Cricket 1891

76 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME; APRIL 23, 1891 THE PAST SEASON IN AUSTRALIA. In happy contrast to the drenching summer of 1890 at home, that of 1890-91 in Greater Britain has been generally warm, fine, and bright, and consequently altogether successful from a cricketing point of view. Seeing that at the time of writing this article (Easter, 1891) the last few matches of the Australian season are being fought out, a favourable opportunity seems afforded of reviewing the good cricket of that season and its results. The critics—those “ hebdomodal con- ferrers of immortality ”—had so severely commented upon the performances of the Seventh Australian Team in England, that such members of that unlucky com­ bination as returned home fit and well, felt determined to atone for their past shortcomings so soon as they again trod the green turf of their Fatherland. To this end, Messrs. Lyons, Charlton, and Gregory made the best use of the short time that elapsed between their arrival home and the date of the opening Inter-Colonial match, at Adelaide, between South Australia and New South Wales. The most pleasing “ incident” of this same match was the fine show made by the junior Colony, which three or four seasons ago had to play fifteen in order to combat the New South Welsh­ men with any degree of equality. On this occasion the latter put together the enormous total of 406, yet South Australia only lost by six wickets in the end. Lyons proved a comparative failure, most of the scoring being done by the younger Giffen, Blinman, Gooden, and Reedman —all promising batsmen—for South Australia; by the better-known Moses, Bannerman, Eichardson, Iredale, Gregory, and Charlton, for New South Wales. The great Turner was absent from the winning team, but most of the damage for the same side was done by Ferris, who secured fourteen wickets for 192 runs. George Giffen was for once a failure, his seven wickets costing 160 runs, though, certainly, some catches were dropped. Charlton and Gregory, with well-got scores of 34 and 32, proved that they had not lost their old form. A few days previous to this, though (Dec. 6), Giffen had established a fresh record for his Colony, and had at the same time almost equalled Bruce’s great innings in 1884, by a remarkable innings of 296. This was played on the Adelaide Oval, in a club match, Norwood v. South Adelaide, the Norwoods’ total of 627 being the highest ever played on that ground. He was in nearly five hours, and he hit only sixty-seven singles ; the J. E. Gooden above named helped him to put on 365 runs--a record stand for the Colony. Singularly enough, on the very same day that this team scored 389 runs for the loss of three wickets, Adelaide (v. Hindmarsh on the same ground) was engaged in making 333 for one wicket— or an aggregate for the day of 722 runs in fo u r hours fo r fou r wickets ! The Adelaide total amounted to 466, a large proportion of which were contributed by E. J. Hiscock with 185 and L. W. Evan with 165—and this pair put on 314 for the second wicket. The famous Victorian left-hander, H. Moses, opened the season brilliantly on Nov. 22, with 165 for Belvidere v. War­ wick C.C. In conjunction with Richard­ son he scored 242 for the first w icket; and against a long total of 558 Warwick just managed to effect a draw, thanks principally to a steady innings of 76 (not out) by Gregory. The first of the two great fixtures between New South Wales and Victoria was a bowlers’ match throughout, a great deal of rain having fallen. Indeed, the highest score of the match was Gregory’s first innings of 50,for which he was justly awarded the batting prize of the Victorian Association. A very notable performance, however, was that ot Alec Bannerman, who carried his bat through the first innings of New South Wales for 45. His “ stone-walling ” style is perhaps not very pretty to watch, but considering the un­ favourable conditions that obtained in this particular engagement, it was a most uncommon feat, and performed by Ban­ nerman for the first time in an Inter­ colonial. A splendid finish resulted in a win for Victoria by 36 runs, the Welsh being again handicapped by the absence of “ the Terror,” whose removal to Gonlburn was certainly a great misfor­ tune. Palmer played for Victoria on this occasion, but failed to come off in either department. A memorable match was that com­ menced at Melbourne on New Year's Day —memorable if for the part played in it by George Giffen—as well as for the decisive defeat that the South Australians were enabled to inflict on the champions of ftew South Wales. This was distinctly Giffen’s match throughout, and it is not too much to say that he, combined with a piece of good fortune in winning the toss, gained the day for his side. It was played in perfectly sultry weather, the Sunday that intervened between the third and fourth days’ play being the hottest experienced in Australia for two years. Giffen, who was in while 407 runs were scored, and made 237 him­ self, should have been caught at 65, this let-off making all the difference. Every­ body characterised it as one of the finest efforts of his long career. Three other batsmen, Lyons, Noel, and Harry Blin­ man, rendered him material assistance, and averaged 50 runs each in the single innings of South Australia. For the rest, the representatives o f the older Colony did not to play up to their several reputa­ tions, and entirely failed to maintain the good start by Bruce and Houston in scoring 100 before a wicket fell. Trott, whose second score of 81 was a most masterly display, and Hugh Trumble, however, deserve every credit for their piucky attempt in the follow. The popular Victorian skipper, Blackbam, was credited with “ a pair of spectacles,” though his wicket-keeping was very brilliant. Giffen followed up his grand batting by some magnificent bowling, his record for the match reading as follows O. M. R. W . 458 26 192 12 Phillips, the burly Victorian who is engaged each recurring season at Lord’s, bowled so well in both of these engage­ ments that a handsome collection was made for him on the ground. In the first, he helped as much as anybody to win the victory for his Colony, securing an aggregate of ten wickets for 44; while, in the second, he alone seemed to trouble the terrible Giffen at all. Just previous to this, the annual match between Northern and|SouthernTasmania, begun at Hobart on Boxing Day, had been won by the South, after a splendid game, by three wickets. The best cricket in the match was shown by our old friend, “ Kenny ” Burn, whose contributions of 54 and 50 had a lot to do with the success of his side. Indeed, we have it on the best authority that the Tasmanian batsman who was so unlucky when he “ came home ” last year, has never been seen to greater advantage than in this encounter. The cricket all-round was of a high order, though, and we hope to hear more of the Southern bowler, J. Watt, who in addition to a double figure contribution each time, took twelve wickets in the match. The old Cantab, C. W. Rock, was on the losing side, and though he did nothing in the way of trundling, was responsible for two sound innings of 24 and 39. In the return in March the scoring was far heavier, Burn totalling 180, and our old friend Mr. Rock 92, and the game being drawn after eleven hundred runs were scored. Meanwhile, a gloom had been cast over Antipodean cricket circles by the departure of J.J. Ferris for England ; but this has been treated of in another place. Several items of interest about this time were the long stand made by W . C. Hopkins in the club match Grange v. Croydon, when the former team hit up 286 for the loss of three m en ; the long score of 257 by J. D. Edwards and Tatchell, for the first wicket of Richmond v. South Melbourne, on the last of January; the rapid hitting of Harry Trott for the latter combination, in making 95 (not out) in half as many minutes; and the 111 of the well-known W. Bruce for Melbourne against Essen­ don, enabling his side to declare the closure at 288 for four wickets. Very noticeable, too, has been the consistent scoring of Costello of Castlemaine, whose not out innings of 102, 114, 137, and 163 give him remarkable figures, and should ensure his entree into first-class cricket. In the great return Intercolonial, New South Wales v. Victoria, played at Sydney at the end of January (when Turner was able to take part), the premier Colony had ample opportunity of demonstrating that losing the toss on a splendid wicket does not always necessitate losing the match. F. H. Walters,whose success we noted with delight, and which won him the bat of the Victorian Association, was seen to great advantage in a first innings of 106. This, indeed, only saved the visiting team from a more crushing defeat than they received, as, with the