Cricket 1892

FEB. 25, 1892 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME; 25 sufferer if the engagement, which, if not concluded, is “ near it, very near it,” should become an accomplished fact. T h e celebration of the fiftieth anniver­ sary of the Birmingham Musical Society was rendered more than usually inter­ esting by the performance of a work specially composed for the occasion by Mr. A. B. Gaul, entitled the “ Song of Life.” The author of the words,“ Bavens- wood, ” has written an ode to music in which the Seven Ages of Man are de­ picted. King Cricket, it is gratifying to notice, has had full honour accorded to him in the following lines : “ The youth of Great Britain together met, A rare knotty point to decide, From Erin they came, and the Eentish Downs, From Sark and the Forth and the Clyde, And this was the matter that puzzled them then, Of games in the ken Of mortal men. With bat or with ball, In field or hall, To elect the monarch of all—of all, To eleot the monarch of all. The strong vetoed tennis as ‘ sport for maids,’ The weak censured ‘ football and broken bores,’ The short scouted billiards, the tall cursed bowls, And all scoffed at croquet as 1made for drones,’ They quibbled, they jeered with a lordly disdain, Made speeches galore, met with yelling refrain, Till cricket was voted the conq’ror by far, With a right good British ‘ Hurrah!— Hurrah ! ’ With a right good British 1Hurrah 1 ’ ” King Cricket, too, scored heavily in the shape of an enthusiastic reception on the occasion of the first semi-public per­ formance on the jubilee commemoration at Birmingham on February 1st. It was “ a h it—a palpable hit.” A mong the many whom the influenza has bowled over during the last few months, have been not a few who have strutted their brief hour on the stage of cricket. One of the most recent victims was C. A. Cater, who will be well re­ membered by Harrovians of thirty years ago as an all round athlete considerably above the average. H e was in the Harrow School cricket eleven in 1861, and in fact had the distinction of a double first that year, being also in the football team. Besiding at Barnet, he was close in touch with the celebrated brotherhood at Southgate, and was identified with the cricket played there under the auspices of the Walkers for some time. He also, if I remember rightly, represented the Gentlemen of Middlesex, when the head­ quarters of the County were at Islington, under the shadow o f the old cattle market. Unless my memory fails me, too, he played occasionally for the County itself. He returned to his old love of Harrow some four years ago to reside, and died there on the third o f this month, in his forty-ninth year, Mb. A l f r e d J. G asto n , of Brighton, w rites: I have perused with much interest the full score of the “ Double Tie M atch” played at Natal, the details of which appear in the last issue (January) of C r ic k e t . Double Tie Matches are very rare indeed, but in “ Scores and Biographies ” Mr. Arthur Haygarth mentions six instances, viz., in Vol. 1 p. 1417, Vol. 4 p. 562, Vol. 8 pp. 215 and 476. Vol. 10 p. 326. Vol. 12 p. 590. Tie matches have ako been played as follows—Ifield v. Balcombe, Sussex, May 24,1869, 44 and £4 against 44 and 24 ; 29 and 42 against 29 and 42, Billington v. tddlesborough, Leighton Buzzard, in 1879 : 61 and 51 against 51 and 51, Royal Fusiliers v. Tenby, in 1885 ; 32 and 32 against 32 and 32, Union v. Press in Australia, 1885; 33 and 35 against 35 and 33, Visitors v. Besidents at Cannes, January 25, 1888. The extraordinary tie match alluded to above as taking place at Ifield in Sussex in 1869 has, so far as I know, not been published, and recently after a good deal of trouble I obtained the original score sheet, the particu­ lars being as follow : IFIELD v. BALCOMBE. E xtr a o r d in a r y T ib M a t c h . Played at Ifield on May 24,1869. iFIBIiD. First Innings. Second Innings. R. Saxby, not out ............ 17 b Kenward ... 2 J. Deadman, b Lewery ... 1 lbw, b Kenward 2 J. Ibbs, b Kenward........... 1 c Turner, b Ken­ ward .......... 3 J. Worsfold, run out........... 2 run out ........... 0 A. Thorne, b Kenward ... 0 b Blaber ............ 1 T. Voice, b Kenward ... 0 b Kenward ... 2 J. Muggeridge, b Kenward 0 b Kenward ... 1 H. C. Blaker, b Lewery ... 