Cricket 1892

JULY 28, 1892 CRICKET J A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 825 game against the insidious designs of the Surrey cricketers, or the critics who, after establishing, and in good faith, a principle, had not even the ordinary courage of their opinions. A week or so ago I called attention to the success which has attended Mr. A. S. John­ ston in the way of scoring since he iden­ tified him self with the Granville Club of Lee. Last Saturday he made another innings, his third so far, of three figures— a hundred, against Eltham . His last five innings for the Granville have been so m uch out of the comm on that they will bear reproduction. As the follow ing list will show,his average for them is ninety-three. Granville (Lee) v. M.C.C. & G................................. 335 Granville (Lee) v. Charlton P ark..........................344 Granville (Lee) v. Forest Hill ...........................61 Granville (i ee) v. Tunbridge Wells .............. 22 Granville (Lee) v. E ltham .....................................100 Total ... 465 Mr. H. B. S teel has always been known as a gentle tapper of the most pronounced type. It is refreshing, too, to find that his hitting has lost none of the power which marked his game when he used to play for Lancashire. Last week, at Aigburth, he was one of the chief actors in a brilliant performance in the way of fast scoring by the Liverpool Club. After getting Huyton,who were one short, out for 47, Liverpool scored 336 for five wickets, in two hours and forty minutes, or at an average rate of 126 an hour. II. B. Steel and A. C. MacLaren, who started the batting, scored 200 in an hour and twenty minutes. The first wicket fell at 205, when Steel, who had made 117 of the number, was out. T his season’s experience, in Inter-County matches at least, has furnished a startling exception to the general rule—that winning the toss means, in a majority of cases, winning the game. At all events, of the forty first- class fixtures decided up to date, the side which has got the choice of innings has only won thirteen times against twenty-one of that which lost the toss. Tua following table will show for itself the relative luck of the captains of the nine lead­ ing Counties this summer. Lancashire, as will be seen, has won the toss in every one of its eight fixtures. THE TOSS. Lancashire ........................ won 8 lost 0 Gloucestershire........................ , , 5 , , 2 Kent .................................. „ 5 „ 4 Surrey .................................. „ 5 „ 5 Middlesex .................................. „ 4 „ 5 Yorkshire .................................. „ 4 „ 6 Sussex .................................. „ 4 . , 6 Nottinghamshire ............. „ 3 . , 6 Sooieisetshire ........................ », 2 „ 6 Total 40 ... 40 Winning the match after losing the tosfi ... 2i Winning the match and the toss........................33 Drawn mutches....................................................... 6 Side go’ng in first Side *oing in first Drawn matches Total... 40 ... won 35 ... lost 19 Total 40 As every occasion on which the Surrey captain is fortunate in the spin of the coin is utilised by the cricket press as a fresh illus­ tration of his exceptional luck, it may be well to point out that this season Mr. Shuter ha3 lost the toss precisely the same number of times that he has won. P . F . W arn er (Captain Rugby Elaven.) P. F . W arn er , the captain of the Rugby Eleven, was born at Trinidad on October 2, 1873. He left the W est Indie3, however, in 1887, and his home for the last few years has been in London. C ricket readers will re­ member his fine innings for the Public Schools against the Gentlemen of England last August. His scores for Rugby this sea­ son have been as follows :— * 69 v. New College, Oxford. 32 and 29* v. Trinity College, Oxford. 11 and 2 v. Rugby C.C. 23 and 2 v. Free Foresters. 37 v. Halliol College, Oxford. 17 aud 58* v. Old Rug Jeians. 11 v. M.C.C. & G. 34 v. Newbold Revel. 13 and 86 v. buttei flies. 53 v. W. G. Mitcheii’e Eleven. Total ...427 Aver. ... 32.11 It is possible that he m ay go up to Oxford, though nothing has as yet been settled. Captain of the Rugby team who had such a long outing at L ord’s yesterday. H e was born at Darlington on Nov. 9,1873, and has the double qualification of birth and residence for Durham. Neither University will have the benefit of his services, as he is coming to business in London. T he performance of the Marlborough Eleven at Lord’s, yesterday, establishes i double record for the Rugby match. \s far as I can remember, their total of 432 has not been beaten on any previous occasion in this Inter-School fixture. In any case P. R . Creed’s 213 has undoubtedly not had a parallel. The credit of the next best also belongs to Marlborough, A. G. Steel’s 128 in 1877. W ardall , who played such a capital second inningsa gainst Surrey last week, and has been showing altogether such excellent cricket for Yorkshire just lately, is not by any means unacquainted with the Oval. He was on the ground staff there during the summer of 18b3 but did not do him self justice, suffering more or less from rheumatism. He comes from Middlesborough, where he is very popular. At the present tim e he is engaged at Sheffield. Wardall, is too, by no means a bad bowler, as he proved in the second innings of Gloucester­ shire, at Bradford, yesterday. B E R EAD . In rhymes that are rambling, reckless of metre (It’s rather a nuisance I can't find a neater, But I ’m lazy and lacking, alas ! in invention), 1 wish to direct CRiCKET-readers’ attention To a thiee-figure score W e can hardly ignore — To the rhyme-slinger’s mind, it’s well worthy of mention. Though the good old fam iliar quotation’s worth heeding, Referring to things “ he that runs can read,” I beg to suggest, as a cricketer’ s reading, “ He that is Read can run— ” when there’s need. As witness this week on the Kennington ground, Where proof of his prowess the Sussex men found, When “ W .W .” kept up his sticks Till he’d notched a nice hundred and ninety - six, And m ight have notched more, F or he hat such a way with him, But the innings was o’er— There were none left to stay with him, W hich seems to suggest that the Reigate crack To his old-time form is com ing back. Glad to see you improving your average W alter— , B n tsta y! Here the pen of the “ pote ” may well falter, F or altho’ “ one-nine-six ” runs a decent amount is, Perchance it may happen that “ several counties W hose names are not given” may differ from me, And seek the opinion of M .C.C., And perchance—who can tell?—it m ay yet come to pass That Sussex is reckoned Like Scotland, but second , And not, “ by no manner of m eans,” first- class! C.P. R . P. L ewis , who, on his form at W inches­ ter, is rightly regarded as one of the most prom ising wicket-keeperss Public School H . M arley ^Captain M arlboiough Eleven.) T he Captain of he Marlborough Eleven, H. Marley, is just about the same age as the