Cricket 1892

JUNE 2, 1892 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 171 Stevens, and R. B. Wright seems also likely to train on. The fielding is decidedly good. T he Clifton team is a very fair ore. The batting is sound, and in one or two cases, notably Bieber, vigorous. Curtis is a good bat, but with rather a tendency to hit up at the beginning of an innings. The bowling is weak, though little Charlie Townsend, a son of Frank Townsend of Gloucestershire fame is likely to be very difficulton asticky wicket, having much command of the ball with considerable break both ways. The general fielding is excellent. T h e Cheltenham bowling is much better and more varied than that of Clifton, though Quinton would do well to sacrifice some of his pace for greater accuracy in pitch. The bat­ ting, with the exception of the brothers Cham- pain, is semewhat rough. There are some hard hitters, but rather too general a desire to “ slog.” The fielding at present leaves much to be desired. I n the second inch gs of the match between Cheltenham College and the Incogs, a some­ what remarkable performance was done. Sixty-three runs were required to win, and only three-quarters of an hour to play. Capt. C. E. Greenway, an old captain of Chelten- heartless officers of the law have not forgotten a previous innings of his in which he scored a little matter of nearly twenty years imprison­ ment. C r ic k e t history is likely to repeat itself, as I had occasion incidentally to remark last week, in the matter of the Halifax Tourna­ ment. The American Cricketer calls attention to a curious fact, particularly if the ’nvitation of the good folks at Halifax should be accepted this year, as seems very likely, that F. E. Brewster is the only player now engaged in active cricket who played in the first tourna­ ment at Halifax in 1874. Brewster, as many will remember, was a member of both the Philadelphian teams which have visited England, and one of the most popular mem­ bers too. It is only another illustration of the survival of the fittest. Last week, at Lord’s, there was even a more noteworthy instance of the same kind. Had “ W. G.” played for the Married against the Single at Lord’s he would have been the only one of the twenty-two who took part on the last celebra­ tion of the same match in 1871. C o n s id e r in g that just at the present time King Willow is holding royal revels in the world of sport, it is eminently fitting that cricket should be so much in evidence as it is in Baily18 Magazine for the current month. No inoonsiderable portion of the contents, in­ deed, is supplied by writers who have chosen for their theme the king of games. “ Bor­ derer,” an old contributor to Baily , takes for his subject, in “ Cricket in Rain or Sunshine,'* a pamphlet recently published by Mr. Bernard Dale. Its title “ The influence of the weather on the wicket with a method for its elimina tion in the comparison of Averages,” is suffi­ ciently comprehensive to explain its full scope, and “ Borderer,” it must be admitted, makes out a fairly good case for the appellant. At the same time he has apparently overlooked the fact that the experiment of a covering sufficiently extensive to protect the wicket thoroughly has been tried more than once, and apparently settled. Public opinion in fact does not seem as yet to be sufficiently educated to approve of the usage of such appliances. T he best feature though in Baily for June to cricketers generally will be an excellent steel engraving of Lohmann, which forms the title page for the new volume. In an analysis of his merits as an all-round player the remarks on Lohmann’s extraordinary capacity as a fieldsman will find an echo among cricketers. It is no disparagement, indeed, to his undoubted ability as a bowler or a batsman to say that it is as a fieldsman that he stands pre-eminent. Talking of his apti­ tude at short slip or extra slip, the writer says “ he would seem to be endowed with a supernatural gift for covering the ground and balls—apparently far out of his reach— are stopped and caught by him owing apparently to the marvellous quickness with which ho can start in any direction.” A u s t r a l ia n cricketers will hear with pleasure of the success which attended the first appear­ ance of James Phillips in County cricket this season. Though the best bowler in Victoria, Phillips has not as yet in England been as successful as his Colonial reputation would have led one to expect. Still,his auspicious com­ mencement for Middlesex at Lord’s this week will create hopes which everyone will trust to see thoroughly fulfilled during the summer. As a cricketer, as well as a man, Phillips, who divides the year in alternation between his duties as professional to the Melt ourne C.C., and as a ground bowler to the other M.C.C. at Lord’s, is deservedly popular in England as well as in Australia. Considering that he had only very recently arrived from Mel­ bourne, his performance against Sussex was of a very high order. Thirteen wickets for an aggregate of 117 runs is a good enough per­ formance, especially with J. T. Hearne at the other end. To Cambridge men the portrait given below needs no introduction. To the general public I need only state that it is the counterfeit presentment of a young cricketer of con­ siderable promise, with a name which requires some care to spell, much more to pro- nouuce. Kumar Ranjitsinhji, who played such good cricket for the Next Sixteen of Cambridge University on Tuesday, is an Indian Prince hailing from Jamnagar, a feudatory state in the Bombay Presidency. Born in 1872, and educated at theRajkumar College at Rajkole, an institution reserved for young princes of the province, and conducted on the principle of our great public schools, India has the credit of his cricket education. It was not until 1888, indeed, that he came to England. During the last two years he has scored consistently well at Cambridge, and also bowled with great success. Nor have his successes been confined to cricket. He won the Racquet as well as the Lawn Tennis Championship of his College, and has also acquitted himself with credit as a lawn tennis player in England. His all-round cricket at Kingston on Easter-Monday, I may add, impressed good judges highly. A w e l l - k n o w n cricketer, who has been touring in the South West, has been good enough to send me a few notes on the Public School Elevens he has met in his travels. Sherborne, he writes, are certainly weak but likely to improve. The Captain, Joy, though a very steady left-hand bowler, is not difficult. They have one very promising bat in J. E. ham, and H. H. Harington knocked up 40 in the first seventeen minutes. The latter was then out, but Greenway and G. A. Collins got the remainder in nine minutes more. The 63 were thus made in twenty-six minutes, in­ cluding the time occupied in one batsman going out and another coming in. A n o t h e r correspondent writes me that the Winchester eleven will be a fairly good side He speaks in very high terms of the wicket- keeping of Lewis, who showed great promise in some of Surrey’s minor matches at the end of last season. Oddly enough, con­ sidering that Winchester has always been famous for its smartness in the field, the fielding seems to be the weak point of Win­ chester cricket so far this year. J. B. W o o d , whose lobs had so much to do with the cheap dismissal of the Lancashire eleven in their first innings against Oxford University last week, has, as the more diligent C r ic k e t readers hardly need to be reminded, previously figured in first-class cricket. A son of Doctor Wood, the late principal of Leamington College, he made a very prom­ ising debut for Warwickshire in 1890, at Birmingham, when he scored 33 against Yorkshire. Since then, he has only played occasionally for the county. Last year, he assisted Warwickshire against Kent, at Gravesend, but did little, and illness pre­ vented him playing any more during the sea­ son. As he is a good bat, and plays correctly, his want of success recently has been a great disappointment to those who have confi­ dence in his ability as a batsman. Unless I am much mistaken, J. B. Pelham, who bowled with considerable success for the , First Twelve against tho Next Sixteen of Cambridge University on Monday, is a son of the excellent all-round athlete who got his “ double blue ” at Cambridge in the middle of the sixties. No one who has any recollection of University Sport at that time needs to be told of the excellent record of the Hon. F. G. Pelham as a cricketer, or cf his ability as a runner. Still it will be of interest to many to