Cricket 1891

APRIL 16,1891 CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME; 57 by that most reliable of Australian critics, “ Felix,” of tlie Australasian newspaper. Phillips [he writes] has sent down during the season 4,786 balls for 1,396 runs, 258 maidens, and 136 wiokets, producing an average of 10*26 runs per wicket. Consider­ ing the very fine summer we have had, and the excellent wickets he has had to bowl on, his performance is remarkably fine and entitles him to the highest praise. In first- class M.C.C. matches he has sent down 2,136 balls for 635 runs, 108 maidens, and 61 wickets, giving the fine average 10 40 runs per wicket. In intercolonial matches his fipures are 988 balls, 239 runs, 74 maidens, 21 wickets, averaging 11*38 runs per wicket. In these intercolonial matches he bowled against the best batsmen in Australia, and his results are splendid, especially when it is considered that he bowled on wickets of the billiard-table order. In Wednesday matches he averages 9*66 runs per wicket, and his figures are 1,949 balls, 566 runs, 108 maidens, 52 wickets. In batting he has per­ formed creditably, averaging 25'09 runs per innings for 24 innings, three times not o u t; aggregate runs, 527. J. Phillips [“ Felix ” adds] may be set down as a vastly-improved cricketer in all departments of the game, and no doubt Middlesex County will so acknow­ ledge if he retains his present fine form when next he finds himself amongst the old folks at home. T he stars in their courses are fighting to ensure that there shall he no outside attraction to interfere with the success of purely English cricket this year. The last possibility of a visiting team has just been removed by an authentic announce­ ment I have received to the effect that the projected tour of a party of Dutch cricketers in England has been deferred for another season. A trusty and well-informed correspondent in Holland informs me tha-t the Hague Club proposes to play a series of matches in Gelderland during the summer, with a view to develop an interest in the game in other parts of the country. Last year the Hague won the Laming Silver Cup, presented by Mr. R. Laming, of Kralin- gen, defeating Amsterdam in the final. As this was the club’s third consecutive win, the Cup has become its absolute property. This year the Dutch Union gives a trophy to the Champion Club in first-class matches. As in previous years, too, it has invited A. Bentley, of Devonshire, to visit Holland for a few weeks for the purpose of coaching the members of the Union. T he cricket public is never likely to grow apathetic as long as the games maintain such a lively aspect as was the case in the match between the North and South of Tasmania, played at Launceston at the end of February. It is not often that a side making over 400 finds its total exceeded in the next hands, as was recorded in the second innings of the South. A noteworthy feature of the latter’s score of 563, too, was that no less than 505 were made by the last five wickets. The chief credit of this per­ formance rested with K. E. Burn and C. Eady, who put on 261 runs for the sixth wicket. How these two batsmen changed the aspect of the game can be understood when I state that after having a majority of 271 on the first innings, the North would have had to go in a second time with 262 to get to win. T h e rate of scoring throughout the match was exceptionally fast, and to ac­ complish the unusually high aggregate of 1,187 runs were got at an average rate of 90 an hour. Burn’s innings of 180 was the great feature of a run-getting match. As he was only hatting four hours and thirty minutes, it will be seen that he must have kept the field alive. English CRicKET-readers generally will be par­ ticularly pleased to hear of this brilliant performance, more especially those who are of opinion that Burn had no chance of showing his real form during the last tour of the Australian team in England. The score shows, too, that the old Cantab, C. W. Rock, was the third highest run- getter for the North, with 92. Another noteworthy display of fast scoring [re­ cently in Tasmania was that of Mr. E. H. Butler, who participated in some of the principal matches in England some years back, for Break-of-Day v. Wel­ lington on Eeb. 14th. He is evidently qualified for Thoms’ special order of “ gentle tappers,” for he made his 56 under the half-hour. T h e credit of some of the fastest scoring recorded during this winter, by no means an uneventful one in this par­ ticular direction in Australia, though, belongs to the two South Australian cracks, G. Giffen and J. J. Lyons. The latter, as some of our best English bowlers know to their cost, is not a respecter of persons or of reputations. He is what Robert Thoms calls essentially a “ mover,” and on the occasion to which I am now referring he found a partner quite after his own heart in his old mate G. Giffen. The pair, who were in their very best form, on March 7 were re­ presenting their Club, the Norwoods, against South Adelaide, and while they were together 143 runs were added in seventy minutes. At one time 57 runs were got in twelve minutes off 30 balls. One over produced 15 runs, the next seven, the third two, and the fourth sixteen. T h en came what the reporter of the South Australian Gazette describes as one of the most sensational overs ever bowled on the Adelaide Oval. The first ball was away to leg, and Giffen getting fairly hold of it lifted it mightily right on to the ridge of the Pavilion roof. The ball resenting this treatment did not come down, and a new one had to be obtained. Lyons, apparently without an effort, dis­ patched it over the fence, and some minutes were spent in finding it. The next ball he put into the hands of Phillips at long-field-on, but the fieldsman mulled, and a single only was scored. Giffen again had the strike, and another five was the result, the ball just landing on the top of the paling fenoe. The last ball of the over Lyons tried to put out off the ground again, but the ball went too high and oame down into the sure hands of Dyer. Thus the over produced 17 runs and a wicket. A lto g e th e r it took the Norwoods 135 minutes to make the 230 runs scored for the loss of two wickets. George Giffen’g batting performances this season, by the way, have been so remarkable that his figures cannot fail to be of interest. They are as follow :—26 not out v. Hindmarsh, 60 v. Adelaide, 296 v. South Adelaide, 21 and 19 v. New South Wales, 237 v. Victoria, 16 v. Hindmarsh, 68 not out v. Adelaide, 121 not out v. South Adelaide. These give a total of 864 runs for six completed innings, and an average of 144. THE OLD (CRICKETING) ’ OSS AND THE YOUNG (GLOUCESTER) COLTS. Fifty, not o u t! A good start beyond doubt In a twenty-four field, Dr. W. G. And may Ninety-one bring us lots of good fun With you at the Wiokets for Figures of Three, To see the Old ’ Oss stir in good time to foster The coming-on “ Colts,” should give courage to Glo’ster! — Punch. I t will interest C ricket readers to know that Mr. L. K. Jarvis is to be married on Wednesday next to the Hon. Adeline Thellusson,the eldest daughter of Lord Rendlesham. Mr. Jarvis is one of the few fortunate individuals who can claim the distinction of a treble blue. He was not only in the Cambridge cricket and football (under Asso­ ciation rules) elevens, but also represented the University in the hurdle race, being very quick over timber. He went up to Cambridge from Harrow with a high reputation as an all-round athlete, and,as the above facts will show, upheld it well. He has of late done good service for Norfolk on the cricket field. When thoroughly, set he was a very fast scorer. E veryone will be sorry to learn that English cricket will, after this summer, lose the genial presence of that enthusiast of enthusiasts, Mr. F. Gale. A sad blow in the sudden death of one of his two sons located in Manitoba, has determined Mr. Gale to say good-bye to the Old Country and settle in the Far West with his other boy. He will leave England about the end of August. Before he takes his departure, however, he would be prepared to make arrangements for the delivery of his lecture “ Half-a- Century on the Cricket Field,” or the Cricket Story and the Story of English Sport combined, to any Club, Institution, College, or School, on this side of the big drink. He would be willing, too, to enter into negotiations with a view to similar engagements in any cricket centres in America or Canada, en route to his new home, say at Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, or Winnipeg. I can cordially recommend Mr. Gale, in his role o f an entertainer, to the Transatlantic public. O f Mr. Gale’s lifelong devotion to cricket I need hardly speak. No one can testify more forcibly to his