Cricket 1892

8 6 6 C R I C K E T : A W E E K L Y E E C O K D O F T H E G A M E . AUG. 18, 1692 sort of cricket is to become habitual. The public won’t go to see it even on a Bank Holiday. It is not good enough value for one’s money. And Surrey for once caught the Notts contagion, and against Middlesex too. 255 runs are a poor show on a batsman’s wicket at Lord’s, between the hours of 12 and 6.30. But the second day proved exciting enough. Twenty-four wickets were floored on that day, and such wickets too. Surrey’s total (294) wanted facing, but on a perfect wicket the Middlesex batsmen ought to have made light of it. Totals of 112 and 180 were quite unworthy of a great batting team, as they are an emphatic tribute to the genius of their oppo­ nents. Lockwood and Lohmann, backed by a reliable man behind, proved irresistible to all save T. C. O’Brien (65) and S. W . Scott (49 not out). The Middlesex captain got “ a pair of them,” and in the most original way— first ball each time. A. J. Webbe has done many wonderful feats since his debut in 1875, but his latest is almost unique in the annals of first-class batting. The match was given to Burton, who for some ten years put in a lot of honest and sterling work for Middlesex, and at a time when big bowlers were at a discount in his county’s ranks. It was fitting that the Surrey match should have been chosen by him, as it was against the Surreyites some years back that he brought off his biggest thing—all the ten wickets in an innings—a performance which none of our great bowlers now in active cricket have hitherto placed to their record. Neither Attewell, Briggs, Peel, nor Lohmann has yet scored here. W.G. has, of course; what has he not done ? Burton’s Benefit Match, so runs the title. Though had he been an amateur a little out at elbow it would have been styled “ a complimentary ” match. "What a trumpery distinction! A mere fudge. It reminds me of another subtle distinction often made in cricket and other sports, where an amateur pockets “ ex’s,” whilst a professional receives a fee, and said fee is often of more modest propor­ tions than the expenses in the other case. One doesn’ t like this order of things: it savours of humbug somewhere. Lancashire have had a go at the two counties of the West, and with good results. The youngest of the “ N ine” were not fated to repeat their Old Trafford triumph ; and no wonder. Mud wickets reduce all batsmen to the same dead level of mediocrity. That was certainly the explanation of many of the Australian victories in this country. Bowlers like Mold and Briggs may revel in the mud ; but correct batting is wholly out of the question. The best thing in the match was the Oxford captain’s unfinished second, though it got no further than 22. But then only one batsman in the whole crowd ran into the thirties. The match was begun, continued, and ended on the second day. That has happened before at Manchester. Four years ago I witnessed a parallel case there. But then Lancashire went under, and before Surrey. Perhaps the most memorable incident of this kind happened in the very first match played by Australia on a London cround. It was in 1878, and a very thick M.O.C. team was marshalled to repeat, if possible, the one innings victory registered by Notts just before. I shall never forget that first d a y ; the morning was dampish, and I felt certain there would be no play before lunch, so I turned up at Lord’s about 2.45 p.m., just managed to find a seat on the Grand Stand, and then realised that the visitors were at the wickets, and that 30 was on the scoring board, and tkatieight Cornstalks had been mowed down. I remarked to a neigh­ bour that this was a somewhat poor show for men who had come 15,000 miles to show us how to play cricket. He coolly replied— “ perhaps you have not seen a card of the match,” at the same time handing me his. I never was so completely “ struck of a heap ” before or since on a crioket ground. M.C.C. had been in and had managed to get as far as 33! And then came their second turn. I won’t reveal the nakedness of the land further. I know that Flowers scored 11 off his own bat, and that W.G., A. W. Ridley, C. Booth, &c., &c., got—well, never mind how many. Enough that the Australians