost against the Australians, knowing that if they get a few wickets their re­ putation is assured.” As to his own performances, Dr. Barrett said that, like others he had to overcome the new condition, but he did his bast, and by watching others succeeded in getting into form. The bowlingof Turner and Ferris was in his opinion wonderful, it being a real treat to see them day after day doing splendid work. They kept up their form, and never bowled better than in the last match. Another thing which militated against the success of the teamwas the want of emergency men. Jones being ill, and several others at times suffering from strained legs, over-worked men had to play whether they wished it or not. Then it was admitted by competent authorities that the English batting as a whole was superior to that of the Aus­ tralians. Australian batting lacked the uniformscience ofthat ofthe Englishmen, and wherewe hadone first-classexponent, like Murdoch (at his best), England had seven or eightinthe same category. The second-raters of the mother country were equal to our next best. There were seven or eight men like Shrewsbury and Walter Bead, to whom Murdoch at his best was only an equal, although our hitters—M’Donnell, Lyons, Bonnor, and Massie have been seldom equalled in the old country. It was the hitting of Bonnor and Massie on the bad wickets that gained the 1882 team their success. During the whole of his stay Dr. Barrett was never at a loss for the society of his countrymen. One of the Austra­ lians at home is Pope, the New South Wales cricketer, who is studying at Edinburgh, and who played in a number of matches in England last season, in which he showed his best Australian form. Ferris had played with several teams in the county, and with the Gentlemen, while Murdoch occasionally took part with Lord Sheffield’s Eleven. Ferris wouldplay in the county matches next season, and his services would be lost altogether to Australia. Dr. Barrett dined with Spofforth the second last Sunday which he spent in the old country. The “ demon bowler '1 had a little place at Hampstead, and was in business in the great city. He retained his bowling form wonderfully, though his delivery was somewhat lowered. The demon, however, having reached his fortieth year,one couldnot be surprised at any decadence in his skill. He generally lent services to the Lyric Club. Socially Dr. Barrett spent a pleasant time in London, which was a wonderful place for all kinds of amusement. His tour with the Eleven gave himmany opportu­ nities for sight-seeing. England he described as a truly delightful country. As a colonial, he wasalittle apprehensive at the approach of winter, but found the cold and fog nothing to speak of. Dr. Barrett regards the English team about to pay us a visit as thoroughly representative of the strength of the old country, although it did not include Shrewsbury or Gunn. It had the very best of bowling talent, and the men that replaced Shrewsbury and Gunnwere just as likely to score as well as those cracks. Shrewsbury and Gunn were most pains­ taking batsmen, an Australian sportsman having described them thoroughly when he said they “ played for keeps.” Shrewsbury had of late years given up meeting balls with his pads, but his run- getting was slower than before, as was that of Gunn. Australian Elevens were generally regarded as representative at home, although they left behind such men as Giffen, Moses and M’Donnell, and the present Englishteamin the same manner might be considered to represent England, although such men as Shrews­ bury, Gunn, and Ulyett were absent. He thought if the best Australian Eleven could be got together for the three repre­ sentative matches Australians would hold their own with the visitors, although the individual colonies might be beaten. As to Dr. W. G. Grace, our cricketer still regarded him as the champion cricketer, if not the best batsman in England. If he did not get so many runs he was as good a bowler as ever, and his influence inspired confidence in the team he was playing with. He was just the man to get runs on a bad wicket at a critical stage of a game. Dr. Grace was a thorough sportsman. On one occasion whon he had had to play at SheffieldPark Dr. Grace rose at 6 o’clock in the morn­ ing, and spent the forenoon before the game at fishing and shooting. Having made a good score in the match, he again resumed his shooting, and finally played a game of billiards before completing the day’s sport. Dr. Grace weighed fully 17st., and his physique was exceptional. He was especially kind and attentive to Australian cricketers, NEXT ISSUE OCTOBER 29