Cricket 1892

28 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME* FEB. 2 5 , 1898 the fatal ball up to mid-on. Trott was not n his best form just then, and a smart catch at the wickets dismissed him. M’Leod 6haped nicely for 14, but Moses and Callaway scored very slowly, and only put on 23 in the last hour. Moses strained the sinews of his left leg in running early in his innings, and had to get Giffen to run for him, while he batted in great pain. At six o’clock the total was 191 for seven wickets, Moses having 23 and Callaway 11. The batting was slow, and lacled nerve; still, run-getting was no easy matter against such accurate bowling and fine fielding. Sharpe bowled splendidly; in fact, he was the only one who troubled the batsmen, and his five wickets cost 67 runs. The fielding was not p°rfect. Briggs and Bean were both off colour, but they had some excuse, Bean having a running poisoned cut on the ball of his left hand, while the Lan­ castrian had his left hand strapped up on account of a cut across the last joint of the forefinger. Mr. M’Gregor kept wicket splen­ didly. S econd D ay — S atu r d a y , J anuary 2. The second day did not open auspiciously. It looked thundery, and rain threatened. The threatenings culminated in a thunderstorm, which was a regular tornado. 'ihere were only a few drops of rain, but plenty of dust. Pebbles were blown about, a hansom cab was blown over, street lamps were smashed, and it was all over in an hour. Then a strong wind remained, yet the weather was cool nevertheless. Weather prophets, however, predicted rain, therefore there was every pro­ bability of a lively afternoon’ s oricket, as both sides were anxious to get up as many runs as possible before Monday, in case the wicket was wet. Again an enormous crowd, numbering at least 21,000, and iJl,072 3s. ( d. was taken at the gates. Sharpe and Peel again had charge of the bowling. The former’s third ball was snicked to slip, and George Lohmann made the most brilliant of catches as easily and coolly as though taking such balls were a matter of everyday occurrence to him. Turner, the next man, had been in bed all the day before with colic, and came to the wicket looking far from fit. He began by cutting Peel to the fence. Callaway only potttered about, keeping up his wicket, but Turner infused more life into his play and drove Sharpe twice with successive balls to the boundary. This brought about Sharpe’s retire­ ment in favour of Aotewell, but Peel effected the separation by bowling Turner. Sharpe finished with a very fine average. In five minutes before lunch Grace and Abel put up half a dozen. The orders issued to the Englishmen were to score as fast as possible, and Grace set a brilliant example, and yet found it as much as he could do to keep ahead of Abel. Trott. went on first because Black- ham thought W.G. did not like slows, but he did not find the veteran’s weak spot. Giffen was not deadly, and gave way to Turner at 24, but W.G. at once pulled round a short ball for 4. Then Abel made two 4’s in one over off Trott, and at 30 Giffen took the ball from the slow bowler. Still the score mounted. Abel made 8 off one of Giffen’ s overs, with two pairs and a lovely back cut for 4. The 60's were now onthe board, and a double change was tried, M’Leod and Callaway, two young fast bowlers, who were very successful in a recent inter-colonial match, going on. Kuns still same, but more slowly than before. Then came ten minutes’ sensational play. W ith the last ball of an over M’Leod clean beat and bowled Abel. W ith the first ball of the next over he meted out similar treatment to W.G., and three balls later got Stoddart caught at slip. Thus one was down for 84 and two and three for 85. The applause was tumultuous, and the young bowler was warmly praised by his comrades for his fine feat. The “ Grand Old Man ” played a very fine innings, his runs being made in a trifle over the hour. Bend started flukilv, as he scooped up a ball to , slip, which Trott ran across from point to | take, and then misjudged. He should have left it to Callaway, to whom it was going straight. Read hit merrily, and as usual hard, but three hard chances he gave to Donnan, Gregory, and Turner were not accepted. Bean played better cricket, and scored faster even than Bead by fine driving and cutting. At length he began to hit, and placed one ball over mid-off’s head, but Bruce ran in from the long field, and made a very fine catch. Directly afterwards Bead T*as caught and bowled. Giffen, who had come on again, got both these wickets, and also Lohmann’s, six wickets being down for 187. This gave the game an open appearance. Briggs, however, soon changed the aspect of it by dashing hitting. He evinced a special liking for Giffen, who was bowling leg stump theory, with no less than five men on the on side. Peel was not so aggressive, je t he pegged away with an occasional effective cut until at 232 a fast yorker broke through his defence. Briggs and Attewell played out time, when the total was 248-Briggs 41, Attewell 7. The Englishmen thus had a little the best of matters, though they were likely to have the worst of the wicket at the finish. T hird D ay — M onday , J a n u aby 4. If it were possible to have finer weather than on New Year’s Day, we had it the thitd day of the match. It was warmish, yet it was not unpleasantly hot. All the interest was still in the game ; in fact, the Englishmen thought the Australians had a better position than they did at the start of the match. Then they did not disguise the fact that they expected to win easily. Now they realised that they would have to go every inch of the way. Again there were a brilliant attendance, although it fell short of that on the other two days. Nevertheless, no less than 6,982 paid, and altogether 10,450 passed the turn­ stiles. The takings amounted to £455 18s. The stand made by the last three English­ men did not improve the prospects of