romped home with nine wickets standing, and that soon after six o’clock on that Monday evening all was over. Against the County of the Graces Lancashire were fast running out winners when rain set in. Half way through, Glo’stershire had the call, with 105 to 69. But then Sugg (89) and Arthur Smith (96) got together and stuck until they had subscribed 154 runs. Both went slow for some time, Sugg unusually so: but their cricket was worth watching. Sugg’s always is : yet, unless he is hitting—and he can hit—there is a curious tameness in some of his strokes : but the straight bat is generally in evidence. The Oldham man isn’t a flyer; but this year he has proved himself to be almost the most relia­ ble man in his County. Glo’stershire last year allowed him to get his first and only century : they might have been as courteous last week. W.G. came out strong when the closure was applied, and by stopping in ninety minutes, though for only 18 runs, ministered soiid comfort to Clifton habitues. If Yorkshire whopped Sussex at Brighton, Somersetshire put the extinguisher on the White Rose at Sheffield. Peel was our particular bright star in the Sussex match, with an innings of 66 runs, and ten wickets in addition. Though R. W. Frank (58) proved a capital understudy. But up North things went badly with Yorkshire after the first day. Then they had a look in with a comfortable little balance of 36 in the first hands. But later on Sam Woods slogged away as only he and a very few others can, and in about 85 minutes scored at the rate of nearly a run a minute, and Somerset’s second total was 248. Yorkshire caved in at 125, and so were 89 in the rear at the finish. The Cambridge skipper once again donned flannels, and certainly did his level best for his county, with an aggregate of 45, and nine wickets. But Nichols (five for 22) and Tyler (five for 29) more than neutralized his efforts, and gave their county another win—their sixth so far this year. One doesn’t like to see 40 byes in a match of such limited scores. There is something wrong somewhere, not with Hunter, I am certain. I would go bail for him at any time. Blame the wicket, which is to day unfit for a first-class match. It has been playing queer all the season, and it’s surely none too early that the County Executive have made up their minds to ^e-turf the centre of the ground during the Off-season. P.S .—Look out for an item of great in­ terest to all cricketers. It will appear next week. There is no space for it here. M IDDLESEX v. SURREY. The matches between Middleeex and Surrey of late years hav« been full of interest, and George Burton, the slow bowler who did such good servicc for the form er for several years, was fortunate in being allowed to choose the return, begun at Lord’s on Thursday, for his benefit. Mr. Shuter won the choice o f innings, and Surrey were in all Thursday for a total of 255 and the loss of only six wickets. The cricket was of a very different character to that usually shown by the Surrey men, and con­ trary to their usual style the batting was slow and uninteresting. As a general rule Surrey’s average rate o f run-getting this year has been well over seventy an hour, but on Thursday it only reached about 45, so that the difference was very strongly m arked. Lockw ood in the early part of the day enlivened the play by scoring 36 out of 45 while he was in, and at the end of the day Lohm ann hit in a way that was positively refreshing, scoring 42 not out of the last fifty-three in less than an hour. Otherwise, though the batting was sound enough, the out-cricket of Middlesex was so good that run-getting was difficult, and the play was too slow to rouse any enthusiasm. Abel was in over an hour for 9 runs, and altogether it took him three hours and a half to make 57. Baldwin’s 14 occupied him an hour, and Hender­ son, who wag not out when play ceased on Thurs­ day, had been over tw o hours and a half in the com pilation of his 44. On Friday m orning Brock­ well played in good free style for his 26, and ultimately the innings closed for 291, Mr. Ford getting the last three wickets in two overs without a run fceing scored off him. The Surrey innings had lasted six hours and ten minutes, so that the rate of scoring was about 