0 b Lewery .. ... 0 W. Wood, c Comber, b Kenward............................ 0 b Lewery ........... 0 A. Mitchell, c Lewery, b Kenward...........................12 Ibw, b Kenward 0 F. Mugaeridge, lbw, b Kenward........................... 8 b Blaber ........... 0 B 1, w 7 ................. 8 B 1, lb 12 ... 13 Total .................44 Total ... 24 B alcombe . First Innings. Second Innings. Kev. B. Q.-Mead, h Saxby 5 b Deadman ... 5 Frank Turner, not out ... 28 b Deadman ... 0 E. Turner, b Mitchell ... 3 (E. Kenward), b J. Gibb, c Deadman. b Mitchell.......... 4 Mitchell ........................ 0 c Di-adman, b Mitchell ... 0 A. Blaber, b Mitchell ... 0 b Mitchell ... 6 J. Lewery, c Worsfold, b Saxby.............................. 7 b Deadman ... 6 C. Com) er, b Mitchell ... 1 b Deadman ... 0 J. Jeffery, b S axby........ 0 b Mitchell............ 1 J. Brown, lbw, b Snxly ... 0 cand b Deadman 0 E. Bates, c Worbfold, b Saxby............................. 1not out ............ 0 H.Godsmarli, lbw.bSaxby 0 c and b Mitchell 0 B8, lb l........................ 4 B 1, w 2 ... 8 Total ................... 44 Total ... 24 “ D o I wake, do I dream, or are visions about ? ” Lord Sheffield's Team a second time, and on this occasion decisively, beaten by Combined Australia ! And yet I make hold to think that there could be found a few misguided souls who would be voted as unpatriotic enough to have experienced some slight satisfaction that Australian cricket has proved itself to have much more grit, and, in fact, to be of a much sterner stuff than many who were not so very many weeks ago so ready, nay, so eager to decry it. T he victory of the Australian eleven in the second representative match was o f too brilliant a kind to allow of depreciation by any but a biassed critic. To win as they did after a minority of 163 on the first innings, and under the disadvantage of having to go in a Becond time with one of their best, if not their most useful batsman (Moses) away, was a performance which cannot be explained away by any amount of special pleading. A ny disappointment which may have been felt at this B econd reverse of the English team, should be lightened by the satisfaction that Australian cricket has received a fresh and vigorous boom from the visit of the Earl of Sheffield’s powerful combination. We are all members of the great federation of cricket, and the effectual revival of the game, after the depression into which it had undoubtedly fallen during the last year or two, should give unqualified satisfaction to everyone who is concerned for the general welfare o f cricket. It may not be, perhaps, without advantage to recal that the game in England was, perhaps, in want o f a little stimulus towards the end o f the seventies. I t would savour o f base ingratitude, too, were one to ignore the fact that the visit o f The First Australian Team to England, in 1878, gave a new zest to the pursuit of cricket all over the country. W ere any proof, indeed, wanting o the interest awakened by the visit o Lord Sheffield’s team to Australia, ic would be found in the official report of the attendance on the ground o f the Melbourne C.C. during the progress of the first representative match, com ­ mencing on New Year’s Day. As it was absolutely the best on record for the Melbourne ground, if not for Australia, the figureB will bear to be perpetuated. The actual takings were as follows :— First day Second day 16,294 X 8. 1,110 2 d. 6 16,368 1,072 1 0 Third day •• 6,982 455 18 0 Fourth day ,. 6,268 397 14 0 Fifth day •• 996 55 19 0 Total paid for admission 46,908 3.091 14 6 O f this aggregate of nearly three thousand one hundred pounds, be it added, all but the bare expenses went to the English team, and “ Felix,” the critic o f the Aw tralatian newspaper, esti­ mates that the nett return to Lord Sheffield would be about twenty-six hundred pounds for this match alone. It deserves, too, to be placed perman­ ently on record in proof of the liberal and sportsmanlike spirit which actuates the premier Club of Australia that not a single penny went to the Melbourne C.C. by way of percentage for either ground or stand. Inclusive o f members, my old friend Major Wardill, the secretary of the M.C.C., reckons that sixty thousand person? yvere present during the five dayg. NEXT ISSUE MARCH 24 f