their side. With 1 run added, Briggs was bril­ liantly caught, and at 256 Attewell went. Sharpe, after being let off by Turner, was got rid of, and when the innings closed the Britishers had a lead of 24. The wicket, though still wearing pretty well, was not improving, and it was pretty certain that 200 runs would take a lot of making. The Australians did not field up to representative match standard, although Gregory (fielding as substitute for Moses). Brnce, and Giffen did brilliant things, M’Leod bowled splen­ didly, and came out with a fine average. He is a new bowler to Englishmen, and, like most new bowlers, was puzzling. George Giffen was very expensive. Bannerman and Lyons were the first to begin Australia’s second innings ; Sharpe and Peel bowled. Bannerman, as usual, went away with a rush, which promises well, but which is not maintained; in fact, he simply takes advantage of the loose ones most bowlers start with before they get settled down. He was 9 when Lyons was 1. Then the big man began to clap on the wood, and at lunch was 21 when Bannerman was 12. After lunch Lyons played very freely without risking anything. He made some good snicks off Sharpe’ s fast ones, and then there was the unusual spectacle of a man fielding at deep slip , right on the boundary. Banner- man stonewalled ” with a vengeance, and in an hour only made 3!—and they came off one leg-hit in the middle of the hour. Meanwhile Lyons went ahead pretty merrily. Several times the bowling was changed. At last Briggs went on, and immediately got Lyons— a smarb, one-hand catch in the slips termin­ ating a brilliant innings. (One for 64.) Giffen, wTho followed, had two balls, one he placed to squaie-leg for a single, the other beat him clean, and sent his wicket flying. Thus in two innings lie made 3 runs—a most disappointing display from the crack batsman in Australia. Bruce was next, »nd he led off with a single and two leg hits for 4 each. Then he steadied, and yet overtook Bannerman. The littl man, however, was busier than before. Gradually the score mounted, Bruce playing fine defensive cricket At 120 Sharpe came on again, and his second ball was cut like lightning to Lohmann at third man. It flew into his right hand, and almost, it seemed, before it got there it was in the air again. It was the most brilliant catch in the slips I have ever seen. Burns only gave one chance to Attewell, near the end of his innings. Turner came in, and again played attractive cricket. Bannerman was the next to go, and Turner followed, both wickets falling within a quarter of an hour of time. Bannerman “ stonewalled” for four hours without a bltmish. W .G . tried hard for the wicket. He had all the men grouped around the wicket, himself standing three yards away at point, G. Lohmann the same distance out at cover- point The old warrior had his reward. Moses was still so weak on his injured leg that Giffen had to run for him. He and Trott played out time, neither scoring. Rain threatened, and a strong, gusty wind blew, chopping about in all directions. Trott and Moses continued the innings to the bowling of Sharpe and Peel, and it was at once apparent that the wici-et was likely to last. Moses, who strained his leg on the first day, had Blackham to run for him, as the injured limb was still very stiff and sore. He began very quietly, but Trott was more aggressive, and quickly ran up 23. Lohmann and Attewell both bowled, and at last-, with the total at 171, the Notts man got Trott, who miscalculated the flight of a ball, and de­ liberately played it with his knee. Donnan failed, and Moses was thrown out by Sharpe. M‘Leod, however, played nice steady cricket, while Callaway kept up an end, and the innings did not end till 236 was reached. It was a very good performance, to make so many in the second innings. The batting throughout was strictly defensive, and every man had to be got out. Very few of the wickets were thrown away, as has been the case with so many Australian batsmen in the past. The Englishmen worked splendidly, and all the bowlers had a hand in the wickets, Attewell really doing the best work, though Peel beat him for average. Sharpe was not so successful this time. He was, however, very tired, and is anxious to have a rest. The wicket was still pretty good, though it was worn, and the Englishmen did not doubt their ability to make 213, though they knew that to realise that number they would have to struggle for them. Grace took in Stoddai t with him, and runs came briskly, off the bowling of Turner and M'Leod, from the start. Grace got three sweet back cuts to the chains off Turner, while Stoddart made some fine hits to the on off M‘Leod, two going to the boundary. Blackham repeatedly changed his bowling. Turner changed ends, and straightway got Grace caught at mid-off. The veteran had not played his best. Stoddart, however, had batted brilliantly. A bad stioke ended his career with the total still at 60. He tried to pull a half-pitched ball, missed it, and his stumps were scattered. Then a big tide set in shore for Australia. Eean was caught on the chains at square-leg, and Read was bowled by a puzzler in successive overs of Trott’s. Peel stayed awhile with Abel, and then was clean bowled, Lohmann slogged, and was caught at mid-off, and Briggs ended an unhappy career by putting up one to point. (Seven for 97.) M‘ Gregor and Abel played out time—Abel 16, M'Gregor 3. (Seven for 1( 4.) There was again a fine attendance, numbering fully 10,000, and £397 15s. was taken at the gates. On Wednesday, in spite of the fact that there might be only a few minutes’ play, nearly a thousand people paid for admission, and the reserves were fairly crowded. Abel and M‘Gregor resumed. At, 122 Turner took the ball from M'Leod, and 3 runs later the University man put a ball up to Gregory, who was fielding for Moses. Attewell scored rapidly, but at 119 lost his partner, who touched an off one from NEXT ISSUE MARCH 24