48 runs throughout. Henderson was batting three hours and a quarter (fifteen minutes less than Abel), and as a display of watchful cricket his 54 was worthy of high praise. A total of 291, even on a fast wicket, was not by any means beyond the reach o f a batting side like Middlesex, and everyone was justified in expecting a good show. Lohmann, however, opened business auspiciously for Surrey by bowling Mr. W ebbe with the very first ball, and after Mr. Stoddart had been neatly caught by Lockw ood, Messrs. Jardine and O’Brien were both dismissed without scoring. W ith four of the best batsmen out for 15 Mr. Henery cam e in, and his batting fairly roused the spectators to enthusiasm. In twelve minutes he m ade 25 runs, and an idea of the brilliance of his cricket will be gathered from the fact that he m ade his score in eight hits. Mr. Ford made thirteen runs off one over o f Richardt-on, but none of the other bats­ men lent Mr. Scott any help, and he was not out at the finish, having been batting an hour and fifty minutes for his 49. Lockw ood, it will be seen, had much to do with tho unexpectedly cheap dismissal of the Middlesex Eleven. He bowled throughout, and his six wickets only cost seven runs a piece. Following on in a minority of 182 Middlesex again started badly, Loh­ mann again getting rid of Mr. W ebbe with the first tall of the innings. Mr. Stoddart was apparently getting dangerous when Lockwood bowled him , and with Mr. Henery also out, and the total only 38, the chances of a big score for Middlesex were considerably reduced. A stupid run out of Mr. Jardine im proved Surrey’s position materially, and when Mr. O’Brien was bowled for a well-hit 65, eight wickets were down for 138. A plucky etand for the last wicket by Mr. McGregor and Hearne, who added 31. nearly forced Surrey to go in again. As it was Lohm ann bowled the amateur at 180, and thus Surrey were left with a very creditable win by an innings and tw o runs. It was a good per­ formance of the winners to get such a batting side as Middlesex out twice between 12.4) and 6.15, and for an aggregate of 292 runs. On the first day 6.722 paid at the gate, and on the second 6,896. As in addition there were over two thousand tiokets sold, and the subscription list is well filled. Burton will have the substantial benefit to which his high character as a cricketer ful.y entitles him. S u r r e y . Abel, b Ford ..........57 Mr. W. W. Read, b Hearne ..................15 Lockwood, c Rawlin, b Ford ..................36 M. Read, b Hearne ... 18 Mr. J. Shuter, c Ford, b P h illips.................20 Henderson, c Webbe, b Ford ..................54 Baldwin, lbw, b Stod­ dart ..........................14 Lohm ann, b Hearne 45 Brockwell, lbw, b F o r d ......................... 26 Wood, c Rawlin, b F o r d ........................ 0 Richardson, not out 0 B 7,1b 1, w 1 ... 9 Total ...294 M id d l e s e x . Second Innings, First Innings. Mr. A. E. Stoddart,c and b L ockw ood......................... 3 b Lockw ood ... 27 Mr. A. J. Webbe, b L oh ­ mann ................................ 0 c W ood, b Loh­ mann ............ 0 Mr. S. W . Scott, not out... 49 c Baldwin, b L ockw ood ... 5 Mr. M. R. Jardine, b Lock­ wood ................................ 0 run out ............. 6 Mr. T. C. O’Brien, c W ood, b Lockw ood ................. 0 b Lohm ann ... 65 Mr. P. J. T. Henery, b Lockw ood...................... 25 b Lockwood ... 0 Rawlin, run o u t................. 7 c W . Read, b Lohmann ... 12 Mr. F. G. J. Ford, c H en­ derson, b Lohmann ... 16 b Richardson ... 9 Phillips, b Lockw ood ... 0 runout ............. 6 Mr. MacGregor, b L oh ­ mann ................................ 0 b Lohm ann ... 23 J. T, Hearne, b Lockwood 8 not out .............. 10 Lb 1, nb 3 .................. 4 B 9, lb 8 ... 17 Total ..................112 Total ...180 BOW LING ANALYSIS. S urrey . O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Hearne .. 50 23 87 3 1 P h illips.. 24 9 33 1 R aw lin... 54 30 68 0 Stoddart 12 8 20 1 Ford ... 38 10 71 Ford bowled a wide. M iddlesex . O. M.R . W . O. M.R. W. Lohmann .., 20 4 51 3 ... ...55.3 8 48 4 Lockw ood ... 21.4 12 42 6 .......... 22 6 66 3 Richardson... 2 0 15 0 .......... 9 1 41 1 Abel... 3 0 8 0 Lockw ood bowled three no-balls.